Yorkshire

put me down please

Yes I will be there

I would be interested to see other roboteers plans for their next bot, or photos of the progress made so far at the January FRA social in Flockton.

Jeremy

Well, Ive had 5 acceptances so far. Everyone is welcome, and I look forward to seeing you there.

Jeremy

I am delighted to tell you that Mario de Jongh and Elisabeth van Son have accepted my invitation to lead the discussion on New Weapons for 2005? at the Yorkshire FRA Social on January 8th. Do come and take part in what will be a fascinating discussion.

Jeremy

Jeremy I am very intrested however I cannot make it, I was wondering if it would be possible for a webcam and voice over to be set up so that I could listen and respond over the internet to the main discussion.

Any chance?
Regards
Ian

Ian,

Wow, thats a challenge! Im ashamed to admit that I wouldnt know where to start. I dont have a webcam or a website to host it. I dont know the pub landlord/lady. Im way out of my depth. However if there are others skilled in the art, then I would be happy to learn and help to make it happen.

Jeremy

would be able to help if the pub had free internet access.

Jeremy

The web cam could be used via Msn Instant messenger, and as dave said if free internet access is available then there should be no problem, however if you cannot get it to work thats no problem either.

Regards
Ian

Ian,

Please excuse me if I dont ring up the landlord/lady about this internet connection. It is something that I could raise with one of them face to face - as a possibility for a future meeting - when I see them on 8th January.

Jeremy

No problem Jeremy.

Hopefully I might be able to attend one of yours or another persons social at another time.

Thanks
Regards
Ian

Im pleased to say that I am now expecting 10 roboteers at the Yorkshire FRA Social. Do join us if you are within a reasonable travelling distance. This invitation is open to anyone whether a current member of the FRA or not.

11 now - coz Im comming over from Lincoln :)

Ill also be bringing some membership application forms. Only £5 to join.

Kevin S.

just got back,

it was very intresting that hearing some people are going round schools, colleges and unis with there own robots and own arena getting students into robotics and hearing about there arena they started to make with all hydrulic sides, metal floor made from a artick lorry.

thanks
kenny

I am pleased to say that 20 people attended the latest Yorkshire FRA social on 8th January.This is a record.The meeting was held at the George and Dragon in Flockton.There was a lot of discussion over a range of issues.My summary of the social is here, and others are welcome to add their comments.

1. Kevin Scott, FRA Secretary, opened with an appeal for members to join up for 2005 at £5 each.Most of those present did so.
2. Mario de Jongh and Elisabeth Van Son lead the discussion on €˜New Weapons for 2005€™.They said that there were unlikely to be any brand new weapons, and it was important that the rules did not inhibit creativity.There was a discussion about the potential for grappling weapons.As always views were mixed.
3. Kevin Scott asked whether the maximum €˜free€™ weight allowance for CO2 should be restricted to 2kg on heavyweights.There was an alternative suggestion that all CO2 and fuel should be included within the 100kg limit.Most of the roboteers present did not feel strongly about this, but did not object to Kevin€™s suggested rule change.The question was asked about how this would be interpreted for featherweights, and was left unanswered.
4. Andy Kane, FRA president, asked whether there would be support for a new class of heavyweights with a different set of rules that would offer new constructors a cheap entry-level introduction to the sport.Opinion was split between those who felt that this was the way forward, and those who favoured a division into classes with points scored giving promotion (or demolition) as in football.There were also those who wanted robots to be rated by an independent panel to determine their class.The FRA governing body will have fun with this one!(My personal view is the points system is the way to go as roboteers progressively improve their machines, and always like a competition to prove their robots against others.)
5. There was widespread support for €˜How to Build a Robot€™ pages on the FRA website, and it was suggested that if a first draft were done (possibly by Babeth?) it could be added to by others with an impressive final edition published on the website.Contributions from roboteers can be sent to Kevin Scott (KScott9709@aol.com).
6. Darren Brown and Bernard Mosley then spoke on the work that they were doing in Yorkshire encouraging children to take up engineering careers with the use of a 16ft square arena and 2 robots.They had been to 16 schools and colleges in the last year.In the future they hoped that there would be a development towards autonomous robots.These robots would be able to undertake a variety of tasks, and maybe not combat.They had been involved with the production of a hydraulically-powered arena on an articulated trailer (under the auspices of NARC) a few years ago. They gave up this idea when there was some negative reaction from some in the robot community.The FRA members present felt that this was a shame and wondered whether there was any way to resurrect the trailer.

There was a lot of general robot chit-chat as well, with a sharing of technical ideas.Mark Lumb showed us his latest featherweight, Little Hitter.This is a well-made robot with a vicious gas-powered spike that has a mixture of HDPE and titanium armour.Look out for it in 2005!

The landlady at the pub was very helpful, and welcomed us back.We took over the whole €˜dining area€™, so it is just as well that the pub does not do meals on Saturday evenings (although chips were provided for 4 roboteers).I told her that I had been asked whether a webcam with microphones (and speakers?) could be set up.She did not dismiss the idea, and thought that it may be possible to provide an internet connection for the meeting after next.

The next Yorkshire FRA Social is planned for Saturday 5th March in the same location.I have been told that there will be an event held in Nottinghamshire in February.

Must say, my ears pricked up when I heard about the articulated arena,the FRA has a brilliant forum,but I have always thought that it has no teeth,yes it can be influential,but what if we wanted to host the world championships,we cant allways rely on other arena owners to fit us in!.
Seemingley,those guys from saturday night got grief from some members of the roboteering community when they first suggested thier arena-but times change,I believe the FRA should have such an arena-even if it is just to host the uk/world championships,as long a we work in co-operation with roaming robots,I dont see any problems-bring on the grief(if you must)in any case the idea certainly warrants more discussion.

I thought The FRA is not an Event Organiser and is not to own an arena i thought. The FRA is to bring together Event Organisers to help each other and help promote the sport etc and finally host a UK or World Championship. The FRA World Champs before it got called off due to poor ticket sales had 3 Event Organiers pulling together to do the event for minium cost. RoboDome offered a great price for the arena, Roaming Robots for the staff and XFM for the promo and organising it all.

Mr Stu

I was wondering if it is possible to keep video records of these meetings for anyone who was interested in them but cannot make it to the meet and for possible FRA archive use, rather than going through extensive measures to set up a web cam and mic. The meetings could be added to DVD and/or VHS and offered free to those who attended the meeting or for a fee to those wishing to have a copy of the meeting.

Chris - http://www.featherweights.org/forum

Stu,

Although Colin has expressed his view (and was present at the meeting), his suggestion that the FRA take over the NARC arena was not one that I heard at the meeting. The suggestion that I heard at on Saturday evening was that Roaming Robots might take over the arena, and use it. The builders were not sure of its current status, but felt that it was still in Leeds. I can pass on their email addresses to you if you contact me directly.

Chris,

I think that what you are suggesting would be very difficult to achieve. The meetings are deliberately chaired by myself very loosely, and there were often 1 or 2 side discussions going on at the same time as the formal business item. These sometimes merged with the main discussion, and sometimes didnt. The video-recorded meeting needs to be conducted more formally with only one person speaking at a time. I would have no difficulty running the meeting like that (and would get through the business much faster), but the roboteers want (I think) a more free-wheeling social meeting. It is a more chaotic affair, and one which would be very difficult for someone with a partial video view to understand later.

However I am very happy for it to be tried, if we have a volunteer to do it. You should be aware that because of all the items raised (that were all very interesting) the social lasted 2.5 hours.

Jeremy

Just to say, I agree with Stu. The FRA needs to maintain a level of detactment from the actual running of events, so that the actual business of administerring this sport can be looked at objectivly by the association.

That said, it does strike me as a crying shame that all the work that went into the NARC arena, at this time, appears to be a waste. What we do need to be doing is supporting Darran and Bernard in their work promoting engineering through robotic combat, particularly as this is also promoting robotic combat through education. The best form of promotion for a live event has to be putting a robot in front of the public and telling them when and where they can see it fighting.

Jeremy, its a tricky one. I share your enthusiasm for making progress at these meetings, but at the same time, we do need to keep things fun.

Rather than introduce a little league in heavyweights, maybe we could use one of the currently less-popular weight classes (light or middle) as a springboard catagory?

Steve not to stand on your idea or anything, but this is what was said about Featherweights not too long ago, now look at them, Its almost as hard to build a good featherweight as it is a heavyweight. I am all for getting more people into the sport, but I would prefer to have a Cheep heavyweight division rather than using a smaller weight class.

Also, People want to build heavys, I know I do but I realise there very diffivult to get into so atm I cant. If this cheep class came about, then I might be able to.

Regards
Ian

I can see where your coming from Ian, and in part agree. My thinking is that I agree with you, in that building a good robot, in terms of skills, is pretty much as hard for any weight class.

However, in terms of construction cost, theres no way a lightweight/middleweight would cost anywhere near heavyweight money, as to get a decent amount of shove in a heavy, youre still looking at needing a pair of 1hp motors at the very least. VoA in the middles used 4 big cordless drills back in the day, this is perfectly practical for a lightweight, and a couple of old half hoursepower wheelchairs/granny carts could do the job in a middle.

Another thing that springs to mind is the practicality of moving it around, particularly for a younger team. A heavy takes 2 or 3 blokes to shift around, a middle could be moved without too much bother by a younger team.

However, the killer point for me is arenas, what we need is lots of local heat type events for this new class. So if things can be kept within a pretty basic arena, this can only help.

You can build a heavyweight for £350.oo including controller/reciever and all safety up to speck,using gas pneumatics(low pressure)sim motors,and still take on the best-I have-loads of times,hello to exterminator/terrorhurtz/kanopener/ripper/splinter/tan/ming-the list goes on,even achieved a win on the odd occassion......

It seems to me that the reason lightweights & middleweights are cheap to build is because these classes havent had much attention. One can build a heavyweight with cordless drill motors, however you need to spend a bit more to get a competitive heavyweight. The reason a heavyweight costs more is more due to the popularity of this class than anything inherent to the different weight limit. To put it another way, if there are no other competitors, Psychosprout would be the undisputed winner.

Id rather see new leagues of the popular weight classes than fragment all our efforts into different classes which cannot easily compete against each other.

No disrespect is intended to those who build lightweight and middleweight machines - Im sure quite a few middleweights could take on heavyweights and win.

Colin, any chance of a parts list? It would be useful if we put together a how to build a robot page.

No problem jim,I will make a invetory of all parts used and how they were put together.Really I would love to do an exploded view(haynes manual style)-parts and costings I can e-mail to you when ready,by the way psycosprout-one of yours?,if so your a true veteren RW series 1.

No, series 5 was on TV before I even picked up the drawing board :) Psychosprout was just an example - it was an innovative approach to robot building but would be underpowered by todays standards.

Hi Roboteers,

We had a warm and friendly welcome in November and January from the George and Dragon, and so we are back there again for our 6th FRA Social in Yorkshire.We had an excellent turnout in January, so I have great hopes for our March meeting.As it is only 3 miles from Junction 38 on the M1, it is easy for a lot of people to get to.Please pass this invitation to any other roboteers who would like to attend, and who are not on my list of contacts.

The meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Saturday 5th March, and we will be taking over the dining area of the pub for our meeting as before.

The address of the pub is:-

The George and Dragon
257 Barnsley Road
Flockton
Wakefield
West Yorkshire
WF4 4AL
Tel: 01924 840975

The provisional agenda is:-
1. Welcome and Introductions
2. FRA Open Days
3. 8ack Clan Combat - Terry Carlins Concept
4. Exchange of information/equipment between roboteers

Do let me know if you think that you will be able to attend.I can send a map to anyone who needs directions.

Best wishes,

Jeremy Cuss
Email: jeremy.cuss@btopenworld.com
Tel (Home): 01484 658440
Tel (Mobile): 0797 36338819

Stick us down please

We will be there

might have to defect to Yorkshire for a meeting....

Everyone is welcome. Ive sent you a map, Ed, to find the pub. Kenny and Tony have already got the map.

Ill bring copies of Terry Carlins 8ack concept with me on Saturday. If you want to read it through beforehand you can find it on http://www.8ack.orghttp://www.8ack.org

Jeremy

If Babs and me can find The George and the Dragon, I guess a native can find it to.

Im afraid well have to decline this time....

Jerry, Put me down for this one also.

Jeremy how many are coming. Your last post seems not to have appeared.

Tony,

I think that were up to 7 confirmed for next Saturday, as of now. There are always more that turn up on the night, and the more the merrier.

My last posting was withdrawn by Geoff Smith. It was about regional FRA elections. I jumped the gun, and am happy to let the FRA Governing Body determine the most appropriate way to do these things.

Jeremy

Ill be there - along with some surprise guests :)

Ed
http://www.teamstorm.comhttp://www.teamstorm.com

Look forward to seeing you Ed (and the surprise guests) along with all the regulars at 7.30pm on Saturday 5th March.

Jeremy

weve decided last minute to come :P

see you there

Report of Yorkshire FRA Social, 5th March 2005, George & Dragon, Flockton


13 people attended the latest Yorkshire FRA social on 5th March at the George and Dragon in Flockton. There was a short formal agenda and then a lot of discussion in small groups. Others are very welcome to add their comments to my minutes, and I would be grateful for answers to the questions that I have posed below.

1. Most of those present had already rejoined the FRA for 2005, and there was one who rejoined at the meeting.
2. There was a discussion about Colin Scott€™s idea for FRA €˜Open Days€™ in pub car parks. Most present felt that it wasn€™t a format that would attract new people into the sport, particularly if there were only static displays. It was suggested that it could be made more exciting with video footage on screens of robot fights. It was also suggested that some might welcome a chance put a robot together if it had been deliberately dismantled. However most felt that it was the wrong venue, and that it would be better to aim the €˜Open Day€™ at a model fair where other RC models would be on display, and there would be a receptive audience.
3. There was then discussion about Terry Carlin€™s €˜8ack€™ concept - All those present were given a copy of the material on his web-site. There was general agreement that the rules and scoring system were much too complex for audiences to grasp. (Terry, this was said without priming from me, although other members present echoed my feelings entirely.) It was also said that, bearing in mind the number of active robots, there needed to be a smaller clans and a limit on clan size. Having said all that there was no antipathy towards an interesting concept in robot combat.
4. Ed Hoppitt then talked us through some of his alternative robot combat concepts, and some new potential options for locations.
5. We were all asked to put up some very attractive posters for the robot show at Magna next Saturday.

The next Yorkshire FRA Social was planned Saturday 7th May. However the landlady at the pub told me at the end of the meeting that they wanted to open the dining area up for meals on Saturday evenings in the future. They would be pleased to see us on a Tuesday evening. I said that I would find out whether the roboteers would prefer to stay in the same place and move to a Tuesday evening, or go to another pub on a Saturday evening. Here are the questions for you.

1. Would you prefer to stay with 1st Saturday of every 2nd month, or move to 2nd Tuesday (eg. 10th May)?
2. If you prefer Saturday would you prefer another location close to the M1 or in Huddersfield?

Please use this forum to give me your answers.

Jeremy