Best Pit You've Seen

[Bongle]

The best pit is the pit that doesn't intrude on adjacent pit space. It seems every year our pit space slowly shrinks as the teams around us put up more and more extravagant displays. All you need is a box for your robot to sit on (we used our crate), the KOP bins full of tools and parts, and a table to charge your batteries on.

That said, if you can make an enormous extravagant pit area that doesn't bug your neighbours, great!

[Bemis]

it was said 50 million times already, but I agree that MOE's is pretty nice. Well organized, and noticable. My team was right across the aisle/space/path/whatever from them. Also, thanks for loning us that net at Pittsburgh back when we were tweaking our shooter, before removing it. My only problem is that the music playing with the video you guys showed this year got really repetetive, but thats not much.

[musicgal]

Does anyone else have pictures of their pits? We're a rookie team competiting pretty soon in Denver, and we have no idea how to use our space!!

[hayakuneko]

at arizona... i'd say team 842...

they had this whole shelved off pit area. it was basically a bunch of shelves creating a wall surrounding their pit area, it was really nice and looked really professional...

... i think thats why we bought shelves yesterday...?

woo hoo... 6 days till LA regional...

[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by musicgal

Does anyone else have pictures of their pits? We're a rookie team competiting pretty soon in Denver, and we have no idea how to use our space!!

Here is our pit in Pittsburgh. Thanks for the picture Bill Bennet. You can see Lou our resident Pit Lord putting away some metal. Strangely, he is the only one in the pit so this is a rare photo op. He is standing in front of our second work bench so you can't see it well. You can see our 2 mini towers (made from spare fabric stretchers), complying with the new FIRST height restrictions.

Specs:

• 2 Work Benches
• Primarily built with Bosch Tubing
• Drill press
• 2 Vices
• Locking shelves for clear plastic organizer cases
• Battery charging shelf (2nd bench)
• Large storage cabinet (2nd bench)
• Collapsible upper shelf for portability
• Locking Casters for portability
• 2 mini towers (used to be one taller tower)
• 2001 rotating green light on 1 tower
• LED boards on the other tower
• MOE Logo Banners for every year (notice 1 more gear for every year)
• DVD player

The pit was built during winter break in 2001. The names of the students who built it are engraved on a plaque. The whole pit (workbenches and towers) fits in the back of Lou's pickup and he transports it to all our competitions. The pit was designed solely for functionality, but aesthetics seem to get into everything we do.

Whatever you use for your pit, make sure it is very portable and very sturdy. Some teams even use their crate as a tool shelf (like 808 ).

[jwallace15]

I decided to revive this old thread! I see so many threads about robot carts, I think it's time pit setups get some attention!

Team 68's pit setup consists of our "Boom Box", which has space for 4 of our big totes, Slots for a ton of containers with fasteners, a countertop with (if my memory serves me) 10 outlets, and our boom: A big boom made out of pipe that contains an ethernet cable for safe tethering in the pits. It reaches high above the robot out of everyone's way (so that head injuries are avoided). No more ethernet cords laying askew on the pit floor!

We also have our biggest (portable) tool box (nicknamed "Little Red". There is a big red, but it is too big to transport anymore). We also have a wall with pegs for hanging up important tools on. It also features an LED marquee.

We also had a board for pinning up buttons on, holding electronic picture frames with slideshows featuring our team, as well as motivational posters and other things.

Some cool things I've seen:

280 (TnT): Installed Mini-Fridge. Also has a fan that consists of the big fans included in the KOP.

Many teams have tents.

And of course, buttons.

What about your team?

[AllenGregoryIV]

We made a whole guide about our Pit Setup. We're very big fans of it. It's pretty simple and lightweight. It also didn't cost that much but provides a lot of functionality.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2706

Number one thing to have in a printer: All-in-one printer, it has saved the day for teams many times.

[DELurker]

Originally Posted by jwallace15

I decided to revive this old thread! I see so many threads about robot carts, I think it's time pit setups get some attention!

As a suggestion, starting a new thread with a link in the first post to the old thread would probably be a better option than necro-ing a thread that is more than 6 years out of date.

With that said, iirc 2016 has a really neat, clean, and well-organized pit. Everything had a place and there was a place for everything. For the rest, I was too busy running between the stands and the pit at each of our competitions to pay much attention

[Jay O'Donnell]

I have to give a shout out to 3467 for their pit. Extremely organized, great usage of space and a nice feel to it.

[JohnFogarty]

If only there wasn't a height restriction on pits then we could bring back the monstrous wizard hat that goes on top of the castle.

Our pit is unbelievably simple. We designed it so that we use the space we have as efficiently as possible. We have collapsable shelves for not only storage but also to hold the castle walls up. The chairman's banner and signature banner doors are more of a safety feature than anything.
We built a wool plank to sit on top of our tool chests so that the power tools would have something to sit on along with keeping our carts stable in the trailer while in transit. Last year we decided...we need chairs.

[Boe]

Originally Posted by John_1102

If only there wasn't a height restriction on pits...

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/24597

[Peyton Yeung]

254's was beautiful with the accent lighting and aluminum tubing but 686 had one of the best pits I've seen. Almost all they brought in at Chesapeake fit in 2 carts. 1 cart split in half and had storage on the insides and the 2nd unfolded for hanging tools. So much open space.

[safiq10]

I've got to admit I really like the Gatorzillas booth. BTW what are the spefication on booths

[Ernst]

Originally Posted by safiq10

I've got to admit I really like the Gatorzillas booth. BTW what are the spefication on booths

Pits are usually 10' x 10' but can be smaller.

Per the 2013 FRC Administrative Manual:

Each team is allotted approximately the same amount of workspace at an event, usually about 10’x10’x10’; however, the size will vary from event to event, and in many cases the space is smaller. Be sure your equipment will fit in a space smaller than those dimensions. In all cases, the height cannot exceed 10’. This includes the height of signs, flags, banners, etc…

[Billfred]

Going to be a while before someone tops 4451, ROBOTZ Garage for me.

(Also, I remember that two-story pit all those years ago. At least they had harnesses up top!)