Oooo Pit Design! I love seeing different pits and how they get set up! I'm a big fan of any pit that integrates the team's theme into it, especially the ones that do it in a simple, effective way. I remember thinking Purple Precision's pit their rookie year rather nicely communicated "purple" and "precision", and how clean and organized it was.
Our old pit was huge, a full ten^3 frame with black, floor-length curtains on three sides and a difficult-to-assemble shelving unit (although, as others have stated, we avoided a ceiling on our pit). Our toolbox was broken from too many bus trips and hauling around a ten-by-ten chunk of carpet was getting difficult. The last straw was when our undersized team took over two hours to set it up last year. (For reference, a picture of the pit in 2011:
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So this year, we ditched the full outer frame for a back frame that held a single banner at ten feet. We took a shorter tool box, and adapted a new outer shelf set to the height of the tool box. With a mirrored shelf, the tool box became our display shelf, computer stand (for showing a technical presentation and cad models), and battery shelf (although it may not stay that way, we're still figuring out batteries).
Next, we moved the shelves to the back and turned the shelves into self-contained units. Each shelf would fold at the center hinge and form a crate. Each crate (four total) fits perfectly underneath a charter bus, and there are holes in the center of the end panels of each box that serve as handles and hanging points. Then there's four 4ft pipes with end caps and hooks for tall storage and transporting the back frame that sit on those hanging holes. Finally, we have some industrial LEDs mounted on the top shelf to illuminate the pit. We ditched the carpet, and we have a small wooden frame shaped to the base of the robot that velcros to our crate so we can test without using the floor.
What's nice about it is how open and inviting it is compared to the old pit. The trade-off is visibility, but I didn't see any drop off in visitors at St. Louis, so I'd say it was a good exchange. And the best part was it only took about 20 minutes to set up. A few improvements we still need to make is adding back in a single curtain as a backdrop, and putting in better boxes for our giveaways. Oh, and making all the silver parts gold to tie it in with our robot a bit better.