Transporting very large robots?

[RonnieS]

So I have been trying to figure out how to transport robots that people might design to maximum height limit? Top of trailer can be restricting...not to mention a shipping crate to champs...unless there is something new about shipping that I haven't read? I can see this being a problem, laying the robot down can take up a lot of room and possible damage to robot. Disassembling it could also take a lot of teams tons of time if they don't plan to be modular. What are your thoughts?
-Ronnie

[Sparkyshires]

Well, for transportation, the robot has to be able to be easily transformed into transportation configuration, which has to fit in a 28x42x78, which isn't all too large.

[vhcook]

Originally Posted by Sparkyshires

Well, for transportation, the robot has to be able to be easily transformed into transportation configuration, which has to fit in a 28x42x78, which isn't all too large.

78" is very large when you're looking at standard doors and the fact that there's probably a cart of some height under it.

[MrForbes]

Even if I get my old bread truck running by competition season, it's only 73" inside height, and the rear doors are a bit less. The rear doors on my Suburban are less than 43" high.

[RonnieS]

Does anyone see a problem here for shipping to champs?!?!

[vhcook]

Originally Posted by Ronnie314

Does anyone see a problem here for shipping to champs?!?!

Yes! The max height is well over what I recall as the max height of a crate. I can't find the alleged "'Shipping Crate Construction' document posted with the FRC Administrative Manual", but I seem to remember the limit as something like 48" including the boards that go under to allow the forklift access.

[Doug Frisk]

Originally Posted by vhcook

78" is very large when you're looking at standard doors and the fact that there's probably a cart of some height under it.

A standard door height is 80 inches but there may be a threshold at the bottom or closer arm at the top impinging on that. At the Northern Lights regional in Duluth, there are two doors that robots will need to traverse between the pits and the field.

I'm pretty sure one of them is more than 80 inches high, but I'm not sure about the other. Could be interesting times for queuing if some of the teams have to pull their robots off a cart to fit through the door.

[mrmummert]

Either First is expecting us to use the shipping crate size we used last year (48x48x70) or they haven't posted new crate rules and dimensions for this year. If we have to use the 2014 dimensions then either you have to build your robot to fit in that size or be able to take part of it apart to fit that. I hope they clarify this soon as this is something teams need to know while designing.

[Christopher149]

Originally Posted by mrmummert

Either First is expecting us to use the shipping crate size we used last year (48x48x70) or they haven't posted new crate rules and dimensions for this year. If we have to use the 2014 dimensions then either you have to build your robot to fit in that size or be able to take part of it apart to fit that. I hope they clarify this soon as this is something teams need to know while designing.

I've read that similar issues came up in 2007 (Rack n Roll) where you could have a 72" robot, but the crate was still the same size and somewhat shorter than your bot could be. Basically, you just had to deal with it (though crates were for every event, not just CMP).

[FrankJ]

Originally Posted by mrmummert

Either First is expecting us to use the shipping crate size we used last year (48x48x70) or they haven't posted new crate rules and dimensions for this year. If we have to use the 2014 dimensions then either you have to build your robot to fit in that size or be able to take part of it apart to fit that. I hope they clarify this soon as this is something teams need to know while designing.

That is a FedEx size, not a arbitrary First thing. I don't expect it to change.

[RallyJeff]

Originally Posted by DareDad

A standard door height is 80 inches but there may be a threshold at the bottom or closer arm at the top impinging on that. At the Northern Lights regional in Duluth, there are two doors that robots will need to traverse between the pits and the field.

I'm pretty sure one of them is more than 80 inches high, but I'm not sure about the other. Could be interesting times for queuing if some of the teams have to pull their robots off a cart to fit through the door.

FYI for anyone going to the Windsor Essex Great Lakes Regional but don't know the layout: our load-in door is a large roll-up door that you could literally drive a truck through. The pits and arena are part of one large space that we divide up for the event, so the limiting factor for height while carting around a robot will be the rod-and-drape dividing the pits from the arena.

[Doug Frisk]

Originally Posted by RallyJeff

FYI for anyone going to the Windsor Essex Great Lakes Regional but don't know the layout: our load-in door is a large roll-up door that you could literally drive a truck through. The pits and arena are part of one large space that we divide up for the event, so the limiting factor for height while carting around a robot will be the rod-and-drape dividing the pits from the arena.

Most events (in large venues) I've been to are similar to that. The other regional in Duluth has access to the field via a good sized truck tunnel and height won't be any issue at all.

On the other hand, high schools and their gymnasiums tend to have normal sized doors so I wouldn't be surprised if there were issues with clearance in some of the district events.

[RallyJeff]

Originally Posted by DareDad

Most events (in large venues) I've been to are similar to that. The other regional in Duluth has access to the field via a good sized truck tunnel and height won't be any issue at all.

On the other hand, high schools and their gymnasiums tend to have normal sized doors so I wouldn't be surprised if there were issues with clearance in some of the district events.

You tweaked my memory: I believe that at Waterloo, the load-in doors are a standard height double door (at least, that's what was used in the past and I can't think of a roll-up door to outside).

The pits and arena are all in the same large open space, so there shouldn't be issues once you're in the building, but load-in and load-out might get interesting.

[nixiebunny]

Thanks for pointing this out. Come to think of it, our build space door is rather low.

It sounds like a smart plan to make the tall bits easy to split in half for shipping. I will add this to our robot design requirements.

[MisterG]

Good thread and important info for teams to consider.

The blue box under R3 seems to allude to this whole idea:

Teams should think carefully about how they will transfer their ROBOTS from place to place during the events. Many FIRST Robotics
Competitions take place in venues with standard sized doors. Be sure to consider the size of the ROBOT on its cart to make sure it will fit
through doors. Also consider the size of the ROBOT to ensure that it will fit into a shipping crate, bag, vehicle, etc.