We have started making travel arrangements and to ponder how we should transport our robot. Ship it in advance? Take it with us as checked-in or carry-on luggage?
We searched for advice on the web and found some useful notes, e.g. here and here.
Below there is a summary of our conclusions:
- Taking the robot as carry-on luggage mitigates some of the risk of damages. Taking it through security may be an adventure, though. We will arrive to the airport early to give the luggage inspectors plenty of time to check our robot.
- It is important to check the fine print: Airline fees for over size or over weight baggage can be usurious.
- Bring a letter explaining what is inside the box, and the competition in which you are going to take part. Be explicit: include pictures, list components, and highlight safety precautions taken for transport (e.g. batteries have been removed). Something like this or this.
- Airport inspectors will not appreciate a box of electronics connected to a battery. Therefore disconnect all batteries. Take them also in carry-on luggage but separately, in protective bags. E.g. as per EASA rules the maximum power allowed is 100 Wh, but that is a lot (the batteries of sevillabot are 55.5 Wh so well within that). Take with you the battery specs to facilitate the job of inspectors. You may refer to EASA rules for transporting Lithium batteries and additional practical information, or check the website of your applicable aviation authorities.
- Make sure the robot is protected inside the box, either by packing a lot of foam and/or fastening the chassis of the robot to brackets attached to the box. You definitely don’t want the robot resting on its axles, so make sure that the weight of the robot is on its chassis, not on the wheels. If using foam, take the wheels off or cut out the foam below them to avoid bending the axles. If using brackets, the robot itself should not touch the box, only the brackets.
- You will need tools and spares, there is always a risk of damage during transport.
We were relieved that the advice we found was encouraging us to take the robot as carry-on luggage, because the flights we were considering have less than 2 hours of connection to do a self-transfer between two legs, therefore too short for checked-in luggage anyway.
Each airline seems to have slightly different constraints, so we need to take the most restrictive. In our case, we need an appropriate box under 55 x 40 x 20 cm in size, and with a total weight (including contents) under 10 kg. We also need shock protection, foam padding and wheels to move around the airport.
- The gold standard seems to be Pelican 1510: shock resistant, padded with pre-diced foam, wheels and handle, IP67, but it weighs 6 kg empty!, and costs over 300€. See it at pelican.com or amazon.es.
- This Amazon basics seems quite ok for 134€, but weighs 7 kg! (and looking at the pictures we have doubts if the foam is actually pre-diced)
- This HMF ODK400 costs 86€ but still weighs 7 kg
- This MAX505S costs 127€, and weighs 4 kg, but has no wheels.
- An inexpensive – and lighter – alternative may be to mod a basic trolley (e.g. this one costs 66€ and weighs 2.8 kg) with a kit of pre-diced foam, which costs around 30€, and weighs under 600 g see e.g. this one in amazon.es. Under 100€ and 3.4 kg.
Finally, we may need to send tools in advance as I doubt they will be allowed as carry-on…