Noise Limit

[zec2]

One of our mentors today said there was a noise limit on the robots this year, and that he thought our hooded flywheel shooter wouldn’t pass inspection because of that (we are currently direct driving it with gears). I checked the rule book and couldn’t find anything mentioning a noise limit, other than R8, which states that “Speakers, sirens, air horns, or other audio devices that generate sound at a level sufficient to be a distraction” are illegal, but that seems to only apply to devices whose primary purpose is to generate sound. Is there something I’m missing, or was our mentor mistaken?

[ShIfTiNgBoT]

If your robot is SO loud that it makes people question the safety of it, then I’d have some slight concern. But that doesn’t sound like the case here.

Otherwise, you’re 100% fine. High RPM gears have never been an issue, people run pinions on 775’s @ 18K RPM.

[Billfred]

@zec2

“Speakers, sirens, air horns, or other audio devices that generate sound at a level sufficient to be a distraction” are illegal, but that seems to only apply to devices whose primary purpose is to generate sound. Is there something I’m missing, or was our mentor mistaken?

That text has been in the manual, substantially unchanged, since I started in 2004. I’ve never seen it applied to a robot on the field.

[sanddrag]

@Billfred

That text has been in the manual, substantially unchanged, since I started in 2004. I’ve never seen it applied to a robot on the field.

@Billfred This rule came about (I believe) as a result of the 2003 Team 696 robot which featured a car horn. We would flip over our opponents, win the match with 30-60 seconds to spare, then flip over our partner, go up on the ramp, spin around, flail our arms, and honk our car horn driven via Spike relay. I’m pretty sure our 2003 robot was the reason for this rule, and no tipping, and mandatory bumpers.

[EricH]

@sanddrag

and no tipping, and mandatory bumpers.

I generally blame 980 for the bumpers, courtesy of a double red card in 2005 Champs division playoffs (and 330/67 both carried side wedges), despite them not being mandatory until 2008. No tipping was quite a bit before then, I think in the mid-1990s. One of the NE teams usually gets the blame for that one (though as per usual with these, they weren’t the ONLY one).

[GaryVoshol]

Shouldn’t be a problem. The event speakers playing “jet engine at 20 feet” level will cover it up anyway.

[Richard_Wallace]

Eh? What did you say, Gary? I couldn’t hear you over the noise down here by the field.

[Strategic]

Maybe they don’t want people playing music on their Falcons.

[JohnSchneider]

The OSHA baseline for hearing protection is 85dB over an 8 hour weighted average. The stadium speakers are more of a safety hazard than your robot most likely.

[TheRealJamesOo]

lol i can’t wait to see some team incorporate this into there actual robot, i don’t think it violates R8 at all

[Strategic]

It may not violate R8. After all, the primary purpose of the device is not to make noise, it just happens to be able to do that too.

[bjtheone]

I agree that robot noise other than created just for the sake of noise (horns, sirens, flapper cards in the spokes… )is not currently illegal. Having said that I am amazed by the volume level our shooter generates. We were running it with twin 775s and achieved uncomfortable to run in the shop loud. Geared differently with a Neo, it is better but still very loud.

They are definitely going to have to crank up the tunes to drown the field out this year.