Event safety and the need for a proper fully enclosed arena

[leorcc]

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.

Having seen more arenas and competitions from the last couple of months I'd say there is plenty of blame to go around for everyone. Also though I may not fault the EO for what happened 100%, I can fault them for how they dealt with the aftermath.


From the article:

He was discharged and asked to go home after being provided first aid, even though he was bleeding continuously and needed stiches.

“We never expected IIT Bombay to take such a callous approach towards this issue,” said a participant from Malaysia. They, along with others, refused to play the game after the incident. However, organisers reportedly assured them nothing would happen and continued the game till late evening

Regardless on who is to blame for what, that is not the way to handle a situation like this.

[Flag Captured]

It's times like this where I think there should be a 'World Combat Robotics Council' or something, to unify all the different Combat Robot organisations around the globe to make them all safe and keep the sport alive, and if there is already such a group they need to be having serious words with these EOs and competitors... As unfortunate as it is that someone was hurt, at least they've not been killed. That'd be a huge blow for the sport as a whole, and dare I say that if that was a headline on BBC news or something, 'Student killed at Robot Fighting event', insurance would probably increase for the events, and people might not want that risk of having events in their venues over here and across the world as a worst case scenario.

Maybe that's a bit far out, but that can't really be risked for the sake of everyone's wellbeing and the sport's existence. Perhaps inviting the governing bodies or top EOs or whatever of the Indian side of the sport can't harm, then they can see how our arenas are constructed and see what's needed to keep some of these machines safely enclosed. Hopefully these unfortunate events serve as a wake-up call for them...

[Eventorizon]

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?

The article says 19. Same age I built Conker. Problem is that safety is lax everywhere around them, the whole country, well most of it. I know its not really a true comparison but 1950's F1, everyone stood at the side of the road. No one really took stock of the risks, its was all part of the show, until someone gets killed. Took them 30 years to sort that out and even then it wasn't perfect. [I have just watched Rush if you are wondering why I am comparing the two.]

[mrsam]

Ellis sorry if it looked like i was taking offence i did realise that my comment looked like i was just placing all of the blame on the organisers

[james...venom]

Firstly our thoughts go out to the family and the man who was injured. I hope he is ok and makes a full recovery.

We have been invited to attend this event for a couple of years now. Each year it would appear a new student organises the event. I don't know who makes the decision of who manages the event though.

Each year we have said we didn't feel it safe and have kept in touch from time to time to see how changes in the rules and the arena were going. We told the organisers many times that our robots and any spinners would not be safe to run in their arena and why and they insisted safety is their main concern. I sent them a video of Predator (as a 13kg bot) to show them what our machines were like. The first year they told me they would be adding a roof and would confirm the screen specifications later once they had decided what was required. They didn't add a roof. For the second year they said it was very likely to add a roof for the upcoming event. A few months ago they finally said that our robots wouldn't be able to come as the arena would not be up to the specification required.

It is such a shame this has happened and I don't think its correct to point the blame at someone especially as its unclear how the event is run and who by. If it was a uni run project who commissioned/oversaw it and who was responsible for safety and risk assessments.

Don't forget it wasn't that long ago some of the events in the UK and US were questionable. Net roofs, No roofs and people in the arena with live robots. Fortunately safety really stepped up in 06 however it is important to keep on top of things like tech checks, cradles and arming up as it only takes 1 slip of the mind or a bit of complacency for something to happen. Next time your at any event please do help the EO's and bear this in mind. Also if you think there is something we should be looking into please bring it up.

[typhoon_driver]

I agree with Dave on this one. Safety culture is doesn't exist as far as I can tell. Offer guidance by all means but that's about all you can do.

[RogueTwoRobots]

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.)

Have looked at a couple of pictures and videos. I reckon the piece that hit the driver went through a gap where there was no screening on it - not sure what it was for, maybe the space for umbilical cords to pass through, as a lot of those robots have.

And pretty sure you are right with acrylic. In the video at the start of this thread, a split second after the driver gets hit, look at the bottom front corner of the arena. Another part of the bar smashes through the acrylic towards the crowd. It doesn't appear to be travelling quite as fast, which is fortunate or there could have been more than one injury from this fight.