I need to find the plans for the crate for FIRST, but I can’t seem to find it. Does any one know where it is?
I don’t think you’ll find one set of plans that will work for all teams/robots. There are a couple white papers that show some ways to build a crate
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/search/results/183036
We like to wait until we know what the robot looks like…
There are guidelines for building a crate in the rules every year. The robot transportation section of the rules for this year have not, yet, been released.
Each team, generally, designs their own crate to comply with the shipping rules (as well as to protect their robot) but there is no single design (at least not in the last few years).
One important item - Do not make it so light that it cannot protect you robot.
Every year we hear the horror stories. Crates show up to the competition with sides smashed, holes in the top where something fell through or, worst story I’ve heard, the robot showed up stretch wrapped to a pallet. Sometimes the crates are double stacked in shipping.
We built ours out of 1/2" plywood with 2x2 pine at all corners. It has made it through 18 competion events over 8 years. Every year we say we are going to replace the sides due to the accumulated damage but seem to stretch in another year.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1923
We used this design as a guide and built our crate in the Fall and it fit our 5 foot robot with no problem. Our crate stayed in the weight limit and did not have any shipping damage.
Rookies have so much to worry about, building a crate is a good fall activity to get the team ready for the spring.
We had to rebuild our rookie year’s crate. It was built well, but too much weight :ahh: resulting in freight overages. Consider the weight of the robot and the items that you will ship with it that are not counted toward robot weight.
There are at least a few teams that reuse their crate from year to year. I do not believe that the shipping SIZE requirements have changed much within the last 6-7 years at least. If possible, I suggest building a crate with a hinged door on one side as this makes it MUCH easier to load and unload at your competition(s).
Having the ability to reuse the same crate from year to year elminates recurring costs of time and materials that go into building one.
My high school team (311 Red Jammers) had a welded steel framed crate we used. It could have dropped off the truck with no adverse effects (to the crate:rolleyes: ).
Also, remember to leave mounting/rigging considerations in your crate so you can secure your robot.
Unless you want to consider shipment part of an “endurance test” for your robot.
Don’t ship the batteries with the robot, they add about 20 to 30 lbs to the total weight.
That depends on individual teams to decide, especially if you cant bring them to the event from home.
i think they weight a little more than that. at least 50. but the past year, we had one of the heaviest crates at NJ, at a little over 800lbs. i don’t really know how we do it, but i think the crate itself weighs maybe 300. we built it to the specifications given in the kit, and i dont think anything (within reason) could break it. we are going to try to do something different this year to save weight, to avoid overage charges.
We built ours a few years back, and it’s still holding on. Each half has edges that are made from 2X4’s, but the squares between them are made of honeycomb material. There are also fold up shelves in there, so we have some extra storage space at competition.
http://www.freewebs.com/wobot/apps/photos/photo.jsp?photoID=1259677&prev=1
I dont know if you are or not but MICHIGAN teams have a little different guidelines on crates this year…not sure exactly what those are going to be
This is the crate we made this year. Weight was low enough that we didn’t get charged overage with just the robot in it.
Also it has a modular design, held together with deck screws, the top and sides can be quickly removed so the crate can be stored “flat”–we don’t have suitable storage for the assembled crate, which is why we had to build a third one in three years. This one might work for 2009 as well. Note also that it’s not quite full height, we decided to make the robot so that it could be quickly “folded” to a lower height, which makes it so much easier to transport in the back of a school van for demonstrations.
Not applicable. They’re from Idaho.
A good test, if you have some daring people on your team: put 3-5 mentors/parents on top of the crate. If it holds, you’re good that way. Now, have 2-3 people body slam the sides as hard as they can. If it breaks, make it stronger.
Safety FIRST! :ahh: You forgot to mention the helmets, padding, and paramedics. THEN you conduct the experiment. 
Batteries are a smidge under 14 lbs if I recall (and depending on the weight of your cable and connectors, could be 14).
It can be a hassle, but you are allowed to fly them; If I recall, it’s 2 per person and you should double check the current TSA rules. However, at 14 lbs each, and many teams having 10 or so batteries, it can save A LOT of money.
And if you’re driving to an event, no reason at all to ship them; you even get the added benefit of being able to charge them very recently before the competition.
Eric is more of of a hardhat guy. :rolleyes:
If I still have both of mine this spring… We’ll see if I can do two at once.
(And yes, I have taken a direct hit to the hard hat from falling PVC. The head wasn’t touched.)
To this team your right its not appicable however to other rookie teams that are trying to build a crate that by any chance might do a little chief delphi search, than that would be good information to know.
ok question: can the crate be made of metal?? like aluminum or something?? I swear I saw some teams at Nationals who had some, but I can’t be quite sure. yes, I’m aware that fabbing a metal crate instead of wood will be much heavier; I’m trying to see ALL my options here before I present to the team and say “this is what we’re building”.
thanx : )
Yes. At least, in previous years, this question was asked (teams didn’t want to ditch their metal crates), and the answer was “Metal is OK”.