Are noise makers legal?

[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.