bag and tag / weather rules
 

We generally don't have to worry about this in Alabama, but we're expecting 2-4 inches of snow and sleet on Sunday night and more possibly on Tuesday with temperatures staying below freezing. The way things are down here in the south, that could shutdown the roads through town for a week because we just don't have the equipment for it. Our build facility is off campus so we don't have to worry if the schools close, but I'm concerned that we won't be able to get to the robot to bag and tag it, or to get the last minute spare parts from the machine shop across town and get them into the bag. I seem to recall some procedure in emergency weather conditions and schools are closed where a mentor and a principal swear on their firstborn that nobody touched the robot after stop build date except to put it in the bag, but I don't see anything in the Admin manual for exceptions - maybe it was in a blog. We have an open house on Sunday so we could go ahead and bag the robot just in case, but I'd hate to have the parts at the machine shop count toward our withholding allowance. I guess I could leave them a bag as well. We've got plenty of tags so that shouldn't be a problem.
Can someone point me toward how this was handled in the past?

Thanks.

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

Im a little worried myself. I think our get together of the upper part of northern Michigan (what a werid sentence) is canceled today. Im hoping the teams around here have gotten all they want done done.... Here is the weather, with a cop/paste of te highlights of this weekend...

http://www.google.org/publicalerts/a...=US&source=web

"Low wind chills of 25 to 35 below zero are expected through tonight."

"Strong winds will produce significant blowing and drifting snow with frequent White-out conditions into this afternoon. The strongest winds and worst conditions are expected to occur this morning along the western shoreline of the Keweenaw Peninsula." (basically where we are)

"Very low wind chills through tonight will lead to life threatening conditions for anyone who may become stranded outdoors. Frostbite can occur in as little as 20 minutes on exposed skin with these temperatures."

Yeah sorry team, I dont care that bag and tag day is coming up. Please stay inside TT.TT

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

In prior years, the definition of Stop Build Day had an exception if a team could not access the robot on Stop Build Day to bag it. See section 5.1

http://frc-manual.usfirst.org/upload...1397593193.pdf


That exception is not in this year's game rules. You might want to ask in Q&A.

But, since you can bag in 2 bags, I would do that.

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

Make sure you contact FIRST HQ, and they can give you directions on how to handle things. Get your communications in writing that way when you "load in", you can explain unusual things with an email from FIRST. Place a copy of this email with your bag and tag sheet.

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

I believe there are multiple tags provided.
Would there be any problem with bagging / tagging Sunday before the bad weather arrives and then, if you can get to it Monday/Tuesday, just cut the tag and re-bag/tag. But if you cannot get to the robot because of the weather, you tagged before the stop build date.

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

Well we bagged up at 5:15 yesterday because the temperature was rapidly dropping toward freezing and the roads were about to be icing over after raining all day (yes, we are wimps here in the south). Today things are looking good - still below freezing but apparently the roads are OK, so we're going to un-bag and get some more driver practice in after school.

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

Official word came out from VA First today. For those outside Virginia, call HQ, or tour Senior mentor to confirm, but I imagine similar arrangements will be common.

Makes sense, as long as no work is done, it doesn't make much difference whether the bot sitting in an unoccupied school is in a bag, or not.

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

Make sure you print a copy of that email and attach it to your form if you have a "bag date" after today's date. While I cannot garuantee this will remedy all trouble, it should help mitigate some possible confusion.

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

Teams in Gwinnett County, Georgia, are experiencing the same problem.

School was cancelled for today, and apparently our school also lost all heat/power.

We are hoping to get in later today, but it looks like we might have to bag it on Wednesday.

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

Email frcteams@usfirst.org and let them know that. If they reply and say "yes, you can bag on Wednesday as long as you don't do any work on the robot", and you print that out and stick it to the bag next to your lockup form, bag inspection at your event will go much more smoothly.

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

Oh I know, we already got the email.

But we were still doing some final attachments to the robot.

Looks like Thursday of the competition will be busy!

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

Fortunately, the LRI gets to make the final call.

I posted that per G3, a team risks a Yellow Card if they step OVER a noodle. Someone commented that common sense should prevail.

Stop Build is drilled into everyone's head to make the process fair. After that, it is belts and suspenders to provide perceived enforcement. If a team is going to cheat, a piece of paper isn't going to stop them.

If an Act of God prevents bagging and tagging on time, document it, and the LRI will probably give you a pass. God only knows how many rules we bend to give every team the opportunity to compete - safely.

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

Georgia FIRST posted the following last night:

We'll be bagging our robot first thing tomorrow.

________________
Mackenzie Glaser
Team 1261

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

I know Gwinnett County policy is that no extracurricular activities can be participated in and school access is restricted to administration and custodial crews - so we can't enter the school until tomorrow. We're on the same boat of hoping to get an exception.

Re: bag and tag / weather rules
 

I'm sorry, this just makes me chuckle a little bit, no disrespect intended.
And I don't mean to take away the seriousness of the question, because it is.

I know the southern states just aren't prepared for this type of weather, so I sympathize.

This is what the New England teams deal with every year. We always seem to get Blizzards, Nor'Easters, Ice Storms etc, in the middle, to end of build season.

Our team is usually scrambling this time of year to get build time and practice time before bag and tag due to bad weather or school closings, etc. Although our build site isn't at the school, we still need everyone to be safe, and the mentors need to take care of their homes too.

I know this is a serious question, but the 2-4 inches of snow is funny to me. We are in the same boat with 20 inches of snow.

A few years ago, we needed to get permission from the School Superintendent to leave for the Granite State Regional early to beat a snow storm, or we wouldn't have been able to go at all. We travel on a school bus driven by a school bus driver.

Hope everything works out for you guys dealing with bad weather so close to bag and tag!!