http://frcdirector.blogspot.com/2009/10/information-i-promised-last-friday.html
Pretty self-explanatory. Expand the image.
So if I have this right, we can choose which way our robot transport to run?
- All Michigan events
- Kansas City
- Sacramento
- Pittsburgh
- Oklahoma City
- Waterloo
- Toronto
are Bag & Tag events and you must handle transporting your robot as it tells you wherever it says “Bag & Tag.”
All other regionals and the Championship are “Traditional” and you must do what it tells you about traditional transportation.
In the chart’s first two columns you can replace the words “Bag & Tag” with the list of events above, and replace the word “Traditional” with a list of all the other competition events.
Source: http://frcdirector.blogspot.com/2009/09/rest-of-todays-post.html
We are planning for the traditional/bag and tag regional transition which seems to raise questions about the process for securing a bag and tagged robot into a crate for shipment. We typically screw through the robot frame and into the crate bottom, to secure the robot inside the crate.
Seems like we will either need to make an adapter plate that can be released from the crate while it still attached to the robot and bag, open the bag to detach the robot from the crate, or use a fastner that can be released from outside the bag.
All seem feasible, but it would be nice to have an idea of the new crate constraints, that were hinted at in Bill’s blog, to enable a bit of planning. Ah well, last year Lunacy was supposed to level the playing field :), this year the shipping changes appear to be leveling the pit and crate field - as we likely will be building both the crate and the robot in 6 weeks - like we did in our 1st season.
Promises to be fun,
We are attending the Pittsburgh region as our first and then going to Palmetto for the second. We are trying to find out if we will have to pay the shippping for the second region or if we will still receive the one free shipping from FedEx. A bag and tag region and then they are making it a two day event. Could be interesting in Pittsburgh this year.
It looks pretty straightforward.
-Nick
You could try putting hooks into the crate and using tie-down straps.
We’re going from Silicon Valley (traditional) to Sacramento (bag and tag) and are in much the same situation as Team 2122. We’re not familiar with what the bags look like or are made of. Is that information on Delphi somewhere? Maybe even a picture?
We’re also redesigning our crate to be part of the pit structure, which adds the complication of getting the crate into the ARC at Davis. Our crate design team is working on CADs but without those final size specifications, they can’t start building…and this was going to be a fall project. It’s just like real life!
See you at Davis, Team Tators!
Is this what the bags are like this year? http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/33195
Yes, those are the bags from last year that you will get if the GDC doesn’t change the process from last year.
We’re also redesigning our crate to be part of the pit structure, which adds the complication of getting the crate into the ARC at Davis. Our crate design team is working on CADs but without those final size specifications, they can’t start building…and this was going to be a fall project. It’s just like real life!
WCarvalho,
We enjoyed talking with your team last year in Sacramento and are looking forward to seeing you guys again this year.
Based on the updated section 4 - 2010 crate information at
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/content.aspx?id=452
we are going to start construction of our a new crate next week - with hope of finishing it before the 9th. Given the updated document’s crate dimensions match the previous year’s dimensions, (regardless of Bill’s blog warnings of changes), it seems unlikely to us that there will be revisions to the crate rules that would disqualify our new and hopefully lighter crate.
See you in Sacramento!