AW Rules

**sabotageDave** · 20th September 2010, 22:01

Hi everyone, I'm new

I've joined the forum with the intention (and hopefully capacity) to build a robot or 2 and join in some events.

I've been looking into it and have decided to attend a few events first and to start small, unfortunately there isn't any events around Yorkshire as yet so I'm inevitably fiddling with remote control stuff in the mean time...

And anyway, my first question... Do all the rules in the 2008 Build rules pdf apply to ant weight as much as any other category? I mean it seems unusual to have fail-safes and power lights for rc robots smaller and less dangerous than the average kids rc car...

Thanks :wink:

**joey_picus** · 20th September 2010, 22:09

Hiya, welcome to this sport of ours

The antweights, by and large, tend to operate seperately from the rest of the FRA - http://www.robotwars101.org/ is the main site with an active forum where ant builders congregate, and the current incarnation of the ant rules can be found at http://www.antweight.co.uk/rules.htm .

Hope that helps

**Shakey** · 21st September 2010, 18:23

Failsafes may seem silly but something like an antweight spinner could probably see of to that thumb you've been saving for your entire life. They aren't complicated or difficult to meet so it is just easier to abide by them!

**razerdave** · 21st September 2010, 20:20

Hiya, and welcome to this wonderful hobby

Antweights don't reqire failsafes on the drive, since they are nice and light, but do require one for the weapon, because ant weapons are generally made of metal, and can do you an injury if they go spaz.

For more info on Antweights, the forum Joey linked to is the best place to get advice on the subject.

As for events in Yorkshire, there have been and will be in the future, ants are welcome at Roaming Robots and Robot's Live events (dunno about Robochallenge, never thought to ask :P), there may well be an AWS coming up next year in Yorkshire...

**joey_picus** · 21st September 2010, 22:19

I've never had any real issues with travelling down from Yorkshire to events, it does mean a few early mornings and a lot of train tickets but you can get to just about anywhere that hosts events from Wakefield Westgate station in my experience.

(I am also rather insane)

**sabotageDave** · 21st September 2010, 22:27

Thanks for the replies and the welcome :wink:

I've been doing a little research and fiddling around with a couple of rc toys, and as always when trying to enlighten myself I have more questions:

I've discovered i have a system set out already, an old rc hovercraft with a button for the motor that controls the lift, ie a failsafe, it's a constantly running motor which would lend itself to a spinny thing of some kind. Only I think there might be one or two problems; if it goes out of range the switch wouldn't turn off the motor, would that matter since it's not likely to get far out of range?
The battery atm is heavier than the whole robot is allowed to be so where might i find batteries suitable for an AW? Ie about 9.6V ish, light and not containing liquid acids or anything else disallowed...
3rd possible problem... I have no idea how to change or even where to locate the crystal to change the frequency, it say's it's 27MHz though

and again, thanks

**sabotageDave** · 21st September 2010, 22:29

Originally Posted by joeychevron

I've never had any real issues with travelling down from Yorkshire to events, it does mean a few early mornings and a lot of train tickets but you can get to just about anywhere that hosts events from Wakefield Westgate station in my experience.

(I am also rather insane)

I would travel to further events if I wanted but I don't fancy paying for the diesel! yeah yeah, yorkshire short arms de.....

I can wait though

**joey_picus** · 21st September 2010, 22:36

No problem David

R/C toys might not have a facility to change crystal, given that they're produced very cheaply using pretty much the minimum parts needed to get them working. You'd be better off investing in some proper R/C equipment really, that's the sad truth :P it needn't cost much, I got my first set of 40mhz gear for Â£50 and it's served me well and you can get 2.4ghz sets for under that price now.

Also an on/off button on a transmitter doesn't really count as a failsafe, the entire point of a failsafe is that it shuts the weapon down when signal is lost/the robot goes out of range, so that idea is a non-starter I'm afraid. The vast majority of speed controllers available for antweights at the moment do failsafe though, along with some of the more spohisticated R/C systems, so separate failsafes aren't likely to be an issue.

Most good antweights (and a few really bad ones too) use either 7.4v or 11.1v lithium polymer batteries, they can be bought from most R/C model shops. The supplier I usually use is Micron Radio Control as they've always been really good with service and delivery...Lipos do require special charging gear and can be dangerous though, if you're looking for something safer and less complex you can get 4.8v and 6v NiMh packs from Technobots, or in a pinch run the robot from a PPV 9V battery.

**team_orr** · 22nd September 2010, 15:29

Originally Posted by joeychevron

No problem David

R/C toys might not have a facility to change crystal, given that they're produced very cheaply using pretty much the minimum parts needed to get them working. You'd be better off investing in some proper R/C equipment really, that's the sad truth :P

and yet spall managed to survive