Stabbing split mechanism.

[pressure]

There is one consequence of building an effective tearing/piercing weapon that has not been raised, namely youll, potentialy, be doing a lot of expensive damage to your collegues machines and sending them home early from an event!
On Robot Wars the aim was to beat your opponent any way you could, ideally destroying their machine asap! However the shows we do now are more about us having fun and entertaining the audience. They might like to see real damage (ie Tiberious on King B at Burgess Hill) but it leaves less machines for the subsequent shows. Our bots take enough punishment as it is and often need repairs between shows to keep them going anyway!

[craig_colliass]

Mike makes a very good point we are there to entertain the audience and have fun, my HW machine The Saint has never to my knowledge done any significant damage to any other robot ever. Its flipper fodder, a Tiberius toy with pit potential but still I can dream!!!!

[sam_smith]

Tiberius 4 was designed to fight spinners in robotwars, hence designing for max damage. I would not have built that machine for todays climate that is for certain. T4 was half built when we were told that there would not be a S8 of Robotwars. I nearly gave it up but decided to finish the project that was started.
I dont intend for T4 to cause damage at general events, but I cannot control the weapon and the drive. My dad was under strict orders not to crush into KB3.
Also dont under estimate the damage that big flippers do to SLA batteries through impact.

[pressure]

Damage, even in friendlies, is almost inevitable, Pressure mk3 lost Two SLAs and a motor controller at Birmingham two years ago when it was slammed into the side wall by Storm II (Ed did apollogise!) I have nothing against crushing claws, they add variety (all flippers wouldnt be as interesting to watch) but they are, perhaps, a little more difficult to be gentle with. Pressure mk3s armour and chassis was full of holes and patches as a result of encounters with Kan Opener, though nothing expensive was ever damaged.
Perhaps there should be a clause (claws?) in competition fight rules. If a fight involving a crusher goes to a judges decision the other bot should be checked for damage and if a punture would have hit something vital, killing the bot, but didnt because the crusher backed off, the win should go to the crusher.
Any thoughts anybody?

[maddox]

In whiteboards, youre right Mike. And Sam does it that way (even in full combat). Just a nip, and out again.

Flippers, spinners and axes all have a problem in that respect. If restricted/controled, those weapons are boring. These dont have any finesse. Or nothing or very painfull. Hydraulic crushers are actualy the most controlable weapons atm.

[craig_colliass]

My thoughts on this subject are simple if you put your robot into the arena and it gets damaged that€™s life, if something expensive gets damaged that€™s worse. But it€™s a fighting game damage will happen!!!! And I go into the fight knowing no one has a grudge against me and any damage I receive is down to that moment. If there is a malicious act then the judges are to rule there decision is final. If I get involved in trying to decide if the damage is too great for a particular situation or event, then my opinion because it is my machine is going to be biased. In practice I have not so far come across any other roboteer that has gone into a Wight board fight with the intension of excessive damage to my or to my knowledge any other machine. In competition fights there is the compulsion to win and in doing that stop the other machine, but even then I found most times the roboteer reins back out of respect to the other persons repair costs. It€™s a fighting sport or hobby let the fights continue.

[john]

mike

i believe that the clause thing shouldnt be in competitions but maybe whiteboards but most whiteboards go to the audience?

but in competition if they back out they are stupid like tiberius at uk champs didnt back out of us but if it did then it would of risked losing the fight and the uk champs , even though we has alot of damage cost we wernt that angry as its the risk every1 should take while entering a serious competition. also kan opener vs thz it was the kind of fight of who ever gets who doesnt come out alive and that kind of what happened

ye its nice for people to back out if its going to cause £500+ but thats the risk everyone takes

[sam_smith]

John is right about the champs, by backing off we would have been sure to lose that battle.
BTW Respect to you guys, When we spoke abit before the fight and asked if you wanted the weapon to hold off you said nar well do proper full combat and put on a good show.

As for white boards I dont really care about winning or losing its just about putting on a show, preferably with the robots staying in the arena.

With regards to friendly tournements perhaps once a crusher has gripped the opposition, they should pause and ask the team if they submit at that point after which a friendly white board style crowd entertaining match can continue.

I am happy for machines to go all out against t4 in any event. Its all good testing. If something brakes I didnt build it well enough and was stupid not to use the full weight allowance!

BTW I like the fact that Saint is original and adds variety. I thought the joints which key the lid in are a great design.

[craig_colliass]

Thanks Sam for your comments BTW I have replaced the bottom section of the saint for the next bash!!!