Are noise makers legal?

[Duke461]

Originally Posted by Jengles

At the pit we have been having to test our robot, mainly the shooter, and this can be dangerous as some of the team members haven't been hearing us say that its 'hot'. One team member found an adjustable beeper that is always 5 db above the backround noise, and was asking whether he should buy it. My question is that are these noise makers legal, and does anybody have any actual rules that go against it.

I would most certainly say do not do this. While there may be a bit of ambiguity regarding the legality, i would think that FIRST would not appreciate this, nor would the regional nor the neighboring pits.

Honestly, i don't see the problem here. You can yell "Enabling!" or whatever floats your boat. Have the few mentors/students that know the dangers inform the people nearby them and act as "bouncers" to your robot. No one on your team should be touching your robot while it's running, let alone put their body/appendages near it. Furthermore, you could add polycarbonate protectors around the shooter/motor/whatever is "hot" (your unclear description of the danger kind of frightens me. maybe you could elaborate on the technical/electrical issue?) to make it harder for there to be danger. And surely you'd have some kind of meeting before your next competition to make sure that anyone in the pits is aware of safety hazards. Also, pretty much the only people in the pits, minus some of the "chairman's team" that talks to judges, should be tech-related students that know what's going on with the robot.

In short: Who cares about the legality, because they're not needed. Educate the students. Be proactive. Be safe.

Hope this helps,
-Duke

[AlexH]

The pits are already loud enough. Adding another noise won't matter, it will just blend in. Also unless you told everyone that the beeping was a safety warning it would most likely be ignored. The simplest solution I see is have someone stand in the path of the ball and catch it. It's a foam ball, how much damage can it do to a person.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by AlexH

It's a foam ball, how much damage can it do to a person.

That is quite an understatement. Although it did not hurt a person, when our shooter wheels were rotating the wrong direction, it compressed the ball SIGNIFICANTLY (Ie ~7in or so of compression) and shot it the wrong direction. Previously, we had installed a polycarb shield to protect people from putting their fingers into the shooter. As you can probably figure out, the ball shot straight at this polycarb shield, and shattered it. Without it there, the ball would have shot straight at one of our mentors faces.

On the topic of the OP, I think that, while it is a good idea, it would be easier to just make sure that everyone is clear, form a student/mentor barrier, say rather loudly "Clear" or something to that effect, make secondly sure everyone is clear, then enable the robot. All while maintaining the barrier and keeping people clear. If you're not running it in autonomous, then make double sure that people are clear, then start the shooter. Basically, make well sure that it's clear. I like the idea of making everyone around the robot echo "clear" so that you are absolutely sure that everyone is clear.