What makes a good pit?

[cadandcookies]

Having recently participated in a full redesign of my team's pit, I can tell you what we prioritized. I'll spare you the full history, but over the past half year or so, my team has had the fortune of working with one of our sponsors on a full pit redesign.

Above all, our primary goal was to keep everything clean-- your pit is both your work area and your face at competitions, and a dirty, disorganized, or otherwise unappealing pit doesn't reflect well on your team. We tried to keep as much as possible off of the floor at all times possible. This was achieved through cabinets hanging on our back wall, storage on the robot cart, and two rolling workbenches. The drawers on these workbenches were labelled with exactly what goes in them, in order to manage where our tools are and make it easy to find what we're looking for. The cabinets were primarily used to keep personal items such as backpacks and jackets, as well as the computer driving our display off of the floor and out of our way. There is nothing as irritating or unsafe as tripping over wires, so our pit has a truss system that keeps all of our cabling (lights, monitor cables, battery power) our of the way. We run two powerstrips, one of which resides inside the truss while the other lives attached to the side of our battery cart.

Our second priority was easy of setup-- if you can't set up a pit, no matter how good or functional it looks in your shop, it is of no use. We use a custom truss system developed by our sponsor, Skyline Exhibits, but many other teams use PVC pipe, aluminum extrusion, or other like materials. Another possibility is a tent-like "roof." We used to use one of these, but we had to modify it to let in enough light to work safely in. If an inspector has to pull out a flashlight in your pit (no joke, I've seen it happen), you aren't safe and probably need some sort of lighting. We cut holes in our awning, and that worked well. As a subpoint of this for the love of Gaff, if your pit is in any way complicated, set it up beforehand at home. In addition to the practice you get, you can also see what will and will not work at competition. Plus, more practice means getting it all up faster at competition, which is absolutely huge. If you need a ladder(s) do not count on the venue having them; bring them yourself.

Our tertiary priority was making it look good. Part of this was covered in our first goal, but we have some extra considerations-- our team's motto is "Lighting up robotics," so we have large light strips on the front pillars of our pit. It is really good to make your pit somehow reflect your team's "theme," if it has one. In addition to being cool to see, it also makes your team seem more professional (and makes it more likely that you'll win something like the Imagery Award). Our team has three 9' banners for each the front and sides of our pit, as well as a large flat-screen TV on the front showing a slideshow of our sponsors and team activities. We would not have any of these things if they got in our way when working on the robot-- the only reason we keep them in our pit is that they are 10' in the air, and far out of our way. That being said, if you want flashy things, you will pay for it in setup time, so be prepared and, as earlier mentioned, practice.

Here's an imgur album of our pit (excuse the shaky cam, they were taken on my phone. hopefully we'll be able to do a more comprehensive write up on our pit later-- it certainly has generated quite a bit of interest at our regionals!):

http://imgur.com/a/evZZQ

These were all taken late on Thursday, if I remember correctly, so things aren't fully in position and I don't have a good picture of the robot cart. Like I said, hopefully we'll be able to get some good pictures of it after the season ends (or before St. Louis). This pit (along with our theme of lighting things up) contributed to us winning the Imagery Award at each of the Regionals we attended this year (Lake Superior and North Star).

If you have any further questions, I'd be happy to answer them!

[dcarr]

Love the trussing...I know 254 and others use similar. I have some in my living room at home - that stuff is expensive, glad you found a sponsor.

[MrForbes]

We won the Industrial Safety Award sponsored by Underwriters Laboratories at the Phoenix regional, with a very simple, spartan, pit. One shelf unit, one rolling tool box, but we also have a trash can, broom, dustpan, and battery powered vacuum.

I personally like a pit that has room to work on the robot, since that's what the pit is for. The more stuff you have on the floor (shelves, tool boxes, structures, tables, walls etc), the less room there is to work.

I'm probably in the minority here.

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by MrForbes

We won the Industrial Safety Award sponsored by Underwriters Laboratories at the Phoenix regional, with a very simple, spartan, pit. One shelf unit, one rolling tool box, but we also have a trash can, broom, dustpan, and battery powered vacuum.

I personally like a pit that has room to work on the robot, since that's what the pit is for. The more stuff you have on the floor (shelves, tool boxes, structures, tables, walls etc), the less room there is to work.

I'm probably in the minority here.

This brings up a really good point when it comes to pits-- it really comes down to team/ pit team preference. Do fancy pits look good? Yes (usually). Are the necessary? Heck no! KISS applies to pits as much as it does robots.

[portuk]

Do you have any pictures of your pit? Or any additional recommendations for winning the UL Safety Award?

[M.Kong-Sivert]

Our biggest rule is never to allow more than a few people inside the pit at a time, but, more importantly, not to let anyone from our own team stand by the pit unless they have a specific reason to be there, and even then, only briefly. We have a table with our awards, scrapbook, buttons, and decorations at the front, which creates a barrier that is clear enough for people to follow; nobody stands in front of the table.

[boris1020]

Looking in a broad perspective, pits that are organized and handsome usually adhere to these:

1. The front has a footprint. The face of their pit has some area, it makes them identifiable from down the aisle and separates inside from out. This can be a banner, a TV, a poster, something to interact with people at a glance.

2. That footprint is relatively small. I see all the time pits with banners you have to duck under or openings that seem only as big as a doorway. The face of your pit should allow people to see into and (as needed: judges, public figures, etc) enter your pit easily. It also allows people (and robots) to leave easily if it ever becomes crowded (As people above have emphasized, and I second),

If you meet these criteria, I would think that the insides would also follow suit. Something useful can make up the face of your pit (shelves are great). Toolboxes and other varieties of boxes are also great at containing the inevitable stuff you take to the regional and accumulate while you're there. Regardless of how you design your pit and what you bring, just be sure everything has a place (other than with the jackets under the table). Good luck in competition!

[mman1506]

Keep it simple. When we were a less experienced team we had a large pit structure made from PVC with black and blue sheets draped from the sides. While it did make us more visible most of the time it was just a nuisance making things dark and cramped. We also used a large led lit cart for transporting our robot to the field and while it was nice looking it took up more space than necessary.

For champs this year we started from scratch and purchased a tool chest that could securely hold all our gear for transportation and includes a power strip on the side to save some precious table space. Instead of a bulky robot cart we bought a 17$ movers dolly and a handle which could be easily folded and put away when not needed. The dolly also helped a ton when we had to move the pit closer to the field during elims. To raise the robot form the floor we just used a clam shell container which could double as storage. It may not of been "cool" but it was easily the most effective pit I've ever been part of.

A great example of a simple and effective pit is 1114's.

[Michael Hill]

I'm going to sound like I'm bragging, but the pit 3138 has now is easily the best I've ever worked in. Everything is wheeled in. We have two large rolling toolbox/workbenches and our robot cart. Everything we need comes packaged and stacked in kickoff totes and stacked on the toolboxes and seran wrapped. We're generally all unpacked and ready to go in very short order. We only have a simple sponsor sign made out of PVC pipe that goes into some holders mounted on one of the toolboxes, and that is probably the longest part of our pit setup.

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by portuk

Do you have any pictures of your pit? Or any additional recommendations for winning the UL Safety Award?

I might not be who you're talking to, but I can speak slightly to the UL Safety Award (2220 were finalists at both regionals we attended last year, and one of our mentors is a Safety Advisor).

#1 is actually acting safely. Posters and flyers won't help you if the SA sees people who are a part of your team doing visibly unsafe things. This should go without saying, but with how much "safety theatre" some teams do it needs to be said.

#2 is being able to answer the SA's questions when/if they come to your pit. They may come by when your Safety Captain is in the pit, which means ANYBODY in your pit should be able to answer their questions. Most of it is pretty easy stuff-- I'll email our mentor and get some sample questions they might ask. Note that some regionals may not have Safety Advisors asking questions in the pits, and an interview is not guaranteed (last year our safety captain got confused about this even though we have a mentor who volunteers in this capacity...). It reflects very well if a member who isn't affiliated with your team's safety efforts is able to talk effectively about safety and safe practices on your team (the contrapositive is true as well*: a safety captain who can't answer questions will reflect very poorly).

#3 is, as mentioned, keeping your pit space organized and clean. Also a subset of this is having things on hand to deal with various possible emergencies in your pit-- first aid kits, baking soda, etc. It also includes keeping excess personnel out (which can be difficult no matter what size the team). To this end, keeping your drawers and tools organized and clean, vacuuming (if you have carpet in your pit or if you're on the floor), and making sure nuts and bolts aren't just lying around are a good start. If you're getting smiley faces on your nightly check slips, you're good on cleanliness.

Last is the posters, the awareness stuff (at least where I'm from...). It's a lot of fun to do, but safety is all about the fundamentals. If your team has a good grasp on the concepts and practice of safety, it will show (because many teams, sadly, do not have those habits).

If you're really serious about going for a safety award (or even if you aren't), I'd definitely recommend reaching out both to the safety advisors at your event and any large businesses in your area to learn about what they consider to be safe practices. Last year 2220 talked a good deal with 3M about their safety procedures to learn how to better our practices, which was a great experience.

Good luck!

*Yes I know that if a statement is true the contrapositive must be true as well!

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by portuk

Do you have any pictures of your pit? Or any additional recommendations for winning the UL Safety Award?

Here's a couple more specific recommendations that the volunteer I mentioned earlier gave me, and the specific questions I asked:

The first thing was, read the manual!

Safety Award information is in the FIRST Safety Manual available on the usfirst.org website. Lots of good information here. Everything they look for is in there. Look under section called "Safety Awareness and Recognition Program".

As for interview questions:

When we interview teams, we start very simply with something like, "Tell me about your safety program" or "What do you do for shop / tool training?" We may also ask what safety equipment you have in the pit.

And for things to avoid:

Safety Advisors are generally not looking to take teams out of the running for the awards, but want to educate the teams to improve their safety programs. However, willful disregard or repeated safety violations are really frowned upon (i.e. individuals who repeatedly do not wear their safety glasses in the pit).

Not a ton of new information, but I hope you find it helpful!

[Qbot2640]

For our team, the portability and fast setup of our current pit:



...has been a dream. One person can carry the structure in, it sets up in less than 10 minutes, and with the rolling toolbox (you see me sitting on), and the robot on it's cart... we can roll in and be working within 25 minutes of arriving at the venue.

[Seth Mallory]

Our team takes the minimalist approach for our pit. We fly to one or more regionals a year and have to carry our pit on the airplane. We also put one small set of shelves and chargers in the small crate with the robot. We have won the safety award with this simple pit a couple of times. They only win at events that I am not a Safety Advisor. This type of pit can be put together in minutes and has lots of space since we bring very little to fill it with.

[SoulianPride]

When it comes to a durable and reliable pit, there are a few things that my team has considered in great length. Here are some things that went into the discussion back during my 3 year run as Safety Captain:

-A bin for things that should stay out; Our safety captains take their job seriously and they put away everything as soon as it is set down and sometimes there can be confusion as to whether or not the tool or part should still be out or not. Have a place for things that need to stay out that aren't on top of carts.

-Another thing is use the 5S' (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain) to figure out what you truly need for an event and what is just extra weight. Then, once you know for sure what you need, make a cart with a specific place for each thing.

[Chris is me]

Off the top of my head, the essential elements of a great pit:

• Organized and quickly accessible storage for any parts or tools needed for robot repair.
• A reasonable amount of countertop or table space to do work on.
• Enough room for people to work on 3 sides of the robot at a time. Robot can fit in "center" of pit with people all around it, with minimal spill-over into the walkway.
• An unobtrusive solution for battery / charger storage and use.
• Easy to load / unload; as many rolling or quick-assemble elements as possible.

There's a bunch of other features that make pits better (lighting, storage for everyone's jackets / personal crap, etc) but these are the vital requirements.

I'll try and find a picture of 2791's pit from this year later. We've been working on it bit by bit since 2011, and I really like where it's at now. A bunch of custom rolling cabinets, a few collapsible shelves, and our rolling toolbox make up two sides of the perimeter, and there's enough room in a 10x10 to put the robot in the middle.