When Dantomkia entered Battlebots they had to have a different chassis and name even though all the internals were the same as the original. So if it has a different chassis then its a different robot. I know this isnt in the current rules but maybe it should be or like James C says you could transform into a whole new robot.
IMO i cant see a problem with changing wheels, motors, ram, speed controllers, armour etc.
I do feel thought that the chassis IS the robot and should not be allowed to be changed. Allowing changes to parts attached to the chassis is fine. But changing the chassis and putting all original parts in it, in mid competition i think takes it a bit too far.
Just my thoughts.
(Message edited by armadrillo on August 21, 2006)
The easiest analogy to this would be how F1 used to be before they stopped people changing the engine without huge penalties.
During qualifying teams would run different engines which were capable of greater power output although would fail if run for a full race.
The point here would be that having a robot that was modular to the degree that it was capable of being essentially a different robot for different fights. E.g. for spinners you removed the weapon and fitted a lighter drive chain and much heavier armour.
I for one whole heartedly support the diversity of fighting robots. If someone wishes to build such a robot then I would love to see it.
However, the line between being one robot or another becomes very grey then perhaps this will need some consultation.
In my mind, if you take it apart and put it back together again in the pits, its the same robot... What wouldnt be acceptable is having a complete standby chassis you swapped out after taking heavy damage. Although using the chassis for spares would be completely acceptable.
What if you had a 6kg robot, with 6kg of armour for the spinners, and then you go through to the next round, can you use an identical 6kg robot with little armour as a clusterbot?
No, because you cant be a clusterbot and a non-clusterbot.
When I built swarm (heavyweight) I wanted to have a 50kg chassis base with 50kg of weapon on the back. The idea was that I could bolt on different weapon set ups dependant on the event, the arena and the opponent. So far I have only had time to create the spinning disc (even that is getting a bit close to the line) but I am looking at making lifters, axes etc in the future. As far as I can tell, this is well within the rules as the robot would be weighed with the heaviest setup on the back.
For my antweight i was planning on just adding some more armour that can be easily attached and removed and compete in the soz bots weight class with it as well. It would be a light soz, or a heavy ant. I could just a easily opt for 4 wheels instead of 2, or changing to a another weapon.
Its the same trick we did for tractor pulling, just add more motors to compete in more than one weightclass (super spetter was 5 V8 engines in the lightest setup, to 9 V8s in the heaviest).
Keeping it in the same weightclass should just as well be possible to swap, and have the heaviest setup weighed. I would insist however that it doesnt take up more time between fights to swap setups. The robot should be ready for the next round without delays.
Well, we have a new weapon for the UK champs which when (if?) we get through the first round we may use. If you dont allow interchangeable armour, but do allow interchangeavle weapons, then where is the line drawn. The other weapon protects the whole front of the robot from those nasty discs, but we called it a weapon, not armour
As it doesnt say what is allowed then I guess that you can change armour as I know robots have Anti-THz armour and no one ever complained about these for live events.
What about robots that dont have a chasis? It would be hard to put in writing a rule that would cover this.
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