pic: NJ Regional - The Pits

[JaneYoung]

At Lone Star, on Fridays, students from different schools come to visit. They have been invited to walk through the pit area and visit with teams/observe. In a set-up like this, it seems it would be difficult because of the tight space and accessibility. It's not a bad thing, it is just something I haven't seen. All the regionals are different, that is what is so cool about them. The same only different.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

At Lone Star, on Fridays, students from different schools come to visit. They have been invited to walk through the pit area and visit with teams/observe. In a set-up like this, it seems it would be difficult because of the tight space and accessibility. It's not a bad thing, it is just something I haven't seen. All the regionals are different, that is what is so cool about them. The same only different.

that is interesting because all the regionals we ever attended looked like this give or take the size only. I guess we have to go to Lone Star next year to experience the configuration.

[Lea103]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

NJ, Boston, Hartford, Chesapeake (possibly more), all use this divided line (curtain) pit/field relation setup.

The arena in NJ is in is so small (hockey arena) that it is a pain to get used to, but it's worked (well?) in the past 4 years I've gone there.
Kind of.
(IMO).

Having been part of the pit set up for two years, NJ feels pretty roomie compared to the Philadelphia Regional, which also uses a curtain to divide the pits from the playing field. We had more room to store and I guess just move around in NJ. In Philly there was no wiggle room at all, each team was using every inch of their pit. Correct me if Im wrong, but I think the pits were smaller at Philly last year than the standard 10x10x10.

[JaneYoung]

I think next year we'll back at the Reliant Center.

I think you would like the regional and the set-up. As far as I know, we don't have a crate that looks like a
Rubik's cube but the blue bonnets are usually out. They might could make up for that. Oh, and then there's the competition. <grin>

[Betty_Krocker]

how may teams are there this year...
you guys look kinda short on teams...

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Lea103

Having been part of the pit set up for two years, NJ feels pretty roomie compared to the Philadelphia Regional, which also uses a curtain to divide the pits from the playing field. We had more room to store and I guess just move around in NJ. In Philly there was no wiggle room at all, each team was using every inch of their pit. Correct me if Im wrong, but I think the pits were smaller at Philly last year than the standard 10x10x10.

Oh don't tell me that! lol I'm going to Philly this year with my team, and I think NJ is cramped!!!
I can only imagine what Philly will be like now..

[EricH]

Originally Posted by waialua359

that is interesting because all the regionals we ever attended looked like this give or take the size only. I guess we have to go to Lone Star next year to experience the configuration.

Yeah...L.A. (both venues), Arizona, San Diego (cramped--hockey rink), SVR (nowadays...I remember the blimp hanger), and Sacramento all use this setup. The only difference is in size of pit area/arrangement of stands access.

[Betty_Krocker]

Yeah at the VCU regional last year we had almost 70 teams and we were the lucking ones, we got a pit on the corner of the main aisle and the main walkway, so our team could overflow into the main walkway, of course this year VCU has more teams, and i dont think we are going to be that lucky.....oh and out team size has doubled....so i too am concred about space....

any tips on how to save space in the pits?

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Betty_Krocker

Yeah at the VCU regional last year we had almost 70 teams and we were the lucking ones, we got a pit on the corner of the main aisle and the main walkway, so our team could overflow into the main walkway, of course this year VCU has more teams, and i dont think we are going to be that lucky.....oh and out team size has doubled....so i too am concred about space....

any tips on how to save space in the pits?

Reduce the amount of people in there as much as you can!
if they aren't on mechanical or electrical teams, kick them out. (with as much GP as you can of course!). lol
That seems like a harsh approach, but this is the same reason garages have a waiting room when your car is being worked on for you to chill in.
The pits are mostly meant for mechanical or electrical team members to fix the robot between rounds.
Most venues have open areas to socialize and visit with people on other teams if you choose to.

The cutting of the official team socials in most regionals hinder this theory of not having enough time to see people you want to see during the regional, and "getting in the way" in the pits, but that's just how it is nowadays.

Bottom line, if you're not mechanical, or electrical, you should be scouting in the stands, or doing other work for your team outside your 10x10 pit area. (And, no that doesn't mean standing in the aisles in front of your pit!)

Stick with that plan, and actually enforce it, and you should be good most of the time.

[waialua359]

oh boy, and VCU next week is our first stop.
The fact that we were in the corner in NJ was very advantageous. Hate to see us stuck in the middle like so many other teams had to.
In NJ, we got the "best" spot since we were the first team to get the rows.
All the veteran low numbered teams up to team 341, Miss Daisy, had to be in the semicircle. They had the worst spot and the longest distance to travel through traffic.

[HotWings]

Originally Posted by Boydean

I spy rubik's cube crate.

Thats soo tight lol


Grr.. i need to stop looking at more pics, i can't wait until week 3, i cant last that long!

[Ben Mitchell]

I'm pretty sure my team's rubik's cube crate is visible from space.

[mtaman02]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

So the robots queue on either side of the curtain?

No the robots cue on the far side

there's 2 cue spots. One Red and Blue side by side on the far side and one Blue by near stand side and the second set for red just cues in the pits , look at the field pic and you might be able to see what I'm talking about.... I'll try and get better pics tomorrow w/ an actual camera but b/c I have a high priority job I might not have time to take such pictures... we'll see

[mtaman02]

Originally Posted by waialua359

The robot queue similar to that of other regionals on one side (top of pic).
Last year, our pit area was the closest to the other end on the bottom of pic. Very little traffic from robots leaving the field only and we had a lot of space since no robot pit was next to us.
I can tell that the pic is early on, because there is a lot of items at the pit area desk and I hardly see any robot crates in the semicircle area. The only disadvantage for those teams is that they have to go all the way to the back center of the semicircle area and then come all the way back to enter the field.

This pic was taken right about afternoon ish on wed, like as everything was coming of the truck and be temp put into place

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by waialua359

oh boy, and VCU next week is our first stop.
The fact that we were in the corner in NJ was very advantageous. Hate to see us stuck in the middle like so many other teams had to.
In NJ, we got the "best" spot since we were the first team to get the rows.
All the veteran low numbered teams up to team 341, Miss Daisy, had to be in the semicircle. They had the worst spot and the longest distance to travel through traffic.

VCU isn't that bad, the aisles tend to be full of people, which contributes to a packed feel. There are actually 2 less teams this year than last year (last year the event was overfilled, as I recall), but at a regional with as many teams as VCU, that is only about a 3% reduction. We do kick members out of our pit if it gets too crowded, but I don't think that is too unusual. Usually, it is just members of the non-robot-related subteams (PR and animation) who come down to see how its going/congratulate the drive team and then get sidetracked in a conversation. We've never run out of space it was just the pit crew, robot, and tools in the pit.