Containment or nothing.
A one-pound robot with a spinning weapon stores enough energy to put a piece of itself — or a piece of its opponent — somewhere you really don’t want it. The policy is short because it has no exceptions.
So where do I test?
Lab test-box days
We run scheduled open-lab sessions with a staffed test box — bring the bot, the transmitter, and your charged batteries in their LiPo bag. Staff walk you through the functional safety test procedure the first time; after that you run it yourself with supervision.
Session dates are announced with each event cycle — get on the list and you’ll hear about every one.
At events
Every IRL event has a test box available all day. Inspection itself is run in it, and you can re-test after repairs between matches — it’s the single most useful table at the venue.
Build-your-own plans
Status Published test-box plans are pending engineering review— polycarbonate thickness, panel fastening, and door interlock details are being validated before we put a design in front of families. They’ll be posted here when the review closes. This is deliberately the only “coming later” item on this site: a half-reviewed containment design is worse than none.
Until then: the lab box and event boxes cover every legitimate testing need, and un-powered work — assembly, fit checks, wiring with the battery out — is always fine at home.