pic: How 1251 shipped.

[Dillon Compton]

Hey- Dont worrry, you arent the only team in this situation (we shipped with a robot that would be expected in the middle of week 5, at best...). An excellent way we found to cut weight was to replace our heavier box and extruded aluminum with (i think it was 1/8" wall) inch box aluminum with a 3/8" speedhole ~ every 3/4"(on all 4 faces). We used our drillpress, took an hour to do all the pieces we needed; just look at where you will need to attach and dont speedhole there, because you will need to throughbolt. This brought the weight down to about .1lbs/foot for material that wont be taking a beating (hopper frame, stuff inside your 'bot profile, etc...)- heck, it's even pretty strong- I am about 240-250lbs, and I held a 3 ft length of speedholed box at an angle on the ground and stood on it, so it was supporting all my weight and being levered against my foot, and it took me about 5 mins of continuous pressure to get a relatively slight bend.

Good luck, and remember, if nothing else, defense is always useful!