[David Brinza]

At 7:45 am you are only allowed to remove your robot from the crate - so the crate can be hauled away, if you desire. (Some teams integrate tool chests, storage and work benches into their crates).

You should do registration as soon as possible after your team's arrival. Your robot does not need to be complete. You get your practice schedule, drivers' badges, safety tokens and other information in the packet. Make sure you have signed "hold-harmless" release forms for EVERYONE and team roster completed when you go to register.

You can spend the entire competition working on your robot - hopefully you don't find your team in that position. You must get your robot inspected on Thursday (or else you won't be able to compete until you've passed inspection).

You can practice on Thursday before you've completed inspection. However, a quick safety inspection will be required to make sure that you won't injure anybody or damage the field while practicing. Once you complete inspection, you can get into a "fast lane" for practice matches, which will allow your team to fill-in for "no-show" robots on Thursday.

Visit the inspectors early on Thursday - get a baseline weight and make sure your robot fits in the sizing box. Inspectors can help you get your robot in compliance (and completed) in a far less painful fashion than if you wait until late in the day. I've seen teams struggle on late Thurs and early Friday because they were too heavy or just a little big in dimension. Inspectors are generally very familiar with robot design/fabrication and also know of resources on other teams that can be very helpful in a crunch.