Flying robots?

[Rogue Leader]

Originally Posted by EricH

... I compete in the SAE Aero Design competition. (OP, you're in CA; if you want to relax the day after the L.A. Regional, come on out to the R/C field in Van Nuys and watch a few dozen teams of college students crashfly their heavy-lift planes.) At this competition, with full aircraft-designed systems and at least decent pilots, flying planes that are roughly 1/3 of the weight of an FRC robot in a wide-open space, spectators are behind a fence, which is behind a row of trees, roughly 50 feet away from the side of the runway. Any plane that looks like it's heading for the trees is ordered downed on the spot, and there are a number of other safety measures in place to prevent injury in case something goes SNAFU. FIRST doesn't have anywhere near the safety measures for full-fledged flight by the robots, IMO. (CARD has better safety measures, including netting around the field to "restrain" errant robots.)

I'll look into the R/C competition, sounds like something I'd like! Also, I think it'd be helpful (and interesting to see) if FIRST would implement a safety system like the one you mentioned. It would be helpful not just for flying robots, it could prevent any possible runaway robots from leaving the arena.