[Racer26]

Oh, I'm completely aware safety is #1 all the time, and not just when people are watching. Thats why we built the cart in the first place, and why we built it the way we did.

Our lead mentor in years past has injured his back lifting robots on/off the field, working on it at the wrong height in the pits, etc. He was sick and tired of it, so we designed the cart. It was originally designed to be able to lift the robot right over the edge of the field and drive right up to the field border, so it only had to be lifted from waist height to the floor and back again, not carried. The field crews (moreso at Waterloo, than GTR, due to venue size) didn't want us to drive right up to the field, but it still was better than any other cart we've ever had. In the pits, its been designed with safety pins on the lift portion such that should the cable break for some odd reason, the weight of the lift+robot doesn't fall on anyone's toes. Its also built with a large chain guard over the drive chain for the lift. It allows us to put the robot at the correct height to work on whatever part we need to work on, whether its down basically on the floor so we can work on the manipulator, or up at waist height so we can work on the drive. It was also designed so that the frame of our robot will rest on the platform in such a way that keeps the wheels off of the platform, and thusly allows us to test things like autonomous mode without fearing the robot going flying across the pits. As for while its moving, its been designed so that unless you're physically sitting IN the seat, it won't drive. It also has a sensor in the bumper on the end of the platform so that should the driver accidentally hit anything (more on how this won't happen later) the drive loses power. On top of both of those, the driver must hold the safety lockout buttons on the joystick to get it to move. When its activated, it has the rotating light (from 2003 and before) to warn people it is active. We knew taking something like this to competition, we would have tons of traffic to deal with, and as such, when operated in a crowd (namely the pits, but anywhere really) it is accompanied by several people keeping the crowds clear so that the driver doesn't accidentally hit someone. Additional features include a removable table for tools/laptop, as well as removable pegs that come out of the side of the platform to hold the control board. The forks separate from the drivebase for easier transportation in our trailer, and safer lifting of it.

I'll work on posting a picture for all of you who didn't get to see it first hand at GTR/Waterloo

EDIT: Its very much like the safety guys said to us, that people don't understand things like our cart. They think its all unsafe or whatever, and the safety guys told the naysayers to actually come ask us about it... Can't say I had anyone ask me to explain its safety features, besides the safety guys.