First Time Pneumatics

[SuperBK]

Hi. Using pneumatics for the first time.
Question 1. How practical is it to just have tanks and not carry the compressor around? I know it depends on how much pneumatic motion you have, but given past competitions, has that proved practical?
Question 2. If the compressor is not on board the robot, I understand that it has to still be powered and controlled by the robot. How do you connect / disconnect the air?. Can a "quick coupling" type connector be used?
Question 3. According to <R103>, the wires from the Nason pressure switch must be connected to a digital input on the robot controller, and then the robot controller must control a spike with a relay output to turn off the compressor. Why won't they just let us put the pressure switch in series with the control signal for the spike and not have to worry about the controller turning it off? The software is no big deal, but I'm thinking about when the controller is being programmed, or freezes up, etc.
Thanks
Brian