PR Question

[snoman]

Check out some of our pics http://clbregulators.weebly.com/ . Lots of teams have there own style. On thing we did is have a big blank white board for teams to sign. ( big hit) . have fun with it be different, have photo album and team information on display for fans and judges. Have something small to give away. Make awards to give to other teams Especially for those that help you

[nighterfighter]

Several people have mentioned a 10'x10' area.

This isn't always the case! Sometimes you might only get 8'x8', or 10'x10' (or even more if you are super lucky).

Please design your pit layout with this minimal size restriction. Encroaching into the alley or neighbor's pits is not a good way to make friends.

[GeeTwo]

Stepping back a bit, the most important things to include in your pit are:

• Your Sponsors' Logos - they made it possible!
• Battery Charging Station
• Your tool chest, including wrenches, screwdrivers, hacksaws, crimps, and a soldering iron.
• Your "Fabricated Parts Withholding Allowance" allowed under R17 (choose wisely!)
• Robot and Driver Station (ok, duh)

The next round of things are:

• A work bench more sturdy than a convention table
• Power strips (to run drill press, soldering iron, and other allowed power tools)
• Programmer Station (this may be as simple as power strips, a table, and a long ethernet cable if your programmers bring laptops or program with the clamshell, or may include a PC and a printer)
• Drill Press
• COTS spares, including stock and miscellaneous hardware
• Broom, dust pan, and trash can
• A sign or banner for your team
• Give-aways and other PR stuff
• Place to post your competition schedule (could be a small bulletin board, or a dry-erase board).
• Dry-erase boards or paper/pen or CAD station for on-the-spot design and upgrades.

When laying out your pit, remember that you need to leave enough room to be able to work on your robot. This has been an issue in recent years, but with this year's rules allowing a very large robot, it could be crucial.

Don't forget that you cannot use wireless in the pits or on the practice fields - you have to have a network tether cable. Bring a spare or two in case it gets run over or otherwise broken.

[asid61]

We were warned not to daisy chain power strips last year at regionals, so I recommend buying a huge power strip to run everything off of. Like we're talking 8+ outlets depending on what you want on it.

[221Sarahborg]

We build our pit frame out of pvc, not only because it fits the theme of how our chassis and other parts are built out of pvc, but because it's easy for transport. Here's a link to a really good picture of our pit from the Arkansas Regional last year: [x] It also has some good shots of the two neighboring pits as well. I would definitely invest in the foam tile flooring, it comes in really well. GeeTwo mentioned a list of plenty of really good suggestions to keep in mind.

Another set of things that you should keep in mind is safety for sure. There will be safety judges, inspectors, and many other people waking by on monitor for good safety, as well as getting a review slip both Thursday and Friday night. Keep things like a first aid kit, fire extinguisher, battery spill kit (baking soda, acid resistant gloves, a disposal container, etc.). It would also be good to have extra safety glasses around in case someone forgets their pair, but the event will provide pairs even though they're mostly for non-team visitors. Things like extra hair ties and stuff like that. The biggest safety thing would be an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) of all of the chemicals you use and even the main breaker switch sticker for the robot.

There are resources like the 2015 Safety Manual that can help you out with all of that!

Good luck at competition!

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by 221Sarahborg

Another set of things that you should keep in mind is safety for sure. There will be safety judges, inspectors, and many other people waking by on monitor for good safety, as well as getting a review slip both Thursday and Friday night. Keep things like a first aid kit, fire extinguisher, battery spill kit (baking soda, acid resistant gloves, a disposal container, etc.). It would also be good to have extra safety glasses around

Oh, right! ABSOLUTELY!! However, don't bother keeping spare safety glasses in the pit - people won't be able to get to the pit without safety glasses. Until this year, we've always made a point of keeping safety glasses in our "outside the pits" station somewhere in the stands or the outer lobby of our venue. This year, we're going to buy an individual pair of safety glasses for everyone on the team who does not need vision correction, with a team logo. (My pic is about 8 years old; I do wear glasses now.)

[221Sarahborg]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

Oh, right! ABSOLUTELY!! However, don't bother keeping spare safety glasses in the pit - people won't be able to get to the pit without safety glasses. Until this year, we've always made a point of keeping safety glasses in our "outside the pits" station somewhere in the stands or the outer lobby of our venue. This year, we're going to buy an individual pair of safety glasses for everyone on the team who does not need vision correction, with a team logo. (My pic is about 8 years old; I do wear glasses now.)

We just bring a few of our extra pairs to keep in the pit so if someone does forget them, they can start out with grabbing some from the stations with pairs sitting out to grab so they can come to the pits, grab a pair of ours, and return the ones they just borrowed so that allows one more guest to be able to enter the pits since our regionals usually run low and always need to make sure people are wearing some if they have them.

[MikLast]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

Stepping back a bit, the most important things to include in your pit are:

• Your Sponsors' Logos - they made it possible!
• Battery Charging Station
• Your tool chest, including wrenches, screwdrivers, hacksaws, crimps, and a soldering iron.
• Your "Fabricated Parts Withholding Allowance" allowed under R17 (choose wisely!)
• Robot and Driver Station (ok, duh)

The next round of things are:

• A work bench more sturdy than a convention table
• Power strips (to run drill press, soldering iron, and other allowed power tools)
• Programmer Station (this may be as simple as power strips, a table, and a long ethernet cable if your programmers bring laptops or program with the clamshell, or may include a PC and a printer)
• Drill Press
• COTS spares, including stock and miscellaneous hardware
• Broom, dust pan, and trash can
• A sign or banner for your team
• Give-aways and other PR stuff
• Place to post your competition schedule (could be a small bulletin board, or a dry-erase board).
• Dry-erase boards or paper/pen or CAD station for on-the-spot design and upgrades.

When laying out your pit, remember that you need to leave enough room to be able to work on your robot. This has been an issue in recent years, but with this year's rules allowing a very large robot, it could be crucial.

Don't forget that you cannot use wireless in the pits or on the practice fields - you have to have a network tether cable. Bring a spare or two in case it gets run over or otherwise broken.

power strips are very important, as you do only get a couple (or just one) outlet, make sure not to connect a whole bunch of strips onto one though...

[Tim Koch]

We are looking forward to welcoming Team 5665 from Istanbul, Turkey to the Central Illinois Regional.

Lots of good input on pits, but most of the suggestion for pit accessories won't fit in their luggage.

Power here in the USA is 120v and 60 Hz, so some of your powered items may not work here. Bradley University has two full machine shops close to the pit area, so power tools will be available to all teams attending the Central Illinois Regional.

I suggest that you bring your team banner and sponsor information, so you can display it in your 10' x 10' pit. If you have a team flag, bring that as well. Bring safety glasses for every team member in your luggage, not your shipping crate.

You probably will want to bring the hand tools that you used frequently on your robot build. If you need anything (a tool, a part, something machined, etc.) just ask another team or ask pit administration to make an announcement. This a small regional with a lot of experienced teams, so just ask and you will get plenty of assistance.

My team, Team 2481, the Roboteers, can provide you with a power strip and assist with battery charging.

We will make sure your team is fully supported at the Central Illinois Regional. If you have specific questions about the Central Illinois Regional, the email address for the event is frccir2014@gmail.com

Tim Koch
Central Illinois Regional Planning Committee Chairman

[eedoga]

Last year we got to ship our robot in a crate. We designed the crate so that it would double as a pit. The front of the crate came off and split in half making two small book cases that we put at the front of our pit. The back of the crate had a table that folded out of it.

All in all it didn't look great, but it worked out really well for our team. It also gave mentors a place to go to stay out of the team's way. :-p

[Amy33Amy33]

This is what our pit looked like up in Duluth. It's a pretty average pit. We had shelves with our display out front, generally you want enough workspace for your people to work on the robot, a banner so that teams know who you are, some storage space and a display of some sort for buttons and judges.