Bag & Tag

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Mr. Van

He said that the decision was just made (~1.5 hrs ago)

I knew about this last Saturday, and apparently others did before me. It would have been nice if they at least alluded to it at the conclusion of last season. We just built a new fancy crate...

[Jon Stratis]

Well, given how much shipping costs, it's not that big of a surprise. 10 years ago, it wasn't so bad to get all the shipping donated. With the huge growth of the program, though, it starts to become a problem. This way, FIRST can direct the shipping donation towards teams that really need it (have to travel a long way for competition, travel to champs, etc), while everyone else can handle things themselves. Honestly, I was happy last year when Minneapolis went to bag and tag - It seemed ridiculous to cost FIRST so much in shipping the previous years when we could load the robot in the back of a truck and drive it 20 mins to the venue.

[Trent B]

Originally Posted by eagle33199

Well, given how much shipping costs, it's not that big of a surprise. 10 years ago, it wasn't so bad to get all the shipping donated. With the huge growth of the program, though, it starts to become a problem. This way, FIRST can direct the shipping donation towards teams that really need it (have to travel a long way for competition, travel to champs, etc), while everyone else can handle things themselves. Honestly, I was happy last year when Minneapolis went to bag and tag - It seemed ridiculous to cost FIRST so much in shipping the previous years when we could load the robot in the back of a truck and drive it 20 mins to the venue.

I fully agree on the Minneapolis stand point, I was really happy that we werent having to ship a 150-200 lb crate 10 miles... Granted storage can be a pain in some situations but the actual loading process was not bad at all.

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I knew about this last Saturday, and apparently others did before me. It would have been nice if they at least alluded to it at the conclusion of last season. We just built a new fancy crate...

You may have known that they were talking about it but according to our RD who we met with yesterday, the final decision was not made until about 3:00pm yesterday during a telecoference call with all the RD's. Until then it could have still been mixed like last year.

I agree, they should have let us all know sooner.

[mesamb1]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

We just built a new fancy crate...

Incentive to now qualify for championships and use it?

Our team has always had to rent a uhaul like truck to when traveling to a regional to carry our pit stuff and luggage. Sticking a robot in wouldn't cost a dime more. Now that we have a regional in our town Sheppard has to drive past our school to move the bot from drainage to competition. The most inconvenienced teams I could think of are not the teams who travel huge distances(because they could still ship their bot), but those teams who travel reasonable distances in a rented bus. Luggage compartments fit pit supplies nicely, but not a 4 foot tall robot.

[HannahF]

Originally Posted by mesamb1

The most inconvenienced teams I could think of are not the teams who travel huge distances(because they could still ship their bot), but those teams who travel reasonable distances in a rented bus. Luggage compartments fit pit supplies nicely, but not a 4 foot tall robot.

We have traveled by a rented bus to bag and tag regionals for the past two years (DC and Pittsburgh) and we have never had any trouble fitting robots in the underside compartments. In fact when we traveled to Pittsburgh in 2010, we were able to fit our bagged comp bot and pit, as well as two demo robots and our robotics 101 interactive display panels, plus luggage. If a team knows the demensions of their robot before they book they should have no problem finding a bus that can accomadate their robot.

~Hannah

[sillyone]

Well being an Michigan team we have been doing Bag & Tag for 2-3 years now I think. We have time periods where we can access the robot after "The Ship Date" (a total of 6 hours I believe, 2 hours a day for 3 days or something like that)

[EricH]

Originally Posted by sillyone

Well being an Michigan team we have been doing Bag & Tag for 2-3 years now I think. We have time periods where we can access the robot after "The Ship Date" (a total of 6 hours I believe, 2 hours a day for 3 days or something like that)

Yes, but the rest of the FRC world does not. We have a practice day at the event instead. Something like 8-12 hours in one day.

[Phyrxes]

Everything going bag and tag just made it a lot easier to increase the priority of obtaining a box trailer for the team as I'd rather not have to put a robot in a Suburban again.

We are within school bus distance of one of three Regionals so no reason for us to get a charter bus due to cost.