Championship Question - When can we work on our robot?

FIRST General Forum
1

In the schedule for the World Champion ship it says:

1:00 PM - 4:00 PM - FIRST Robotics Competition Team Load-In 5 Team Reps
...
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM - FIRST Robotics Competition Fields Open to Teams for Measurements 
...
4:00 PM - 8:30 PM - FIRST Robotics Competition Pits Open

During the load in will robots be allowed to be worked on after they get the green sticker? Just trying to plan who needs to go in for Team Load In.

2

Teams cannot work on their robot during load-in.

See: https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/frc/event-experience

3

Thank you for clarifying this. Why do they have the fields open for field calibration then since most of the time teams need their robots on the field for field calibration.

4

Not true; Champs load-in is completely different from your typical event.
https://www.firstinspires.org/sites/default/files/uploads/resource_library/championship/2017-frc-championship-load-in-houston.pdf

5

Note that is field measurement, not calibration. Calibration is Thurs. morning.

6

Last year unbagging and inspection was allowed during the load-in window. No announcement has been made this year…last year’s announcement was on the Monday before the event.

**2016
**
Bag and Tag Inspection at Championship

Good news! In an effort to save time through the Inspection Process, we will not be checking your Bag & Tag forms! Once you arrive in your pit, feel free to get your robot out of its crate and bag and get into the Inspection Process as soon as possible!

Edit: similar announcement has been made for 2017

7

[quote=“MrRoboSteve,post:6,topic:158884”]
** No announcement has been made this year**…

"Robot Lock-up Form

  • Teams may not unbag their robot until a Robot Inspector has signed off on their Robot Lock-Up Form

"[/quote]

8

1:00PM – 4:00PM FIRST Robotics Competition Team Load-In to begin
1
st floor loading dock off Chartres Street (Halls B-D):
 Teams will be allowed to drop off their tools, etc. and up to 5 team representatives
 Teams cannot leave their vehicles parked or unattended at the loading dock
 Teams blocking the entrance of another team trying to offload will be asked to move
immediately by the Houston Police Department or a member of the Event Staff
 Teams are required to bring their own safety glasses
 Five (5) Team Representatives are allowed per FIRST Robotics Competition Team
o One (1) Team Representative must be an Adult
o Four (4) Team Representatives may be students and or adults
 Teams are expected to remove their robots from their robot crates. Empty crates are then
moved into the aisle for removal.

Does this mean that starting at 1PM the mentor and the four students can work on the robot (once it’s unbagged)?

Just other members can’t join until 4?

9

Yes The five can set up pits. work on robot once the lock up form is cleared. In the past they have removed the requirement to clear the form at champs. If so they will make an announcement. Job 1 is to get the robot out of the crate and the crate set to crate storage. Probably get it inspected during that time period.

10

We can work on it before it gets inspected, and save inspection for later in the night, right? So we can get there, unbox the crate, get the robot out, get an inspector, and have it unbagged so we can work? This is our first time at champs since our rookie year. Do you have an estimate for how long it’ll take until our robot’s out of the bag?

11

CalTran referenced an instruction that they will be inspecting lock up forms this year. If that holds, and best to assume that it will, have your form ready, Inspectors will be patrolling the pits to clear them. If you are doing major modifications it is best to wait to have your robot inspected. For minor changes, it is often better to have the robot inspected first, do your changes , and reinpspect. The longer you wait, the longer the line.

12

This is awesome to hear! We are completely changing our gear mech and we thought we’d have to set up our pit, change out an entire subsystem, test, and get inspected in the 4:00-8:30 timeslot.

13
14

For the load-in could we bring out trailer at 9 and pull all the stuff out so that way our trailer driver can leave? He works in Houston so we can’t keep him from 9AM-1PM waiting…

Or do they just stage a line of vehicles?

15

It is likely I missed this information somewhere, so please forgive me.

Badges are required this year for all attendee’s.
That being the case, when and where will these be available so that the 4+1 load in teams can have their badges ready for the load in process?