[GreyingJay]

Thanks for starting this thread, I think it is a good topic.

I agree with robochick1319, I don't think running the robot in your pit is a good idea. Granted, I'm the new guy here, and I've only been to one regional, and seen the pits at that one venue, but they were cramped, and crowded, with people in every pit working and people in the alleyways transporting robots and there were kids walking around, judges, inspectors, scouting teams... people everywhere.

The pits at my venue were about 8x10 and especially this year with the robot size restrictions (apparently) removed, there were some very large robots. We barely had enough room for someone to squeeze past either side. What I'm trying to say here is: even if we wanted to try actual driving in our pit, there was only enough room to go one way: Out. Into the alley!

On the other hand there were two practice areas and the lineups were never too long to get on there to try some things. If the concern was that there wasn't enough then maybe the organizers can look at adding additional practice or drive areas.

I would want to highly discourage testing your driving in your pit, but I don't know that I would necessarily outright ban it. However, should your robot suddenly charge out of your pit area and run someone over, there should be serious consequences.