Tom
Yes surprise at the size/noise of the real thing is a factor at first. It got me the same way at the first real event I attended, but that initial reaction soon wears off. In order to sustain an audience over some years other factors come into play. For a first time spectator its good enough to tear about and bounce off the walls creating loads of noise, later on they will more likely need to see good cliffhanger/well balanced/close fights between well matched machines. I guess that any weight class can produce this to an equal degree, but the lighter weights are of course more spectacular in a lighter arena.

Perhaps the crux of the matter is that if we want to be a travelling circus we need spectacle for spectators but if we want to be a sport it needs to develop to provide good close competition and for the sport to come before the audience. This does of course come back to the question of roboteers maybe needing to pay more in the way of entry fees etc instead of asking the audience to foot the bill. Do we want to be superstars or sportsmen? Do we want to be funded as a circus or as a sport?

Personally I feel that we are a bit unique in having developed almost exclusively as a spectator sport in the first instance. Perhaps we could all gain by taking a step back and spending a few years evolving without so much pressure to put on a good show

Alan

The question regarding middlwweights is basically the same. Should we develop a weight class for the audience? Is there a major cost benefit to the competitors in the middleweight class over evolving straight onto heavies is surely a better question?

Yes I would love to run a bigger machine, but given that I would really like to be able to afford a heavy, do I want to pour money into an intermediate weight class rather than saving pennies to move onto the big boys toys

Most of my questions and concerns come from over 25 years spent watching various motorsports making the very same mistake of putting the live audience/TV companies before the competitors. At present we could very easily replicate all these errors in robotic combat. Why not think about evolving to allow cheap but fun competition in the arena for ourselves and avoid the rather sad spectacle of roboteers competing to see who gets to sign the most autographs