Your Shipping Crate

[JohnBoucher]

Looking at Elgin’s crate pics from Atlanta reminded me that 237 wants to retire the old crate and build a new one. I’m interested in how teams feel about their crates.



Does your crate have a function besides being a crate?
What do you like or dislike about your crate?
What do you look for or want in a crate material?
Do you use the crate in the pits?
How old is the crate you are currently using?
When in the six weeks do you start thinking about the crate?
What did you do with the old one?
How much other stuff do you pack with the robot?
How overweight was the crate this year?

Those were only suggestions, horror stories are welcome.

[Billfred]

Alright, lemme go with what I remember. It may or may not reflect the group opinion of 1293.

1) No.
2) It's big and roomy and holds the robot. Doesn't have much in the way of storage, unless you wedge things in places.
3) Something that'll hold together in rain and sleet. (We crated it in sleet.)
4) No.
5) I believe it was built about a day or two before the ship date. So about five months old.
6) A week or twoish from the ship date.
7) We don't have an old one--although there was the idea to light up the one we had this year. Never panned out, though.
8) Just random parts and stuff we figured we could use...including the infamous shopping cart parts. (Ask any 1293er.)
9) I think the charge was $44.00. Feel free to tell me what that is.

[Ryan M.]

1. No.
2. Nothing in particular. It's pretty simple, just a box with a side that swings open and shut. Well, it's a little fancier than that, but nothing special.
3. Hm... Wood, because that's easy.
4. No.
5. Just from this year. I don't know if we'll build a new one or not.
6. Last week? I don't know, programming hits hard the last week ("Hey, the robot drives backward because there's an doohickamjinger! No problem, we'll have the software fix that!"), so, yeah, I didn't get out much.
7. Haven't had an old one yet.
8. I don't remember...
9. No clue.

Gee, I'm helpful!

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

Looking at Elgin’s crate pics from Atlanta reminded me that 237 wants to retire the old crate and build a new one.

Hence THIS THREAD.

Post in that one too... .If ya want.

[dez250]

Just an FYI: an overweight crate will be charged $44.00/range of 100lbs over.

[jonathan lall]

Does your crate have a function besides being a crate? It doubles as a work table; flip it on its side, and you're set. It looks good too, so it's a huge poster.

What do you like or dislike about your crate? It's a little flimsy, chips, and is sometimes difficult to reassemble, all due to its plywood construction.

What do you look for or want in a crate material? Lightness is the most important thing, because we all know the difference between a 399 lb. crate and a 401 lb. one. Of course we also want it to be durable and rigid enough to work off of.

Do you use the crate in the pits? Work table, remember? Are you listening to me?

How old is the crate you are currently using? It's been used only this season.

When in the six weeks do you start thinking about the crate? About three weeks in, a few people not on the team put together a little group to make it.

What did you do with the old one? Good question. It's in pieces right now and I think we reused the wood for odd things like mechanical prototypes.

How much other stuff do you pack with the robot? Max, two batteries, controls, and our disassembled cart. We will not go overweight.

How overweight was the crate this year? You aren't listeing to me! This interview's over.

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by jonathan lall

Does your crate have a function besides being a crate? It doubles as a work table; flip it on its side, and you're set. It looks good too, so it's a huge poster.

What do you like or dislike about your crate? It's a little flimsy, chips, and is sometimes difficult to reassemble, all due to its plywood construction.

What do you look for or want in a crate material? Lightness is the most important thing, because we all know the difference between a 399 lb. crate and a 401 lb. one. Of course we also want it to be durable and rigid enough to work off of.

Do you use the crate in the pits? Work table, remember? Are you listening to me?

How old is the crate you are currently using? It's been used only this season.

When in the six weeks do you start thinking about the crate? About three weeks in, a few people not on the team put together a little group to make it.

What did you do with the old one? Good question. It's in pieces right now and I think we reused the wood for odd things like mechanical prototypes.

How much other stuff do you pack with the robot? Max, two batteries, controls, and our disassembled cart. We will not go overweight.

How overweight was the crate this year? You aren't listeing to me! This interview's over.

Not so fast. The old crate (< 2004) doubled as a work table when standing upright (the base was removed to form a cart). The 2004 crate was far too big for that (owing to the first robot in years that actually occupied most of the allotted size restrictions). We used the side panel to extend our workspace by placing it flat on top of a table, but the crate itself was put away in storage.

The new crate also had the capacity to store several more batteries and miscellany, but due to weight issues, we only sent it with a bare minimum.

[Dorienne]

Does your crate have a function besides being a crate? Yes it does, actually. We can usually go right in and do work on the robot, since a now alumni from our team installed a lightbulb in it..haha..
What do you like or dislike about your crate? I love the design. I may post a picture later, but our crate was painted black, and on the two front doors of the crate, Mark (alumni) spraypainted flames on it. It kind of fades from yellow to red. It's really awesome!
What do you look for or want in a crate material? I don't understand this question..
Do you use the crate in the pits? occasionally yes.
How old is the crate you are currently using? We just built it this past season, but the old one we used for many years. It was time to make a new one!
When in the six weeks do you start thinking about the crate? It's premade, so we don't worry about it. But this past year we started before the season began.
What did you do with the old one? ripped it apart and saved the wood, just in case we need it later.
How much other stuff do you pack with the robot? We pack our controls in with it, I believe. But that's about it. We take our tools and all with us when we travel.
How overweight was the crate this year? No idea. Hehe.
--d0ri

[Franchesca]

1) Absolutely not!! I didn't even see my crate at regionals or the Championships until we were packing up the robot!

2) Like - I helped build it ! It is very strong ... and that's about it. Dislike - it has not personality about it ... this is what I mean: I see many teams that have painted their crate in a very creative way ... I just wish we had done that to ours ... is kind of bland!

3) Someting that is very durable, kind of like the one we have now ... we used wood that was pre-treated to resist rain and not rot away because of it or other things that can happen to wood when it is stored away in a place for a long time!

4) Absolutely not ... we barely had space for anything in our pit anyway ... no space ... no space !!!

5) It was built for this season ... and since its our first season well then its not very old at all, now is it?

6) I'd say we started building it about two (or maybe a little more) weeks before shipping date! Although, Mr. Vasden (one of our mentors & in charge of building the crate) started working on the plans before that -- i think!!

7) We broke it in pieces and started a fire!! Nah, like I said its our first year therefore -- 1st official team crate!!

8) Umm, that I know off ... the only thing we packed in it at any given time was the batteries ... although I may be wrong and we may have packed something else in there!!

9) Errr ... I don't think so ... i'm pretty sure we didn't but then again I might be wrong too!

**If anyone in my team reads this and sees any mistakes feel free to correct me**

[Matt_Kaplan1902]

Does your crate have a function besides being a crate? Folded out to worktable and storage for tools.

What do you like or dislike about your crate? It was way overweight

What do you look for or want in a crate material? Were thinking of plexiglass next year.

Do you use the crate in the pits? We did in Florida but not at Midwest or Atlanta.

How old is the crate you are currently using? 1 year.

When in the six weeks do you start thinking about the crate? Before the build season starts.

What did you do with the old one? Used it to ship the robot because the new one was to heavy.

How much other stuff do you pack with the robot? We packed some things for SOAP and a tote or two of random parts and tools.

How overweight was the crate this year? It was over 500 lbs. without anything in it. (That's what we get for building it out of 3/4 inch plywood).

[Solace]

due to this year's robot profile, we were able to fit the robot, 10 batteries, 4 of the crates from the kit of parts, and 2 toolboxes. granted, if we pack it that full it weighs 500+ pounds, but it is better than having to drive all the spare parts and tools down to atlanta.

[suneel112]

461's crate is pretty old and ghetto, and we couldn't fit much into it. It has been around for three plus years (I have only been on the team three years, and we used it during all three seasons). It has been repainted once (it was once gray with a green "461" on it, now it is red, white, and blue, for the USA). It has a break in it (only noticeable from the inside). Luckily, Purdue University gave us a van so we could ship down several batteries, 5 or so boxes with our motors, spare parts, kit stuff, and spirit stuff, and a toolboxes (very important!).

[Astronouth7303]

1. No
2. LIKE: Garage door, 30-seconds to unpack
   DISLIKE: the door wasn't the greatest thing (no tracks)
3. Strong, durable, light.
4. No
5. Rebuilt from last year's
6. Very, very late
7. 2 year team: we don't have any others!
8. Not much. Batteries. Prop.
9. To my knowledge, none.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by dez250

Just an FYI: an overweight crate will be charged $44.00/range of 100lbs over.

Ah ha.. Someone discovered the reason behind the creation of these two threads.

We were almost charged 1,200 dollars to ship our crate back to CT from GA at a buck and a quarter a pound.

Good thing another team let us use an extra airbill they had laying around.

Seeing as our crate alone weighed 130 (?) lbs
cart weighed 90 lbs.
Robot ~130 lbs
Speaker box - 100lbs
Toolbox in the crate.. definately more than the speaker box
8 (or more) robot batteries weigh a bit too.
and other random stuff

So, next year we plan on: A) Redesigning the crate - B) Redesigning the cart - C) Taking less junk and more of what we absolutely need

[ElfMaster]

1: No
2: Well... its a crate. Its just a box made out of wood. We then nail boards in to keep everything from shifting. Hinges on the crate would make opening it easier.
3: Whatever we have lying around?
4: Nope... Thinking like that is beyond us at the moment. Give us a few years and we'll become efficient.
5: 2 years!
6: The day before it needs to be shipped... Or there abouts.
7: Used it again this year ^_^ I wanna turn it into a playhouse!
8: Not much... just the robot really...and batteries. And all of our arms/ladders
9: It wasn't- we squeaked by!