how have teams designed and constucted their robot shipping crates? are there any special techniques or parts involved? have any teams incorporated any special features into their crates?
my team’s crate was designed with “brute force” and the consequence was that we had to pay extra shipping for being over weight. it is made entirely out of 2x4s and (at least) 5/8" thick plywood sheets. the lid of the crate was removed at the competitions and used as a cart for transporting the robot. i am planning on making a new and better crate as an engineering team project before the build season, and i was wondering how other teams have gone about such projects.
You could try and do what teams like 229, and 67…etc did…when you unpack your robot, your shipping crate becomes a workshop. Basically, it has work benches, toolboxes, whiteboard, and power strips. It is such a nice way to do it, because instead of shipping 2 large boxes, you could ship one(granted it will be probably 400+ pounds).
The only real special feature on ours was the garage door in the front. We supported the arm with a plank screwed to the floor. So we could unpack the bot in about 30-60 seconds.
Team 237 is in the process of designing and constructing a new robot crate, cart, and charging station.
It’s the off season project.
While some of us wanted a crate made from 80/20 and lexan like THIS one, we are going to be making it out of wood again and it will be similar to THIS one.
There are many ways to build a crate, and the eventual debate of weight vs. durability will always come into question.
Build what you can with what you have available, and hope that your shipping bill is not that high.
Or… You can always do like THIS team and make your crate super light.
Every fall, our team (677) tries to do a mini-build project to introduce/refresh everyone with our design and build process. Before the 2004 season we designed and built a new robot crate (“Super Crate II”). The goals were “simple”:
Lightweight
Inexpensive
Able to maximize our pit space.
It was also a conscious decision to undersize the crate a bit (44" x 44" footprint) in hopes of having it be placed “nicely” (instead of it having to be jammed in) among the other crates at the (assumedly, the 48"x 48" grid that was) the drayage facility. We hoped this would do this instead of thicker, heavier materials. Last year, it worked.
We ended up with a wooden crate (< $175) where the paired walls (two walls connected by a piano hinge) detached from the base and top and got set up in back corners of our pit, giving plenty of room for our robot, table (provided at comp site) and people to work on the robot.
It wasn’t planned for but the base turned into a stock rack/battery holder.
We shipped all are batteries (5) and robot, but none of our tools, and came in under the limit.
I don’t have any pictures of it in use at competition (VCU 2004), we all were too busy getting sick and trying to get our robot to run… As we wind up for this coming season, I will try to post some pictures if anyone is interested.
-Bill Cloyes
677 Team Lead
OSU FIRST Robotics senior member
Hey Bill, you got any pics of the crate that you would like to share?
If you e-mail me a pic, I can put it in our gallery, or even the gallery on CD. media AT team237.com
Also, any idea of an approximate weight when empty (re: minus robot, batteries, and what not)?
thanks for the props on the crate, elgin
that one has been around for at least 2 years that i know of, if not more (ricky q would probably know best). Very durable and lighweight, I doubt that it will be retired any time soon!
So far our guess is the crate will weigh under 200lbs empty. Mark weighed the materials so he has a rough idea. The frame is made of poplar glued and screwed together. We’ll post pics when it’s finished.
I completely understand … and not oddly enough, we’ve been through the same things. Last year, our crate was also made entirely out of plywood (extra $$ – overweight). However, this year one of our team members is using his drafting/engineering skills to design a crate that is both more functional and expense-conscious. Personally, I like a double purpose in things … and specially in this case it is very helpful.
Actually working on it was really fun, minus the whole nail’s being too light and turning 180 degrees and almost putting a hole in my hand… yeah :yikes:
I assume we don’t have to build a 4 ft x 4 ft crate do we? What size have you built that seems large enough for everything that you want to put in the crate?
FIRST releases that information when they release the rules. (So you’ll know folowing the kickoff). FedEx imposes certain rules regarding size and weight. Exceeding those rules results in fees. If you’re interested in shipping information from last year to give you some concept of what it should be like this year, visit: http://www2.usfirst.org/2004comp/11-RobotTransportation-RevB-incorporated.pdf or you can access all the documents available from FIRST at: http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/doc_updt.htm
I seen the rules, in last years PDF. But that wasn’t what I was asking. What size crate did you guys build? I assume not everyone builds the MAXIMUM size of 4ft x 4ft do they? I heard one team built a crate 32" x 36" x 60". That’s under the maximum size, but is that REALLY big enough for a robot, some tools, a dolly cart? I was simply asking a question about what other teams have built.
I misunderstood your post, so thanks for correcting me. It all depends on what you’re actually putting inside the crate. Since you seem to be intending to store extras like a dolly and tools, you’ll probably want to go for the 4 foot wide at least, possibly 4 foot long as well. Height though is completely dependant on the height of your robot and the height of your other things. I realize that doesn’t really answer your question but I don’t know specifically how much stuff you are actually taking, how big those items are (dolly for example, so I can’t give you specific numbers to use. It’s gonna have to be a judgement call. Just try to leave some leeway to make it easier to get the robot inside the crate.
Yeah it’s a tough call. I know what you mean, hence why I was hoping to get more people to respond to this post.
We are trying to build our crate BEFORE the kickoff, but without knowing how high the robot will be, it’s hard to build a crate before the kickoff. So I was trying to get an idea for the team what other teams have done.
Have you used the same crate over and over years past?
If so, then the height you have must be big enough for all the robots that your team has built in the years past?
yes, we have re-used our crate, so the height is large enoguh to accomodate any robot we’re going to build. I would do the same, if for no other reason than not knowing what design you will use for '05. As a generall rule, a margine of 3-5 inches arount the footprint of each item would probably serve your purposes (you’d have to build it right and be able to take off the side walls, which you’d want to do anyway). You also might want to make a fair sized spot to throw spares and other things in…That should work. Worst comes to worse though, you could transport the tools another way.
