When building a battlebot you shouldn’t forget about safety. These robots can do serious damage to you and to property. Some of the things I’m going to talk about competitions will require you to do anyways. While other things they won’t require but you should do it.
First, how do you make the battlebot safe? To make a battlebot safe when it’s not being used you should have developed a way to lock down any spinning weapons. Yes this could end up damaging your gearing if it does activate when locked down, but parts can be replaced, fingers and hand can’t. Next if you do have a high RPM weapon the speed controller should have a brake. This way it will stop that weapon fast if for some reason the signal from the controller is lost. Next, all sharp objects should be covered. By doing this you won’t accidently cut yourself. Your motors should have a switch that turns them on and off that can’t accidently be switched on. Most competitions will require this. Also, for added safety a light should be added in with your wiring so you know that the robot is on. The receiver will also need its own switch if it’s not on the same circuit as the motors. Finally, if you are not using the robot you should have it placed on lifts that will keep its wheels off the ground.
Next when you are testing the robot you should do the following. If you are testing a high RPM weapon, you should keep the robot behind some sort of shield, this way if it hits something or self destructs you will be protected. When you’re testing the drive system, you should keep it on its lifts until you know the drive works right, and you should have all weapon motors disconnected. Finally, while you are practicing driving you should do that in a wide open environment where there aren’t any other people, and again your weapons should be disconnected. If you need to practice with the weapons on, then you should put up guards, so if it hits something the object will hit the guard and not you.
Remember these robots are designed to be destructive, which means they can be very dangerous despite their size.
