What next for Robot Wars & bringing it back

[Bacon Wizard]

Constructors will be using more computer and programmed functionality
AIBB

Hmm. I do think the personalities of the teams matter hugely and frankly, fully autonomous bots just won't cut the mustard in terms of good viewing. However, I think some inclusion of this may well help with funding, and it would be fun to see each bot have SOME autonomy. A "special-move" type of idea might work, self righting would be easy enough etc. and perhaps the more automated a bot is, the more concessions towards weight or something could be awarded. A certain amount of fly-by-wire is probably a natural progression anyhow (eg, selecting where in the arena you want the bot to go, rather than actually steering) But recognising an opponent vs house bots for example? Hmmm.

I think there's some potential here, but nobody wants to watch bots dithering about, missing the opponent completely and bashing against the arena lamely. Its a gladiatorial contest and we want blood! Glory!

[Garwulf]

Hmm. I do think the personalities of the teams matter hugely and frankly, fully autonomous bots just won't cut the mustard in terms of good viewing. However, I think some inclusion of this may well help with funding, and it would be fun to see each bot have SOME autonomy. A "special-move" type of idea might work, self righting would be easy enough etc. and perhaps the more automated a bot is, the more concessions towards weight or something could be awarded. A certain amount of fly-by-wire is probably a natural progression anyhow (eg, selecting where in the arena you want the bot to go, rather than actually steering) But recognising an opponent vs house bots for example? Hmmm.

Well, a certain amount of autonomy, perhaps, but it would have to be pretty limited.

Something I noticed a while ago when it comes to these things. The first time a robot follows a line, it's amazing. The second time, it's cool. The third time, it's ordinary. The fourth time, it's little more than a technology demo.

There are sometimes robots with self-firing weapons, and a self-firing SRImech makes plenty of sense - but I wouldn't want it to go any further than that. The reason is simple - the more you remove the driver and the team from the equation, the more it becomes a technology demo once the match begins. People will care about the roboteers, and they'll care about the robots that they are driving - but I really don't think they'd care about autonomous robots for long, even if on a technological level they are more impressive.