FRA urgent announcement

[ady]

before this announcement i was starting to feel that every time i watch a video on here from a recent event it was just full of flippers, and now with this its just going to add to that, for my first time in 10 years i actually think that recent fights i have watched were well....... just boring. this is a personal opinion no offence intended. perhaps im just getting too old for the sport

(Message edited by ady on January 21, 2007)

And what would happen if an organiser just doesnt care about the FRA rules and regulations about arenas?

Robots Live! Position is as follows; in order to meet the new FRA guidelines been set and therefore to satisfy our insurers, we cannot allow spinning weapons in any weight category to run in our arena. This is unfortunate as we have a number of featherweight spinners applied for attend our event, who before these changes would have been allowed to run.

As our shows and events are mainly heavyweight orientated this doesn€™t affect us as much as others, but will mean the public will loose the chance to see spinners in action, which is unfortunate considering the heavyweight field is already limited because of this.

Our opinion is that it is not financially viable to upgrade the arena to run featherweight spinners; according to the new rules set the arena would require the same as if running heavyweight spinners. Bringing the arena up to these specifications (10mm Polycarbonate sides and 5mm Polycarbonate roof), would mean doubling the costs of an already expensive project and increasing costs of running events.

Robots Live! Agree that changes needed to be made regarding safety, as standards have been deteriorating over the past few years, and we plan to add many features not seen before on a heavyweight arena. But we currently have to comply with FRA guidelines in order to retain our Public Liability Insurance, therefore we have no choice but to not allow any spinners to run until; we are in a position to upgrade our arena, which we don€™t see happening in the foreseeable future, or if the FRA guidelines are changed.

To correct the FRA€™s first post, our event is the 10th & 11th February, not the 9th & 10th as stated. We also did not agree the changes raised at the meeting as suggested.

Robots Live!
http://www.robotslive.co.ukwww.robotslive.co.uk

[babeth]

Canvas roofs are not so safe really, even with the itty-bitty-teeny feathers with spinners.

There has been discussion about the roofs for some time now, edging on organisers like the DRG to already start doing something about it and not wait for the new rules to go into effect. We knew the rules would be changed anyway.
The problem is money and workshoptime, which is why it takes so long to have the new roofs installed.

i am always concerned for safety as much as others. its just hard when you invest serious money into your machine to find that the audience dont get to see it, even a feather can cost serious money and now it may rust in the garage.

Unfortunatly due to recent events there is no choice in haveing to upgrade the saftey standard.

We have known that the arena guildlines were not sufficiant for thier use and so went into testing arena roof materials ourselves months ago. The outcome was both shocking and scarey as all the material roof samples we tested were totally unacceptable for running any type of spinner.

To back the issue of new build rules I dont belive anybody raised objections to the new guildlines as it was clear that the previous ones were not at a high enough standard and with events coming up shortly it could be dangerous to continue without the new build rules.

Just my oppinion, now we can move forward with a higher safety standard. Adrian, there will still be events that you can run your machine. I am planning some as we speak and im sure other event organisers will sooner or later upgrade thier arenas to.

(Message edited by james...venom on January 21, 2007)

[kane]

Obviously this debate will continue for some time, however it is clear that everyone agrees that arena safety is paramount for the continuation of our sport.

The arena safety standards discussed clearly offer a standard of safety that can be built on rather than offering a standard thats works ok until it goes wrong.

Roofs particularly are going to require further research as this is clearly something that people seem to take too lightly. I would suggest that for further discussion, some empirical evidence is compiled to demonstrate a safe meterial that can afordably be used by all arenas. Particularly such that should allow all types of robots to compete equally in events.

[ady]

ok thanks james, perhaps i got the wrong impression. i took it that i wont be able to use my feather at any events in 2007.

perhaps what i should of said was does this mean my robot is as much use as a choclate teapot?

(Message edited by ady on January 21, 2007)

Hi Alan
Sorry about this but we will have to withdraw from your event.

Kane - As James stated above, Robo Challenge have done alot of testing with roof materials to find a suitable solution for conatining spinners. So far there doesnt seem to be a cheaper solution than polycarb, or atleast not a viable one.

If there are other materials that people beleive would be sufficient for arena roofing, and cheaper than polycarb you could get intouch with James to get some testing done on samples to help other event organisers with being able to take the next step in arena safety.