I have to agree with John Frizell & Roger Plant about the power LED - it€™s not a good idea. Despite its intended use, the simple fact of the matter is that over time people WILL become complacent and rely on the LED as a safety indicator. One of the main reasons for having a removable link (apart from being more difficult to damage) was so that people would have a visible indicator of if a robot has power or not and this cannot go wrong like an LED can. If the heat of the moment is enough to cause someone to forget a link they put in only a few minutes ago, I find it difficult to contemplate that theyd even notice the LED was illuminated, and on a bright summer day nobody would be able to see it anyway - not even an ultra bright one.

Although in theory the link plate thing is a good idea, in practice I feel it will be very difficult to implement, especially for beginners and people with odd shaped robots.

Here€™s another option ..........

How about instead of using an LED power indicator, make sure links are placed in an easily visible location, and then protected with clear polycarb so at a glance it will be much easier to see if a robot is powered up or not. This method is also very reliable as the indicator is the link itself and as it does not need to be illuminated to work, it can be seen just as easily on a sunny day as it would indoors or when it€™s cloudy.

As for deactivating robots which have died in the middle of the arena, what Jonno said is exactly what the power LED should NOT be used for, After a fight when robots are immobilised, and a member of my crew has to go in to make them safe, a quick visual check, tells the person which ones are definitely live and which ones are (visually) dead. And so which ones to go for first.

I don€™t know if this has occurred to anyone already but surely for events such as Roaming Robots which are held on a regular basis wouldn€™t it be a good idea to build a large heavy robot with a big scoop/shovel, specifically designed for moving dead robots? Im thinking of something very much like the thing Derek Foxwell built which was used at the Robotwars S7 Qualifiers for the same purpose.

Using an ROV to make robots safe would be far better than sending people in to do it, and much easier than fiddling around with pulling links out with long hooks. It would also be entertaining for the audience to watch. Any dead or out of control robots could simply be driven to the side of the arena and pinned against the wall while the link is pulled out.

I know this would not be suitable for every single event, but I€™m sure it would be feasible for the regular event holders such as RR. As for events without this system in place, there are usually other robots that would be able to do the same task (albeit not so effectively) and of course if that doesn€™t work there is still the option to wait for the robots batteries to run out.


Dominic

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