How do most teams ship their robot to Worlds? This is our teams 2nd year and we are sending our 2 teams… but we don’t know what to send them with. Do they use wooden crates, cardboard boxes?? And do you usually put more than 1 robot in a box if 2 teams are going?
We have metal crates for the robots (see pic below, and yes, the 2921 Gateway robot “Sylvester” is inside ). We pack the robots in them with foam, and a few extra cable ties taped to the underside of the lid, so if the crates have to be opened in the airport, we can shut them and have cable ties ready and easy to access and use.
We may do this. How much do they weigh? How much does it cost? We are looking at a rental house to stay in, so we could walk to the convention center, so it could have wheels put on I’m guessing. Why must you make me anxious for AFTER worlds haha? (since I’m not actually attending)
We use these convenient fold-up handcarts to ferry our robots to and from our hotel and the airport:
It’s an alternative to putting wheels on the crates.
As for crates, our mentor last year made us some nice wooden crates, and this year we found two aluminum crates. 20x20x20 on the inside allows for plenty of padding, but be careful not to put too much stuff in it or you’ll be paying overweight charges to your airline.
They even custom cut the foam to fit the shape of the robots!!! We have one last thing to give them before they ship it to us. Since they are printing our logo on the side of the crates as well.
In the past, we’ve fit them in the remaining space in our plywood boxes or used ordinary rolling suitcases to transport everything else we’ve brought to worlds.
Though others have mentioned it before, it is worth saying again: the TSA will search your boxes both ways, so make your box easy to open (TSA-approved locks are always good to have on hand).
Not sure who you’re replying to because you didn’t quote, but that doesn’t answer the thread owner, isn’t sufficient instructions on how to build a box as asked by Andrew, nor is it relevant to the aluminum crates as asked by myself.
On a side note, we never put more than 1 robot in a box because a lot of airlines have a rule where the W+L+H cannot exceed 62", or they charge a massive over sized baggage fee. This means you’re basically limited to a 20" cubic box, which costs $20 on Alaska. Going over 50lb or 62" (2 robots in 1 box) adds an additional $50 charge.