[Al Skierkiewicz]

Time for my two cents...
I am a lead inspector, and yes I am concerned about the safety of anyone at any time. This includes participants, volunteers, camera people (many of whom I know), judges and refs. If that makes me a Safety Nazi then I can live with that label. I am concerned about safety when your robot is in your pit, on the practice field, on the competition field or anywhere in between. Pits are crowded places in which I spend a lot of time and I have seen things over the years that curdle my blood. First is about innovation and creativity in design and we should encourage those ideals for the betterment of the program, but not at the loss of other equally important ideals such as safety. We have low voltage power sources for your safety, electrical rules for your safety and pneumatic rules for your safety. Expect inspectors to take a close look at your designs not only for safety but I would be prepared to show accoustic output as well. Should the GDC issue guidelines for prop driven robots we will follow those guides explicitly. Until then good luck with your development.