does anyone know why batteries and controls must be shipped? i can’t come up with one good reason. it only hurts teams that can’t build two of every thing. is first going to tag the controls when crate is opened? if not , just bring another set with you. batteries-non spillable right. why all the signs? might as well mark it -not fragile. and another thing oh sorry . these days are getting to long. starting to ramble.
Well I have wondered the same thing about the controls but as for the batteries, while they are nonspillable, if the crate is dropped or damaged during shipping the batteries can still be broken. I remember one team coming home last year to find thier robt seran wrapped to a pallet, thier original crate was no where to be found.
It may hurt the team on not being able to work on it after the ship date. But it also seems that the teams that cant work on a robot after ship date are getting a disadvantage. They are trying to make it a 6 week build season down to every point. This is the only thing i can think of as to why they did this.
I think its to keep teams from practicing after ship. :rolleyes:
Though the teams that will suffer the most are the rookie teams without
spare controllers.
I just posted that question to the Q & A.
Of all the rules this year I think this one takes the prize.
What do other teams think?
After we collect your thoughts I will see that FIRST gets this result.
As a rookie team I could see this as a disadvantage. Luckily we only need one of our controllers and will be keeping the other one with us after ship so we can still practice.
I can totally see why they would have a rule like this, to keep things as fair as possible. Yet the GDC has members from many walks of teams, so I don’t see how they think this keeps things fair, as those with the money to build extra robots, still will, and then will lay down even more to build another OI (or those teams who have previous controllers laying around will put those together), and more batteries (which are more a neccessity than a nice thing to have).
I don’t expect a reason from the GDC, but I don’t need one. It’s in the rulebook, so we have to follow it. When they ask for input on next year, we can weigh in on how we feel that this rule is superflous, and only detracts from the chances of success of a lesser funded, lesser experienced team succeeding on the field. This year it will especially hit hard, as driver skill has never been more important. Your only vantage point on the opposite side of the rack is the robot. If it can’t, then your drivers need lots and lots of practice to keep scoring.
Personally, I’m off to start drilling holes in the crate so we don’t have to pay overage with all this extra stuff in there. 
*
*That’s a joke, just so we’re all on the same page.
I don’t see any reason why we need to ship the batteries. Keeping your batteries and bringing them with you to a competition does not give any team any advantage. It just adds 26+ pounds to the crate and adds to your shipping charges. The “battery shipping” was brought up earlier in the electrical portion of this forum.
i understand the intent of rule, but can you or can you not bring second controller to comp? if no, good rule. if yes, then what is the point?
This rule takes the prize. Im not sure what would be the point of shipping your controller. 
Are you advocating that people blatantly violate the rules this year (I certainly hope not) or are you just not aware that there’s a specific rule requiring you to ship your controls and kit batteries?
Unless you are reading a different set of Q&As and Team Updates than I am, I believe you are incorrect:
NEW: Required Crate Contents
Teams must include:
the Robot
the Operator Console
o See section 8 for definition of Operator Console
o If you use a computer as part of the Console, you do not have to ship
the computer, but may not continue to program your dashboard
the two (2) Kit of Parts 12VDC batteries
This pretty much states you NEED to ship OI and Batteries.
This is -different- from years past, but is the rules for 2007.
-Nate
I really think this is an inconvenience, but I can’t really see it as much of a disadvantage. The teams with the resources and ability to build multiple 'bots will still do so. They will also be the teams with controllers from previous years and batteries from previous years, so the teams that could practice before can still practice now, while those of us without those resources won’t have a practice bot anyway.
My 1 disappointment with this rule is this–since we have a small team (5 or 6 members that show up on a (semi)regular basis) every minute in the shop is focused on actually completing our robot. My original intent was to use the weeks between ship date and our regional to design and build a killer control console. Oh well–a cardboard box full of controls it is, then.
I’ve given up on thinking about the rational behind the rules. :o
I plan to ride the waves, not make them. No use going away mad.
There have been teams in past years who don’t ship their batteries or their controllers, and then show up to the competition without them, because they forgot or didn’t coordinate properly, or gave them to a parent who didn’t understand the importance of being there on time or …
I don’t see any problem with this rule.
I don’t see what all the fuss is. A rule is a rule. What is so hard to understand about that??
This little bit of “sage” advice might help you swallow this “rule” if it irritates you that much.
“Just think of the rules as a design criteria.”
If you do that, then you will see that the rule is actually there to help prevent you from designing something (read that “doing something”) that doesn’t line up with the criteria set forth by _______. (Fill in the blank for your self.)
Personally, I see no reason to NOT ship them, unless of course, you plan on continuing to build and design after the ship date.
I can understand shipping the batteries. But to not work on programming is beyond me. We are a very small team with 11 this makes for a very difficult time for us. Do we program or do we build??? Plus we are mentoring a rookie team whom for some reason hasn’t even started to build yet.http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/images/smilies/ahh.gif
:ahh: There team is even smaller then ours.
FYI programming the robot after the end of build season is also against the rules, every year my team deals with not enough programming time, its just another obstacle in the FIRST experience.