Announcing public practice field in Hampton Roads, VA

[safiq10]

Originally Posted by Whippet

A practice field in Texas would be amazing! What city do you think it would end up in?

We were think about doing it in Waco, Tx since its our home town plus its centralized around two big cities so they can drop by if they don't have a practice field.

[Whippet]

Originally Posted by safiq10

We were think about doing it in Waco, Tx since its our home town plus its centralized around two big cities so they can drop by if they don't have a practice field.

Ah, ok. My team is a bit far from Waco, but I wish you the best of luck establishing practice field!

[mwilbur]

Thanks for all of the awesome comments, guys! We're pleased that you're impressed.

I'd like to take a moment to respond to a couple of the questions that have been asked regarding the field and how we managed to garner the facility.

1. We do plan to add field elements for each new game year. Once the VASC "Robotics Saturdays" are over, we will be taking the Ultimate Ascent field elements down in preparation for the 2014 game. We will try to have the people that build the field elements incorporate them into the field for Kick-Off, but what they can do in the time available will be up to them. My basic understanding of that process is that they get a material and cut list ahead of time, but don't get the assembly instructions until the day of Kick-Off. Since the team version of the field elements are intended to be stand-alone, some of them may be difficult to incorporate directly into the field on very short notice.

2. As for approaching places about doing something similar, I don't know that there's anything special that we did beyond just expressing an interest. We have done a number of demos and participated in a number of VASC functions over the years, which probably helped. In this particular case, the VASC often has an open space where they set up traveling exhibits that they get in. They didn't like having the large open area when they didn't have the traveling exhibits, and the traveling exhibits are apparently atrociously expensive, so us needing a space and them having one resulted in a nice symbiotic relationship. Our advice would simply be to bring it up with as many places as you can find. Feel free to show them the pictures of our set-up so that they have a better idea as to what they will be dealing with when it's built. It would be awesome to see similar fields set up around the world!

3. Finally, in the category of fair warning: Be prepared to expend a lot of effort if you are going to build a similar field -- especially if you are going to paint it as we did. The painting wasn't something we would have chosen to do, but it is something that the VASC wanted. We totally underestimated the amount of extra work that this meant when we started, but once we did there was no backing out. We had assistance from a number of the local teams on a Saturday to construct the field, which actually went pretty smoothly, but we had already painted almost all of the pieces and parts over the two weeks prior to assembly. Those that had not been painted at least had a primer coat on them, so we were able to finish up the remaining painting on assembly day. We used the fast-drying high-gloss Behr paint from Home Depot, so it was entirely feasible to paint and assemble on the same day. We spent almost $500 in paint and painting supplies to complete the job in a reasonable amount of time, so the cost was definitely not in the noise level.

[Chadfrom308]

We need a field in Metro detroit somewhere! Our machine shop (in the back of one of our schools) is far too small to do any real practicing or testing!

[mwilbur]

Originally Posted by Chadfrom308

We need a field in Metro detroit somewhere! Our machine shop (in the back of one of our schools) is far too small to do any real practicing or testing!

Well, there you go. We have been suffering from the same problem. The only place in our school with a carpeted area sufficiently large to support driving a robot and setting up even rudimentary field elements is the floor of the auditorium. The auditorium is difficult for us to access on weekends and is not an ideal configuration by any stretch of the imagination. The VASC field set-up is much closer to the real deal for us. We hope that it will improve the driver training experience for our team and those others who can come use it. If we can inspire others to do something similar in their area, so much the better!

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Chadfrom308

We need a field in Metro detroit somewhere! Our machine shop (in the back of one of our schools) is far too small to do any real practicing or testing!

Get in contact with team parents but an even better resource can be sponsors and local real estate agents! Sponsors can typically have unused space or space they are willing to clean out at current or other facilities you may not even know about! Don't assume that the one building you see is their only property! Sponsors can also be very helpful in these subjects when it involves increasing a team's performance. It also helps build a stronger relationship between the team/sponsor. Our team's main sponsor was very helpful in working with their real estate agent to get our team a temporary practice space in the weeks leading up to IRI.

You'll never know whats around you until you start asking!

[wilsonmw04]

The schedule this fall is tight, but if we can get down there on a Saturday we will.

[ToddF]

We wanted to let everyone in our area know that the practice field at the VASC will be taken down shortly to make way for the spring traveling exhibit. It's unfortunate the field won't be available later in the season, but if you hurry, you may be able to use it while it's still up. I would expect it to be available for no longer than a week or so.

We are looking for a new home for the field, so if you know of anywhere (preferably on the peninsula) where we could set it up, please let us know.