Wooden Robot Class

[james...venom]

I believe saw blades were looked at last year? We mentioned that if a spinner is safe in the arena then its sake for the disc to break. In which case saw blades would be fine. Il re read the rules tonight


(just read the rules and it says hardened discs that may shatter are not permitted)

[PJ-27]

So what is the final verdict then, No? At the end of the day it's your arena guys.

I was basing my whole design around using 3 circular saw blades, would be a shame to omit them especially against wooden robots.
What about thicker blades (like the 2mm) or non hardened ones?

Sorry to be picky but would hate to build a robot I can't use!

Just found this, nice use of a disk:

[RogueTwoRobots]

I think the whole 'blades that may shatter are not permitted' thing becomes much less important when the arena is a bulletproof box. That rule has been in there for as long as I can remember and was surely written at a time where spinners were running in arenas with fabric roofs.

The debris thrown about in Robo Challenge battles can be pretty intense yet it is always contained safely. If a saw blade was to shatter in that arena, I would trust the robustness of the arena to contain it. For any wooden class battles at the FW champs, if Robo Challenge are comfortable with the security of their arena and are happy to allow saw blades, then they should be permitted for this event as they would be a good source of destruction in that class. Obviously any wooden class battles in the RR or RL arenas would have to meet the 'no spinners or hardened blades' criteria.

[PJ-27]

Well put Jamie.

Here's my design (incapable of doing anything 3D in SketchUp!) Side on view, just imagine 3 saw blades spaced evenly over the width of the robot.

[Mouldy]

I'd suggest if using saw blades you don't exceed the maximum rpm stamped on the blade if using the kind with the little tips attached to the saw points... As the KE could cause them to fly off during testing :P

[PJ-27]

Sound advice Dave, I doubt I'll top what's stamped on most blades.

[PJ-27]

I know I keep harping on about this but can someone from RoboChallenge make a verdict on saw blades please?
Myself and several others seem pretty keen on using them since they would be so fitting for the class and provided the Full Combat arena is used and people don't exceed the specs of the disks it should be safe.

Just want to know before I buy a load of parts and so others can get building.

The rules are a little ambiguous;

12.3 Rotating Weapons The speed of any rotating weapons - e.g. circular saws, carbon or steel cutting discs - must not exceed the manufacturer's specification. The manufacturer's specification must be available for inspection.

This implies you can use them with restrictions. Plus given the extreme nature of other spinning weapons it seems odd to oust circular saw blades.

Thanks (sorry for going on!)

[grant_ploughbot]

I would so be up for this

I have a load of stuff left over from the first version of Shrapnel, I even have the wooden prototype! I can seem myself making a small box of HDPE to contain the expensive parts of the robot but besides thats I would love to make a wooden robot!

[attachment=0:18egnja3]Shrapnel Proto 05 Small.jpeg[/attachment:18egnja3]

I would be happy to put this into a wooden class. The only thing that would be metal is the bearings for the disc and then the teeth on the disc. I would just bolt them to a wooden core. That way I can still cause damage but If i push it to far the teeth will rip off and become useless.

It also means I get to use a design I spent about 5 months developing! Hot glue guns rule as well!

That robot looks really nice, remind's me alot of Satans Mutt I built for Gadget Show a couple of years back. ... re=related

On the Circular saw blade front, I can understand the initial view's that our arena has no problems at all with containing broken discs or shrapnel etc, but there are other possibilities to look at aswell.
Our staff need to be inside the arena untill everyone else is out and safe, meaning I personally spend alot of time standing next to an armed spinner. There is always a possibility of a disc spinning up when I am in there, and this is where our only concern comes in. A custom made disc is usually alot less likely to send tip's and shrapnel around the arena than a circular saw blade with braised on tips.
Fairly recently the rule's were changes from no hardened spinning disc's, to no commercially available hardened spinning disc's which still means that circular saw blades are against the rules.

Having the only Full Combat arena, we are able to put a strong discussion to the FRA committee for rule changes such as that above, but we are not able to over-look the rule's to suit our event's or robot's entering our event's as that would void our insurance and cause endless problems.

However, we as much as anyone would like to relax rule's as much as possible aslong as everything stay's safe to make life easier for all. Therefore, if you have a robot with circular saw blades on we would be happy to do some controlled tests in the arena at one of our event's to see what actually happens to these types of blades when run over spec and hitting metal. If everything was fine then there shouldn't be a problem with putting forward a new proposal to the FRA. With some solid data for the committee to see, a positive decision is usually made.

I hope that answer's your questions and concern's - It's not quite as straight forward as James and I agreeing that it's fine or not to run sadly.

[PJ-27]

Hi Grant,

Thanks for the comprehensive response. Understood and I appreciate your point of view.

Time, Money and Design pending I could bring along a robot with circular saw discs as weapons if you wish to do some tests. Although I would say I'd expect such blades to instantly fail and shatter against metal so wouldn't expect anyone to use them in that context from a design and safety perspective. Against wood though it may be a different story, so if you'd like to do some controlled tests against that I'd be up for it.

ps. I never meant to, nor do I want to bring anyone's safety into question so glad we got this sorted.

[grant_ploughbot]

No worries at all, it's always good to have these types of discussions as quite often the same thing has been discussed in FRA committee meeting's and during arena testing etc that Roboteer's in general are unaware of, and it also highlight's other potential safety issue's other than if the arena can contain a spinning weapon.