Do pit vipers count as legal eye protection?
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Pit vipers are venomous snakes and thus would pose an S1 violation.
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Its also a G1 violation which states
" Treat everyone with respect. All Teams are expected to conduct themselves in a respectful and professional manner while competing in VEX Robotics Competition events."
I don’t think it would be a respectful or professional manner to bring a venomous snake to a competition.
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While I agree that bringing a venomous snake to the robotics tournament is not a good idea and violates many rules, with seriousness, I would recommend that you read the VRC Over Under game manual and look at rule S4.
Here’s the link to the game manual for your convenience. VRC Over Under Game Manual - VEX Robotics
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If they are considered safety glasses or have side shields, they are legal.
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To actually answer your question, here is rule S4:
“ Wear safety glasses. All Drive Team Members must wear safety glasses or glasses with side shields”
Since pit vipers do not have side shields, no
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To answer this simply and with least amount of words: no
I have been to many competitions in Indiana and only worn glasses (no side coverings); it seems like everyone is ok with it. Is this ever enforced in other places? And if you have glasses, how do you recommend (comfortably) protecting your eyes and meeting this rule?
Wear safety glasses. All Drive Team Members must wear safety glasses or glasses with side shields while in the Alliance Stations during Matches. While in the pit area, it is highly recommended that all Team members wear safety glasses.
Yes this is enforced at other events but not enforced at all at other events. A rule not being enforced at one event does not mean it won’t be enforced at another event. Come to the event prepared to comply with all rules.
They make side shields for prescription glasses and they make safety glasses that fit over other glasses. Either would make you in compliance. Not sure what comfort has to do with it. I assume pit vipers with side shields would be ok but the final call would be up to the head referee at the event to determine if he felt that safely met the requirement.
If you tie it around your head in a way that completely covers your eyes, maybe it does work effectively as eye protection.
…but pray tell, how will you see the field???
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or
I have worn glasses that don’t have side shields and been perfectly fine. You don’t need face shields (that or, if you do need them, the people running the event didn’t know that you need face shields)
by saying “to answer this simply and with the least amount of words”, you answered it simply, but with the most amount of words.
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Pit Viper does make ANSI Z87+ eyewear which would qualify as safety glasses. Not all Pit Viper glasses are ANSI Z87+ compliant, however.
Along with the variability of requiring side shields for prescription glasses, your mileage may vary. I’d recommend making sure that students had “traditional” safety glasses available in case a judge questioned their legality.
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It depends on which pair of glasses you’re using.
These have side shields, so they’re legal. However, other glasses that don’t are illegal. On the other hand, covering your eyes with a venomous snake would be a violation of S1 (Be safe) and G1 (Be kind and professional).
Two “judge instead of referee” posts in a single day… please realize that judges and referees are two different groups of people. Judges don’t care about horns (or safety glasses) unless you document it in your engineering notebook. The extra work to do the horn would be an interesting page in the EN for the Judges if you documented it. Referees are the officials who would make the call on a nonfunctional decoration (the horn) or decide if true “safety glasses” are required, or if standard eyewear is sufficient (it can vary at every event, especially local/regional events). Getting used to wearing safety glasses is good experience: in industry, we always wear safety glasses in the shop/factory.
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Very sorry for the misusage of “judge” and “referee”, I will take steps to alter my writing in the future to avoid this great error.
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pit viper are a pair of sun glasses like this
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Y’all, they aren’t talking about the venomous snake. Certain types of Pit Viper glasses have side coverings, so by that logic, they should be legal and can be the replacement for safety glasses. But if I were you, I’d stay on the safe side and bring some of these: The Side Piece Grand Prix – Pit Viper. Ironically, they are made by Pit Viper, but they can help you bypass S4 since they count as side shields. My team has a bunch of them since many of us wear prescription glasses, and we can slide these onto them, making them drive-team safe. So if another team wants to challenge S4 on your Pit Vipers, I’d have the Pit Viper side shields by your side. I hope this helps you out!
Funny stuff in here, especially post #2.
But to drift back to the serious side for a minute…
While not wearing eye protection, I’ve personally had a shattered drill bit hit me in the eye (lodged BETWEEN the eyelid and eyeball cutting my eyeball slightly).
And, while wearing protection, have had a pair of safety glasses take a direct impact of flying debris at 60(?) mph, enough to destroy the glasses, saving my vision.
Wear your safety glasses at ALL times. That means REAL safety glasses. They WILL save your vision one day. And side shields DO matter.
I buy these by the box and leave them everywhere. They are tough, cheap, comfortable, have side protection, and are real safety glasses.
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