Remote Kill Switch

[Tungrus]

Originally Posted by Fields

A lot of teams don't know/forget that the space bar on the computer is an emergence kill switch. As a result (also coming from some unsafe practices) people are getting run over by 100 lb robots. People can't argue that part.
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This takes a VERY proactive approach to having someone specifically watch for emergencies. No, you can't stop people from making bad choices, but you can make it easier to make good ones.
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Thoughts?

You bring up the good points. There is no guarantee that a team who forgets about the space bar or enter key on the computer to press the kill switch.

Yes, keeping an eye on robot going rogue and stopping it is not easy.

I think instead of making more rules and more "safety" agents patrolling the pits, every team should be proactive and train their robot operators. First thing is to stop the robot from randomly running around and crashing into someone or something (rogue robot?). Our team has been trained to put the robot on wood blocks and ensure that wheels don't touch them, even if we are not testing the drive. Other thing is about actuators/manipulators, each season and every team has different design. Easier and a common solution would be to have a "kill radius" as recommended by others. so make sure that everyone stands beyond this imaginary circle, even if you are not testing manipulators. This could reduces the risk of accidents, and again there is no 100% guarantee that accidents don't happen.