pic: FRC Robots are the best mode of transportation!

[Edoc'sil]

Ehh, I think your a bunch of pansies, you think I am an idiot. Guess I really don't care, I am done with the whole first thing anyways.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Edoc'sil

Lighten up safety addicts, your like the plague.

A constant awareness of safety is a plague I would welcome.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Edoc'sil

Lighten up safety addicts, your like the plague. Honestly, the best way to teach someone how to swing a hammer is to let him smack his thumbs a few times... It is unlikely that someone will retain permanent damage from ridding their bot, and they could learn a few valuable lessons on the teachings of Darwin and Newton....

As someone who has done their fair share of stupid "unsafe" actions statements like this scare me. While I generally agree with the live and let learn approach to teaching safety is the one thing it will never apply to in my book. What you may consider a minor injury (a bruise or a decent cut) some parents may consider negligence. While I hate to be "that guy" I have to point out that if a parent gets lawsuit happy the school could decide to shut us down.

Now, do I think that riding a bot is inherently dangerous? Not if done with caution. For example, this one doesn't seem to be moving in the picture. I assume it moved at some point in time during the demo though. The rider should most definitely be wearing a helmet. His hands seem clear of the chain and it looks like he is resting his weight on the main frame of the robot...

That being said, why was this done? We once thought about doing this during prototyping to weight the robot down but then realized the less stupid way of doing it would be to use lead blocks.

[JamJam263]

While it is a good looking picture, I have to agree with they safety concerns.

[EricH]

A smart person learns from his own mistakes. A genius learns from everyone else's mistakes in addition to his own.

Something about nobody ever living long enough to make all the mistakes themselves...

Yes, the drivetrain is apparently shielded. Yes, he does seem to have a good grip on the robot. However, if that robot moves, I would expect anybody riding it to a) not be riding it or b) be wearing appropriate safety gear (helmet, safety glasses, possibly gloves) and c) have extra handles attached for extra grab by a rider. Oh, and a very easy-to-get-to main breaker and E-stop in case something does go wrong.

The other thing is this little thing called insurance. If somebody got hurt doing something like this, insurance companies would make a big deal. Then, there goes the team due to a chain of events. I know at my workplace (a go-kart track), every track worker wears a helmet and ankle-high work boots (and most of us wear steel-toe work boots) due to insurance 'requests" (low ceilings and karts that could hit you if you can't jump fast enough are apparently dangerous). Not to mention the height requirements, which are strict because of insurance.

I think I made myself clear in that: safety is not unimportant.

[jason701802]

Although your concerns about insurance companies are legitimate, his chance of being injured is far lower than his chance of getting in a serious car wreck on his way to school that morning. As long as the driver is being careful, not going very fast or accelerating quickly, his danger of being injured in negligible.

Considering his position of the robot, there is no feasible way that any of his limbs could get caught in any moving parts.

P.S. why don't some of you go harp on the people making PVC t-shirt cannons? they are immeasurably more dangerous than this.

[Steven Sigley]

Did someone say robot chair?

Meet the SigWay.

A chairbot I built that was named after me. Got to ride it around a few times a week or two before graduating and then just a little after as you can tell by this picture. I think it's my coolest achievement because a lot of the work done on it was by me and an underclassmen, Josie Murphy.

http://www.vandenrobotics.com/plogge...icture&id=3255

[fireyoshi]

I was the driver. I always made sure his hands were away from the chain, made sure we had constant communication, and made sure the e-stop was close by. This was done in front of a college-styled classroom (tiered seats and desks) so we had about 25 feet of room. The robot was also tethered with a shorter than usual ethernet, so we didn't have a lot of leeway to drive. All I did was drive forward 10 ft at about 1-3 fps. Stop. Drive backwards at the same rate. Stop. Repeat about 3 times. We didn't go down the hall at full speed or crash into the walls or anything to that vein. Skateboarding, bicycle riding, and four wheeling (all three very popular in my area) are way more dangerous than what we did. If anyone else has any more questions please ask away.

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by Edoc'sil

Honestly, I heal now, I won't heal so well when I am old. Better to make my mistakes now, no?

Read this thread and ask this person whether your theory holds up - http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ghlight=safety

Better safe than sorry.

[JesseK]

Talking safety to a teenage goofball or adrenaline junky of any age is correlative to talking about Wine to Isaac Newton while he was sitting under the apple tree: the underlying concept is there but it is much less valued than that which interests them.

We need an emoticon for the expression "beating a dead horse".

[EricH]

Originally Posted by jason701802

P.S. why don't some of you go harp on the people making PVC t-shirt cannons? they are immeasurably more dangerous than this.

We do--every time one gets posted. There hasn't been one posted for a month or two.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by jason701802

Although your concerns about insurance companies are legitimate, his chance of being injured is far lower than his chance of getting in a serious car wreck on his way to school that morning. As long as the driver is being careful, not going very fast or accelerating quickly, his danger of being injured in negligible.

Considering his position of the robot, there is no feasible way that any of his limbs could get caught in any moving parts.

P.S. why don't some of you go harp on the people making PVC t-shirt cannons? they are immeasurably more dangerous than this.

And the chances of a plane crash are even lower but we still have to hear those lectures every time we fly. I fail to see the point of this comparison however since he isn't driving a car he was doing a pointless activity.

Put a helmet on him at LEAST. The human skull is not that durable and head injuries are nasty. Yeah, it may make him look silly but so will having a fracture in his skull or permanent brain damage.

As for your PS, just because you don't want to hear something doesn't make it "harping on something".

[iblis432]

Do I think this was unsafe? Yes. Do i ask everyone here not to drive their car because a drunk driver might be on the road tonight? no. Could the drink i be drinking right now be spiked with poison? Possibly. There's always a risk, this carried a greater one then others. But I fail to see the significance in telling him he was stupid when we should be happy he's ok. There have been stupider things done in robotics than this (for anyone on my team reading this, LIKE PUTTING A BATTERY WITH FRAYED WIRES ON THE ROBOT) Personally, I think it looks like fun, and judging by the picture and what he said, I'd say at this time he wasn't some freshman riding the robot, but a senior or a graduate that knew the risks. He seems to recognize the robot's center of gravity quite well, so i for one applaud him on taking many of the nesacarry saftey measures.

[pacoliketaco]

I think everyone here is focusing on the wrong thing. this is not built for safety, obviously. have you not ever ridden your robots? my favorite thing to do is strap a chair(2x4 or other kind of wooden plank) to the top of a robot, and drive it around the school. or have other people drive me around on it. can't you just let this kid have some fun? this was posted to show what some kid thought would be fun, and thus i would agree. i dont see why this is even an argument, other than just people saying how much fun this is to do. haha

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by pacoliketaco

I think everyone here is focusing on the wrong thing. this is not built for safety, obviously. have you not ever ridden your robots? my favorite thing to do is strap a chair(2x4 or other kind of wooden plank) to the top of a robot, and drive it around the school. or have other people drive me around on it. can't you just let this kid have some fun? this was posted to show what some kid thought would be fun, and thus i would agree. i dont see why this is even an argument, other than just people saying how much fun this is to do. haha

Overarching talk of safety annoys me as much as anyone, but when you're holding onto a robot with just your hands, gripping within a few inches of moving roller chain, I wouldn't compare that to a rigidly mounted chair driven by a carefully watched, responsible driver at low speeds.