Risk of the Lift?

[Bongle]

There are really three methods.

Ramp
Lift from above
Lift from below

I can see lift from below being dangerous because your centre of gravity is above the lifting point and toppling is an issue, but lifting from above should be safe as long as your attach point is solid and they aren't lifting you with silly string.

Ramps are only slightly less dangerous from a toppling perspective. Maneuvering onto a 3ft wide ramp at low speeds will be very difficult for many robots because a motor might stall and all of a sudden they spin and fall off. You can't go at high speeds because you'll damage the lifting robot and also probably fall off. If either your drivers or the rampbots drivers bump their controls, you can easily topple off.

If you're 12 inches off the ground on a ramp, you're just as far up as on a lift. That's just as much robot-destroying potential energy. In either case an accidental movement of either robot might topple you. If you're lifting from above, with a chain, even the lifting robot jiggling might be safe since you you just sway. The lifted robot could do whatever they want.

There were plenty of robots in 2004 that chin-upped without incident despite other robots competing for limited chinup space. Many of them got substantially higher than just 12 inches.