Shipping from Regional to Championship?

[Chris_Elston]

I have a question for the veteran teams.

Occording to the rules, a robot must ship from event to event. What if we don't know if we are going to the championship event? Must we be prepared to ship our robot from regional to championship if we was to win the regional?

Has anyone been in the situation before? Win a regional and now must think about going to the championship along with all the logistics of getting the robot there and the team?

Are the regional champions required to ship the robot direct from regional to championship in Atlanta according to the rules?

[jgannon]

Last year we won a Rookie All-Star award and decided literally an hour before leaving that we wanted to go to Atlanta. We were able to take care of all of the paperwork for registration and shipping right then, with no problems.

[dez250]

Normally you have until the Monday or Tuesday after the event to make a decision and get the paperwork and administrative work done if you are in the position of a change of plans.

[jgannon]

Originally Posted by dez250

Normally you have until the Monday or Tuesday after the event to make a decision and get the paperwork and administrative work done if you are in the position of a change of plans.

What does FIRST do with your robot between the end of the event and when you make your decision? I would think that they don't really want to keep track of your robot for a couple of days while you make up your mind.

[Andy Brockway]

Originally Posted by dez250

Normally you have until the Monday or Tuesday after the event to make a decision and get the paperwork and administrative work done if you are in the position of a change of plans.

The last year for the Monday/Tuesday decision was 2001.

We have had to make this decision the last two years. You should make the decision now on going based on - if we win we are/are not going. It is too hectic at the competition. When we earned our spot in 2002, the last week of Regionals, FIRST asked us at the event if we were going.

On top of deciding on shipping, there is a deadline for payment. If you earn your spot at the last weekend of Regionals, payment is due by Tuesday following the event.

[Max Lobovsky]

Last year we were unsure if we could afford nationals, but we shipped the robot just in case knowing that a close friend of ours on a nearby team would take care of shipping it back if we didn't make it. Sadly, we couldn't go, but we got our robot back a few weeks later.

[Ricky Q.]

Originally Posted by chakorules

I have a question for the veteran teams.

Occording to the rules, a robot must ship from event to event. What if we don't know if we are going to the championship event? Must we be prepared to ship our robot from regional to championship if we was to win the regional?

Has anyone been in the situation before? Win a regional and now must think about going to the championship along with all the logistics of getting the robot there and the team?

Are the regional champions required to ship the robot direct from regional to championship in Atlanta according to the rules?

This happened to us last year after winning the Midwest Regional. We as a team had decided at the beginning of the season that since we had not prequalified to attend the championship that our goal was to win a regional and get there. We succeeded and there was no debate over the decision, after heading back to the pits from the field after the finals I celebrated by going over to the shipping desk and taking care of the logistics. Cost should not be an issue for shipping unless your crate is overweight because FedEx pays for a robot to goto the a regional and the championship.

We called FIRST on the Monday after the event and registered and worked out payment details.

The logistics of getting an entire team there is a different story, it was a struggle but we managed to fundraise and secure our reservations and all that and have a great time.

I suggest that you make the descision ahead of time. If you decide to go if you win, start securing some funds now and putting together plans slowly. If you don't win then you have a head start for next year.

[Stephen Kowski]

Last year we won @ Peachtree.....we had the airbills with us because we knew that if we qualified we would definitely be going....our alliance won the regional and we shipped it straight to the drayage location for the championship...

whatever you do if you WISH TO ATTEND IF YOU QUALIFY.....DO NOT SEND YOUR ROBOT BACK TO YOUR SCHOOL/SPONSOR or you will end up like the guys in the pit station next to us with no robot....ppl from all over pitched in and they got a robot built and ready for competition in about 1 day but that is probably not the best route.....

Just be prepared in the event you qualify....bring the shipping info with ya...