[BB] And we're off.

[IndySam]

Good Morning Teams,

I’m excited to say, robot shipments have started. A few teams are far enough ahead of the curve that their robots are already on their way to week one events. How do I know? I was contacted by FedEx. We also have our first overweight robot crate and it’s not just a little over weight, it’s almost 600lb over the limit. If I didn’t make it clear before, please understand the 400lb limit is the TOTAL weight of the crate and all the contents. If a team ships a crate weighing 1000lb, they use up 2 ½ times their share of the total FedEx donation which will cost all FRC teams in the long run. The FedEx donation is generous, but its not unlimited.

Please weigh your crate and adjust your shipment as necessary. If your scale can’t handle 400+lb, weigh the individual components then add them together to find the total weight. You can save your team and FRC some big bucks.

5 days until Robot Ship Day
See you there!




Wow there are some teams out there I don't like now, early shipment

[Chris is me]

At one time last year, 1714 was going to ship a day early out of principle. You know, that glorious 10 minutes where you think nothing will go wrong with the robot once it's all assembled but before you turn on the cRIO...

I'd be surprised if the 2791 crate weighs more than 150 pounds this year, but no way in hell is it leaving before Tuesday.

[Jon Stratis]

I just want to know what the heck is being shipped in the crate to make it 1000 lbs!

Robot + two sets of bumpers: 150 lbs
crate: 400 lbs (it's a really, ridiculously, outrageously sturdy crate)
tools: 100 lbs
smallest team member: 150 lbs
food for a week: 20 lbs
water for a week: 100 lbs
flashlight + batteries for a week: 20 lbs

I'm still coming up a few lbs short...

We joke around about shipping a student with the robot to keep working between ship and the regional, she's short enough to stand up inside the crate without hitting her head!

[Chris is me]

1714 at least used to use a giant diamond plate crate that weighed a lot. I think budget concerns combined with the news that the overage fee isn't covering the additional cost FIRST has to incur is leading to the crate at least being lightened.

If you ship all your batteries, that can get to 100+ pounds pretty fast, as well as stuff like a portable bandsaw or benchtop cnc mill.

[BrendanB]

If they shipped everything you will see in their pits, then you will easily hit 1000lbs. I would wonder who would ship nearly a week early and not use the time for drive practice or fine tuning? If they had a practice bot then maybe but I still wouldn't ship it.

Maybe those Australians shipped early to make it through customs. And since they can't use wood they must have had a metal crate + pit supplies.

[rsisk]

IndySam,

If the crate is under the 400lb weight allocation, does that help with the total donation from FedEx the same way an overweight crate hurts?

I advised a rookie team to carry tools and spare parts to competition rather than shipping in the crate for, among other reasons, keeping the crate lighter helps out everyone in the long run.

[JohnBoucher]

Originally Posted by eagle33199

I just want to know what the heck is being shipped in the crate to make it 1000 lbs!

Robot + two sets of bumpers: 150 lbs
crate: 400 lbs (it's a really, ridiculously, outrageously sturdy crate)
tools: 100 lbs
smallest team member: 150 lbs
food for a week: 20 lbs
water for a week: 100 lbs
flashlight + batteries for a week: 20 lbs

I'm still coming up a few lbs short...

We joke around about shipping a student with the robot to keep working between ship and the regional, she's short enough to stand up inside the crate without hitting her head!

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