Exposed gears/chain

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

Agreed. I would much rather have students protected by sound decision making skills than by chain guards you learn you have to add only once you're at the regional. Sheids etc do have their place, but chain guards are only really in a position to be helpful if you're sticking your hand inside an enabled robot. If you're doing that, you're asking to be hurt whether or not there are chain guards.

To draw a parallel to surfing: you can make everyone wear a life jacket before they can even look at water, but at the end of the day it's best to give people a healthy understanding, respect and fear of the ocean.

I think there's an XKCD on this topic...

And this is exactly right. I also agree with Cory's "safety theater" comment: I was reprimanded earlier this year for not yelling "robot" in front of a virtually empty pit row. Is it technically safer to yell robot at all times? Probably. What are the chances that it will ever stop someone from being hurt? Near zero.

Here's a really interesting look at why school buses don't have seat-belts in them (generally): http://www.nbcnews.com/id/40820669/n.../#.VQCkwvnF_8o

This is safety design done intelligently and effectively.

[barn34]

My personal rule of thumb is that if a system failure could cause serious injury even while the robot is properly disabled and/or unpowered (perfect example is a stored energy catapault from 2014) you should definitely implement some sort of safety device for that system.

For example, if any part of our shooter latch system would have failed last year (pneumatic system, latch control, set point check, latch pin, etc.) it would have made for a very bad day for anyone with a body part anywhere near it even with the robot properly disabled. Thus, we made sure to diligently utilize a safety strap anytime work was required around the robot when energy was stored in the catapault and the robot disabled and/or unpowered.

On the flip side, we have exposed sprockets and chains on the intake of our robot this year, but we don't utilize a specific guard or shield. The reason is because anytime the robot is properly disabled, those gears/sprockets aren't at risk of moving and causing an injury. See the difference between the two situations? If you follow general safe procedures regarding robot/person interaction and making sure the robot is always disabled and/or unpowered, you shouldn't have a safety concern regarding open sprockets and chains. Does that make sense?