The Robotics Realization Laboratory (RRL) is a multi-user lab intended to create a thriving community of robotics researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park. This shared use model requires engagement from the users themselves for training new users and maintaining equipment. Equipment use fees go toward supporting material costs and equipment maintenance and DO NOT currently support staff, faculty, or student salaries. Users Currently, the lab is limited to users who are members of the Maryland Robotics Center (or researches closely affiliated with a faculty member in the center). Getting access In order to provide safe, accessible access to the RRL, you need to go through a lab orientation and get qualified on equipment that you plan to use. Lab orientation: email the lab manager (Ivan Penskiy, ipenskiy[at]umd[dot]edu) to schedule the orientation. Each session should only take about half an hour and will cover the lab overview as well as general safety information (Orientation slides). Equipment training: once you have gone through the orientation, you may get trained and qualified on equipment that you plan to use. Read through the appropriate SOPs and manuals and contact the lab manager to schedule your training. Scheduling RRL uses Google calendars for reserving the equipment and lab space. Users get permission to reserve equipment after being trained on it. All equipment has to be reserved in advance and the changes in plans (extension, cancelation, etc) have to be reflected in the calendar. Repeated disregard and abuse of the scheduling system will lead to removal of the access privileges. Scheduling page has a list of all calendars to the equipment in RRL. Safety This lab contains both equipment and chemicals that can hurt you so be careful! Everybody must follow the lab's safety rules. Etiquette A couple points of etiquette will make this a much happier place for all members. Repeated violation of these will lead to removal of the user's access to RRL. Do not touch things that aren't yours or equipment that you are not trained on. Clean up after yourself. Showing up to use equipment that has been left in a state of disaster is no fun to anyone and can damage the equipment. Cell phone usage. Use your best judgement here. If you are the only person in the lab (okay for some equipment, but not generally recommended), feel free to talk as much as you'd like as long as it does not distract from using the equipment. If others are in the lab, please make sure that you are not bothering them by using the phone.