Our point as an EO regarding Lipos

Obviously there are concerns over running Lipos at events, however if used and treated carefully and kept within there limits there shouldn't be any issues. Would thing I would encourage is for teams (especially heavyweights) to learn and understand about the technology before jumping in with them.

It had been spoken about having a list of approved manufacturers etc, however we are going to allow any, but we would strongly suggest you buy the best equipment you can afford. Don't go out and buy the cheapest cells/chargers you can find. If this starts to become an issue then we would have to look at an approved list.

As John has mentioned, something that I have spoke to the Big Nipper guys about, who ran the trial, is to have a specific Lipo charging table, as somebody must to watchhing Lipos when on charge. We know at events you are used to plugging in your charger and then going off for a natter, but with Lipos this cant be done, therefore by having all the chargers on one table, then it only needs one person to monitor them. This will be up to the roboteers to organise who's watching and when.

Please remember the EOs are putting up alot of risk by allowing LiPos, and we're the one's not receiving any of the benefits. The situation will be constantly monitored, and if there becomes to many problems/issues, they will just get banned. I have no issue with banning individual teams from running them if they do not follow the rules or are in anyway mis-using the batteries. It's our insurance and contracts with venues on the line, and we cannot allow anything to put these at risk.

It's up to you guys to make sure you are competent in using them, and are following the procedures. One person running the wrong type of batteries, charging them incorrectly etc could ruin it for everybody, we cannot police everybody all of the time.

Sorry for the harsh line on this, but I hope you can see where we're coming from.