Pit Area Picture

Is there any veteran team that could share picture of their pit area during last year competitions? looking for help and ideas for us to setup and get ready. We are a rookie team and like many others on here, we are looking for ideas !!!
Thanks a bunch !

Here’s a couple of random candid pictures, not from last year, but the idea of a pit still is the same.

Basically, you want ample table space, somewhere to put a tool box/tool chest, somewhere to put your driverstation while not in a match, and some method to display your team paraphernalia. Make sure you “design” enough space to fit your robot and robot cart - and keep a lot of space open too; it gets cramped fast! Structures are fine, but remember that you’re limited to 10’x10’x10’, at most, and most places will provide less than that. I see that you’re a MI team, so I assume most of your competitions are districts, which mean you might have significantly less than that. Plan accordingly.

For our team’s pit, we emphasize organization and a clean work space.

The pit is designed with only two workbenches in the back, wire racks with replacement parts on the sides, and an empty space in the middle for the robot to be worked on, no matter what side you are facing.

Also, bring lights. It helps you see better…and it looks cool, too.

Nice subtle WFFA :slight_smile:

Didn’t even notice that until now :smiley:

Its like playing a game of I Spy

Don’t go nuts with lights and flashy structures unless you have time to spend on it and money to burn. We have a rolling workbench that has storage underneath and a banner up top, a rolling battery cart that carries ten batteries, and a rolling toolbox that may or may not be remote controlled.

Bottom line, our pit may not be shockingly beautiful, but I can set it up by myself in less time than most everyone else can unload their trailer. And we have never been left wanting more stuff in our pit either.

This photo was taken at our pit at CMP. We had a rolling toolbox, rolling workbench (homemade of 2xs plywood and pegboard, lovingly painted), rolling shelves, robot cart, homemade rolling wooden battery box, the frame of a 10’x10’ popup canopy, and some string lights. Simple but quick.

This year, we’re planning a bit more of a themed pit. Veronica (yes, the same Veronica as inside the Oscar outfit) is going to make our pit look rather like a castle. The functional bits will be essentially the same, though we are planning to build or buy a new rolling workbench.

Here is ours from last year.

We invested about $1,500 in a new pit setup.

We are still waiting on about $800 in graphics for it but when they come in we will set it up and ill send you a pic.

It will be a nice ezup white tent (Light permeates through well).

The 2 sides will have 10x10 vinyl mesh banners
The front will have a 2x10 top vinyl mesh banner and a 3x8 side banner.
And, The back will have a 10x10 solid vinyl banner.
All of the graphics have white backgrounds except for the sides where it is slightly gray

The pit floor is a 10x10 gray PVC garage flooring with nice edging.

Inside we have 3 carts, the stock table, and a large 48" industrial wire Shelf. The carts will be Electrical, Tools, and Charging with a coding station on top.

On the table we will have a white tablecloth With a small drill press on top, along with our engineering notebook, CAD, and probably a couple of laptops.

We will store things like backpacks, jackets, and folding chairs underneath the table hidden by the tablecloth.

All of these items will be in an L shape leaving the entire left(or right) side of the pit empty. In the center will be our hydraulic lift robot cart.

Lastly there will be a small wipe board.

Check out this thread which has good advice. Mainly, the more decorations, award banners, etc., you have in the pit, the less work space you have and the fewer people you can have in the pit at once. Also, some events give you a spacious 10x10 pit area. Others are tighter and give you 9x9 or even a little less. Try to keep the pit open - it can get really hot at some events in the pit area. And you might need room for a tall bot (not this year, but in past years).

Many teams use their robot cart as the work bench for the robot.

MOE has two rolling carts which make up the majority of the pit - designs can be seen here. I don’t have a picture, but there is also a white board listing match times and results, a scrolling electronic sign (small) on top of the carts giving safety and inspirational messages, and a small wire shelf case with buttons, team materials, info for judges, etc.

http://moe365.org/moepit.php

Look up team 3309 the friarbots. Its a really nice light up industrial look…i assume it cost a pretty penny though.

My team has a bit of a complicated pit. It takes some time to put up, but we really love it!

So…that picture?

My team’s pit is a bit complicated. It takes some time to put up, but we love it!

If you want to know what a pit should look like, look no further than 973. Indisputably the finest pit around.

Super Pit

Yeah, we use a Stryker Stretcher as our robot cart and work bench in the pit. It is pretty funny when people see us and say “Nice stretcher” and don’t even notice the robot. I don’t blame them though, it is $15k robot cart that was donated when Stryker was our sponsor.

Do you transport your robot in an ambulance? :smiley:

I like looking at that pit but I would not like to look at the lading/shipping/storage expenses that thing probably accrues when going to champs.

This is our pit from a 2015 competition. The frame is made from 80/20, we designed, sewed, and imprinted the valance ourselves. A student painted the backdrop. On the right we have our battery cart which has a slot for a computer and a monitor on the top that we use to show videos of the team. The work table has a small garbage can and totes with parts under it. The cart has adjustable height and is used both in the pit and to take the robot to the field. Back left corner has our double-stacked tool chest and in front of that is a plastic shelving unit that has parts, equipment, and safety supplies. The white structure in the front is 3 cubes stacked and bolted together. The back is open and is used to store game manual, safety manuals, giveaways, etc. It also has a bracket on the side to hold our flag.

Knowing that space is sometimes less than 10’x10’, our frame can be reconfigured as a 9x9 or an 8x8 if necessary.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9KetICHyQOFMjJSV2lmd3JKaUE