Transporting very large robots?

[Doug Frisk]

Originally Posted by RallyJeff

FYI for anyone going to the Windsor Essex Great Lakes Regional but don't know the layout: our load-in door is a large roll-up door that you could literally drive a truck through. The pits and arena are part of one large space that we divide up for the event, so the limiting factor for height while carting around a robot will be the rod-and-drape dividing the pits from the arena.

Most events (in large venues) I've been to are similar to that. The other regional in Duluth has access to the field via a good sized truck tunnel and height won't be any issue at all.

On the other hand, high schools and their gymnasiums tend to have normal sized doors so I wouldn't be surprised if there were issues with clearance in some of the district events.

[RallyJeff]

Originally Posted by DareDad

Most events (in large venues) I've been to are similar to that. The other regional in Duluth has access to the field via a good sized truck tunnel and height won't be any issue at all.

On the other hand, high schools and their gymnasiums tend to have normal sized doors so I wouldn't be surprised if there were issues with clearance in some of the district events.

You tweaked my memory: I believe that at Waterloo, the load-in doors are a standard height double door (at least, that's what was used in the past and I can't think of a roll-up door to outside).

The pits and arena are all in the same large open space, so there shouldn't be issues once you're in the building, but load-in and load-out might get interesting.

[nixiebunny]

Thanks for pointing this out. Come to think of it, our build space door is rather low.

It sounds like a smart plan to make the tall bits easy to split in half for shipping. I will add this to our robot design requirements.

[MisterG]

Good thread and important info for teams to consider.

The blue box under R3 seems to allude to this whole idea:

Teams should think carefully about how they will transfer their ROBOTS from place to place during the events. Many FIRST Robotics
Competitions take place in venues with standard sized doors. Be sure to consider the size of the ROBOT on its cart to make sure it will fit
through doors. Also consider the size of the ROBOT to ensure that it will fit into a shipping crate, bag, vehicle, etc.

[RonnieS]

Originally Posted by MisterG

Good thread and important info for teams to consider.

The blue box under R3 seems to allude to this whole idea:

So they give us a larger height put restrict it within crate...smh FIRST.

[Thad House]

Originally Posted by Ronnie314

So they give us a larger height put restrict it within crate...smh FIRST.

I remember a quote from either woodie or dave lavery in 2007 saying "How do you fit a 6ft all robot in a 5ft tall crate? You plan ahead." Thats going to be very important this year.

[RonnieS]

Originally Posted by Thad House

I remember a quote from either woodie or dave lavery in 2007 saying "How do you fit a 6ft all robot in a 5ft tall crate? You plan ahead." Thats going to be very important this year.

We will more than likely have sub systems that can easily pop apart and we will be fine. I worry for rookies who overlook it and get screwed...I don't want to see that at all.

[Nuttyman54]

Does anyone know if the doors for the pit to field walk at St Louis are higher than standard height (80")?

I feel like they're all high enough to not be a problem (by quite a bit), but if there's just one doorway at standard height that it could cause some headaches. I could accept rolling a 78" tall robot on it's wheels at Districts to clear doorways, but there's no way we're going cart-less if we're in St Louis.

[MrForbes]

We might see what it would take to make our robots "tippable" when in transport configuration. So it's 78" long, 28" wide, 42" tall. Won't be able to turn sharp corners, but will fit thru doorways on a cart.