Inclement Of Weather, Shipping

I don't know how many of you live in the washington DC metro area, but right now we're getting hit with a blizzard of gigantic proportions. Problem is, I don't know if we'll have school on tuesday. And guess where our robot is? Sitting in room 172 in school. So right now it's locked up and I'm worried if we can ship on tuesday or not......anything in the rules about htis?

[ReggieB]

we've put ours into the crate, not really secure yet, and hope to get to school as early as possible on tuesday to finish packing. We were hopping to use sunday and monday to finish some systems (!) and a whole lot of testing.

Hope for a heat wave....

[Mimi Brown]

We are basically in the same situation...we had around 5 inches of snow this morning, and we're supposed to get more tonight and then a lot more tomorrow...but as long as the shipping truck can get to school on tuesday i dont care

[AlexR]

chances are though, most shipping companies will not show up with 20 inches of snow on the ground, which is the amount expected up here in new jersey. Any moderators or veterans out there have experience with such a situation in the past??

[Kyle]

we are stuck to. in DE we have about 13in so far in some areas and now no one can drive on the roads so we cant get to our bot and more snow is expected to fall tonight and tommrow

[redbeard0531]

In Maryland it is now ILLEGAL to drive! Is FIRST going to require us to break the law. I doubt it.

BTW, The news man said that this storm is already in the top 5, and may even take the top spot if it continues at this rate!

[Tempest]

this REALLY sucks, we planned on finishing up our autonomous code tomorrow and add our final subsystem to our robot. THIS STORM BLOWS. I hope we can get like 1-2 days added to the shipping date. 1'-2' of snow is a LOT, thats more then enough to stop a car in its tracks.

[Stephen Kowski]

Originally posted by ReggieB
Hope for a heat wave....

[Coach C]

Bah!

We've packed sleeping bags and have a small arsenal of food to last the next few days in our machine shop. Been here since 8 this morning, and we'll probably be here until at least that time on Tuesday.

Talk about dedication...heh.

[Joe Matt]

This was sent to all of the VCU attending teams:

Hello, all!

We haven't caught many breaks this season, have we? With about 48
hours to
go, many of us are caught with our robots unfinished and no way to get
them
to drayage. What are we going to do?

We will get an official word from FIRST tomorrow, but my instinct tells
me
that some arrangements will have to be made either online today or by
phone
first thing tomorrow to get the robots picked up. If you have your
crates
ready by the time you specify on the pick up order (which MUST be
before 5 pm
on Tuesday), then you have made a good faith effort to comply with the
"out
of hands" requirement. If the shipper cannot pick up the crate, then
it
should not count against you.

BE CAREFUL! Your three free FedEx shipping labels can only be used for
one
regional, the Championship, and back to you. If you are going to more
than
one regional, these are not to be used for that, your team will have to
absorb that cost. If you were planning to transport your robot to
drayage
yourself, in order to take advantage of the free shipping for the
second
regional, then it looks as though you will also have to absorb the
additional
cost.

But, as I said, the official word will come from us tomorrow.

All efforts to complete your robot must now be turned toward getting it
ready
for pick up. I know it is hard for the new teams to understand, but it
is
really only the most seasoned veterans who run robots in the last match
that
is exactly like it was when it came out of the crate. There are
usually12
hours of modification/completion/tweaking on Thursday, plus endless
adjustments between seeding matches.

And there will be lots of folks willing to offer advice/aid/assistance.

Keep your chins up!
Dee Tomczak
Assistant Coordinator
NASA/VCU/FIRST Robotics Competitions

So basicly, expect a formal FIRST announcment tomorrow along with instructions on what to do.

[Paradox]

Just came back from school, it is 11 pm. We worked on tweaking the autonomous program today because we are expecting 10-20 inches of snow tomorrow and doubt if we will be able to get to the school in the morning.
Our robot is ready to go, just have to put it in the crate and wait for Fed EX on Tuesday. I just hope we can get to the school by then.

[Wayne C.]

Team 25 spent the last two days "playing with" machine our and working on the autonomous mode. Unlike the past few years, this year's machine has presented us with some "operational challenges" and we will be doing some correction of them in the pits at Annapolis.

Anyway, we started our practice this morning with no snow and left with 6 inches on the ground. The shipping arrangements were made for pickup on noon on Tuesday and for now the machine is in the back of Big Mike's (Mr. Volcano) vehicle to be delivered to BMS early Tuesday morning for crating and pickup.

That is if the 3 ft of snow they are talking about allows us out on the roads. We are already up to about a foot already and NJ has declared a state of emergency.

1089 is in a similar fix and they finished crating tonight. It may not be possible for the team to reach the shop tomorrow but we are going to try. Many of the kids live within a mile of the shop and have promised to walk there if necessary (you know uphill, in the snow with bare feet...)

The "out of hands" provision in the past has allowed neighboring teams to swap robot crates until pickup. Under these extraordinary conditions I am sure FIRST will use common sense and allow some leniency.

Hey, does anybody know if Wissahickon got a replacement drill?

WC

[Wetzel]

Hey, we can learn lessions. Walking home from Daves house, about a mile, mostly uphill, BUT I wore shoes.

The deepest part was Dave's front walk, about 20 inches.

Hopefully they can get into the shop by Tuesday, for the crate is there.


Wetzel

[f22flyboy]

we still have a crate to build, and nowhere to build it.

[Madison]

According to the official FIRST forums, they are planning to make an announcement with regard to the inclement weather conditions at approximately noon today. Specifically, they will address how this affects the shipping deadline.

I hope we're given an extra day or something. I doubt I can manage to get to our sponsors house, that's where everything is, and if we're only given today, we're pretty well screwed.

I can't even open my front door. :-/