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Originally Posted by PhatMike
Thats intresting. Last year, we had lexan shields on the sides of our bot, with some transparent paper that had our sponsers printed on it. This paper, covered all our electronics, including the breaker panels. There was a hole cut out so you could get a large hand inside to easily kill the 120a breaker. The inspectors (at Sac AND Atlanta) never questioned any of the electronics, and there was NO way they could see them. Our bot passed inspection in less than 10 minutes at both events. I was actually rather suprised on how easy the process went .. I figured it was going to take much longer than it did.
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Mike,
Although each event has a different inspection coordinator, there is an attempt to instruct inspectors on following the same procedure at all events. About 40% of the two page inspector's checkoff list is devoted to electrical. And requires that the inspector be able to see the fuse block, wiring (correct AWG, connectors and for wiring that could snag on another robot), speed controllers and relays. They should also check the motors for correct type and number and as a last check, see that the robot turns on, illuminates the color Team ID lighting and that the controller has the correct team number set. The exact time for inspection varies with design. If you don't use pneumatics, most of the first page gets skipped. For rookies reading this post, the inspection process is to insure the rulebook was followed, but more importantly, inspectors want your robot to be able to run without problems on the playing field. If your robot goes up in flames, your alliance partners suffer and the whole competition will have to wait while damage control comes out and sweeps your robot into a container. (hasn't happened yet.) Inspectors do find problems from time to time that were overlooked by the team. Your inspector should be assisting your robot to be competitive and legal.