Moving lift to put gear on peg easier

[Cal578]

What's unsafe about a pilot moving the string a little while a robot attempts to load a gear? It seems to me that the worst that would happen is that the robot jiggles the spring, which transmits some of the jiggle to the string, so the pilot feels some jiggle and maybe loses grip of the string. That doesn't sound dangerous, so I think it makes sense that there's no rule prohibiting it.

[engunneer]

Originally Posted by Cal578

What's unsafe about a pilot moving the string a little while a robot attempts to load a gear? It seems to me that the worst that would happen is that the robot jiggles the spring, which transmits some of the jiggle to the string, so the pilot feels some jiggle and maybe loses grip of the string. That doesn't sound dangerous, so I think it makes sense that there's no rule prohibiting it.

at a minimum, if the driver loses grip on the lift handle, it will probably fall outside the porthole, and it would be illegal and unsafe to try to get it back. pilots must be very careful with handles!

FIRST almost always limits cases such that the robot and the human can't be touching game pieces at the same time. since there is a field element in between them, and the pilot is also connected through a flexible element, it may remain as it is currently written. I know it was in our discussion that the pilot would lift the gear out of the robot with the lift, though thinking about it more, that's not a good idea if the pilot is not paying attention.

[GeeTwo]

Another thing to note is that the "peg" that the robot must place the gear upon is actually a spring, not a solid item. It can presumably be easily deflected up/down/left/right. 3946 currently intends to exploit this feature in our gear hanger.

[TDav540]

Originally Posted by engunneer

at a minimum, if the driver loses grip on the lift handle, it will probably fall outside the porthole, and it would be illegal and unsafe to try to get it back. pilots must be very careful with handles!

FIRST almost always limits cases such that the robot and the human can't be touching game pieces at the same time. since there is a field element in between them, and the pilot is also connected through a flexible element, it may remain as it is currently written. I know it was in our discussion that the pilot would lift the gear out of the robot with the lift, though thinking about it more, that's not a good idea if the pilot is not paying attention.

If the pilot isn't paying attention, they shouldn't be the pilot.

[Aur0r4]

I agree, while FIRST may (and will likely) issue some kind of overly conservative clarification on this issue (and it is a very good question), they idea that this is somehow dangerous is a massive stretch.

I'm a huge proponent of industrial safety and appreciate FIRST having to blend in real world industrial safety standards due to the fact that we are dealing with machines.....they aren't remote controlled bulldozers or mining equipment.

Much of what we must abide by likely originates from insurance requirements, not any eminent source of harm.