Too Tall To Ship
 

In Michigan we can bag and tag our robot and carry it from event to event with no problem. The problem is if we go to the championship our 78 inch tall robot will not fit in the shipping create size limitations. Can we make a larger create and pay the difference to Fed-ex? Can the create be built horizontal so they can fork with the long part going through doors first? Our alternative is to disassemble the robot, keep out the 74 inch lift track, carry it to the competition and reassemble the robot. This will cause many problems.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

Our robot is pretty tall as well. When we put our robot into the crate, we put it in different pieces. We took off our tote harvester and put it in a different bag.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

This was our solution. We bagged our elevator separately.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

Frank's blog from a few weeks ago may also help you:

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...es-Canburglars

However, if you have another chance at unbagging (i.e. MSC) , I'd recommend two bags and taking the robot in pieces. You can then pack both pieces into the crate.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

857 specifically designed a 72" lift that can be separated halfway for this very reason (and fitting in vans, etc). And given our #35 position in FiM, it looks like that was a very good decision.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

We also had this issue. We had to unbolt our lift frame from of the drive base and put it in the crate at an angle (about 35 degrees from vertical) to fit it in the crate. We quickly secured everything into one piece in the pit so it would fit in a single bag.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

We did the same. We had to unrivet our elevator and superstructure from the drive base and bag them both separately.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

Just like others, we are taking of our elevator structure (only 12 easy bolts) and using it as part of our withholding allowance. Ours is only 11 pounds so we have plenty of weight, especially if you put things like backup arms in the bag with the robot or the separate bag thing but still keep it in the crate.

-Ronnie

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

RTFM!

The robot crating instructions specifically say that you're allowed to unbag your robot for the purpose of disassembling it to fit in a crate, and that you may use two bags to hold the pieces. Not three bags, only two.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

Would you mind posting the section of the manual where it says this? I searched for a while Monday night and couldn't find it. (I was frequently disrupted during my search which limited my search.)

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

It's in the Admin Manual, section 5.3

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

This doesn't point out what he was asking.

It was a Blog Post that mentioned teams can unbag for champs IF they are email team support and are granted permission.

Unfortunately that isn't in the rules/team updates at all.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

No they don't.

From the link posted by Libby above.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

I wish we were limited by some rule where our robot had to fit into some configuration to be able to transport it from point a to b

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

Rolling a robot to and from the pit is a lot different than putting it in a shipping container to be handled by fork lifts and shaken up in a truck.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

I still have the question, can we pay the difference for shipping a larger container that would fit the robot and would FIRST allow it? From what I have read on the FED-EX site they will ship larger containers.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

The why's of the crate height X width X depth limitations are all explained in the shipping / crating instructions as to what they need to be able to do in drayage at the site. They need to be able to stack and move those crates at the other end. So they need standard sized crates for ease of management of 600 of those at one time.

Why is it just too stinking hard for most to just follow the basic rules everyone else needs to follow w/ no team treated differently because they are some special case? If it fits in the Transport Config. Then it should not be too hard for the robot builders to e-mail Team Support (receive pre-permission before unbagging), unbag, disassemble a bit, re-bag into just 2 parts, build the correct size crate per printed instructions, and put both bags into the crate. And SHIP IT! Then after unbagging, re-assemble it and go stack, stack, stack. Yo, we are going to St. Louis to the FIRST CHAMPIONSHIPS all!

BTW, Yellow Totes in Grey stacks on the scoring platforms there don't count for points either! And there are no special circumstances that allow your robot drivers to do so if they are color blind either.

So don't be so danged difficult. LOL. (Round Too Tall Peg Meets Shorter Square Much Wider Hole!) Just get a bigger Hammer!...Is The Easiest Solution. =Everything Fits.

If you really want it to that is.:rolleyes:

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

April Fools, right? :rolleyes:

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

With our totally unexpected wild-card ticket to Championships, this is exactly the procedure that we followed. We emailed FIRST HQ before doing anything and they replied with permission to unbag, split the robot, rebag both halves and crate. We record everything on the Robot Lockup Form and staple copies of the FIRST permission email to both bags. Boom. Done. Yo, we are going to St. Louis to the FIRST CHAMPIONSHIPS all!

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

I'm a big fan of RTFM, and I'm not a part of the team to which you are referring, but is it possible that they bagged those two separate elements into the same second bag, thus leaving two pieces but only one bag?

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

Maybe it's just me, but our team recognized the design challenge right at the start - mostly because it was called out by FIRST as something to consider - and we designed our robot to fit into a crate, compromising the design somewhat in the process. Can I roll my eyes any louder?

That being said, and the OP feeling properly chastised, obviously you aren't going to miss CMP because of this. Before you get out the sawzall :eek: just do what the Blog post says and be done.

To be more explicit: No, nothing says a bigger crate will be "OK".
sigh.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

Week 1 all.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=132819

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

I am sorry that our team was not on top of the shipping size rule as we have never been to the Championship and have not had to use a create since the bag and tag started in Michigan. We will have no trouble removing our lift rails for ship when we compete at our Michigan State Championship which will have 73 teams going to Saint Louis. Thanks all.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

I see that this team has a solution, but I'd like to point out that depending on your design and if you are only a couple inches too tall, it may be easier to remove your axles and take the wheels off to drop the bottom of your robot a bit as opposed to disassembling the super structure.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

We emailed FIRST asking permission to re-bag for crating. Their answer was to wait and reapply after we had qualified and were registered. That timing really doesn't help teams. If we don't have advance permission to re-bag, then we will need to assume that the answer is "NO", and take an aggressive ("better safe than sorry") approach to size reduction. I know we need to do some disassembly, but it would be much nicer to do that in our shop with our crate nearby, rather than in the rushed environment of packing out from the event.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

Joe, we have a gargantuan amount of time to re-assemble the lift rails at St. Louis if absolutely necessary.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

It's not clearly evident to me how much time we will have in STL to reassemble our bot. According to the schedule I have, load-in is 2-5pm but the pits aren't open until 5pm. Can we work on reassembly between 2-5pm or do we have to wait for the pits to open?

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

I would imagine that we would have to work on reassembly right after we set up our pits, but the next day, pits open at 7am. Tons of time before the first qual match.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

Quals start 8:30 AM Thur. Considering 600 robots have to be inspected before then-not a lot of time.

My recollection of last year, the team of 5 was allowed to unpack and start work. They also did not require an inspector to check your bag prior to unbagging. While not privy to special information, I expect the same for this year.

The way the top part of our mast comes off for shipping configuration was sited as a reason for winning the industrial design award at Peachtree.

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

600 teams are going?! I thought I was around 400...wow I was way off

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

8 divisions 75 teams per division. FRC is using space where FTC was. Lots more robots. Lots more teams yelling robot. We have a siren for our cart. I will post a picture if I ever get it mounted. Probably short volunteers. Everybody needs to bring all their GP & patience. Remember on time is late.

General schedule here

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

Wow. Thanks!

Re: Too Tall To Ship
 

My guess is they will resume checking bag and tag this year because a large number of teams have received permission to open their bags to reconfigure their robot for shipment. If every team's last bag was at their last event, checking bag and tag would be the lower priority it was last year.