Robot Shipments to CMP/St Louis
 

As some have may noticed, FIRST sent out an email on the 5th of March, where they ended with this subtile message.

Robot Shipments: Please remember that even though per Game Manual Rule R3-A your robot may be up to 78” tall, the blue box below this rule includes a note that it must be able to fit in a shipping crate for transport to Championship or other events. The total maximum crate height from the floor including all lumber for air shipment is 60”, and it is 70” for ground shipment as per the guidelines in the Administrative Manual section 5.8.2 and the Shipping Crate Construction document. Before going back into its bag at the end of an event, your robot should be configured to fit in a crate that meets these guidelines.


My concern is... did you as a team took this in mind during the design phase?
Since we are a international team and our flightcase limited us to a max robot height of 52.7 inch. (134cm).
We didn't want to assemble our complete robot on practice day, so we designed a robot that could fit in the flightcase perfectly.

But when I see a lot of reveals and pictures with a lot of robots being around 78" tall, I question my self if they have thought about the fact; when they qualify for championships in St Louis, there robot has to be transported in a crate. With a maximum height of 60-70''. (Depends on your crate design)


Seeing; 254, 118, 624 etc. etc. I really question this... Did you guys think about it? Also for teams like 254 they've already been qualified for CMP. So they HAVE to ship it none the less.

And I don't really see a easy way for these robots to disassemble half of their bot. ::ouch::

Their robots probably deconstruct and reconstruct themselves.

Re: Robot Shipments to CMP/St Louis
 

987 shipped their robot to Texas and back, 359 shipped from Hawaii to week 1 in California. I am sure 254 can break theirs down. It is a challenge, but not an impossible one. Many teams use 2 tags and 2 bags, It makes arranging the parts in the crate easier.

Re: Robot Shipments to CMP/St Louis
 

We understood this issue from day one. Our robot has to be able to ship easily since our local regional is a few islands away.
Our team decided during the first week that it would be more practical for us not to have to disassemble very much.
We just fit inside the 70" crate when our wheels are removed. We planned on multiple regionals this year and keeping everything as simple as possible would be best. Yes it does mean that we cannot put a RC on an existing six stack but we can make a 6 stack with a RC or make a stack with RC and top off up to a 5 stack.

We shall see how it goes. :]

Good luck,

Aloha!