2009 LA regional - about size of the pits

Hi,

We need a help about LA regional. This our first time in these regional, and we need to know the size of the pits.

We try to find these information on website competition ( http://lafirstregional.com/index.html ), but don’t have success…

I hope that some team that compete on LA regional can help us.

Regards,

See section 3.9.3.3 of the manual.
Page 10 of section 3.

Wetzel

[LEFT]3.9.3.3 Space Regulations
Each team is allotted approximately the same amount of workspace at an event, usually
about 10’ by 10’ by 10’; however, the size will vary from event to event, and in many
cases the space is smaller. Be sure your equipment will fit in a space smaller than those
dimensions. In all cases, the height cannot exceed 10’. This includes the height of signs,
flags, banners, etc. It is not gracious to expand your area. Keep your equipment and team members within
your assigned area and do not “grow” into the aisle or undesignated space. If your team is too large to fit into the allotted space, encourage your team to leave the area to scout other teams and/or to watch the matches.[/LEFT]

Page 10 of Section 3 “At the Events” of FRC Manual

http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/3%20-%20At%20the%20Events.pdf

Thank you Wetzel and SpaceOsc, but, as the manual says, in some cases the size of the pit can vary, and should be smaller than 10’ x 10’ x 10’.For this, I’d like to know if some team that participate on LA regional could be post a picture of the pit.

We’re from Brazil, and every year we have many problems to build a good pit…

If somebody could post a picture, the team #1860 will be thankful.
By the way, thanks so much!

The smallest I ever heard of is 8’ x 8’

I think that if someone who has participated in the LA regional could comment on what the pit sizes were in the past it would be most helpful to the original poster.

The LA regional is at a new venue this year, so past pit sizes aren’t really relevant.

Last year there were some problems with the venue and the pits were rather small. I believe that this is one of the reasons for the change of venues. I am not on the organizing committee, nor have I seen the new venue, but I have heard that the new venue is much nicer and larger, so pits should not be so cramped.

The question you’re really looking to answer is “is it an ice rink?” This is a very common layout format, and can lend towards smaller/awkward pits as you have a forced wall to work around (look at photos of BAE, Boston, NJ and others as an example).

The first place to check is the team list for the event. Most ice rink events cap out in the 40s - and LA is at 60. That’s a good sign.

The next place to look is CD Media. Searching under “Los Angeles” yields this great photo: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/31061. As you can see there is lots of horizontal room.

Now, the event info PDF for 2009 has not been released, and the LA regional site does not look updated, so the event hall may be different. If you can confirm it is in the same place, I would say it’s safe to assume a 10x10. But always, travel light!

Well,

I read all the posts and, I think that the better pit’s project is basing in 8’ x 8’ (2,40m x 2,40 in brazilian measurement).

We already participate on the NJ Regional and two times in Championship, and always we had many problems to mounting a good pit.

These year, we are planing how we can travel with the all important itens that may be useful, but isn’t easy get in on the airplane with the itens.

The only way that we found to make a good pit, is building the robot’s box and use it totally opened inside de pit, for this we need to know the size.

But, I’d like to thanks everybody that answer me and wish a good season for everybody.

Thank you so much!

PS: I hope that you can understood me…:wink:

I think everyone’s said this already, but…

For the past two years, L.A. has had 10’x10’ pits. Last year was a bit more cramped because of construction for “American Gladiators”, but the regional moved to another, larger venue.

So it should be safe to assume that this year’s pit space will be 10’x10’ as well. However, you should e-mail the regional director (don’t have his/her e-mail on hand right now) just to be safe.

What is this “ice” you speak of?

:slight_smile:

(Last year half of the LA arena was taken up with American Gladiator TV show set!)