why are these weight classes are not more popular?

**mattsdragons** · 29th April 2011, 18:42

(though it was the best place to ask)

i dont see why these classes are not more popular?

you can get the same grunt as a heavyweight without the cost and they are bigger and easier to work with than featherweight.

i just want someone to clarify this really?

**Leonardomayo** · 29th April 2011, 18:44

Slightly related question: Could the robochallenge arena run Lightweight spinners?

**typhoon_driver** · 29th April 2011, 18:53

they were never popular even during the days of robot wars as they were never given much coverage. All the bots shown on tv were always heavyweights unless you looked to robot wars extreme. battlebots by contrast showed many different weight classes and so that's the reason there are more diverse numbers of bots in the US.

I don't think it's a bad thing. You want to play big, head for the heavyweights, you want to have smaller bots that can be handled by a single person, you go for the featherweights. Dilluting an already small group of people into middle ground weight classes wouldn't do much good imo.

I believe it could under current rules (would need to check) but you'd need at least two machines to compete and robochallenge to host it.

**mattsdragons** · 29th April 2011, 19:23

I see were your coming from but they would seem to have more of the spectacle and impact of Heavyweight without the massive cost of running them.

although, do they cost much less to build and run than heavyweights?

**typhoon_driver** · 29th April 2011, 20:12

near enough the same

**blazerbotics** · 29th April 2011, 20:28

I did come up with a set of rules for a 'sportsman' middleweight. As there seems to be alot of feather people wanting to get into the heavyweights, but its too big of a step. Quick rules that i came up with:

Max 400watt drive motors (wheelchairs ect)
LP pneumatics only (regulator mouted directly onto co2 tank)
No Ti
SLA batteries only (maybe allow nicads/mimh)

Thoughts? It would be a way of feather people moving up, without some of the risk and trouble of heavys, by limiting components will keep the costs down.

**mattsdragons** · 29th April 2011, 20:30

If we were able to get these going then I would certainly build one

**Laser** · 30th April 2011, 09:30

that would get a few more roboteers into this and it would be quite cheap.

**craig_colliass** · 30th April 2011, 10:03

It is a little bit like Catch 22 there are no fights in this class because no one has working middleweights, and there are no working middleweights because there are no fights in this class !! :shock:
How about Robots Live saying there will be one middleweight fight each show, if there are less than two working at the show the space will be filled with a heavyweight white board instead.

I have started making a middleweight but not finished it because there is no one out there to compete with.
similarly I will make a 1.3Kg or what ever the thing is, when the arena is finished and I see someone's robot fighting in it.

I for one think the Middle weight class is a good one for Robots Live and Roaming Robots. as the punters watching them will see robots not much smaller than Heavies a lot bigger than Feathers and they will be a lot cheaper to build than Heavies, and some Feathers.
Alan's idea of restrictive technology at least to start with is a good idea as it will make cheap robots competitive in this class.
I must warn everyone there is always lots of talk around this subject but I have yet to see much movement towards actually seeing Middleweights in the arena I for one am not holding my breath on this thread changing things either.

:shock:

A bit negative sorry