As an I-man I am sure most of you were hounded about staying by the gun in case Murphy's Law struck his gavel on your day. Whether it be wind, vehicles bumping it, a loose nut on the legs, or anything else you can think of always could potentially cause your tripod and instrument to come crashing down. Most people are very particular about the way their instruments are carried and handled. I have been needing to remind my instrument man of all of these things lately and it really got me thinking about the rise of modern robotic instruments. I see them on occasion setup on a sidewalk and seemingly no one around. Our little company recently had a Leica TCR307 go down, and being an older gun the monetary loss wasn't nearly the same as a $20k robot but it did set us back quite a bit. Do you guys that use robots have a new found faith in the tripod that it is on? Have tripods had a manufacturing change that would make them stronger, sturdier, and less prone to falling over? On occasion I have also seen a robot on a tripod with a guy standing at it, I guess to protect it from such random things.
Honestly, the whole idea of tripods just randomly topping over does seem a little on the paranoid side of reality but stranger things have happened and for that reason, I am not sure I would put all my of eggs on one tripod. I'm sure in the not too far off future I will find myself with a robot setup somewhere I can't save it though.
It sure takes the profit out of the job, especially when the repairs cost more than the job brought in gross.