Talk to the FRA

[geoff]

Ok, I have been giving this some thought and have read both the RFL and old RW rules on this subject. There are pros and cons with both sets, plus they have large gray areas in them as to what you may be able to get away with.
My personal view, for what it's worth, is any new build rule for walkers needs to be short, sweet and to the point. It should simply state the definition of the 'walking action' I.E how the leg / foot should move in order to propel the machine across the arena. How this action is achieved should be left totally up to the individual builder as anything else would a restriction of innovation.
May I suggest the following....
A walking action is defined as the lifting of one or more legs from the the floor, a forward (or backwards) movement of said leg(s) and a lowering back to the floor, during which time the machine must remain totally supported by it's remaining legs.
If a machine can achieve this action it should be classed as a 'walker' regardless of what mechanism is used to achieve it.

[banana_man]

I agree almost entirely with Geoff, although it should, in my opinion, be clarified that the foot may not move in a circle about a central axis, as without this, a wheel with its tread separated into feet, but otherwise left as normal, could be a walker, meaning that extra weight could be awarded for nothing more than putting notches into a wheel.

[woody]

I suggest a slight modification to define the leg/foot lift ...perhaps something along the lines of ... this action must not follow the arc of a circle.

[geoff]

this action must not follow the arc of a circle.

Nice one Alan, I like that little addition.

[james...venom]

Can it follow an elliptic circle?

[woody]

Oh heck...
http://ootips.org/ellipse-circle.html

[geoff]

Oh heck...
http://ootips.org/ellipse-circle.html

Pick the bones out of that one guys!!

For what it's worth, I have always concidered an ellipse to be circle by any other name. I.E. x^2/a^2 + y^2/b^2 = 1

[craig_colliass]

ellipse to be circle

An ellipse is a squashed circle, if it is a round circle, then it's a circle.

next you will be saying a diamond is a square seen at a jaunty angle :shock:

[geoff]

ellipse to be circle

An ellipse is a squashed circle, if it is a round circle, then it's a circle.

next you will be saying a diamond is a square seen at a jaunty angle :shock:

Add up the internal angles of your diamond and you come to 360 degrees....Yes?
Now add up the internal angles of a square and you still get 360 degrees .... QED... Diamond = Square!! :P
Same argument!

But all geometric fun aside, we still have not answered James's question regarding the motion of legs on a walker. Do we allow legs following the arc of an an ellipse? (Or is that still a circle!! :shock: )

[woody]

There isn't in my opinion any likelyhood of a REAL Walker being produced for fighting in an arena.
I.E.... one that mimics the natural leg action of a living creature.

The FRA etc should however encourage diversity
So...
The definition of a Walker should make it ...umm ...challenging ..but NOT impractical...to make a machine that could fight , entertain and survive in the arena.

I think ellipses will have to be allowed if WALKERS are to be encouraged.