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Unread 04-02-2017, 08:24
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Re: Climber legality and safety.

This is going to be a very common feature on many robots this year, and is going to be one of the toughest calls made by LRI's. Usually, the terms "sharp" and "300 rpm" scream guards. But this year putting guards around a climbing mechanism has the potential to limit the mechanism's effectiveness.

I have a fear that these cases will be handled on an event to event, and robot to robot basis with each LRI making their own judgement calls. As an LRI in training, I would love to hear some guidance from Al about how these mechanisms should be treated.

In order to increase the odds that your mechanism will be legal, make sure to take some steps to increase the level of safety of the mechanism. Being able to show an inspector "we did X, Y, and Z to make this mechanism safe" will go a long ways towards getting a thumbs up for your robot.

Some things I'd try to do:

- Demonstrate the climber is software protected. In other words, make it so that the climber won't go off without the driver wanting it to. This could include a safety button or something similar that won't allow the climber to go without the button being hit first.

- Increase the "stegasauraus spike" diameter to the maximum functional diameter you can. If I see a punch of needle-like spikes on your climber, I'd feel a lot worse than if I saw 1/4" protrusions.

-Try to mount your climber in a way such that there are no pinch points. Make it difficult to get your hand caught in your climber.

-Along those same lines, put all the guards in place that you can that won't compromise functionality. A guard that doubles as a guide for the rope would seem to be a good design choice.

I really hope there is some clarity on how these cases will be handled.
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