Rule 4.4 Remote Kill (Advisory Only)

:-) Thank you, Ian, but Im only the world number 24 at tiddlywinks - Id like to do better with a combat robot (I know, thats fighting talk!) Besides, winks isnt a spectator sport, so the public acclaim is always going to be a bit limited.

Dont worry, Im expecting to make the same blood sacrifice on sharp edges as everyone else, and if I didnt have a death wish I wouldnt be so keen on doing my own thing with the electronics, rather than using nice standard parts. Id just like to make the machine as safe as I can from my own point of view - being the first death on the circuit would be an extremely embarrassing way to autodarwinate, and not good for the community! (Er, from a press point of view; peoples opinion of me as part of the community may vary...) Isnt the theory that your machine is only likely to be competitive if it scares you witless?

My theory is that the more modes of failure I can compensate for, the less likely my robot is to lose (or kill me). Ill count my paranoia as healthy until such time as I decide I cant bear to be in an arena!

Meanwhile, back on the ranch... using relays for the primary cut-out: isnt there a bouncing issue under severe impact? Id always been biased towards solid-state, but Im prepared to be told this has never been a problem.

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Fluppet

With Albrights I never encountered any problems with bounce or welded contacts. The SW80 24V B handles 36V with ease, and has a 500A rating for several long seconds before the temperature gets over what Albright sees as lifespanshortening.

In Project One 1 of these did shut down all main power when the single Futaba FS1 failsafe did failsafe.Now the relay itself got fed from the main power.Trough 2 RC switches in series :the first failsafed, the second on a handswitched channel.

I would say the glass or ceramic cut off blade is overenginering, and asking for trouble when relied on that. glass and ceramics do share 1 disadvantage. Those are rather fragile if it comes to shocks RW style.

If you want to be sure, you ad a single 30A car relay ,with a heavy fuse so it can short out when it gets switched on.Then a cheap dependable car relay will smoke, and a fuse will blow. Nothing terminal or expensive.But permanent untill repaired

This may sound like a silly question, but just double checking......
Remote Kill and power light.
Does the power light go OFF when your bot is on remote kill.
Or should the power light ONLY go off when your link is out?
As on paper, you can easily turn remote kill off and kill someone.

Mr Stu

Stu, absolutely not. The power light only goes out when the link is removed. I will have 2 lights, one for link and the other for remote kill / failsafe indication on M2.

Good Good.

Mr Stu

Meant to say: thanks for the suggestion, Mario. Id certainly have to be careful with ceramics (I was thinking in terms of a rubber sheath of some kind - but then realised that this might turn into one of *those* threads if I mentioned it). Id wondered about the fuse route - although its probably harder to engineer, at least to my inexperienced eye. Ill look into it again.

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Fluppet

I think people shouldnt see a robot in failsafe mode as safe. My robot scared me shitless during series 7, even though I KNEW the failsafes were VERY good. Its still a 5 ton throwing thing on wheels... So even if a robot was remotely killed Id still approach with caution... Robots DO have a tendency to suddenly come to live and stuff... So engineer all you want, but dont forget the power you are dealing with...

WJ, Im glad someone agrees with me, they are not safe when in failsafe mode.

All this talk about robots entering failsafe mode. When on the whole a robot in failsafe is (in my view) far more unsafe that a robot not in failsafe! Think about it... Ok that should be enough time. If a robot has entered failsafe mode then something must have gone wrong therefore it should be treated as if its out of control (because it is) and could set its weapon off or move at any moment. Dont get me wrong they are very important and it no doubt helps with safety.

Getting back to the remote kill. If its going to be used it is an added safety feature but wouldnt it be better if it did exactly what this thread title says, A remote kill, not a remote kill/remote activate. In other words once the remote kill has been activated thats it. The Tx cant retore power. It would be much safer but if it was triggered by accident it would be all over.

Where can you get hold of these albright relays that people have mentioned. (for the UK)
Thanks
Guy

http://www.albright.co.uk/http://www.albright.co.uk/