[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by scca229

At the end of the match, the team member responsible for activating ONE vent plug does so and backs off without touching anything else. Is there ANY position possible for this butterfly valve to be in that causes all of the air in the system to not be vented when opening ONE vent plug? It doesn't matter what the transport configuration is, it matters if it is possible at all on the field when ONE vent plug operation is performed. Stuff happens during a match that can cause unintended operation of components.

I am highlighting ONE vent plug since it seems to be pretty important in its distinction as R67D says, "At least one pressure vent plug," R78, "Any pressure vent plug must be:," R78A, "connected to the pneumatic circuit such that, when manually operated, it will vent to the atmosphere to relieve all stored pressure in a reasonable amount of time". If there is a piece in the system that "can" prevent this, then I would think real hard of another way to accomplish the task.

As FTAA, I have to remind way too many teams during an event as to why their robot doesn't seem to have a working RSL light, or any light for that matter. It is AMAZING how many bot loaders forget to squeeze the breaker to actually power on the thing. That alone would make me say no way to a manual valve in the pneumatic system that must be physically opened when they get to the field if it has a chance of not allowing full venting from ONE plug activation. Haven't taken my RI cert test yet for this year, but I know how I would answer if this question comes up in it.

If they do not follow the proper procedure for opening/closing valves, yes. However, that would hold true with needle valves used as flow valves as well (which are explicitly stated in the rules as being legal in R66). As mentioned previously, there are legal parts that could segment off a portion of the pneumatic system. Why should a ball valve or butterfly valve be different than a needle valve?