FRA UK Featherweight Championship 2014 hosted by RoboChallenge

[overkill]

Hi James,

Thanks for putting on an amazing event! Here is my feedback:

The 4 day format allowed for plenty of matches without rushing repairs and recharging. There was plenty of set-up time at the beginning and all the pre-event documentation was clear and useful (particularly to someone like me, who was feeling a bit lost as soon as I was off the plane). It would be handy to have a list of the nearest hardware and electronics stores for us out-of-towners.

The pit area was spacious and well organised and while I didn't need it, the repair booth was handy, keeping the pit area cleaner & safer. Having the bin liner bags on the end of every table also helped keep the pits the cleanest of any event I can recall. The only pit area problem I had was the single power outlet per row of tables; I will bring a longer extension cord next time.

Like Jamie said, viewing the matches was a bit difficult at times, even for taller people. Would it be possible to have an elevated platform behind the judges area?

One suggestion would be to pre-allocate pit tables or to make a map of where each team is located on the day. I noticed that the marshals often had trouble finding & organising the bots for up-coming matches.

After going to RoboGames in the US and all the nationals events in Australia, I can say you are definitely running a world-class event!

Another idea is to sell some event merchandise like shirts of sew-on event patches.

[PJ-27]

Another great event and getting better every year.

Here's my feedback:

4 days of robots is awesome, additional competitions (the gladiator) more qualifiers and more time between fights are all very welcome.
But I will say, the format shift at such short notice was an issue, but I appreciate that RoboChallenge would have announced as soon as they could. Also 2 work days included in the event may be a future issue for team Bitza but that problem may be unique to us.

Extra pit space was very welcome, more of that please!

Announcements of the outcome of each fight would be nice, maybe the commentator could do it? "Walking away with the full 4 points..., coming 2nd with 2 points..." etc. Adds to the theater.

There was some confusion about when robots where being counted out, or immobile etc... I think the key factor there is that all robots must be seen as being aggressive. If you don't need to 2 working wheels to be the aggressor then that's some pretty awesome driving/design! But you still shouldn't be counted out.

We also need a Winter event! Robots once a year isn't enough

[Flag Captured]

The event was absolutely spectacular, I can't really comment on it in relation to other events since it was the first time I've ever been to one, but it was great to have plenty of space in the pits and more fights overall meant there was plenty of opportunity to get involved!

I would suggest having an announcement of winners, and perhaps a leaderboard somewhere so that people can see what points they've got - maybe have a whiteboard in the back of the pits area with each machine's name on, and the scores from each fight so there's a little less ambiguity, since I know that's something that's been mentioned. It'd also be nice to see where abouts everyone who didn't qualify came overall!
Either that, or a larger board with the fights on so it's a little more visible, and the outcomes written on there so people know how the points have been dished out as PJ says.

Other than that, I can't really think of anything wrong. As a newcomer, I fully expected to be figuring out things right up until the last day, but after day 1 I'd already been explained how things worked, all the safety precautions in practice such as tech checking and arming up (albeit, there was some confusion when it came to arming up my machine occasionally, mostly caused by me being a bit hard of hearing, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly.)

Maybe having confirmation a little earlier would be nicer, but that's really out of Robochallenge's hands - I guess they can only say what's happening after everything's been finalised and set in stone by GSL...

A thought I did have, much in the same way that Heavyweight events have Featherweight melees, perhaps if there's a few people with Beetleweights there could be a Beetleweight melee/gladiator fight during a break in the main competitions? Granted, there's not as many of them as there are featherweights, but it could be a cool little side event if there was enough interest. The arena's definitely the right size for having plenty of them in there.

Brilliant event, was great meeting everyone there and nice one to Robochallenge for putting on such a great show - can't wait till next year!

[Garfie489]

Only improvement i can think of, that has not been said (and its probably because its my first event) is making procedures such as arena marshaling and tech checking more consistent.

To give an example - Defector is of course a flipper and requires a locking bar.

When arming up, my personal procedure is to remove the cover, and await clearance. I then put the link in, shut the dump valve and reattach the cover. After re-checking clearance to gas up i then open the bottle.

When it comes to removing the locking bar, there seems to be a difference of opinion on how to do it, and i believe it should be firmly set out.

Some marshals (and the same when i attend heavyweight events with Dystopia), prefer me to deal with my own locking bar after arming up. This is the method i prefer, as it means that when i walk away from my robot, i am assured no one else will touch it until the arena is locked. So if say i fall over with the transmitter, no one should be near it.

Other marshals prefer to leave all the robots locked but armed, until they are the only person remaining in the arena. They then remove all locking bars at once. Personally i dont like this way, as its possible for me to intentionally injure that person whilst they are in possession of my robot, because the transmitter is no longer on the floor away from human contact. And if i can intentionally injure someone, its possible to mistakenly injure someone.

After several battles in a row under the first method, i got told off when the arena marshal preferred the second method, and i removed my own locking bar.

Its such a small concern, but of course these are very powerful machines, and i think it should be clarified for newcomers at future events. Personally, i believe you should only remove the locking bar if you have the transmitter on the floor right in front of you, because it gives a level of security. And thus i believe for that reason, the roboteers themselves should be the ones to remove it.

Exception to the rule is of course robots like Explosion, where you can stand a foot away from it and remove the locking bar, but not every robot has that luxury.

[overkill]

That worried me too. Perhaps the procedure should be changed so that you switch off your radio after putting in the link and checking the bot and before anyone removes the safety. Everyone then exits the arena and the drivers only switch on their transmitters shortly before the countdown.

[Garfie489]

Everyone then exits the arena and the drivers only switch on their transmitters shortly before the countdown.

That was the solution i thought of, as in theory all the robots should be tech checked to insure they fail-safe when the transmitter is off, making it theoretically impossible for the robot to misfire.

However some other events require the robot to be live and controlled during the arming process. For example, events which use a loading pen would need the robot to be fully armed, mobile and unlocked in order to enter the arena.

Thus it would need to be a EO specific regulation, and should be set out before the event.

Edit: Heres a video of me arming Dystopia at a Robot Wars event. You can see its impossible to simply turn off the transmitter, so it shouldnt be a general rule but rather just something that should be clarified in the roboteers briefing in future.

[PJ-27]

Locking bar should render the robot completely safe while live. One marshal removing all locking bars is the safest option since there is only one person in the arena.

[mrsam]

I agree with PJ about the locking bars, i was told off by Kane for removing mine ( i was new i didn't know) and i completely saw his point as there were a few other people in the arena and if Hatchet had gone crazy with the locking bar removed somebody would have gotten hurt.

I'm not sure i agree with turning off transmitters before exiting the arena, it's true all robots should failsafe if the transmitter is turned off but surely there's always the slightest chance that something could go wrong and a robot could become out of control, at least with the transmitter on in your hand it's you that is controlling it. This brings me back to locking bars, if what Gareth said happens and somebody slips/trips or knocks their transmitter by accident the worst that can happen is that the robot moves or the weapon activates but is stopped by the locking bar rather than the locking bar being out when it happens and somebody getting hit with the full force of a weapon. I know that if Hatchet's axe caught somebody it would probably remove something. So to sum up i think the arming up/safety rules are fine as they are, it's worked for the champs this year and for as many years as those rules have been set.

[james...venom]

Thank you all for your comments it's really appreciated and we have lots of things in the pipeline for next year so keep watching back. Regarding locking bars changes will be made to the rules for next year. In Defectors case I had asked on multiple occasions to leave the locking bar in so I can remove them all at the end but this is a separate thing. All locking bars must be kept in to avoid accidental activation of weaponry while people are inside the arena, it's not going to change. Looking time frames we are already in discussions for next year and we will let you know ASAP when the event is confirmed. I think dates may have already been announced for next years gsl so hopefully it gives an indication of when it will be, we just need our confirmation. Fully appreciate this can be a pain for teams so we are working hard to get everything signed off for you.

[Ellis]

Re. locking bars, I think this:

"Exception to the rule is of course robots like Explosion, where you can stand a foot away from it and remove the locking bar, but not every robot has that luxury"

Is the crux. Surely every machine should be made to have that luxury.

--

I really enjoyed this year's event. I loved the extra pit space and the extra time between fights, even though there were more of them. As others have said, the schedule was kept tight and although it wasn't written anywhere exactly, keeping a track on when you fight to within a couple of minutes was quite easy, which made planning repairs etc a lot easier. I'd be very happy if this new format were carried through for future events.

One or two things; like others, I struggled to get a position to watch the fights, and as such had a hard time getting any decent footage. With the entire roboteer group, judges, flight cases w/ trophies on them and a path needed (and reasonably, not debating that) for crew and drivers to pass by, all on one short side of the arena, it was very hard to get a good view (especially when one is as vertically challenged as myself ). Perhaps next year the trophy stand could be elsewhere (on a crowd-side? Good talking point for the commentator) and things reshuffled a bit so that the roboteers can get a good view too. Or perhaps a dedicated filming position somewhere with a clean shot through the polycarb.

Apart from that, the already mentioned clarification of the rules, and a proper meaty vice in the repair zone! :P

Can't wait for next year, thanks to all involved, and to all who helped supply tools, materials, ideas and hands! Roll on 2015!