Size of KOP Crates
 

Hi,

We're a rookie team from San Jose, CA.

We're wondering about how big the KOP crates are, usually? Would two vans be large enough to transport them? Or do we need a truck?

Thanks!

Jeff

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

You should be ok with vans. Here are the dimensions from an email sent out to MN teams:

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

Alrighty. Thanks for your quick response.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

Jeff,

You should be able to easily fit them into a single van.

The last 3 years I've put them in my SUV with no problems.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

For future reference, the term crate typically refers to the pallet sized box you will ship your robot in. The plastic boxes the KOP comes with are most often called totes.

PS. Welcome to First, and good luck on your first year!

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

OK. I will relay on this to the team members.

Alrighty, thanks for the clarification :)

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

The first year we did FRC I borrowed the cargo van from the IT dept. That was major overkill. Since then we have removed the backseat of the Wrangler and used that for transportation. Sadly, my Wife has already said I can't use the new Mazda 3 this year. She said something about robots and new paint not mixing. *sigh*

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

A suggestion to bring a 4-wheel dolly or 2-wheel cart. The totes are heavy to carry any distance.

Ambitious team! Wouldn't it be great if we needed a truck to carry the KOP? :ahh:

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

it would be great to have to have a truck. or just have the kop delivered in a crate the size of our shipping crates that would be glorious to come in and see. Welcome to the wonderful world of FIRST and chief delphi

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

One of our mentors bought a new Ford truck a couple weeks ago. Getting ready for build season, first thing we had to do was to move some robots and parts from the school storage room to the on-post facilities where we build. Of course one of the robots ended up in his new truck, and the paint in the bed got scratched. At least it was by a good cause, not just hauling a load of garbage to the dump.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

I've put three KOP totes and a slightly smaller tool tote in the back of my VW Rabbit in the offseason. I'm sure I could fit two just in the trunk area if I arranged it right.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

One bad winter build season a few years back, we had to take the robot to my employer's, as the school facilities were shut down in a snow/ice storm. I had a 6 foot tall, bright blue crate in the back of my little Toyota short-bed pickup for about a week. It looked like an outhouse :D

Dimensions of 2009 Kitbot Box
 

The box that last year's kitbot came in was 36" x 4" x 9"
(Source: http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc...t.aspx?id=7702)

There's no box in this year's kit that size, but there is one that's 36" x 6" x 6" which is the same volume, but why would they change the size of the box?
(Source: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=70919)

Could this mean that the IFI kitbot will no longer be provided? Maybe FIRST have found another supplier to make the kitbot? Maybe Andymark has designed a kitbot, and kept it a secret from everyone for all this time....

Or maybe not, just a guess.

Re: Dimensions of 2009 Kitbot Box
 

Better yet, how do you fit a 38" maximum robot dimension into a 36" box?

Re: Dimensions of 2009 Kitbot Box
 

I personally would be quite surprised if we see the IFI Kitbot again this year, sue to the deteriorating relationship between IFI and FIRST. More then likely they designed a kitbot themselves or got AM to make a new one.

Re: Dimensions of 2009 Kitbot Box
 

The kitbot side-rails from last year were 36" long out of the box. After you added the endcaps it grew to about 37", a healthy one inch under the limit.

This proves to me that the robot dimensions must be 38" x (some lesser number (probably 28"))."

Re: Dimensions of 2009 Kitbot Box
 

Now, what would make you think that? Nothing says that FIRST wont change the dimension and say, "You can use this but you have to cut it yourself"

Remember, the only rules that are set in stone are those regarding safety. But I'll go back to quietly waiting for kickoff now.

Re: Dimensions of 2009 Kitbot Box
 

Thats possible, but unlikely. Dimensions have been 28"x38" since at least 2003. I can't see them moving away from this, as it makes for robots that fit nicely through a standard doorway.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

From Madison on the First Email Blast forum:

Thanks Madison.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

Bill's blog says something a tad different.

why would we need 4 game pieces?

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

last year we put it all in the back of Hammi's(mentor) pickup and we still had room......

we might try and fit it in justins civic..........

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

we fit last year's in a Protege. Now that was fun :-)

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

I put last years in my Mx-3 with a passenger too, doing it again this year i think.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

This sounds suspiciously like some sort of inflatable sports ball. Football anyone?

Re: Dimensions of 2009 Kitbot Box
 

Aaaaaactually, the 2004 robots had to fit in a 36x30x60 space. 2005 saw the start of 28x38x??. And, of course, FIRST could change it this year just to spite the CADders on CD irritate challenge us. :)

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

I've merged two threads discussing very similar subjects.

Also, if it's hard for y'all to change your CAD design dimensions from 28x38 to anything remotely similar, you're doing it wrong. :p

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

More likely, it's 4 miscellaneous items that came in too late to be packed in the kit totes.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

Or fragile items such as sensors.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

it could be nothing but foam peanuts, unless they are the game pieces.......

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

Last year you may remember that the two banebots motors provided in the kit (RS-550 & RS-540) were not in either tote, but they were literally handed to us. I believe the small under 5lb items might be of this nature, and the only reason they are listed as <5lbs is to prevent teams from worrying about weight, while not giving away the nature of the item.

Why they were not in totes, I am unsure. They might have been too fragile, or perhaps they didn't arrive in time to be packed in the totes. Either of these issues could have been easily remedied, but no matter.

Re: Dimensions of 2009 Kitbot Box
 

You are correct... I remembered there being a slight shift, but it not really making much difference, other than making the robot easier to shove through a doorway. we lost 2" in one dimension to gain it in the other... no big deal. I still doubt a shift away from 28x38" unless there's some radical game design requiring it.

Re: Dimensions of 2009 Kitbot Box
 

I would imagine that something similar was said in late 2004.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

Errr...you would need a lot of foam peanuts to get to just one pound...
My guess is that they're either game pieces or multiple small items just packed into one box and separated by dividers/packing peanuts/bubblewrap.

They also never mentioned how small "small" is, or specified a specific weight. That's starting to make me think that they contain something that could vary in weight and size...so each box may contain a different thing?

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

got this email from another team that was organizing the kickoff i am going to.

This was in the list of stuff you need to bring

so the smaill box is batteries!

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

Odd, that is a differently dimensioned chassis kit than we were told before. Because of the different dimensions on the battery box, I am more inclined to believe these figures. Before we were told the chassis kit was 6"x6"x36", and they could have mislead us as to not tip us off to a new chassis size. I would not be surprised if they upped the dimensions to 30"x40" this year to help accommodate for the larger control system.

Also, as they are switching chassis kits this year, it would seem an appropriate year to change the max size.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

I would be very surprised if they went to those dimensions as a robot that size would ne easily fit (if at all) through a standard sized door.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

28x40" maybe, but not 30x40"... that 2" is crucial for easily getting through standard doorways, especially if you put the robot on a cart.

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

Think back to the old chassis kit. It would build to a 36x36 square, but you had to cut it down to the dimensions you wanted. It will probably be the same with this one. Just because it is 40 inches long does not mean that you are allowed 40 inches in both directions. We may not even be allowed to go the full 40 inches in any direction. Even if we are, you might not want to go that long for weight purposes. We'll see tomorrow.:)

Re: Size of KOP Crates
 

Last year, our team fit all the crates and boxes into a honda CR-V (old small version).

~philip