[FRC Blog] FRC Team Load-In for the 2016 FIRST Championship in St. Louis, MO is only

FIRST General Forum
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Posted on the FRC Blog, 4/8/16: http://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc/blog/FRC-Team-Load-In-for-the-2016-FIRST-Championship

**FRC Team Load-In for the 2016 FIRST Championship in St. Louis, MO is only 19 days away!

Written by Krista Pratt, 2016 APR 08

Thanks to the very generous support of FedEx, all FIRST Robotics Competition teams attending the *FIRST *Championship will have their robots shipped to St. Louis and are able to have their robot shipped home to them at no charge. With the logistical challenge of returning 600 robots to each team at the end of the event, please be aware that the return of robots after the *FIRST *Championship could take up to 4-8 weeks because of the sheer volume and the fact that this is donated freight services. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the return of your robot by a particular date.

We understand that this is concerning for teams attending an off season event in May or early June. If you need your robot by a particular date that is close to end of the Championship event, we strongly recommend that you make other arrangements for the return of your robot. If your team has the ability to transport your robot home, please fill out the Robot Removal Request form and submit it to frcteams@firstinspires.org by April 15, 2016.

Teams also have the option to pay to ship their robot home through Shepard Exposition Services. SES can ship your robot and tool crate anywhere in the United States and parts of Canada in under two weeks. Please contact SES at 888-568-8858 or email logistics@shepardes.com for a quote, and use Event Code T101500416.

We look forward to seeing the participating teams in St. Louis.

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Couldn’t you just take your robot home and leave an empty crate to get shipped home?

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I’d imagine so … unless you’re flying there. :slight_smile:

(It’s mentioned in the segment on Robot Removal.)

If your team has the ability to transport your robot home, please fill out the Robot Removal Request form and submit it to frcteams@firstinspires.org by April 15, 2016.

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Flying there would make it harder to do so.

If you read the form, it implies (to me) you would also have to take care of the crate as well which isn’t as easy as just taking the robot.

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In the past, no. You could not leave an empty crate. If you took the robot, you also had to take the crate with you.

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Well could you put tools in the crate and have those flown back?

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But not impossible… we brought our robot to Northern Lights on the plane!

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This is a year that with a little bit of dissasembly you can easily check a robot. 2015 would have been much harder.

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I know of one team who filled up their crate with tools and took the robot separately last year. Maybe they just didn’t tell anyone that was what they were doing.

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Dear CD,

For those of us in districts, FiM in particular, does this mean we have to build or borrow a create for shipping? We have never attended Nationals but there is a possibility this year since qualifying for MSC. If so, or if this is true for a new regional team, does someone know the scoop (instructions) on making a crate that FEDEX accepts for shipping?

Best regards,

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Yes, it does. FIRST does not allow robots to arrive without their crates at CMP.

You’ll want to be reading Admin Manual section 5.7–for the details, and there will also be a link to the crate specs.

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Well you can’t do that because it’s illegal lol.

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