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Originally Posted by jee7s
Enabling in queue varies from event to event. Some have tight queueing areas and the staff at those events don't allow it just in case something goes wrong. But, regardless of the venue, you are allowed to pre-charge the pneumatic system. You might have to do it at your pit, but you can have the full 120 psi when you get to the field.
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This past weekend at the West Palm Beach regional (Formerly South Florida Regional) Inspectors were instructed to have teams de-pressurize between the pit and the field. Apparently, according to the Lead Inspector, having pressurized air outside of the field sets up a dangerous condition. We (successfully) argued pressurizing on the field was not only against the rules (tether rule) but would cause huge delays as teams spend several minutes pressurizing on the field.
The danger of an out of control robot is a real one, as teams attempt to pressurize their robot in the queue. The depressurization rule, and initial compromise (you can pressurize in the final queue position) set up a condition where a robot was still in auto, and took off running into several people. Finally, after many matches, the head inspector saw the light on the potential issues with field delays and the real danger (run away robot) and allowed us to pre-charge before entering the field... This leads into a conversation about FIRST adding rules (even if in contrast to written rules) in the name of "Safety." Further, FIRST likes to email inspectors hidden "rules of the event." We only know about these rules since we have a volunteer inspector on our team, all other FIRST teams are not privy to these "rules of the event."