Pit design help

[Cody Burd]

Hi i need help designing a pit for team 3607. We are rookies and we have no idea how to design a pit

[Cyberphil]

Check out a few of these pictures of pits. These are just 103's pits, but there are many more ways to create them.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/32045

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/32044

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/32043

Our pit is a trade show booth, and it has done us very well over the years.

If you have any questions please feel free to pm me.

[Alan Anderson]

Start simple. Mark a ten-foot-square area on the floor with tape, assume you will be provided a power outlet and a two-by-six-foot table, and figure out where to put everything you want to have. Make sure it will also fit in an eight-foot-square space, because some regionals are that cramped.

Rolling shelves are good as both storage space and a way to move things into and out of the pit. You'll probably want a workbench. Decide how you're going to deal with your battery charging needs.

And if you're feeling ambitious, build a nice frame that you can decorate with your team name, your sponsors, and anything else you want to show off. Lots of teams use PVC. Ten feet is the absolute height limit.

After you've been to a competition and looked at what other teams do, sit down and design something that fits your team's needs. Don't be too hasty.

[Jon Stratis]

Keep in mind one thing: No matter how "cool" a pit looks, it's only a good pit if it's also functional. Tools and spare parts need to be readily available, and you need room to be able to work on the robot. The pit isn't there to let your team show off - it's there so you can work on your robot as needed between matches.

[bearbot]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Rolling shelves are good as both storage space and a way to move things into and out of the pit. You'll probably want a workbench. Decide how you're going to deal with your battery charging needs.

And if you're feeling ambitious, build a nice frame that you can decorate with your team name, your sponsors, and anything else you want to show off. Lots of teams use PVC. Ten feet is the absolute height limit.

also on the pvc we add a backdrop and other decorative to honor our name team ursamajor and sponsor like NASA and might hace a constellation this year somewhere that be kewl

[J-Blondie]

PVC is good because it is light. Ours is made out of Item material which is really heavy. At first we had four 90 degree posts for each corner, each 10 ft. high with beams that stretched between the posts. We have changed it a bit, making the front of it more like a doorway with it still being made of Item and mostly open. We use boards with more of our information on them to display achievements, team history, this years robot specs., etc. Just make sure it is portable, as before ours was modified, we found out it was pretty difficult to lug around to competitons.

[Tetraman]

I made this in Sketchup for 174's pit

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/36165

It has our team number clearly visible and a list of all sponsers. The design of the pit is mostly a "wall", so we are able to have as much of the 10'x10' space to work on our robot. I alloted room for the tool benches that hold all supplies meant for repair or sharing with other teams and a table. The blue banners show off our achievements. As a rookie team, you might want to consider having a location for photos as your achievements, or have a computer show a slideshow. Additionally, the whiteboard on the right pannel lists our wins/losses for the regional and will host a pamplet for teams to pull out, read and take with them for scouting.

A successful pit doesn't need to be flashy or expenisve - it just needs to do the job of showing off who you are and function as a place to repair a busted bot.

[U5ER NAM3]

we are thinking about one that will look like a nest

TEAM: 3312

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Section 4 of the Admin docs will give you a lot of info. You will have some restrictions based on these and some on venue rules.

[chris janney]

Last year was the first year my team went to a competition and we were astounded by the amount of decoration on the pits. this year, we intend on using the pits as a workplace, and using somewhere in the stands to have a PR stand. Also we want to stream the competition live over the internet and wanted some advice from the teams that have don that in the past.

[PerpetualMotion]

GV: fixed error above

[EricH]

Originally Posted by chris janney

this year, we intend on using the pits as a workplace, and using somewhere in the stands to have a PR stand. Also we want to stream the competition live over the internet and wanted some advice from the teams that have don that in the past.

Depending on your target audience for the PR, that could be a bad idea. If the PR is aimed at scouts, judges, and other team members, they will go straight to your pit if they want to pick stuff like that up, or talk to team members. Having to go clear to the stands for that sort of thing is not going to make them terribly happy. OTOH, if your target audience is the general public (i.e., visitors, VIPs, people who don't want to go to the pits), then having your PR in the stands is a good idea. They're likely to see it on their way in.

If I were you, if I did go that route, I'd put some PR material and one PR person in the pit and the rest elsewhere. That way, all your bases are covered.

If you're looking at streaming, I would also advise recording; The Blue Alliance is always looking for videos of competition. There's typically an A/V drop behind the curtain somewhere that you can connect to. Be advised that you'll need an internet connection, and sometimes there isn't one. (Case in point: Colorado last year had about one update to the FIRST site all competition, and that gets priority on venue connections. I think it took about a week for them to get all the data up.)

[maltz1881]

Originally Posted by chris janney

Last year was the first year my team went to a competition and we were astounded by the amount of decoration on the pits. this year, we intend on using the pits as a workplace, and using somewhere in the stands to have a PR stand. Also we want to stream the competition live over the internet and wanted some advice from the teams that have don that in the past.

Take a look at Code Red. In the past they attend all of MI. district events and stream them live. They do an incredible job of it.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by chris janney

Also we want to stream the competition live over the internet and wanted some advice from the teams that have don that in the past.

Chris,
The requirement is a pipe to get out of the venue. That is sometimes a hard thing to do.