Cable risk in arenas

I would like to mention an issue which has concerned me for some time which applies to all event organisers and does not appear to have been addressed.
Namely: numerous cables on the floor around all arenas within the polycarb walls, surely it is only a question of time before an ejcted robot lands on them and chops through them.
At best some lights would go out, at worst someone could be killed.
I know there is a lot of overkill on health and safety these days but the current (no joke intended) situation does present a real risk.
How hard can it be to lay the cables on the outside of the polyarb instead?
I feel an additional EO guidline/rule is required, what say you FRA?

Not sure which events/arenas you are referring to Mike. The only cables we run inside our arena are the ones to the arena FX (12volts from a battery), the only other case from what i can recall is at the last Whitwick event we had some speaker cables (once again low voltage) running along the inside of the outer kickboards. As the Amplifiers have built in protection (their equivalent to current limiting), there€™s no risk at our events of a cut cable causing the power to trip or even electrocution, we dont run power or lighting cables inside due to the concerns you have raised.

all our cables are the same, 24v, apart from the grinders which are 110v.

The cables go through the poly at one point, and into the underside of the arena where it then becomes spagettey junction to all of the effects.

And the same as robots live they go under our tiles, and then wood over the top.

from time to time they get kicked up, and cables get exposed, however we put them back, and would ask roboteers to help us buy doing the same if they noticed one had come adrift.

All lighting which is 240v is always outside of the polycarb.

John

I stand corrected on one count Alan, can everyone else do likewise?

Corrected on two counts, I am pleased to say that my fears appear to be unfounded

With the Robochallenge arena I havent seen any cables on the floor either.

Neither does the DRG arena.


(Message edited by leorcc on February 10, 2008)

Ive not seen those arenas (should have said all arenas Ive seen!)
Consider me standing in the corner wearing a pointy hat!

We have a raised wooden floor from the inner arena to the polycarb all the way round that all our cables run under. they cant be seen by eye, or got to in anyway once the arena is fully set-up.

welcome to my world mike :)

I don€™t know if I should raise this question here or not, it dose involve cables and live shows. When I trundle The Saint to the arena from the pits I find cables on the floor get caught under the trolley wheels I have had one wheel collapse when I tried to run over these cables (I now carry a spare) it might be my fault for having that trolley but could it be possible to arrange a path from the pit to the arena where the floor is free of cables.

If not i will just Persevere

Craig - Its upto the roboteers to bring these sort of things up and let the event organisers know of problems like these.
You say if not i will just persevere , the only thing you want to keep persvering with is that you want the cables moved or made easy to wheel your trolly over!
Being part of Robo Challenge and holding events, we find it very helpfull if roboteers let us know what they beleive could be improved safety wise, or just general things you would prefer.
It makes life better for everyone.

ye wires on the floor is a pain but me and my dad normally just carry robot from table into arena - kan opener do this aswel

this way we just have to watch our footing and make sure my dad dont go 2 fast like he does!

I like tripping over:proud:

i like fighting for a power point!, i always bring a mutli extension lead, everyone plugs into it and then theirs no free ones for me :angry:,
and im sorry dave weston but no one is worse than you for taking up your table then moving onto mine! :lol:, he even needs 2 tables when i went to watch the antweights!! i would hate to see him with a hw!

point noted craig :)


I see your point, even if they are taped down they can be a problem.

Roboteers just need to build off-road trollies :rofl:

John
http://www.RoamingRobots.co.ukwww.RoamingRobots.co.uk

Cables in the pits are likely to always be an issue. We use so many electrical points charging and repairing that we have many cables to deal with.

Some cable runs across gang ways are unavoidable. But careful planning will ensure that event organisers keep this to a minimum.

Craig,

Heres an idea, Ive solved the problem

You have now been appointed chief pit power supplier at live events.

You will be armed with a box of extension leads, and you can choose the route, then if you break your trolley you can only blame yourself ! :)

Well volunteered :)

nice one craig

we will be using a trolley from now on - i wont keep breakin my back now

thanks

yep im going to start bringing my trolley again LOL

i hope you spend some of your millions and buy a new one

that one at robots live nearly killed me!

Thats called purposeful design :lol:

lol jonno would never do that to me

hes my business partner

kane you hit the nail on the head !! i failed though !! :)

:blush:

im never talking to you again now jonno :sad:

til april anyways - hope your ready ?

I knew i should have shut up!!:uhoh::)

:)

:sad:

Adrian - I do apoligise, Ill bring my own extension plug next time.

Also, I do seem to take up a lot of space, dunno why, but Ill do my best to keep my mess to a minimum.

PS: If you didnt want me to use the socket, you should of said so !

It seems we dont suffer from powerhogs.

But that can be because we still have those mainland plugs and steal the juice with an adaptor from anybody else.