Proposed 100kg weight rule - East Mids and Yorks area discus

[john_frizell]

Why not have a grandfather clause for existing UK built robots that would have difficulty in losing weight? They would be allowed to continue competing in the UK. All new builds would have to comply with the new rules. This could lead to two difficulties, both of which can be overcome:

1. Since the whole idea of the rule change is to create a uniform international standard, so robots from all countries can compete on an equal basis, these grandfathered robots would not be able to compete outside the UK. If people really want to compete outside the UK they will have to find a way to lose wieght or build a new machine.
2. If international robots come here for a competition, the grandfathered machines would not be able to take part. [But given that most roboteers like a good fight I suspect that many foreign machines would be willing to fight them anyway.]
I say UK above but we might want to extend this to the Netherlands if there are Dutch roboteers with machines that are having difficulty in losing weight.

In the words of the good dragons den... Ill tell you where im at....

My initial responce was NO WAY!

Old ripper is just about keeping going, and already only has a small amount of top armour to get it in weight. 102kg without gas.

Theres pysically no way it could loose 2kg without a major overhaul of the drive system.... something im not prepared to do on the old girl !

The new ripper, has 4kg of gas, and already it is slightly over weight and the plan is to loose enough to give it a hardox body, and the thought of loosing 4kg is scarey.

Baring in mind though that it would be the summer of 2009 before it was officially weighed at the new limit, i know that it most probably will hahve been rebuild buy then, and the new weight limit would be taken into consideration.

I am warming the idea to a grandfather type of rule, all it means is that we fade the rule in slowly... all be it very slowly... old machines can continue... new machines use the rule as they could be classed as an improvement on old machines anyway.

When would grandfather rule kick in.. machines built from when January 2009, or January 2008??

I think that is possibly the way forward to accommodate everyone.

John
http://www.RoamingRobots.co.ukwww.RoamingRobots.co.uk

[geoff]

I too like the sound of Mr Frizells Grandfather clause It could well be the solution that we are looking for.
Can I take it that you wouldnt mind if it were put forward to the committee as a formal proposal John?

As the intent was not to introduce any changes until Jan. 2009, I think that could be the date the clause kicks in. Maybe with a proviso that any new machines built during 2008 wouldnt qualify for Grandfather status.

I would certainly welcome any comments from others on this.

(Message edited by scorpion on November 20, 2007)

im still for the 80kg weight limit lol

I think john has the right idea, with the proviso that anything new from jan 2008 will have to comply with the 2009 rules, in the same style as F1, cars must be made to conform with rules for 2010 even back in 06.

What about robots that flaunt the 100kg limit with 2%, I hate that, 100kg is 100kg not 101.6kg or 102kg
if you weighed in at 101.6kg at my event i wouldnt let u compete
100kg should is the maximum weight limit not recommended limit build close to it not over it!

[swanaldo]

i too like the grandfather rule. nice idea

[leorcc]

Craig: If people deliberatly build to 102kg empty I wouldnt be happy either.

There are heavyweights in Holland and Germany (please dont forget our GRA friends, remember Tsunami?) that would have a pretty much impossible task of getting their weight down. If these robots are covered by a Grandfather rule that would be great. I am still not sure how much of an old robot would constitute a grandfather robot though.

For instance, I bought Hannibal, a series 5 robot. After 1 demo fight we ripped out pretty much everything that was originally in there, except the motors and the wheels, and replaced it with new stuff. So pretty much the only thing left original was the shell and the motors and the wheels. Is that still a Grandfather robot? My first instinct is no. But what if I had only changed speed controllers? Then Id say yes.

How far do you need to alter your robot not to be considered a Grandfather robot?

[maddox]

After the changes in Hannibal, the Weight Limit was a laugh. So, even grandfathered, no problem on the scales.

The grandfather clause only works if people arent willing to spend a lot of time or money on the robot.

That said, is the proposed new rule good? No, it reduces the use of pneumatic CO2 robots. And we have a lot of these.
But we have to keep in mind its just a hobby, not something you will spend months wages upon. Some of us can spend 1000s, others just 10s.

I think the definition between old and new doesnt have to be a problem, use a bit of common sense to distinguish, For example if you rip the insides out, and keep the same chassis and shell, then it is the same robot. I think we would know if someone built a new robot.

Plus.. any robot wearing slippers is of course a grandfather Shane.... your a grandfather.

It doesnt automatically reduce the number of pneumatic robots, it makes it more of a challenge.

I think the grand father rule is the way forward. And think it should come in from January 2008.

John
http://www.RoamingRobots.co.ukwww.RoamingRobots.co.uk

[leorcc]

Mario: I was using Hannibal as an example of a radical change internaly, not that it would have a problem with weight.

I could go along with the grandfather rule, I think it is an elegant solution to the problem.

[typhoon_driver]

I have stayed out of this dicussion as it doesnt really affect me as I usually end up building a new heavy each year and I dont use pneumatics

But I just thought I would throw in my 2 cents on the grandfather idea. It is a very nice idea but instead of trying to define when a grandfather bot is no longer a grandfather because it has had too many upgrades etc how about we just set a long time limit of say 2 or 3 years for all bots to comply with the new rule set? So that in 2011 everyone would be fighting under the same rules, it wouldnt affect people in the immediate future and you would have plenty of time to plan how to remove weight from a bot.