Too Tall To Ship

[joeweber]

I still have the question, can we pay the difference for shipping a larger container that would fit the robot and would FIRST allow it? From what I have read on the FED-EX site they will ship larger containers.

[cglrcng]

The why's of the crate height X width X depth limitations are all explained in the shipping / crating instructions as to what they need to be able to do in drayage at the site. They need to be able to stack and move those crates at the other end. So they need standard sized crates for ease of management of 600 of those at one time.

Why is it just too stinking hard for most to just follow the basic rules everyone else needs to follow w/ no team treated differently because they are some special case? If it fits in the Transport Config. Then it should not be too hard for the robot builders to e-mail Team Support (receive pre-permission before unbagging), unbag, disassemble a bit, re-bag into just 2 parts, build the correct size crate per printed instructions, and put both bags into the crate. And SHIP IT! Then after unbagging, re-assemble it and go stack, stack, stack. Yo, we are going to St. Louis to the FIRST CHAMPIONSHIPS all!

BTW, Yellow Totes in Grey stacks on the scoring platforms there don't count for points either! And there are no special circumstances that allow your robot drivers to do so if they are color blind either.

So don't be so danged difficult. LOL. (Round Too Tall Peg Meets Shorter Square Much Wider Hole!) Just get a bigger Hammer!...Is The Easiest Solution. =Everything Fits.

If you really want it to that is.

[g_sawchuk]

April Fools, right?

[markmcgary]

Originally Posted by cglrcng

If it fits in the Transport Config. Then it should not be too hard for the robot builders to e-mail Team Support (receive pre-permission before unbagging), unbag, disassemble a bit, re-bag into just 2 parts, build the correct size crate per printed instructions, and put both bags into the crate. And SHIP IT! Then after unbagging, re-assemble it and go stack, stack, stack. Yo, we are going to St. Louis to the FIRST CHAMPIONSHIPS all!

With our totally unexpected wild-card ticket to Championships, this is exactly the procedure that we followed. We emailed FIRST HQ before doing anything and they replied with permission to unbag, split the robot, rebag both halves and crate. We record everything on the Robot Lockup Form and staple copies of the FIRST permission email to both bags. Boom. Done. Yo, we are going to St. Louis to the FIRST CHAMPIONSHIPS all!

[pmangels17]

Originally Posted by nixiebunny

RTFM!

The robot crating instructions specifically say that you're allowed to unbag your robot for the purpose of disassembling it to fit in a crate, and that you may use two bags to hold the pieces. Not three bags, only two.

I'm a big fan of RTFM, and I'm not a part of the team to which you are referring, but is it possible that they bagged those two separate elements into the same second bag, thus leaving two pieces but only one bag?

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by joeweber

I still have the question

Maybe it's just me, but our team recognized the design challenge right at the start - mostly because it was called out by FIRST as something to consider - and we designed our robot to fit into a crate, compromising the design somewhat in the process. Can I roll my eyes any louder?

That being said, and the OP feeling properly chastised, obviously you aren't going to miss CMP because of this. Before you get out the sawzall just do what the Blog post says and be done.

To be more explicit: No, nothing says a bigger crate will be "OK".

Originally Posted by cglrcng

Why is it just too stinking hard for most to just follow the basic rules everyone else needs to follow w/ no team treated differently because they are some special case?

sigh.

[Gregor]

Week 1 all.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=132819

[joeweber]

I am sorry that our team was not on top of the shipping size rule as we have never been to the Championship and have not had to use a create since the bag and tag started in Michigan. We will have no trouble removing our lift rails for ship when we compete at our Michigan State Championship which will have 73 teams going to Saint Louis. Thanks all.

[matthewdenny]

I see that this team has a solution, but I'd like to point out that depending on your design and if you are only a couple inches too tall, it may be easier to remove your axles and take the wheels off to drop the bottom of your robot a bit as opposed to disassembling the super structure.

[Wayne TenBrink]

We emailed FIRST asking permission to re-bag for crating. Their answer was to wait and reapply after we had qualified and were registered. That timing really doesn't help teams. If we don't have advance permission to re-bag, then we will need to assume that the answer is "NO", and take an aggressive ("better safe than sorry") approach to size reduction. I know we need to do some disassembly, but it would be much nicer to do that in our shop with our crate nearby, rather than in the rushed environment of packing out from the event.

[cjster]

Joe, we have a gargantuan amount of time to re-assemble the lift rails at St. Louis if absolutely necessary.

[bmammen]

It's not clearly evident to me how much time we will have in STL to reassemble our bot. According to the schedule I have, load-in is 2-5pm but the pits aren't open until 5pm. Can we work on reassembly between 2-5pm or do we have to wait for the pits to open?

[cjster]

Originally Posted by bmammen

It's not clearly evident to me how much time we will have in STL to reassemble our bot. According to the schedule I have, load-in is 2-5pm but the pits aren't open until 5pm. Can we work on reassembly between 2-5pm or do we have to wait for the pits to open?

I would imagine that we would have to work on reassembly right after we set up our pits, but the next day, pits open at 7am. Tons of time before the first qual match.

[FrankJ]

Quals start 8:30 AM Thur. Considering 600 robots have to be inspected before then-not a lot of time.

My recollection of last year, the team of 5 was allowed to unpack and start work. They also did not require an inspector to check your bag prior to unbagging. While not privy to special information, I expect the same for this year.

The way the top part of our mast comes off for shipping configuration was sited as a reason for winning the industrial design award at Peachtree.

[cjster]

Originally Posted by FrankJ

Quals start 8:30 AM Thur. Considering 600 robots have to be inspected before then-not a lot of time.

600 teams are going?! I thought I was around 400...wow I was way off