UK Kilobots - 1.362kg (3 lbs) Combat Robots

[xtreme]

Next poll will be to choose arena hazards, and obsticals challenges etc.

[Scorpionbuilder]

Hi Tom & Kenny

Just spent a lot of time reading through from the beginning of this thread. A very nice idea. If you build your arena to the spec you have posted I cant see the new Safety Officer & the FRA having any problem. Build to featherweight rules for now. Why not present your ideas to the governing body - we may be able to get this as an official new weight class with it's own rules & regulations.

Tech Checking - there have been courses & plans to set up more in the future, maybe you could take one when they occur thus solving your problem.

If you wish to set an active weapon rule for your class that is your call - it would possibly make the battles more interesting.

As I said earlier if you wish to put this in front of the committee I would be happy to request that it is added to the next meeting's agenda for you.

John

[xtreme]

Thanks John that would be awsome if you could request that it is added to the next meetings agenda. If you let us know when the tech check courses are going to be we would like to do it. Thanks for taking your time to read through it all.

[leorcc]

I would urge very much against running 27Mhz AM frequencies as the odds of outside interference is so big that a starting roboteer will never get a chance to enjoy a fight. There is nothing more annoying than fighting your controls instead of your opponent.

It has nothing to do with safety, just enjoyment of the sport.

[john_frizell]

The idea behind allowing 27MHz AM is that so beginners can make robots out of RC toy cars. I would expect experienced users to use 2.4 GHz or 40 MHz. Do you think that 2.4 GHz or 40 MHz will interfer with a 27 MHz link? If the problem is 27 MHz units interfering with each other, then limit them to one at a time.

[Kenny]

tbh i would rather have 2.4ghz only basicly you don't after worry bout anything , you can get a spectrum set for like 40 quid now inc a rx and if people want to get into this hobby 40quid isnt a bad investment when you can use it for a featherweight and heavyweight later aswell

[xtreme]

Started doing a bit of cutting for the arena after work today. Hopefully get rest of cutting done and get some parts drilled off. Try get plates cut for the floor aswell tomorrow.

[leorcc]

The idea behind allowing 27MHz AM is that so beginners can make robots out of RC toy cars.

There are 2 problems with that.

1 is that the TX's of toy cars are very weak, so it only requires a little obstruction and your robot is dead in the water.

2 that toy car TX's are made with a limited amount different frequencies. 27.125 being by far the most used one. That means you almost never get to be able to fight another robot made of a toy car because there are pretty much guaranteed to interfere. You cannot set up a serious competition if certain robots can never compete against each other.

[john_frizell]

The problems that Leo raised are real but need not impede the use of these transmitters in this situation.

1. 'the TX's of toy cars are very weak, so it only requires a little obstruction and your robot is dead in the water'

Given that the box is only 2 metres on a side it should not be hard to get a line of sight to the robot.

2. 'Toy car TX's are made with a limited amount different frequencies. 27.125 being by far the most used one. That means you almost never get to be able to fight another robot made of a toy car because there are pretty much guaranteed to interfere.'

True enough but remember this is about making it easy for beginners to get into our sport. They are likely to be in a small minority and so we can just match them up against machines controlled by 2.4 GHz. And although 27.145 (Yellow) is the most common band, many toy cars are on one of four 27 MHz bands [A,B,C or D], so it might even be possible to have two or more competing against each other.

[dgr]

When did this weight catagory become about trying to get beginners involved? With 1kg spinners and full combat, I think beginners would be much better off running in the antweight catagory than this one.