Safety inspection regarding open wheel shooters?

[Jaxom]

Originally Posted by nicholsjj

So if a team has ran their wheel and shot roughly over 500 frisbees with mentors and students by a semi covered wheel (meaning that it can not fly off its motor shaft) then will it require sheilding. I understand the need for safety, but if it has been proven safe during testing then why would their be a need for a fully covered wheel? I understand the reason behind it, but I personally believe my robot to be safe even though it has an expossed opening. I wish first would set a rule update to R08 to set a standard on the issue.

I'm sorry, but there's no possible way for anyone to prove shooters are 100% safe. Any of these could occur when your shooter happens to be pointing towards the crowd or a volunteer next to the field:
1) A bolt comes off another robot & falls into your shooter.
2) The wheel decides to come apart due to the forces imparted on it by a frisbee.
3) A student is feeding a frisbee into the shooter on the practice field at your event. Another robot is mis-aimed & fires a frisbee into the back of your student's head, startling him or her. He or she flinches and puts fingers where they shouldn't have been put.

You can come up with other scenarios, I'm sure. Although we can't shield to prevent ALL possible problems, it behooves us to add shielding to limit the issues.

I agree with you; it'd be best if the rules gave us more specificity. Hopefully an update is coming.