[Joe Menassa]

Last year at the NY Regional I came close to being stabbed by a robot. I was kneeling on the floor working on our bot and the robot next to us was turned off and the team was working on it. Their coach was sitting next to me on a labtop and they turned on their robot. As soon as the light went on it attacked us. Literally, the thing went crazy and its long arms (used for picking up the balls last year) lunged at their coach and I. I just missed their coach and it just nicked me. Right between the eyes, I received a small cut just above my nose. The reason it did not go through my head and kill me was because the opposite side of the arm hit our shipping crate. You could tell how powerful the impact was just by the dent in our crate. I am so glad that crate was there. I always wear my safety glasses in the pit now. -In that situation it may have made my injuries worse, but if it did'nt hit the crate they would have saved me.

It also sucked cause it was my birthday...