Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesCH95
I would be quite upset if we were prohibited from driving the robot on the ground in our pit because it is very easy to do it safely.
When we test our robot on the floor (which is about the only way to evaluate certain performance changes) we establish what we call the 'kill radius.' This terms stems from my experience using axes/mauls/chain-saws - the radius around an operation where a bystander could be hurt. We spread team members around this 'kill radius' to keep people away from our robot when it's being run. This is a practice that has earned us compliments from various safety officials.
In addition to establishing a kill radius around the robot we put one person on the controls whose sole job is to mash the disable button if anything goes wrong. To avoid confusion only one person is ever allowed to issue verbal commands to the drivers, with the exception of "STOP" which everyone is allowed to say.
Now, if teams are at a loss for how to operate their robot with the drive disabled... pull the drive motor breakers. This is what we do when we operate the robot on workbench or other place where we want the wheels on the ground but cannot afford to have it drive. It requires no nuances or expertise and takes just a few seconds.
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We do the same thing with the "kill zone." We also have rules that only the driver or operator control the robot in the pit. We also have a person on the disable button. As another precaution we have a button on our drive controller that must be pressed before any movement from the drivetrain can occur. This has proved very useful when practicing when programmers use a remote so nothing goes crazy. It also allows if by some chance somebody picks up the remote or drops it the robot will not just start moving.
We also place our robot on blocks when it is on the cart in the pit. (It stays on the cart 95% of the time in the pit.