Chief Delphi - Drill presses and bandsaws back in the pits

I disagree with the noise factor, drill presses are definitely quiter than most hand drills. I can see bandsaws when cutting metal, because, well, you are cutting metal, and it makes noise.

I can see the safety part, and space part, but that should be up to the teams. I like how FIRST is quite slack when it comes to these things, allowing the teams to make the right decisions. Our freshman team does smaller robotics competitions, this year they did BEST. They don't allow ANYTHING in the pits, in fact, if the judges see you, they actually take points of (which is why we have the freshman do it, BEST is a show competition that has little or no robotic challenges).

As for the noise, the pits aren't exactly quiet, nor do they need to be quiet. They're usually blasting music anyway and screaming over the PA - come to the Philly regional and you'll know what I'm talking abobut.