Complete Shipping Failure

[UlTiMaTeP]

Originally Posted by Dillon Compton

We always use bungee cords; they keep the robot in place but have enough stretch that the robot can move a bit and not completly absorb all the shock.

We put a 4'x4'x6" piece of styrofoam with multiple ties to hold it down, and we build a special frame for it to sit on the styrofoam, but cant move around.

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by UlTiMaTeP

We put a 4'x4'x6" piece of styrofoam with multiple ties to hold it down, and we build a special frame for it to sit on the styrofoam, but cant move around.

yes, if your bot it fastened to the floor of the crate then any shock or impact to the crate is transferred directly into the frame of your robot.

The best solution is padding UNDER your robot, all four sides and the top.

Imagine your crate going over Niagara Falls => pack it accordingly (esp if you are attending the Toronto Regional :^)

[dtengineering]

I agree that the damage to your crate and robot is unacceptable. I would like to take a moment, however, to stress my appreciation not only for the free shipping that FedEx donates, but also the extra assistance they have given me with regards to crossing the border. No, it's not that hard, but I always seem to need a little bit of help from the shipping and brokerage companies and it is always there.

As we have competed at both Portland and Toronto the past two years, we're probably pretty high up there in the "robot miles logged" category, and I have been very, very pleased with the service we have received. In fact this year, a piece of coroplast (about 2 sq ft) that was forgotten lying on the top of our crate on ship day, not only made it to Portland, then to Toronto, but also back to Vancouver.

In fact, the one time we did have damage to our crate (last year) it was because we didn't build it well enough.

Yes, shipping problems happen (ask team #4!) and need to be dealt with, but with over 1,000 teams and 30 events, perhaps we should recognize them for the rare occurance that they are.

I haven't searched to see if there is a white paper on crate building. We all assume, I think, that it is a simple thing, but certainly having examples of how to build durable, reasonably lightweight crates might be a big help to rookie teams who probably havent really even thought of a crate until the week before ship!

Jason

P.S. When not using the donated FedEx shipping (FedEx freight won't go East-West within Canada for some strange reason) we have had excellent service from Vince at http://www.arrowtranz.com/ It was $350 to get our 400 lb+ crate back to Vancouver from Toronto. It took about a week. He also got us across the border to Portland with no problems, too... took about two days and $250.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

Yes, shipping problems happen (ask team #4!) and need to be dealt with, but with over 1,000 teams and 30 events, perhaps we should recognize them for the rare occurance that they are.

And I suppose we should give credit to Firestone tires for blowing out and killing only a couple dozen people out of millions that drove on them? Saying that screwups are okay as long as they are doing things right more than they are doing things wrong is not a logic I like to live by.

[John Gutmann]

I think the bigger problem is not us saying 1 team's crate got damaged. but it is to make FedEx or and the dryage companies More aware, because 1 robot out of every team in FIRST is a big deal. but with all the shipping FedEx does for FIRST they see it on a small scale. If there are at least 1000 teams attending regionals that means shipping 2000 things right there. (to regional and back to the school) So if one robot gets damaged out of the 2000+ to FedEx they are doing good with only damaging .05% of the good they shipped for FIRST. What FIRST should do is try to make FedEx more aware of the robots and crates or have somebody that does this professionally provide plans for a solid crate with padding and the whole works. This way your robot may be protected by more then 3/8" or 1/2" of chip board or plywood. Because that will be no contest for a forklift. I think we all know that when it is crate vs. forklift the forklift always wins. period.

[John Gutmann]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

And I suppose we should give credit to Firestone tires for blowing out and killing only a couple dozen people out of millions that drove on them? Saying that screwups are okay as long as they are doing things right more than they are doing things wrong is not a logic I like to live by.

I believe that he is saying that since shipping occurrences like with team #4 happen so rarely that we need to make sure that problems that happen like that are known with FIRST. He isn't saying lets have a party on Friday night too in Atlanta because we only had one shipping problem.

[Ricky Q.]

Originally Posted by sparksandtabs

I believe that he is saying that since shipping occurrences like with team #4 happen so rarely that we need to make sure that problems that happen like that are known with FIRST. He isn't saying lets have a party on Friday night too in Atlanta because we only had one shipping problem.

Yes, and #4's problem was more of a customs problem than a shipping problem.