What happened to the middleweights?

Hi all
I am new to fighting robots, but have over the last couple of weekends I have been building a middleweight robot that is now 2/3 built.

Today we went along to the Robot Live event but there were no middleweights. I asked the question as to why there was no middleweights. I was told because there aint any around these days!

Having read all the FRA rules and info on this site, I opted for a middleweight as it would be fairly easy to transport and not to heavy on cost for an entry robot.

Are there really no active middleweights out there?
Why not, have I missed something here.


Paul.

paul, the middleweights were never as popular as the heavyweights for some reason. In the UK the featherweights and heavyweights are the ones that have taken off in a major way.

There is (i believe) a UK championship in Aug being organised by RR and there may be a middleweight competition.

Dont quote me on anything!

Id say theres probably quite a few in the build at the moment, at a push there might be around ten by the UK Championships this Summer.

If you are looking for more competition and still easy transportability Id advise you build a featherweight if youve still got the time/components available. Theres probably 40+ active featherweights in the UK at the moment, and youve got the added benefit of being able to enter competitions like the UK Robotic Games (http://www.ukroboticgames.orghttp://www.ukroboticgames.org).

There are a few middleweights out there, we have one about half built but simply havnt had the time to finish it. There is an advantage of building one though as you stand a far better chance of winning if theres only a few at an event! Have a look at the middleweights section, and when you finish it you can arrange on this forum for the other middleweight builders to join you at an event.

Just because its a middle, dont think you cant run it at event... Steel Sandwich has been doing the rounds for ages, entering any arena that John can put it in. In fact because they are so light they fly really well and make the show a bit more exciting.. and you wont break your back taking them home.. stay with the feather, enter it as a heavy.. just think of the extra armour you can stick on if you need to...