[JesseK]

Note that your shipping crate itself and robot take up a great deal of the allowed shipping weight. You'll only have about 50lbs max spare for tools (etc) until you get an overage charge.

For far away competitions (like when we did Vegas last year) we brought all of our spare parts carefully wrapped inside our checked luggage. We had the TSA inspect the spare parts at the airport at checkin to ensure they didn't have to be reopened somewhere along the way. This helped reduce the risk of damage.

Vegas was also our 2nd competition that year, so we brought a nylon bag with us to the first competition to load it up with the necessary tools (wrenches, drivers, and such) and that bag went in the crate from VCU to Vegas, then from Vegas to Atlanta.

Also for far away competitions, we hooked up with a team near Vegas that donated a temporary cart, and when we got there we purchased an inexpensive folding table for $20 to use as shelf space. We gave the table to the team that donated us the cart as a thanks.

For competitions we drive to (usually any competition within 12hrs driving distance which includes Atlanta), we always take an 'L'-shaped table that has a table cloth and skirt. Above has our displays and below it has alot of storage. This year we will also scrap the folding table in the pits for a rolling workbench that also houses our tools, contains power distribution, and will hold our batteries. The workbench is 72"x22" and stands 36" tall (I think), so that should be good enough to work off of while also leaving enough room for us to move around in.