23rd/24th September 2006 - XFM at the National Space Center

On September 23rd/24th the robots arrive at the National Space Centre. Last year it was a RR event, and following discussion with RR this year its XFM thats providing the entertainment.

The weekend will have the XFM arena and we will be running friendly competitions with a prize fund alongside some slightly more serious educational content as well as some heavyweight demonstrations.

In order to help teams out at much as possible XFM will be providing some accomodation (first come first served) and of course a prize fund on the day.

More details coming soon - and well let you know when registration is open for roboteers.

Ed - XFM
http://www.extremefightingmachines.comhttp://www.extremefightingmachines.com

Registration now open

Sign up now at http://www.extremefightingmachines.co.uk/apply.htmlhttp://www.extremefightingmachines.co.uk/apply.html

Ed - XFM
http://www.extremefightingmachines.comhttp://www.extremefightingmachines.com

Will be there on Sunday and hopefully saturday as well, will have to avoid Doncaster in the Winter Tour.

unfortunatly, i think it is fairly safe to say that i will not be able to attend this event, although i may be able to send robots ahead without me.

the reason for having to miss what i am sure will be a fantastic competition is, my best creation to date is due to be finished around this time, see my profile pic for a work in progress photo taken today.

WOW! Havnt scans come a long way in the 7 years since I had mine done with David.

I can actually see a resemblance already James :) - all the best to you and Rachel.

Give my regards to Malika whilst you are there!

TTFN

Jon.

Whos coming then? Ill stick myself up for full combat while the ti is still on the bot

Oh yes, a flat floor Im hoping? :)

(Message edited by ewan on August 29, 2006)

You said back in Feburary this event will be made up of friendly competitions and educational stuff. What will this then mean? Cadets mainly?

What are the numbers like atm? Well need to make up for the lack of the Dragon crew somehow.

Sadly it just so happens that the for first xfm event you offer accomodation, I dont need it :sad:

Thanks :)

The focus will be on Cadet Class Ewan which i believe your robot complies with ?

Theres no need to make up for the Dragon Crew - theyve signed up to the event.

Currently we have 15 Feathers signed up for the event.

And yes, youll have the flat high-traction floor that everyone liked so much earlier in the year :)

Ed - XFm

Unless something has changed in the last week Tony was on the way to hanging up his spanner after a forth or so successive before-bout arena breakdown (depressing stuff for sure) at the champs. He told me to tell you this so far as I can recall, so this may help explain his apparent forum inactivity this week (?).

You may have to make up for 2-3 or whatever be signed up Dragon bots for this and the next event Ed unless there is a change.

Good to hear about the floor, and yes, ill take the ti off then.

I should have the two pimps running again for this event although I will only be able to make the second day, lets see if I can survive a competition with the new crop of featherweights. Also what is cadet class? I havent been able to find the rules anywhere!

(Message edited by s8nsmum on September 11, 2006)

Ed repost the rules! lol

Its basically restrictions on motor power, spinners, and materials - designed to encourage newbies and lower budgets :)

Good to see Pimp will be running again! I think it will be able to enter the cadet class unless much has been changed.

Quite a bit has been changed on Pimp 2 so it might not pass the regulations, very little has been changed on Pimp 1 which is why it will probably take a bit of a pasting. The only reason Pimp 1 is running again is because I thought it deserved a proper funeral rather than being left to rot in the back of my cupboard.

Briefly the Cadet Class rules (unofficial class) :

Standard FRA rules for Featherweights

- Materials limited to steel, aluminium, plastics and wood
- Motors limited to 150w DC or generic drills
- Robots with SLA batteries allowed extra 1.5Kg
- Pneumatics limited to 10bar
- Spinners limited to 1Kg and 200mm dia max spinning mass

As Ewan says, low entry level low cost for newbies but still part of the main XFM show.

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

Ed. Does the motor limit for Cadet Class cover the type of motor used in R/C cars? Thought I would ask this, incase any budding robot builders out there had old cars they did not use anymore, and wernt sure what to do with them.

If its less than a 150w motor then yes its covered.

Ed

Is that any 150w motors are allowed or the maximum power allowed to come from one motor is 150w ie. are you allowed to get gold motors and overvolt them?

What we need is a small rolling road, so that we can test the max power output :) Kart ones are just too big.

Not as daft as it sounds, really all you need is to get the wheels to accelerate a large inertia (large roller) and time how long it takes to get to max speed. That way you can prove you are not using more than 150W, works as long as the wheels dont slip.

Thats kind of what james and my dad are designing at the moment for some of our motors.

When should we be expecting info mail this week?

thanks

Also, if anybody could bring along any spare speedos (ideally two channel - to run two very overvolted drills, hehe) youve got thatd be great! Chances are the Sidewinder replacement wont be back in time :blush:

Ewan XFM have a spare Sidewinder you could have - new thing for XFM in 2007 will be us having a stock of spare parts for teams rather than relying on you guys to have to carry spares of everything.... well be doing some polls at our next two events to see what bits people think we should have.

... theyre for loan though, not keeps ! And on a you broke it you bought it policy. But itll save people going out of a competitions because somethings broken !

Info will be out this week, Mon or Tues.

Ed - XFM
http://www.extremefightingmachines.comhttp://www.extremefightingmachines.com

Does that include spare armour Ed? Lots of spare Ti please, save me having to buy it!

lol, Alan, you broke it you bought it maybe your plan wouldnt work so well.

Cheers Ed! What if any connectors are on it so I can just bung it in rather than solder it?

Cheers

P.S. Do I really have to take the ti off for the cadets - Ive not yet touched the machine since the champs and forsee another week of late night coursework ahead of me :crazy: hehe

No connectors at all Ewan at the moment

Could ship it to you if you wanted ? Please note the you broke it you bought it policy though and also note its not been modified by Robot Power !

Ewan - yep !

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

just to clarify, if anyone runs this sidewinder and it fails, it will not be replaced for free by robot power.

if xfm want their controller swapping for a modified version, please send it to me before running it, for free replacement. if not, any damage will be charged for when repaired. A replacement will be available within the next 2 weeks.

hope this is perfectly clear, to avoid any possible bad feeling if there are any failures of this unit and someone gets a big repair bill. you have been advised not to use it.

Sorry guys - busy evening.

will send out info mail tomorrow !

Ed

Nobody has yet clarified the position of overvolted motors in the cadet class. Pimp 1 uses the technobots 24v gold motors at 25.2v, will it be allowed to fight in this class?

Define overvolted.

You can over-volt anything you want, as long as the stock motor is a 150w motor.

Doesnt say what you can/cant do to the motor, just states what its rate power should be.

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

hmmm I think some thinking needs to be done on those rules, but hey Im happy for the pimp to run :)

Oh yes, was going to ask, are there any leads on that sidewinder Ed just so I know what to bring? Cheers

What about using one of these sweet little watt meters..
http://www.overlander.co.uk/detail.asp?categoryid=85&ID=544http://www.overlander.co.uk/detail.a...ryid=85&ID=544

Ah!.. Over-volted gold motors...
I love the smell of burning armatures in the morning!! :proud:

Good luck with the new Cadet Class guys.

Ewan - sidewinder is factory standard.

Ed

speaking of which, if i work into the night, ewans new sidewinder will be in the post first thing tommorrow.
Thats everyone now, except Ed :)
There is a replacement here, if you return it.

Im going up tommorow so my replacement wont arrive in time for the event. Its never really got warm in this robot despite thouroughly burning out a motor before I had fans in (which luckily went open circuit) so running an unmodified one over the weekend shouldnt be a problem I dont think.

Ill bring some ring connectors for your sidewinder Ed which should do the job temporarily.

i would strongly suggest soldering wires into Eds unit if you are going to use it. Bolting to the board is NOT a recommended solution (even though it was previously suggested by the manufacturer), which was very nicely demonstrated by the spectacular failure in stiff breeze.

With preserving your sidewinder as my motivation, I advise that, if you MUST use this faulty unit, solder the wires only, ensure the soldered connections are good, turn the current limit to full (ie, switch off) and if possible put a fuse inline on the battery in line.

Best of luck.

Am I missing something here? The email has gone out with details of people who have requested accommodation but there are no details as to where the accommodation is :sad:
Is there anyone who can enlighten me?