[ay2b]

Back in 2002, there were very different shipping requirements. In particular, no crate was required, just attaching the robot to a pallet was sufficient. When we shipped our robot at the end of the build period, this is how we shipped it. We were in Seattle, and going to the Seattle regional. When we got to the regional several weeks later, we learned that the robots had been stored outside (not in a warehouse as we had believed). Our robot had an inch or more of standing water in the bottom, and the wood we'd used as ball guides was completely warped. The RC required replacement; the gears required a severe treatment of WD-40; the motors required replacement; the wood guides required being recut.

The following year we built a crate which could almost have been submerged and would still protect the robot, and we haven't used wood on the robot since.