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Unread 12-02-2009, 14:36
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Re: Solving static electricity problems by grounding the frame

Quote:
Originally Posted by johnr View Post
The match is over. What do you do before you touch your bot to be safe? What about trailers? Will they develope a charge too?
The best solution I know is to put a dragging ground wire on the robot to drain off charge as it accumulates. Make sure it stays within the BUMPER PERIMETER boundaries (and that it doesn't provide significant traction).

If you can't do that, contact the robot first through a large-valued resistor instead of directly with your fingers. You might even want to supply a special "touch this spot" finger target on your robot, electrically connected to the frame only through a 1 megohm resistor.

I think the trailers are largely plastic. They don't have a big metal frame to store charge in and conduct it quickly to someone touching it.