Event safety and the need for a proper fully enclosed arena

[Steven Nelson]

Hey Howdy,
My name is Steven Nelson and I am a founding member of the SORC and the RFL in the USA. I started doing combat robotics in 1997 after watching Robot Wars live in San Francisco, California. I've built over 30 robots from 1 lb. to 340 lbs. and have been a competitor, Event organizer, Safety officer Tech inspector, Judge, Head arena wrangler and just about everything else. To get to the point I am interested in what you folks think about the unfortunate incident that happened last weekend at a Robotic Combat event at a University in India. Basically they ran an event with 50 kg. robots with spinning weapons in a very weak and uncovered arena and a large piece of steel bar stock broke loose from one of the robots weapon and flew over the dodgy barrier and hit a competitor directly in the face. I know that you folks in England fight under basically the same rules that we all developed in the last 20 years or so. You also require strong arenas for any type of robotic combat with or without spinning weapons you even have posted guidelines for arena construction standards which is great. So Basically I' like to hear your feedback on what they are doing to the sport in India and how can we all make it safer over there. Safety is in all of our best interests and for the sport in general. Anyways, check this out....

Original article...
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/repor...lation-1946003


The Video of the incident (warning it's graphic)!



Several videos that really show what's considered normal in robotic combat in India!

One Bad Idea... http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq72...eDXh24Q/videos

[Mouldy]

There idiots, and its natural selection at work. I doubt very much you will change what they do over there.. afterall its the country that comutes to work on the side of a train.

What happened was really bad, and things have been flying out of there areana's for ages.. suprised it didnt happen sooner. Just glad the kids still alive.

All you can do is refuse to go to there events until safety improves, and show them either our, or your rules as guidlines.

[mrsam]

I can't believe the utter lack of sense and safety, you can only hope that this incident forces them to rethink how they run their events because if it happens again I doubt they would be so lucky, they should consider it a wakeup call.

[geeza]

I know some of our event organisers have been invited over but decined until they bring their safety and arenas more up to our level. This needs to be a concern of all of us, I agree with Steve in that respect. Something the FRA maybe needs to look at as it may affect events in this country indirectly. Dave is right the guy is lucky to be alive but next time they might not be so lucky.

[Ellis]

It's remarkable that this didn't happen 3 years ago. Or perhaps it did, and wasn't documented. The machines in India have been really improving in the past 12 months, there are several that look like they'd have a fair chance of holding their own in modern middle-heavyweight combat. The arenas don't appear to have improved at all.

Also, I dislike the tone that seems to be coming from this; the suggestion that it's all the EO's fault and that somehow the competitors were forced to build and compete in these arenas. The builders themselves know better than anyone how dangerous their robots can be. As it has been in Europe and over the Atlantic for years, if there is a safety issue, the roboteers rally and get it dealt with. It's the moral responsibility of the competitors. That generally seems to have been ignored and the blame put on the EO, which might be correct legally, but isn't the whole story. I'm not defending the EO, for the record.

Happily, I have seen one or two top Indian teams saying they now refuse to compete until a decent arena is built, which is a step.

All that being said, it is of course a tragedy that someone did get hurt, and so badly. I hope he makes a full recovery. I just hope it finally penetrates the apparent stubbornness of those involved and they now take substantial positive action towards improving safety.

[Eventorizon]

Why not invite them over here? They would see the arena, see the level of safety required on even 13.6kg machines and then get taught a lesson as to why our arena is like this as we slam bits of their machines against the polycarb. NST, 720, Galactus, Drumroll... just one could rip their machines to pieces.

Give them the plans for the RC arena and tell them to build that, to spec.

Just read the article... ACRYLIC! Its made of Acrylic! And they are meant to be engineers! (That said the panel would have shattered if it was so its probably 5mm Polybarb.)

EDIT: Reads Ellis's far more sensible and diplomatic answer... yeah, what he said.

[Garfie489]

Things like this have happened before as people look over the walls, its just before they ducked out of the way in time.

[mrsam]

I do however agree with Ellis, the competitors are just as much at fault as the EO, it's their choice to take part

[Ellis]

Sorry Sam, didn't realise my post could have looked like a dig at you, I was referring to the various posts on Facebook from the competitors at these events!

[PJ-27]

Feel a need to back the competitor's corner here.
They're just a bunch of kids that want to take part in a robotics championship, the person that got hit was 16? I know at that age I would have assumed the organiser's would have been responsible enough to ensure everyone's safety and would have been so excited about the possibility of FIGHTING ROBOTS that whether the arena meets certain criteria would be at the bottom of my thoughts.