ESD Events and Their Effect on Your Robot!

ESD stands for electrostatic discharge and describes the rapid transfer of electrons from one entity to another. As robots move around the foam game mat, they slowly transfer electrons to the game mat which gives the robots a positive net charge. Then, when they interact with a metal game element or make contact with the perimeter wall, electrons flow from the metal to the robot until the charge of both reaches an equilibrium. This surge of electrons can disrupt and damage control system electronics on a robot. That's why before competitions, all of the game fields are sprayed by Staticide which is a popular antistatic spray. This spray leaves an invisible conductive "skin" on the surface of the game field to prevent the build-up of static and therefore, ESD events. To find out more information visit the first blog page focused on this topic: http://firsttechchallenge.blogspot.com/2018/09/analyzing-electrostatic-discharge-events.html