Pit Designs

[Retired Starman]

Pit design is always a balance between what you want, what you need, and the minimal space allowed.

1. You can remove the table they give you and use your own cabinet/work bench.
2. It is good to define your perimeter so your neighbors don't move their stuff into your space. An easy-up without the canopy makes a nice space defining structure plus gives you something to easily hang banners on. A piece of lightweight carpet also helps define your space. We got a piece of dark blue carpet from Home Depot for about $65.00. To make it easy to move, we folded 1/4 of it from each side into the middle then rolled it up into a five foot wide roll which fits in the car or trailer. The rubber/plastic tiles which snap together are really nice, too, and are easier to keep clean.
3. Avoid walls and structures that require towers or columns since these take up a lot of space. Sure, castles are cute, but take up way too much space. Keep your front open to invite judges and visitors in.
4. White boards around the perimeter provide a convenient place to write your competition schedule, make notes, leave messages, etc., are bright, light weight, cheap, and easy to move. You can also hang banners and posters over them. Home Depot sells 4 ft. by 8 ft. pieces of plastic coated Masonite which makes great inexpensive white boards in sizes that meet your needs.
5. Think usable storage. You can't have enough. We spend way too much time trying to find things in tubs and boxes.
6. Don't allow backpacks in your pit. Leave them in the car or at the hotel. No one needs their world history and French books at a FIRST competition.
7. Consider how you are going to transport your pit. You probably will need a trailer to move some of those large roll-around workbenches. If you are traveling a long distance to a regional or Championship, this can be a problem.
8. Back when we shipped our robots, several teams had nice shipping crates which were split down the middle to open up into a shelf unit and workbench. These were really nice.
9. Finally, keep the number of people in your pit to a minimum. Twenty people just won't fit with everything else. Send the excess out to scout and help sell your team.

Now if I could just get my team to do all this, maybe we would have a killer pit too!

Dr. Bob

Chairman's Award is not about building the robot. Every team builds a robot.