I thought I’d share my experiences of flying abroad with robots in the hope that it helps other people looking at travelling to events in countries you don’t live in. I do not claim that these steps will definitely get you through with no issues, but I’m intending for this to serve as a rough guide - hence the ‘anecdotal’ in the title!
Most of the stuff I did to prepare for flying to NHRL last year was based off of Team Panic’s video, I recommend you watch it because it will basically summarise most of what I say here.
First things first - lipos. This will be dependent on the airline you fly with, so check their restrictions first. However, beetleweight sized lipos should be well under the limits. I flew with British Airways and my 4S 650mah lipos were fine to take. If you’re taking multiple bots though, you may find yourself reaching the quantity limits, so check those as well.
Lipos should be removed from the robots, as they will be considered ‘spare batteries’ as opposed to the rechargeable batteries built into things like your phone, shaver etc. I taped my connectors (both the XT30 and balance lead) on each of the batteries, place each battery individually into a small ziploc style bag, and then into my hard lipo travel case. You probably don’t specifically need a hard carry case, your lipo bag should suffice, as I know a few others who have flown with their batteries in the lipo bag, or in their original packaging. In any case, these should come with you in your CABIN luggage. Printouts of your airline battery restrictions and the spec sheets of your batteries will come in handy, and don’t forget to declare the batteries at check-in/security etc.
I don’t know if transmitters have to go into one or the other, but I travelled with my transmitter inside a hard padded carry case in my hold luggage. If I fly again, I’d probably try to take it in my cabin luggage. A hard padded case is helpful to protect all the switches and gubbins that stick out that are liable to be damaged. Failing that, another towel might help with padding?
The robot, tools and sharps (forks, axe heads etc.) should go in hold luggage. I wrapped my robot in a towel to cushion it from rough handling, and nothing broke on either end of travel. Partially disassembling the bot may help with removing areas likely to break - for example, I took off the axe arm, omni wheels, weapon module and armour from PMXL before wrapping it in the towel. I put all the spare parts into a box, with smaller boxes inside to separate specific parts like all the hardox bits in a tupperware box, a small carboard box just for wheels etc. Maybe avoid labelling anything that might raise eyebrows e.g. I labelled a box “axe module” instead of “weapon module”, don;t know if it matters but it doesn’t hurt. I also printed off an inventory with a picture of the packed suitcase explaining the various boxes, as well as information about the event I was attending, in case border security pulled the hold luggage and rummaged around.
I didn’t do anything different for my box of fasteners that I’d normally do, but I have each type of fastener in its own little bag in my hard plastic screw box. I’d avoid loose screws - my travel buddy had TSA rummage through their luggage and when we got to the AirBnb we found all the screws had fallen out into the bottom of the luggage - not a fun tidy up!
Soldering irons and chargers - we went from the UK’s 240v mains to the US 120v mains, which meant our simple soldering irons would not get up to temperature, as they were the cheap amazon style ones with no power brick - we ended up having to pick up a nasty $6 WalMart special with absolutely no temperature control! Take this into consideration when you pack.
Below is the picture of my hold luggage that I used for the inventory that I put in there. From left to right, top to bottom:
- Soldering iron (black and orange bag above the blue, pretty hidden tbf.
- Cordless Drill
- Toolbox
- Electronics - ESCs, wires etc. Box was pretty padded with the bags and stuff, but I also but in a little bit of bubble wrap/carboard packing to fill it out.
- Box of armour configs, wheels, axe modules etc. for the robot, and my fasteners in a box. Ended up being very full no didn’t need any extra padding.
- 2 robot chassis wrapped in a towel, placed centrally for extra protection.
- Transmitter in hard carry case
- lipo bag with lipo charger
The rest of the space was taken up with my clothes, toiletries etc., so the suitcase ended up pretty padded with little room for things to shake.
If you’ve got any other tips, please add them below, especially if it corrects some misinformation I may have inadvertantly said!