Go to Post Blue shirts are ALWAYS watching. And they have spies everywhere. Always be on your best behavior, and be polite to every volunteer at the event. - Andrew Schreiber [more]
Home
Go Back   Chief Delphi > Technical > Technical Discussion
CD-Media   CD-Spy  
portal register members calendar search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read FAQ rules

 
 
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
  #12   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 14-09-2006, 09:18
dhitchco's Avatar
dhitchco dhitchco is offline
Awards/Photo/Video "wizard"
AKA: Doug Hitchcock
FRC #1511 (Rolling Thunder)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Rookie Year: 2005
Location: Rochester, NY USA
Posts: 333
dhitchco has a brilliant futuredhitchco has a brilliant futuredhitchco has a brilliant futuredhitchco has a brilliant futuredhitchco has a brilliant futuredhitchco has a brilliant futuredhitchco has a brilliant futuredhitchco has a brilliant futuredhitchco has a brilliant futuredhitchco has a brilliant futuredhitchco has a brilliant future
Re: Pit design

I have put a bunch of photos of good pit designs onto our team photo-sharing web site at http://rollingthunder.smugmug.com/gallery/1414921 from the 2006 Atlanat world championships. In our 2nd year, we created a really cool pit which won us the imagery award at the Boston regional (along with our team camouflage uniforms, etc). See some pics here: http://rollingthunder.smugmug.com/photos/67064497-S.jpg

Some thoughts:
1) Portability and easy-setup is critical, especially if you're going to Atlanta championships via public transportation.

2) Abide by the rules as defined by FIRST and expect the rules to improve year-after-year. FIRST now mandates a maximum height of the pit. There is now a "typical" 10'x10' maximum footprint for a pit, but not all regionals have this (yet).

3) Safety is the next consideration. Pits should be stable, and some regionals get a bit fussier about flameproofed fabrics, spotlights in the pits, power strips, etc. Your team needs to have EASY egress from the pit with the robot on the cart (height clearance?). Therefore, side curtains, etc are a real pain in the #$%^&.

4) I strongly advocate NOT putting up side walls nor a "roof" since a) it blocks out a lot of light and b) is somewaht unfriendly to your teams next-door.

5) Many teams use PVC pipe (electrical schedule 80 or plumbing sched. 40) which is OK, but only in shorter lengths. Consider cutting sections into easy-to-handle lengths and then use a "coupling" and a bungee cord at each break such that the pit poles can be dismantled like a mountaineering tent. Go check out camping stores to see tent frameworks.

6) Be sure that your pit does NOT stick out into the aisle. Think creatively about making shelves, organizers, out of fabric with pockets instead of rigid materials in order to ship them. Here's an example of a collapsable shelf unit: http://rollingthunder.smugmug.com/photos/67064483-S.jpg

7) Additional thoughts:
-- Make pit components fit into the robot crate (along the side; securely-mounted with Bungee cords) as long as it doesn't make the crate weigh too much
-- Re-use the doors of your robot crate as folding tables. There are leg kits available on the Internet which can be mounted to the inside face of your robot crate doors. be sure they're stiffened to use as tables, not just 1/2" plywood....
-- Figure out a way so that your tool boxes become "bases" for table, etc. Same holds true for those big plastic tubs.
-- make sure that you have a way to show-off your team's literature out front, a dispenser/bin for button hand-outs, display stuff for judges walking by. Just go to a real trade show and benchmark what they do...have fun.
__________________
The THUNDER just keeps getting LOUDER in 2008....
Team 1511 now supports over 15 FLL teams

RollingThunder....Winner of the 2007 Chairman's Award at Finger Lakes Regional and Spirit Award at Boston.....Winner of 2006 Finger Lakes Regional Engineering Inspriation and Boston Imagery awards.......Winner of 2005 World Championship Rookie All-Star (plus FLR Rookie All-Star, Buckeye Top-Seeded Rookie, GTR Champion, Spirit, and Inspiration)

"Gracious Professionalism is a WAY of life".....

Last edited by dhitchco : 14-09-2006 at 09:26.
 


Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
A clean pit is a happy pit. Kyle Love Chit-Chat 8 27-10-2007 13:59
[Official 2007 Game Design] OK, so YOU design the 2007 game... dlavery FRC Game Design 44 17-12-2006 17:05
[Official 2006 Game Design] OK, so YOU design the 2006 game... dlavery FRC Game Design 29 08-01-2006 00:21
pit arrangments DAN THE MAN General Forum 2 27-02-2005 02:49
[Official 2005 Game Design] OK, so YOU design the 2005 game... dlavery FRC Game Design 37 26-10-2004 23:15


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:41.

The Chief Delphi Forums are sponsored by Innovation First International, Inc.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © Chief Delphi