Wooden Robot Class

I think it would be better to have wooden robots against wooden robots and more fair. Also a weapon like a circular saw would be good against a wooden robot but ineffective against metal robots.

Personally I would only build a wooden robot if it was against other wooden robot.

I'm interested in this class, and I was wondering if there should also be a weigh limit for metal parts, so you either have a spinning weapon, and weaker protection (like less bolts screws and brackets, and no electronics protection) like wire and circuits could be excluded from the rule, but I think it would stop well structured robots with big spinning blades etc. it's just an idea

The Australians did something similar whereby a certain percentage of your robot had to be MDF (I think it was around 50) but this ran into all sorts of complications since it's very difficult to test this.

Even when building the robot it can be tricky to keep track of how much weight went into a certain material. For components it's easier but the wood could be used for all sorts.

There is a slight caveat to this though. The robot's structure and armour must be wooden, so if someone does turn up with a 6kg Hardox disk attached to the robot, it will rip itself apart in no time.

That and no one will want to fight it....

By the way, I don't plan on running any sort of competition with this class, is mostly about putting on a good show and having fun. Although it'll be interesting to see who's is still running come the end of the weekend.

You say wooden frame, does that mean I can't build something akin to the Rex's Robot Challenge robot that has Ali brackets holding the uprights ?

if we are going to be that niminy pinminy then this class of robot is doomed from the start.

David, from my understanding, no.
You can use ali angle or brackets to affix and support, say, bulkheads or mounts etc. You just can't go overboard with the amount of metal structural bits you use, especially in such a way that it forms more of a chassis than the wood does.

Harry, cheer up :wink:
I don't think anyone's going to be completely anal about rules and what-not, just as long as those involved apply a bit of common sense. As PJ said, the idea behind this is more to do with fun, entertaining but visibly destructive battles. But there can't be too much leniency regarding what's permitted otherwise people will bend the rules to gain a possible unfair advantage, something that's not really desired in a fun class.

Question: If I was to make a wooden wedge robot, would I be allowed a small strip of metal on the edge of the wedge to make it more effective than, well, a piece of wood?

I'd say yes, but it's not up to me! :P

As long as it was only a strip to provide a good edge, and not the whole wedge covered in a slab of metal, then I'd have no objection competing against that :)

I initially said no exposed metal (accept on active weapons) that includes wedges and flipper arms.

If someone uses Ti for their edging then we are back at square one, just use wood.

As for the Ali angle it's pretty insignificant so I wouldn't be too fussed about it, but you could easily do the same thing with wooden edging and you avoid any rule bending complications, so I'd do that.

Whats the standing on Circular saw blades? Can someone in the know clarify this please.