pic: mounted Anderson

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

In any case, if you look at the other picture that they posted, it's definitely screwed through* the battery.

Oh.. through the handle.

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

[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.

[Kris Verdeyen]

Gluing components to the battery is not allowed per <R65>. Similar rules have disallowed this in previous years also.

Would attaching sticky back velcro to the battery be considered a modification?

[sanddrag]

Do we all have small hands or something? I can pick up the battery with no problem just as it comes. If you can't use both hands. If you don't have two hands free, grab a team mate. It is a probably a good idea to assign one person to be in charge of the batteries anyhow.

[mizscience]

Originally Posted by Kris Verdeyen

Would attaching sticky back velcro to the battery be considered a modification?

No, as that is you adding something to secure the battery, not you trying to permanently attach it to the robot or screwing into it or some other such modification.

[DonRotolo]

Hey, at least they find out NOW that it's not allowed, rather than at inspection.

Telling them is GP.

Don

[PDF32100]

welll i couldnt find a pic of our last year rock and roll robot but we did have the battery right in the front it was protected we had the anderson connector coming aLl the way from the backk to the front and we did screw it onto the frame so it just clicks in as shown we had no problem with it and no problems given from the judges