How is the Witholding Allowance at events being enforced?

[petek]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Oh, and if that kitchen sink is COTS, are you still going to weigh it?

I stand corrected. Teams may bring in as many unmodified kitchen sinks and major appliances as they can fit in their pit stalls.

[EricH]

This thread is going down the drain...

[nHouse]

Originally Posted by RoboMom

At the Chesapeake Regional, we will be weighing any team that brings in a kitchen sink (or other major appliances) or an extra robot...

[Although an exception might be made as I see 303 is coming to the Yard this year, and I remember they had a pretty impressive Fridge ...]

Glad to be coming back down again Perhaps this is the year 303 brings down another kitchen appliance named robot!?

[Jon236]

When Bill's Blog mentioned 'we will be checking', I had a flashback to Thursday am in Houston in 2002. There was one poor Astrodome employee who opened the doors, then turned an faced a huge crowd of FIRSTer's, all with toolboxes and assorted spare parts in their hands. He asked me to open my toolbox, announcing that they had to search everyone for knives and other 'sharp objects'. I gently explained to him that everyone was carrying something that had a pointy end to it, but assured him we were all harmless. I laughed all the way to the pits.

When I read the blog.....I thought....'not again'. In Israel we will have armed guards, but they will not be looking for kitchen sinks.

[ZakuAce]

Originally Posted by EricH

This thread is going down the drain...

Nice

Can we fit a hot tub in the pit area?

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by petek

Any team bringing a kitchen sink, any major appliance or a spare robot to New Jersey or Pittsburgh will be weighed.

Whew! That means our bathroom sink is safe...

Originally Posted by ZakuAce

Can we fit a hot tub in the pit area?

Provided it meets all other rules, and is smaller than the allotted area (often 10 x 10 feet, but sometimes less), I don't see why not.

Just note that you are not allowed to bring in your own water...and at about $2.50 per half-liter.........

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by IndySam

We will be bringing in a large 32lb assembly. We plan on taking it straight to the inspectors to have it weighed and OK'd.

You can bring it and weigh it, but I am not going to "OK" it until it is on your robot and we are checking through the inspection list or looking for safety issues. I don't know about the events you have attended, but most of those that I have attended, the entry area and the inspection area are on different floors and separated by several hundred feet.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

You can bring it and weigh it, but I am not going to "OK" it until it is on your robot and we are checking through the inspection list or looking for safety issues. I don't know about the events you have attended, but most of those that I have attended, the entry area and the inspection area are on different floors and separated by several hundred feet.

Oh Al as my favorite inspector you should know what I meant. I just meant OK that it's under 40lbs and we are legal under the rules. Not necessarily the robot inspectors, but whoever is in charge of inspecting withholding weight.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by IndySam

Not necessarily the robot inspectors, but whoever is in charge of inspecting withholding weight.

Is there such a position? I didn't see it on the list of volunteers for Traverse City. Or will they expect the robot inspectors to do double duty, in two different places? And what scale will they use? "Oh, sorry, no inspections or robot weigh-ins on Thursday morning because we're too busy verifying parts going in the door."

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

Just note that you are not allowed to bring in your own water...and at about $2.50 per half-liter.........

Unless you come to Chesapeake. We are proud of the tradition where we let you bring into the pits: water (for drinking or for your pit sinks) and food. However, the USNA requests you do not bring food/drink into the stands. Help us by cleaning up your mess and this perk will continue.

[ZakuAce]

I'm wondering, with this discussion popping up and the battery discussion, if the event supervisors will step up enforcement of this rule. Awareness seems to be quite high, and with the GDC's ruling on the battery issue, they should really make sure the rule is followed. At Wisconsin they never checked/weighed our parts, they trusted us to do the right thing. But that might have just been because if they had taken the time to check everything, half the teams would be frozen solid

Just take extra care to make sure you don't goof up.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Garret.
I think it is just the opposite. The vast majority of teams do what they can to follow the rules and act in as GP a manner as is possible. With repsect to the latest interpretation of the battery, teams will disassemble their batteries to be compliant. It is what makes my job easier than it could be. I have to say that in perhaps 20 or more events of 50 or more teams, I have only found one team that willfully violated the rules and one that gave me a hard time about inspections but had not violated anything. Of all those things that did not pass in inspections, the team was not trying to hide anything, but they all failed to read and keep up to date on the revisions and updates. In a rare instance, teams failed to correct an item even after it was pointed out to them.
I will respect you until you give me a reason not to.

[Wayne C.]

Originally Posted by petek

I stand corrected. Teams may bring in as many unmodified kitchen sinks and major appliances as they can fit in their pit stalls.

why am I getting that sinking feeling....

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

With repsect to the latest interpretation of the battery, teams will disassemble their batteries to be compliant.

Sigh. 1676 has disassembled all of their battery connectors. Whether we agree or not is irrelevant - the rules are the rules, sometimes they don't seem to make sense, and sometimes they are made just to add some complexity to the 'problem'... but if everyone has to follow them, it's just as good (or bad) for everyone.

[Rich Kressly]

McMaster has too many sinks, I can't decide.