FRA UK Featherweight Championship 2014 hosted by RoboChallenge

[Garfie489]

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.

I have no problem with this, its just not every arena Marshal was the same. Thus it lead me personally to being confused. Its also the other way round at all other events i have attended (being a heavyweight roboteer aswell), which with this being my first feather event also lead me to being confused.

What i was just arguing is that there should be one clear procedure, and maybe a hybrid of the two to increase safety in some way.

[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!

[james...venom]

The trophy holder is actually the control unit for the big screen

Locking bars will be addressed in the rules by the FRA. Best locking bars were Explosion and all of the big nippers robots.

[Revsmin]

Round 1 Highlights

[Mouldy]

James; everything was spot on mate you did great. Apart from my draw, give me an easier one next year lol

Jarvis; awesome vid! you're winning the epic montage competition so far :P

FRA; As stated above - clear clarification of rules for next year please.

Also i think the locking bar idea is the safest way - however whats classed as a locking bar needs further refinement IMO… currently as long as you have something to stop the weapon going its a pass… I think some teams turn up with implements that are less than ideal (aka the G-clamps on spinners and badly fitted locking bars in flippers) - Thats not for discussion here and should have its own thread really.

[Revsmin]

I really enjoyed the event, I had a severe headache and felt well and truly shattered by the Sunday evening, but it was certainly worth it
The pit space was fantastic! I'm used to fighting the next team down for elbow room but this year I had all the room I needed, even found myself running back and forth to get tools littered across our pit space! I like the new take on the immobilisation rules, I always did think that Explosion jumping around for 45 seconds trying to self right should count as immobile :P. The announcement that if you hit the polycarb you're out even if you bounce back into the arena is very welcome from me, it was a concern before the event and I intend to use it next year.

I agree with locking bars being removed by the arena marshall. As much as I like having the locking bar in my hand so I know when I push to flip the flipper will work (or not going by recent events) and not fail because the locking bar was left in by accident, which happened once with Skyfall in 2012 (I had to rush back to the arena to tell Grant it was still in), I think that having it all done by one person minimalises the risk of injury.

One other thing regarding locking bars, I saw there were a few dirty looks at Defectors locking bar that holds the arm up; Personally I prefer locking bars that lock the flipper open so the ram can't touch the arm even when fully extended. I made Skyfall with both options as there was a conversation about it here at the time, but Flow doesn't have enough baseplate for the bar to sit on and fighting the extremely tight bungees is a fight I will lose :P. I've seen some locking bars and thought 'that'll never hold if it does go off', whereas held up above the ram if it does go off, no 2kg Hardox arm is going to launch itself up at the arena marshalls head.

Seeing how well the Beautys performed this year has prompted me to develop the new robot for next year to having interchangeable front ends, one specially for Beauty :3. I'll probably get a build diary up soon, this one is to replace the now retired Ricochet, who has fallen foul of old age.

[Team Invade]

I like the new take on the immobilisation rules, I always did think that Explosion jumping around for 45 seconds trying to self right should count as immobile :P.

I don't recall this ever being classed as immobile by the rules or how they have changed to affect this.

[Revsmin]

I don't recall this ever being classed as immobile by the rules or how they have changed to affect this.

Weren't you counted out vs Drumroll while doing this?

[Team Invade]

No. In the fight against Drumroll Explosion got stuck with its flipper open (again). The confusion in that fight was because it could be argued (either way) with regards to the mobility of Drumroll from the beginning of the fight. I think most people thought it was ambiguous and that's the reason the judges deemed it necessary to clarify the rules in the case of losing drive on one side the next morning.


In the fight before that against Little Hitter before that Explosion was stuck upside down for a couple of seconds before the flipper closed and thinking it may be stuck open, the judges started the count. When it began to self right I believe they tried to stop the immobilisation count, but it did not stop, hence the "Elimination" call half way through self righting. That confused us at the time as well

[JamesDavies]

Any videos up get of anything past round one?