pic: mounted Anderson

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Oh.. through the handle.

Meh. I guess it's a good thing I'm not an inspector then, cause I would let that go.

Elgin, I understand your feeling there. The location of those holes in the battery case is not as dangerous as some other possibilities. Sometimes when a rule violation seems unimportant we are tempted to let it pass. However, as Dave pointed out recently, it is not a robot inspector's prerogative to apply the rules selectively. That would be the same as making a new rule, and making rules is the GDC's job.

In this instance, stress transferred to the battery case through the drilled handle (e.g., due to shock loads when the robot hits something, or by installing a new battery in a hurry) may be outside of the limits considered by the battery's manufacturer when they designed the case. So my opinion is that <R65> makes sense as applied to this situation. But really my opinion about the rule doesn't matter; the rule is there and as an inspector I have to note the violation, and require the team to correct it before their robot can pass inspection.