Lab Rules

Written by Max GardenswartzUpdated 2026-11-10Autonomy ParkIndoor Lab

At a glance

The rules everyone follows in the lab, in one short list. Read it before you fly, charge a battery, or use anything.

General Rules

All hardware belongs to Dr. Kamalapurkar. We do not lend hardware to anyone outside the SCC roster.
No removing robots/equipment from the Autonomy Park. SCC Lab Members are exempt.
Do not leave the Emlid RTK units outside. It's not waterproof and it's expensive to replace. Bring inside when done.
Read the documentation for a robot before you use it. Every robot has pages in the Robots tab. Read all of them first.
Safety glasses are required outdoors.
No operating robots in weather. Rain and high wind ruin equipment. Bring it inside.
Minimize spectators. Our labs are for research and must be shared. Lots of unnecessary workers can become a safety issue.
Every robot must have an RC with a kill switch. For quadcopters, a disarm switch will not cut it. For ground robots, this usually means a dead-man switch.
Keep things nice. Put all robots away when done, close the blinds, and turn off all lights.
Report all crashes and injuries to Dr. Kamalapurkar. See Report an Incident.

No flying vehicles outside the net. It's illegal. No exceptions.
Never enter the net while a quadcopter is armed or flying. Disarm it first.
No benchwork on drones with batteries and propellers on at the same time. We've had people get seriously injured by unexpected spinning.
Watch flying vehicles at all times. Don't get distracted with your code or a visualizer.

Never leave a charging battery unattended. Charge only with the approved charger, on a non-flammable surface.
Never charge or fly a battery that is hot, damaged, or swollen.
Never charge above 4.2 V per cell, and never discharge below 3.0 V per cell. Any cell outside those limits is permanently damaged. Chargers generally prevent over-charging. Only you can prevent over-discharging.
Never puncture a battery, carry it by its leads, or throw it in the trash.
Put a dropped, damaged, swollen, old, or wrongly charged battery in the ammo can, and tell a lab manager right away. Tape any severed leads first. The Autonomy Park's ammo can is in the storage shed by the Venom chargers. The Indoor Lab's is on a bottom shelf in the Indoor Lab.
Don't fight LiPo battery fires. Get to safety and call 911. Never use an extinguisher, water, or sand.

Those using Dr. Kamalapurkar's drones (Astros and Homebrews) for off-board control must simulate in Autonomy Park SITL first for safety reasons.
No custom firmware/autopilots. Especially for quadcopters, this is a safety risk.
Control barrier functions (CBFs) are required for multi-agent experiments. CBFs for offboard control do not exist yet, and more RFD 900x radios must be bought, so multi-agent experiments are not possible right now.
Every Homebrew needs an RFD 900x radio to fly for safety reasons. Otherwise, your off-board program is the sole failure point for getting a drone to land safely (very dangerous!).

No leaded solder. Leaded waste requires a pick-up. You also cannot mix lead and lead-free solder.
Wash your hands after soldering. Treat it as though it were leaded.
Replace the iron in the holder and turn it off when done. It's a fire risk.