Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Where does your team practice driving? If you do not belong to a school, what does your facility offer? If you are at a school, how much room are you allotted?

Thanks!

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

The TechnoKats build space and workshop includes a full-sized practice field.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

If we're lucky enough to have a practice space with the proper dimensions, we'll practice there. We also practice at the school in the main atrium-like space. It's got plenty of room for practising driving. If space and time permit, we like to get as close to a full field as possible set up (at minimum, the major elements) to use as well.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Does your school allow for a set up field somewhere, or must you erect and take down your field each time?

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We usually (not in my memory) don't have a full field up in the school; just the important elements (i.e. this year, we just had a few movable scoring pegs). We have to take everything back down and store it overnight in the workshop, so we can't set up anything permanent in the school.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Thanks!

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We, this year, used the atrium of the facility we were building in. Since we couldn't set up anything permanent, we usually just had a roll of carpet and a mobile rack of scoring pegs.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We are lucky to have space in our machine shop to build the entire field, if we wanted. We usually build about half the field, but have in the past built almost an entire one. The main thing to skimp on is walls, everything else is usually critical to the game.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Over the years we have frequently had to find new places to practice.

We have used all of the following in my years of mentoring:
High school wrestling room 03, 05, 07, 08, 09, 10
Unused factory space at our primary sponsor 04, 06
Disused firehouse that the town hasn't sold yet 11-?

We do all our quick testing in the hall outside the classroom/shop where we build at the high school, and it has the scars to show it...

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

One of our sponsors Wrabacon, is a metal workship that the owner lets our team Infinite Loop use for building and driving, but we use one of the schools in our district to host the offseason event we host Mainely Spirit! :)

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

2168 rolls out a carpet and sets up an approximate half field in the main hall of the school, and picks it up at the end of the night. We are looking to get our own space or locate other areas in town that will allow us to keep the field set up.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

My old team (2079) uses the school's gym when we need a lot of space. They've also used the cafeteria before. (of course all of this is when the rooms aren't occupied by anyone else). Otherwise they have a big enough lab space to test some robot functions, though not in a full size field environment.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

For small range testing, we will use our shop. However anything that requires driving at anything more than a crawl we move to Northeastern's student center.

It tends to be a pain because we have to bring the robot, controls, batteries, field elements and team members to another building on campus. However, at least we have the ability to drive at full speed every now and then.

-Brando

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We're lucky enough to have space to setup a full practice field for the later weeks of build at our school. Usually, we'll start setting it up around week 3 or so and it's torn down a few days after ship.

There's a picture of our field in this post: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...81&postcount=9

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We use a portion of a basement at the Chrysler Tech Center. We have a full field length (and almost a full field width) of carpet, so we can do full-length drills and runs, but it's not full width, and this year there was only enough room for one scoring rack. Since nobody else uses this space, we leave it setup all year long. After the kickoff, we will make new game elements, and usually this is completed after the first week or so.

We also have a rack setup outside our shop (in the hallway/street), but no carpet. This rack moves around a bit, as we brought it to Tech Plaza (the center of the Chrysler Tech Center) for our ship day party, and we brought the PVC portions to a demo at NDP.

We also had a minibot pole in the basement, and another outside the shop (although we later made another one for in the shop, and one of our mentors built a short pole for his desk)

We sometimes to go AI (where 469's shop is located) across the street, to practice with 469 and 217.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We use our school cafeteria. A couple of years back, our team built wooden walls that connect together with bolts and wingnuts so we could take it apart, move the walls, and store them in our storage closet. however, if we are doing some simple tests, or if we get denied access to our cafeteria, we just use the hallway outside of our engineering classroom.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Local teams set up a field at the RPI Tech Park that can be used. It's pretty awesome, actually.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

At 696 we traditionally have used the cafeteria/auditorium (auditeria they call it) or gymnasium over weekends. Unfortunately we do not have a place to really store a full field's worth of carpet. We now have a 20x20 space that we could leave set up, but it has an 8.5 foot ceiling.

On 968, we had an unused space in a local shopping mall to leave a full field set up year round. It made a big difference in competitive performance.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

971 goes to NASA AMES and practices with 254 on 254's field set up in their lab. It is a great deal. I highly recommend it, especially since you are in the area. 254 has been very generous with us in the past, and we are very appreciative.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Our team was fortunate enough to be able to use the old library at our school for building and practice. Before it was a library it was a cafeteria, so the old kitchen holds our build room. Outside of the build room we have space for a full sized practice field as well as an FTC field.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Buzz uses the school cafeteria where a whole field can be put together. Length is fitting, width may not be to spec.

BAE NH is our primary testing ground.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

In early years 781 practiced in the gym of a public school in town that had recently been closed. After that was sold, they used the school gym, but had to setup and take down every time they used it. Recently, the school has made it very difficult for us to book out the gym, so last year we set out to find a different space to practice in. I approached the owner of a gym that had recently closed in town, and they agreed to let us use the building, as it was sitting empty. We had room to set up a little over 1/2 of a field. We moved the carpet in on the Sunday after kickoff, and didn't move out until after the championship. They are planning to have the building torn down and turned into condos so it is unlikely we will be able to use it again. As of last June, we were working on getting use of old garage bays with room to set up a full, if not very close to a full field.

For quick testing, we used the portable classroom that is our build site, but for programming and full on driver practice, we used the practice field.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We practiced everywhere, I had students driving out base chassis in our shop and a little once we had our arm mounted. Then we moved to the cafeteria for a little while but we had to move the tables and chairs and set up and then put everything back every night. Once we realised that tile wasn't anything like carpet we took over our library every night to do some real testing.

This year our school's Alternative Learning Classroom moved locations and we got their old room for building and testing. It connects to the shop and is 40'x38' with 18' ceilings. We're pretty excited to be able to leave a half finished project out on a table to complete the next day without having to repack and unpack everything every day.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We have a practice field at 30 Hart which is the Rochester Engineering Center.
We share the space with two other teams (73 and 3838. Soon to be four when 1450 and 3842 move in).
The practice field is the length of an official FIRST field but only half the width.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...g?t=1297721775

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

While this is an idea, and 254 is a very generous team, I don't think it would be very convenient for us the Poofs if we came and went to their labs when we need practice. Plus, by the time we would drive there, set up, and get the robot ready, we wouldn't have much time to practice. We are thankful enough they let teams use their field in the build season.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Our school board gives us space in a closed school-turned-resource center. We have plenty of space, the room allows for a full sized field and storage for tools, robots, etc. It's in the middle of nowhere, about a 25 minute drive for us. It's perfect and allows for ultimate secrecy. ;)

-Nick

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Our school has a fairly large area (maybe 15-20' by 50') where we keep two driver stations set up throughout build season. We have to move some tables off to the side, but we put them back when we're done and our school is generous enough to not mind skid marks on the carpet.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

the great outdoors

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

For Team 1676, we build in our school's engineering room and also our old auto-shop, but we practice driving downstairs in our school's cafeteria. We have enough carpet to create a full-length field, but only half the width. Normally, however, we only used one carpet, which we placed all of the correct tape markings on. We usually build between half to two-thirds of the field elements, due to space and time constraints. This year, will built one rack (a 3x3 set of pegs), one human player station, one full minibot tower (which we modified to show if we hit it with enough pressure or not), and a second minibot tower base for placement purposes. We were able to reuse a driver station which we built last year. We have to take down and set-up the field everyday, but are able to store all of the field elements in a connecting stairwell and both carpets in a connecting teacher's cafeteria.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Really? Must be hard to practice if it rains. :rolleyes:

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We practice in the school kitchen / language arts room. It is just large enough for a full Field. we also practice in the Gym, but there isn't any carpet so it can be deceiving.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

i have to admit, wet carpet and slippery tubes weren't exactly ideal sometimes. or trying to throw tubes in a massive crosswind. but on a nice day i wasn't complaining!

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

This year my team used our school's music room which isn't being used much for music any more due to the tiny choir we have. Anyway, we have carpet about the length of the field and a little smaller width wise. We use a rack we made out of pvc and 2x4s as well as a moveable "wall" that the human player has to throw over. We are allowed to keep the field up during build season and competition season and then we have to tear it down. In years previous we just practiced in the build area, even if it meant removing some ceiling tiles to give our arm room to move like in 07.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

we practice just about any in our school just so that we have clearance for our robot like this year' robot and any where we can put a carpet. but we practiced outside on the capet if the weather was nice or in the school's cafeteria on the carpet if we could use it::rtm::

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We have quite a few spaces available to practice.

1. Our shop. When not in use by the entire team, the available space for driving is near equal to field size. it is about 5 feet shorter(49') and 8 feet less wide(19') but the usable space is not perfectly rectangular.

2. Lancaster HS has a large quad area that we use on occasion. Our drivers set aside a day each month to try to practice here. It is an extremely large area, and if we wanted to, could set up several full fields here. The one catch is weather. Living where we do, the weather is not too favorable for driving. During build, it is windy, occasionally rainy, and cold. The wind can kick up some dust from down the road. Electronics don't like dust and water. Drivers don't like freezing our fingers off ;)

3. The Gyms. Occasionally, the gyms can be reserved for robotics. For logomotion, we never used it for any actual driving, but we did use it for training human players.

4. Some local hotels expressed interest in letting us use their conference rooms in the late stages of build for drive practice.

We typically have movable field elements that can be transported from place to place

If anyone wants any insight into our practice schedule....
Off/Pre season: Our main drivers try to get biweekly practice in the fall. Others try for weekly practices. Some of our drivers are on our FTC team and get some practice out of that, also.
Build season: We try to get as much practice in as the build schedule will allow.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

where we experience torrential rains, tornado warnings, hurricane warnings. you would be amazed how fast we can take down a field and roll up the carpet when the rain drops start falling.... one of these days we will get an indoor practice area

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

2010 - our shop was in the 2 nd floor but we had to move to another building to practice, we couldn't remain the field so we build it every time..
2011 - we practiced in our school library which was closer and had already a carpet, but we are not allowed to get there any more because we dameged the carpet.
2012 - we are moving to a new shop in the 1st floor, 1 meter :) from our shop there is a space(with high ceiling) for almost a full field.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We are lucky enough to have a local and generous sponsor (Discover Technology) that gives the three local teams room in a warehouse. Every year we build a complete field for scrimmage and practice. The base dimensions (walls and carpet) stay up year-round, so it's never built completely from scratch.

For normal testing, we build the key elements of the field and keep them in our school's shop, dragging them out into the hallway/cafeteria area when necessary.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We are lucky enough to have a full sizes field to practice on in the area. However with legal issues of teachers driving students and school hours it is hard to get kids to the field during the week after school to practice ( current practice field is about 15 minutes away).

I would like to be able to set up and take down a small area of carpet and some field elements after school so our drivers can practice right at school and not have to worry about students transportation issues.

We have in the past tried to use a section of carpet on the school floor but it would just bunch up wasn't very successful. Has anyone had luck with a system that you put down and take up everyday? If so do you have any suggestions.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We have a large engineering room that we share with some of the classes at the school. There is enough room to set up some game elements for one side of the field. The past few years we have set up a full field (half field this year) in the adjacent gymnasium for a week 0 event.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Our school doesn't have much space. We build in the Biology lab on the 6th floor and during the first half of the season this year, we had to clean up every day so students can come in the mornings to do their labs.

We usually practice in the hallway and have enough carpet for about a quarter of the field. The carpet is rolled up and stored in the back of a classroom at the end of the day. The main game elements (chute, platform, step, totes) are put back into a corner of the lab or in our storage room (a.k.a. repurposed boys' bathroom).

When the athletic department is done using the gym in the basement, we do get permission to practice there but have to clean up afterwards and be careful not to scuff up the floor so we generally don't use it until we have a completed robot.

All in all, we get a lot of practice setting up and taking down our mini-field.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Do you ever have any issues with carpet bunching up on fast change of directions etc. Any weights, etc to keep it in place?

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

we drive in our hallway....we sometimes are allowed in the auxillary gym but thats on a good day. The good news is this years game makes it easy to practice as theres not much to it. The only issue I have is the fact that each bin costs 45 dollars. Thats a lot of money for our team and to do our autonomous strategy we need 2 bins.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

My school's 30 year old and heavily used carpet is very similar to what at the competition. Additionally, for our main driving practice we commandeer the dinning hall (which has carpet floors). For our smaller tests, we go into the hall or just drive around the classroom. Almost the entire school is covered with this carpet so our leaves are made pretty easy.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

At our school, we have a 2nd robotics room we call the "robotics lab." We have a half size practice field set up in it.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

For the last week or so, we've been clearing a section of the school library (has tight pile carpet) and setting up a field perimeter of tape that's at least 6 feet from anything expensive. Takes about 15 minutes to set up, 15 minutes to take down. It'll work until the real field is finished..

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Usually, we practice in a cluttered garage.
However, occasionally we manage to get some practice in the school gymnasium.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We go to our school's old gym as to not wreck the floor in the new gym, and we were also once invited to practice at an old warehouse where another team had set up

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We have an over sized classroom (a little over half field in size) that is part of the Schools STEM Center we build out of. All the chairs and desks are on wheels and can quickly be cleared out into the hall, leaving us with more than enough room to drive around and 15' tall ceilings. There is some heavy duty diamond plate along the bottom foot of the wall, and plastic sheeting for then next 3 feet, which helps to reduce damage when we happen to hit it somewhere (the plastic was selected by the team after a fun afternoon of destructive testing of various samples of stuff).

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

997 has a huge shop with everything we could ever need and a practice field roughly the size of a large communal dinner table.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Sweet Jesus. Why did you have to bring back a thread made by 2011 me?

Also, since I'm posting, I might as well answer....OP's.....original question. We (1323) practice in a room next to our shop that has about size for a 1/2 field.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

On a big slab of concrete by the train tracks.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Last year we used a carpeted church basement to practice everyday during march break. This year were using the staff lounge, lucky for us the carpet is covered in so many coffee stains that the teachers don't notice the blue streaks that the blue nitrile leaves.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

The only carpeted area we can get our hands on is our auditorium. Every time we want to test the robot with actual game pieces or get driver practice we have to set up a practice field there and tear it down when we are done.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

Yes we get the carpet bunching but don't have a good solution.. we have people standing at the corners & edges and have to occasionally pull the carpet back into position.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We have a half-field's worth of carpets that we roll out outside. We can practice inside but we only get 1/4 field that way and nothing taller than 10 feet or so.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We kindly request our high school's orchestra director if we can use the room on the weekends. We come in, mark a field with tape and set up a few wooden elements and then test/practice for a few hours before packing up again. That gives us enough space to set up 3/4 of a full field. Once we move to the STEAM (now called the Shaw Center), we will share a permanent full field with the other teams in our district.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We have a classroom for a build space and a small patch of parking lot behind the concession stands for practice. Since this year's challenge shouldn't involve flying objects, we may do some or all of our practice in the classroom.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We've got about a 10x15 carpet setup inside the shop (a former autoshop), and can move the carpet outside and add some more for about half a field. In the shop, ceilings aren't an issue, but the power cords hanging from the ceiling get in the way sometimes.

Practicing on the asphalt outside is frowned on (by the team, not the school), so we haul the carpet out and in. As far as securing it, if we're thinking about it we'll tape it down a bit; otherwise it's however it ends up being.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We've got gym space at a local elementary school that isn't currently operating as a school at the moment, as far as I know. We basically have a half field set up there, and we will be practicing with a few local teams, mainly ones we are affiliated with through helping with their founding.

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

We use the University of South Carolina Fabrication Shop and adjoining hallway most of the time. This week we will be setting up in a large carpeted classroom to do some testing with our "half field."

Re: Where do YOU practice driving?
 

While we haven't used it yet, we actually collaborated with team 1572 to build a quality practice field underneath a big cover they have adjacent to their workshop. Their school used to have a Architecture and Structural Design class, and they used this area to build mockup houses, one of which still resides there. It is completely covered from rain, has built in seating, lights, and vehicle access. 1572 has been testing on it, and we plan to start working there more as soon as we get certain parts of our robot more refined.

One downside: A giant pole directly in the middle of the space for the field. We're going to put a tire on it for safety, but I don't think it will impede our strategy and practice that much. I'm really proud of it to be honest.