Hey Guys
I am new to the whole first robotics stuff and i am responsible for my teams pit design. I have designed 27 designs for my teacher/coach and he has turned away every idea of mine. Would anyone be willing to share there cad file of there pit with me and a list of materials and where they got them from?
Thanks in advance!
Why exactly were the designs turned down-- were they too expensive, too difficult to assemble, or what? If you haven’t gotten a good description of the design requirements, you may want to talk to your mentor and try to hash out exactly what he is expecting from your design. This will also help anyone that wants to give you the designs for their pits, as it won’t do anyone any good if they give their design to you and your mentor rejects it as well.
Good luck!
They keep getting turned down because there “to boring” or to heavy. Or supposedly not possible to create. Or will take to long to set up at competition. We don’t really have any design requirements. We’re desperate for someone’s idea. We’re all out of them!
Thanks!
What materials were you planning on using-- what qualifies as “too heavy” for you? Are we talking you need a pit that weighs less than 50lbs total, or 100, or 200? How are you quantifying the time it will take you to set up the pits? Do you have any CAD files of the rejected pit designs? Do you have any budget constraints for the project? Is the goal to get this assembled for use at a 2014 regional?
As a general rule, it’s a significantly more useful experience to get feedback on something than to have it handed to you.*(http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2657?langid=2)
Also, unfortunately, I can’t exactly provide you with specs for my team’s pit, as it isn’t exactly homemade, persay…*
Materials we have no clue. Too heavy would be over 200 pounds. We want the pit to be able to set up in under an hour. We have no budget, it can be as cheap or expensive. and yes we want it for 2014 regionals!
Also great job on your pit! It looks amazing!
(Preface: I love lists.)
How about starting with two lists:
Things necessary to be in our team’s pit area
Things we want in our pit area but that are not necessary
Include everything that should be there: from pencils to larger tools / crates / tables / materials to showcase for judges.
From that, you can see how you would organize the items in list in a way that would make sense for your team.
Then you can take that organization and create a plan of how it would physically appear.
I totally agree with the above post…make a list of what your team needs in a pit and what your goals are. Two years ago we had a pretty cool pit, but when we qualified for Championship, we realized it was too large to take with us. Last year we re-designed, and the whole thing can be carried in by one person, set up in ten minutes, and is very attractive. It certainly helped us win the imagery award in Chesapeake last year.
I would be very hard pressed to outfit an entire pit for under 200 lbs. A tool chest alone could weight that much, when you include all the tools in it!
Start by looking at what you need - tools to work on the robot, spare parts, a place to charge your batteries. Next, figure out how to get all of that to your pit. Most teams have a tool chest to carry all their tools in. It’s nice if you get one on wheels! You’ll need some sort of mobile storage for spare parts, although it doesn’t have to be big. Maybe look for something that would fit under the table provided at the regionals? Again, it’s nice if it’s on wheels! Finally, some place to charge your batteries. At minimum this is a collection of collapsible shelves you can set up in the corner with batteries and chargers on it.
Once you get all that, you can look at optional items, like supports for a banner. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy - take two buckets and fill them with cement (so the whole thing won’t fall over once it’s set up), and have a connector for some PVC pipe sticking out of them. You can then easily go straight up from each and across to join them and create a place to hang your banner.
With all this in mind, you do need to look at weight and transport. How is everything getting to the venue? A lot of teams use trucks, fortunate teams have trailers. For trucks, you need to design with a weight budget in mind - each item should be able to be safely loaded in and out of the truck by two people. If you have a trailer (get one with a fold-down door that acts as a ramp!), it’s a bit easier, as you can wheel items in an out. Then you’re looking at the overall carrying capacity of the trailer as your weight limit. For both you have a size constraint as well - everything should fit into the truck or trailer for a single trip to the venue. You don’t want to be going back for a second load!
I strongly suggest starting simple and leaving room to expand in future years. Start with a shelf for your battery chargers, and make it an off-season project to build a full battery charging station. Start with PVC and cement buckets to support your banner, and bring in something nicer later. Start simple and cheap, and upgrade items as you can. Start looking for funds for a trailer to support the team now, so you can actually get one in a few years when your pit supplies outgrow easy transport by truck.
You are running down to a very small amount of time to build these now, as they will interfere with building your robot now. What I did with team 772 was make a pit of of extrusion and sheet metal. They have drawers, a huge bottom that has sliding doors, locking caster wheels (LOVE THESE!) and are easy to set up, take down and load (into a trailer with a ramp, they are heavy).
Let me knwo what you are using for constraints. Like how are you getting them there (ex. Trailer with/without a ramp, and size of trailer). do you want it to be one solid piece (ex. each cabinet) or do you want it to collapse for an easy way to store it. what are your cost constraints (please don’t say you don’t have one, because I know you’re not gonna want to spend $10 000 on them). How long do you want it to last? do you want it for just this year or many years? Also tell me what else you have that can affect the design (where is it being stored?).
I can help you design it if you’d like, I designed 772’s pit when I was in great 9 and it is a masterpiece to me.
includes some CAD designs
Hey Guys thanks for all the replies!!!
My team travels all by airplane which is actually quite a challenge to make a pit that won’t cost our team a TON to ship.
Here is our pit design guide, relatively light weight and inexpensive.
For the teams who have them, what is your average banner size and your flag size that you take to competition? Our team is looking to expand our presence and want to make these items. We, however, have no idea where to start.
If you have anything to email that can help , email us @ [email protected]
Thanks in advance.
Safety Captain of Team 3759
Here’s a picture of our old pit… http://i.imgur.com/VOyZXYg.jpg?1 It set up pretty quickly and wasn’t too hard to transport.
