Robodojo 15th July Leeds

Robodojo Announcement

Sunday 15th July 2018 will see the founding of Robodojo.

Based in Yorkshire it will be an academy and club, where enthusiasts can develop the craft of robotic combat and meet like-minded friends. The development of other robotic sports will be encouraged, as will all the relevant skills such as; prototyping, electronics, mechanics, coding, CAD,CAM, 3D Printing and more.

The word Dojo derives from the Japanese words dō meaning Way, and jō meaning place. So Robodojo is intended as a home for the 'Way of the Robot'.

The first event will feature two main competitions at Antweight and Beetleweight. But don't worry, if you don't have robot built yet there will be a Sumo competition for K’nex based machines with all the materials available on the day, though places will be limited to 10 teams.


Of particular importance will be a short meeting on the day where we will outline our vision of the way forward for Robodojo and ask for further input. We intend to have a spinner capable Featherweight arena operating in the Autumn which will allow us to run a series of tournaments at Featherweight, Beetleweight and Antweight over the course of year. There will also be regular 'whiteboard'/development events; held during the day and in evenings, to allow teams to gain experience before heading into the arena proper.

Though initially led by Team Conker it is intended that Robodojo will be a separate society associated with the FRA but managed by members.

Signups/timings for the inaugural event will be available shortly. The event will be held at KB Technologies Ltd Sherburn Industrial estate LS25 6NS. Sherburn train station is 5 minutes’ walk, By car Robodojo is 5 minutes from the A1/M62 junction, less than an hour from Sheffield and Hull, just over an hour from Nottingham, an hour and a quarter from Manchester, an hour and a half from Newcastle and less than 2 hours from Birmingham and Liverpool.

For those coming from further afield a quick look on Airbnb will show a range of cheap accommodation from less than £20 per night.

We regret that because the event will be taking place in part of a CNC machine shop the venue is not currently suitable for under 14s, those under 16 years of age will need to be accompanied by an adult.

The Beetle and Antweight events will be held under slightly modified versions of the AWS and FRA rules which reflect both recent practice at live events and our own constraints.

Finally If you have a Featherweight you'd like to test or demo then you are welcome to bring it along. Our Beetleweight arena is built to Featherweight specifications (apart from dimensions) and was used in the opening sequence of Robot Wars series 8 for a demonstration of the art of TV destruction by Conker 3.

Looking forward to many great days roboteering.

Team Conker

Sounds great and very local for Team Death

I can possibly bring Forge Master to demo/test

I can bring along Shu! to the main event when the signup form goes live. Might have another beetleweight made by then as well.

This sounds great, really promising! Looking forward to coming along and hearing some more details.

Sounds great! May struggle for the 15th though as going on holiday a few days later, but as I have family just over an hour's drive from there it will be a nice option for me too.

Sounds fun. It'll be a good place to test my next fw also get a idea on aw and bw.

This sounds good, and pretty close for me :)

Sign ups are now live for the inaugral Robodojo Beetleweight and Antweight event Sunday15th July. Follow the link below and fill in the form. You'll be notified of acceptance by email.
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/imag...BJRU5ErkJggg==https://goo.gl/forms/t5Ax5PtV8A0NEcrU2

Come and visit Sunny Yorkshire!
well it is at the moment 8)

No idea where that text box came from...

Excellent news! I won't make this one unfortunately due to prior commitment but look forward to the next one.

Hi,
We only have our featherweight at present but would like to come up and see you. More than happy to put £10 in towards costs.

Very local for us, we spoke to you in the motorway services on our way back from Guildford.

Rob

Hi Rob
Would be great to see you there. I'm sure there'll be something on the day that you can drive.

We also want to go into more detai about our plans for the future of Robodojo as well as getting input from attendees.

Some exciting opportunites are opening up.

Ian

Hi Ian,
Really hoping I can make it however presently unable to confirm. Am I ok to turn up on the day as a spectating roboteer without prior booking etc?
Regards Cliff

Hi Cliff
As an FRA member that's fine, however we do hope to have some alternative robot entertainment for those who don't have a functioning Beetle or Ant. Of course there's 3 weeks to go, plenty of time to throw something together ;)
As soon as you know either way can you let me know to help with catering.
Cheers
Ian

Hi Ian, many thanks and I am doing my best to have something.... trying to utilise an old RC car I used to race... let's see how I get on. Will let you know as soon as possible.
Regards
Cliff

Hi Ian, I intend to come to the show probably as a spectator. Please do not worry about providing lunch for myself, although a cuppa might be welcomed.....
Many thanks. Cliff

Am I right in thinking that children under 14 aren't able to come, even if an adult is with them?

I'm seriously under the thumb, so can only go to events if I take my son with me. :P

Hi Graham as you may know the event is being held at KB Technogies CNC machine shop and we would rather not take the risk of having younger children on site at the current time. We hope in the future to have a separate upper area for the pits which I hope will make it possible for Key stage 2 children to attend as they will be away from the machines but still able to view all the action.
We also intend to host some events away from workshop, making use of a local school's facilities. Obviously this will be a much more suitable environment. As a father and and a retired teacher I'm very sympathetic to your situation and I'll try to ensure you'll be able to join us sometime in the near future.

Quick question, what time do we need to be there for?

I've had some info through from Ian.

Tech check is from 8.30
Competitions start from 10.00

If you pm Ian your email he'll send you the info pack

Rob

I'm at the place but I seem to be a bit lost.

Are you there now?

Ring the workshop on 01977 689529 if you're stuck

I was interested to hear any follow up comments about this event but it seems
strangely quiet, was it a success?, this is important as we do need a venue up
north.
I was unavailable and was slightly taken back by the idea of a entry fee-yes
only £10 but that seemed a phaff through pay pal.
It's quite costly to build a Robot and attend an event with all the traveling
and hotel costs so it's probably best to rollout the red carpet for roboteers
and charge a viewing fee if possible or advertising fee.

Good point. I think it went well seeing the AW and the BW beating each other up. I did record some of the fights, but the problem is I forgot the robots names, I was never good with names.

Hi,
I thought it was a success. They did provide some food. I didn't take a robot but donated £10 as I seemed to eat most of the food!!

If £10 is what it costs to create a safe arena for Featherweight fights and heavyweight testing then I think it will be money well spent.

It will help me build/ test robots and I think it will save me money in the long run.

That's my theory on it. í ½í¸€

The entry fees all go towards building and maintaining a safe arena/venues for the events to take place, without them the events likely wouldn’t be able to continue - none of the above is cheap

Other events do have the paying audience (Robots Live/Extreme Robots) but Robodojo is intended more to be a club for the members to meet up and battle robots rather than be a ‘show’ put on for an audience - a lot of US events use this model and it works out well for them, and means that the events are sustainable long term. Even then, the entry fees really are good pricing wise. - it’s not much extra to tack onto your robot budget and the cheapness of hotels/airbnbs in the area more than makes up for it. I personally have zero qualms with it and I’m more than happy to pay per event if it means we have somewhere (much closer to home too) to go play more regularly!

Having been to the inaugural event the other weekend I can definitely say with zero doubt it’s well worth it per event, and like I say it means we have somewhere up north for antweights, beetleweights and featherweights when most events take place relatively far south for all three classes.