[Adam Shapiro]

As Al said, unfortunately all three of these cases were not something that an inspection would have caught. A number of the inspectors, including myself, were circulating the fields in Atlanta to check for occurrances like this, especially after the first battery issue, however there's only so much that can be seen with the number of teams moving around throughout the day. Particularly for things like the Anderson connector modification, what might seem a logical thing to do at the time can result in a very dangerous situation out on the field.

I would also like to add that teams should be very weary of loose/uninsulated wires within their robots, as well as chassis grounding. There were a number of occurrances in Atlanta this year that I am aware of, including 3 that I found, in which teams' robot frames were grounded to their electrical system. This is not overly common but it can easily go unnoticed. It can also happen from a loose wire or a shifted component, just like any other failure. All of the teams with this issue in Atlanta were not grounded at their respective regionals. Teams should be careful to check for grounding occasionally.

Finally, please mount electronic components on a nonconductive surface.

<R58> All wiring and electrical devices must be electrically isolated from the ROBOT frame; the
ROBOT frame must not be used to carry electrical current (this isolated ground arrangement
is necessary due to polarity reversals that occur under certain operating conditions such as
during motor direction reversals).

Every grounding problem I have seen has come from a rogue bolt contacting a terminal or crimp somewhere, that would normally go unnoticed. Remember that this rule isn't meant to make your electronics inconvenient to place, only keep things safe at the end of the day.