Who is going to the 1st ever Arizona State Championships?
Also, of those going to the AIA, who are also going to Worlds?
Concerned about robot transportation after Worlds, and looking for any team wanting to pool together money and get our robots back in time. FIRST says 4-8 weeks to get our robots back, yet, the AIA Championships is 4 weeks away. If any team is driving their robot back, do they have extra room? Or anyone willing to drive a uhaul back? I am sure of the 13 (I think) teams affected, some or many would be willing to chip in. Our team unfortunately does not have anyone driving.
It seems a shame to have the 1st ever State Championships, and possibly be missing almost half of the invited teams.
I think its a great idea to get someone to drive a uhaul back to AZ with the the AZ bots. Team 842 would be willing to pitch in. Don’t know about the driver though, will have to check on that.
According to the list, our team has made it into the competition, but we are checking to make sure, as we are not affiliated with any school, being a community team.
I feel that this year is going to have a learning curve. I still don’t understand the reasoning for bagging our robots for a, 1 day off-season event. I understand that its the “State Championships” but its still an off-season event.
Looking at the current rankings list and who has accepted/declined, you are the next slot if another decline pops up. Keep an eye on email as it says you have 48 hours to accept if it opens.
Have you considered having two championships spaced a few weeks apart? Maybe in different parts of the state, one in the north and one in the south? You could have twice as many state champions then.
Team 3944 is interested in joining into the U Haul option. I may even be able to drive, but I would need to leave Saturday evening right after the competition, and I think I can get a driving partner. But I do not have the bandwidth now to work the logistics, i.e. number of crates per truck size, cost per crate, loading on Saturday, drop off sequence, etc. If someone can work the logistics we may be able to come up with a good partnership, - correction - Alliance…
Speaking from experience… MN teams have managed to deal with this for years now, and we’ve always managed to get our robots in time for our State Championships. That doesn’t mean we don’t worry about it every year, just that we plan and talk to people to make sure it happens.
Due to the increased number of teams, FRC teams can expect to receive their robot/crate within 4-8 weeks after the FIRST Championship. Teams competing at off-season events in May and early June should consider transporting robot/crate home themselves. Please contact [email protected] for a Robot Removal Request form. Only teams who have received prior approval from FIRST will be allowed to remove their robots from the event. Robot removal requests are due by Thursday, 4/16/15.
If you want to take your robot with you, that INCLUDES the crate - you can’t take the robot and ship an empty crate home. This can be a pain, even after you’ve broken down the crate - it’s still rather large!
There’s also an option to request expedited shipping home, if I remember correctly. I don’t recall exactly how that happens, but I think it can be done on-site… regardless, I suggest anyone not taking the robots with you contact FIRST to inquire about their options to ensure you get your robot on time.
I’m excited for your first State Championship! The AIA has been in weekly communication with some of us in MN as they figure out how to make everything work, and I can say the people running the show down there are great, fun to work with, and dedicated to your teams!
If your carrying a bunch of crates home, I would recommend one central site for drop off - find some space for a week in the corner of a warehouse or something, drop all the crates there, and then have each team come pick it up. May seem more complicated, but it’s better than having one person drive all across the state, coordinating with each team drop off times, etc. Each team should be able to get a trailer or big truck to pick up their own crate and robot.
Since they put 1492 on the official list, I think the AIA looked beyond the school associations and invited all of the Arizona teams that deserved to go, in order (and in your case, omission might have been fatal to the state organization). As something of a sponsor of Caution! (Microchip stockholder), I am really pleased that you’re lined up for Prescott.
As for the bag & tag ritual, it seems like a reasonable thing to me. Try to damp out the full scale redesigns based on Champs observations, play with (mostly) what you brung to the regional. But then, we have two robots to play with
We’re still looking for enough School support to go :(I hope we make it.
“If you want to take your robot with you, that INCLUDES the crate - you can’t take the robot and ship an empty crate home. This can be a pain, even after you’ve broken down the crate - it’s still rather large!”
Who says you can’t ship an empty crate home? The directions for exemption mention the robot and/or crate. Getting approval to remove your robot may not preclude you still shipping the crate home according to the specific language in the information from FIRST referenced. Wouldn’t hurt to give FIRST a call…
I know our team is still on the fence about whether or not we are going to attend the State championships. If it wasn’t for inspection and load in being that Friday it would be no big deal for us. The problem we are having is we have finals that Friday. So we would have to rush up there right after finals to get there, then it is a matter of if we think it would be wise to drive back that night and drive up again in the morning or try to get a hotel for the night which can be difficult since we used up most of our budget since we went to both the az regionals this year.
I know it is not as great of problems that some of you are having since you made it to worlds but it is where our team stands, the smallest of things can work against you some times.
Here in MN we usually have one or two teams that load in Saturday morning (due to a long drive to get to the cities). I recommend contacting the people running it, explain the situation, and try to work something out. For us, pits open at 7:30 Saturday morning, and opening ceremonies aren’t until 8:45 - plenty of time to get through inspection if you’re there right away and ready to work!
Is it mandatory to ship your robot to St Louis, because we have our trailer and we were already hauling our tools so we were just gonna throw it back there with them like we do for all tournaments.
