[Greg McKaskle]

I'm glad I'm not the only one concerned by the DS discussions on this thread.

The FRC robots can be very inspiring. Or they can hurt people -- permanently.

Especially when others are around your robot, please be sure that you all know how to operate it safely. That means whatever DS you are using works reliably and all present team reps know how to stop a robot being driven by, oh maybe, your grandma or a show-off teenager who thinks they are playing GTA with your robot.

Also consider making a demo-mode, with scaled down speeds and removing pointy things and spring-loaded whammies.

FIRST has left the protocol open, meaning that you can build your own DS. The robot code will default to safe if the DS crashes or the communications gets scrambled. But it will not be safe if the DS is unresponsive to the operator or goes into a loop sending commands with no way to stop it except for a tackle.

Please be safe. Test whatever DS you are using, and think of it as an important safety feature.

Greg McKaskle