Near-death experiences or injuries during build season?

[AngelBob]

Team 3397 is especially lucky in that the worst injuries our team has ever sustained are minor cuts and bruises. Sometimes it's good not to be able to afford incredibly powerful and dangerous machinery!

Indeed, the injuries in the robotics lab are less serious than 8th-grade science class, when a girl's finger was caught in a rat trap.

[LemmingBot]

Maybe teams should all be educated in first aid, not just the 'slather on some neosporn and slap on a bandage' type either. Teams need to be able to treat nasty injuries, check vital signs and know when to call an ambulance.

[fb39ca4]

Originally Posted by Cecil

In 2008's Overdrive, we had one minor flaw with our robot: when the compressor was on and the battery decided to drop below 8 volts, the solenoid for the extremely big and heavy tilting mechanism would automatically fire. Me, being the sole electrical/programming person, was right up front fixing something with the IR board used for hybrid mode that year when it first happened. All I heard was a small pop and a hiss, and next thing I know, I'm on the ground with half a robot on top of me. Thankfully, I was not hurt that bad, but from that point forward, any time anyone would hear that familiar hiss, someone had to jump for the controls to stop it before it swung forward (it has about a 3 second delay from when it fires to when it moves, that is how heavy it is).

That description of the hiss reminded me of a creeper.

[G33K]

In 2010 we were testing our robot with its arm (used to hook a winch to the top of the tower) out. My friend and I were standing, backed up to a wall, when our test-driver decided to spin the robot, swinging the arm about 3 inches from our faces. Pretty scary since we had nowhere to back up. Plenty of other things have happened, but that one stands out in my mind.

[Nomadic Mentor]

No near death experiences here but I have had a lots of nicks and scrapes from trying to put things together or repair in places someone forgot to leave access to, big hands in tight spaces are great for finding all the unfiled edges. I just wanted to say thanks for sharing your stories made me rethink some of the safety things I need to emphasize more like blocking the robot when new code is being tested and reminding the students (and myself) to clamp things properly when going to use the drill press.

[Garrett.d.w]

Scary how long this thread is.
We have had nothing serious in the shop (thank goodness), but I've had my share at home.

My first experience was when I was 8 and visiting a family friend who was remodeling his house. I accidentally kicked a nail gun so that it fired a brad nail into the sole of my shoe, just barely missing my foot. Turns out the trigger was defective.

Two years ago (15 years old), I was ripping some 2*4s on the table saw with my dad. The blade caught and then threw the wood which embedded itself in the neighbor's fence.

My third is when I was using a weed whacker and the line ran out, launching the last scrap of line into my face. It left a gouge in the safety glasses. I still keep them around to show the freshmen.

I'm bookmarking this thread to show people how dangerous robotics can really be. Hopefully it will keep some people from doing stupid things that get them, and the people around them, hurt.

[Astrokid248]

First year as an alumni, and I am finally legally allowed to use the chop saw. I promptly launched a piece of aluminum into the fence (it was wasn't pressed against it all the way, cos I'm an idiot), crushed and ripped open my ring finger, and hit our ninja programmer in the head (he was fine). It's a gross looking scar, but the fun part is that it didn't hurt at all until we put a bandaid on it. This is why NASA doesn't let us let the students use the big tools.

[That 281 Guy]

I'm a former safety captain, so this thread is pretty scary to me.

Our team has had a few flying chuck keys in its history. We keep one bent chuck key as a reminder of what happens when you're careless in the shop. Once a student was using auto feed on a lathe, and wasn't paying attention. The lathe bit ran into the spinning chuck and sent the bit flying across the shop.

LESSON LEARNED: Pay attention while operating machinery. We have a taped off a section of the floor around each machine in our shop, and only two people are allowed inside at a time. That's enough for an operator and a mentor or a freshman in training. We don't want anyone else near our machinists to distract them. Also, all of our current lathers don't use auto feed because we're still scared of it!

This wasn't related to robotics at all, but we once had a mentor have a seizure in the shop.

LESSON LEARNED: Be able to dial emergency numbers FAST. Also always have someone around who knows first aid. The mentor almost fell on the concrete floor and would have been hurt badly.

This was definitely not a near death experience but I brought a new pocket knife to a regional this year, and someone from electrical asked if she could borrow it. As a was opening it to give to her I cut my finger on the new blade, and after a handed it to her, SHE cut HER finger on the blade too!

LESSON LEARNED: Be careful with sharp objects, and never use one of my knifes!

[BBray_T1296]

During Breakaway, we were testing different kicker designs, so we bought a spring loaded skeet shooter to slap a soccerball. while cocking the spring and setting the ball, I got the launch string caught on my shoe and I set it off walking away, right into a teammate's leg, fortunately it didnt break but did leave a nasty bruise. it was not only powerful, but fast and powerful.

[mrscience21]

I've had quite a few 'experiences' during my first 2 years:
- Touched both poles on a AC Plug while plugging it in.

- Nearly had fingers removed by wheel spokes when I bumped into the joystick of an enabled robot.

- Mis-Programmed and Autonomous routine, causing the machine (aimed @ head) to shoot discs and balls at me at full speed (Did this more than once )

- Have had electronic components explode in my face while working on them.

- Had a pressured air canister fail in front of me due to worn threads.

- Probably others I'm forgetting.

Not having anyone to teach me electronics or software design, I ran into more than a few 'accidents' along the way. Now a 4 year veteran, I try to use all of these to teach new electrical guys to avoid the pitfalls before they happen.

[IronicDeadBird]

I once leaned over the shoulder of a programmer pointed at a random part of his screen and said "You sure that bit of code is right?"
I shouldn't be alive...

[mrnoble]

In 2013, our team couldn't decide between a driving robot that scored frisbees, or a non-driver that climbed to the top of the pyramid. We split into two teams that built competing bots. The climber was to be made of springs and levers, and was sort of shaped like a monkey. Unfortunately the springs couldn't get enough force without being tremendously strong. We finally quit building when I realized that, as I was pre-tensioning the arm, I would die of my injuries were I to slip and let the arm go.

[asid61]

Originally Posted by AngelBob

Team 3397 is especially lucky in that the worst injuries our team has ever sustained are minor cuts and bruises. Sometimes it's good not to be able to afford incredibly powerful and dangerous machinery!

Indeed, the injuries in the robotics lab are less serious than 8th-grade science class, when a girl's finger was caught in a rat trap.

The only times I've been hurt on our Bridgeport mill is when I accidentally poke my hand against a cutter while taking it out. I've never gotten a deep vut from that either.
That being said, on the really big machines a small mistake could be huge. Leaving a large chuck key in a lathe can turn it into something comparable to a cannonball. Just look up "lathe accident" on google images if you're not scared by blood (or severed limbs).
Now last year, a second-year team member put his hand in running chain. I'm not really sure why, but his hand was a little cut up after that.

[Scott Kozutsky]

Not quite during build season but on Christmas eve I broke my femur. If the broken bone severs one of the main arteries that runs down your leg you can bleed out in 20 mins so I've been told. This was my rookie year.

[Thromgord]

There are a couple of good ones over here:

Two years ago at Regionals, me and another person were carrying out a robot onto the field when I tripped on the dolly it had been carried on. I fell halfway down and effectively caught my end of the robot with my calf. While this didn't break the skin, it did hurt a lot and left a pretty impressive bruise. Fortunately, the robot was okay, which is the important part.

Last year, we were using a spring-loaded catapult to throw our ball. The device was pulled back with a pretty powerful winch (~350lbs of force) because the springs were really strong. A member of our team got his finger caught between the bottom of the mechanism and the catapult, and the end of his finger was nearly crushed off. There was lots of blood loss and he ended up going into shock despite our best efforts... which was unbelievably scary. Fortunately, both him and his finger are doing better, though his fingernail will never be the same.

We're trying to take safety a little more seriously this year... so far, everyone seems to be more safety-conscious than last year. We'll see if we can get through the build season without incident. I really hope so.