PUBLIC RELEASE

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Team Branding

Detailed information about team branding can be found in the team's branding guide.

Robot Safety

Our robots are powerful machines. They might seem like toys or elaborate remote control cars, but just one of our motors can produce in excess of 300 Watts of power and we often use eight or more of them on a single robot. They can move quicker than you can and apply forces strong enough to break steel and aluminum. It is important that you understand how to identify if an FRC robot is enabled.

All FRC Robots MUST have a safety light. The light is orange and should be mounted in a highly visible location on the robot. As of 2015, the light will be solidly lit when the robot is powered on and disabled. The light will blink when the robot is enabled.

When a student or mentor activates a robot for testing, the individual activating the robot is required to loudly and clearly announce the name of the robot and the fact that the robot is being activated. This is a hard requirement and must be done whether there are two people in the fieldhouse or twenty. It is incumbent on the person activating the robot to ensure that this command is not only communicated but also received by all people in the immediate vicinity of the robot. It is not acceptable to verbalize that you are activating a robot only to promptly run over another student, mentor, or other bystander.

In certain situations, additional measures must be taken to reduce the risk of injury and damage as a result of robot actions. This can vary from game to game. For example, our 2026 robot Phalanx, for a brief time during early development, had a rule requiring a designated spotter. Phalanx was never operated unless there was a designated safety spotter whose sole job is to look at where the fuel is going. This rule came out of multiple near misses and was in place until there was confidence in the accuracy of the game piece scoring mechanism.

Confidentiality

We want to keep some aspects of our robot design and strategy confidential during the competition season, so we limit posting of photo/video material until the appropriate phase of the season. Confidential material is limited to sharing only with active team members and mentors.

Please extend this same courtesy to other teams. Often, we may have other teams visit The Hive during the build and competition seasons. Any media which shows their robot or mechanisms in the background must be considered confidential until after championships. This does not apply to photos and videos taken at events which are open to the public.

When sharing confidential material electronically, please utilize appropriate safeguards. For example, Google Drive documents containing sensitive information should never be available to anyone with the link. Each student and mentor has a Google account for a good reason. Either limit it to those within the growingSTEMS workspace or be sure to explicitly whitelist each person who can access the files or folders.

When sending/posting material or links, especially when sharing outside Slack, it is not a bad idea to include a confidentiality reminder. For example, the confidentiality reminder should be included in every email which contains confidential images. Examples of appropriate markings can be found in the security classification guide.

Additional information about what material needs to be safeguarded can be found in the security classification guide. If you are unsure about any of these policies, please talk to Andrew Koch.

Discipline

The RoboBees is a high performing team committed to excellence. It is expected that all students genuinely want to be there, participate fully, and experience the full breadth that the program has to offer.

The mentors believe that since the students are in high school, it’s important for them to learn how to handle things on their own. This is part of the growing process. However, if there is a situation where the mentors feel the student’s safety or well-being is a concern, or the student is being kicked off the team, then parents will be notified of what is going on.

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