|
Nick
Experienced Roboteer
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 11802
Location: Sydney, NSW
|
Time to put on the president's funny hat .
I think a large part of the problem is that we have been hurt by our own success. In the beginning, you could slap some drill motors and a fan motor with a saw together and even if it didn't win, it came home with not much damage and was cheap 'n easy to fix. Nowadays, we have hardened steel, titanium, lithium batteries and brushless motors; the one sure thing is damage that's expensive and harder to repair.
This is slowing everyone down and de-motivating us. Its not going to be as exciting, but we really need to dial back the damage factor. Whether that's by limiting some parameter like weapon weight or battery voltage, or we change the rules to make spinners less attractive is up for debate.
We also need to stay focused on the main weight class and not get distracted with lightweights, MDF bots, etc. They are interesting and should definitely be looked at in the future, but not until there are more featherweights and a reliable turn-out.
We have discussed ways to limit weapon power at great length and there many differing opinions. Rather than pick just one way to limit them, I suggest we pick up to three and bring them in in phases to that builders don't have to retire their bots and rebuild.
What we don't need:
Limiting KE directly; its just too hard to work out and its also difficult to police.
Limiting weapon speed: Its easier to measure, but not always fair.
Other options
Limiting weapon weight: Very easy to measure and it is hard to get extra KE from a light weapon.
Limited battery voltage: Also easy to monitor and in combination with wepon weight, it effectively caps a weapon's KE. This is fairly easy to implement too, we phase it in so that when you need to replace a pack, you just buy/make one under the limit. This is a great way to cut costs as well.
Limited battery capacity: An alternative to the above, its hard to run a destructive weapon from a battery with a low AH rating.
Let's discuss this for a short period then the club committee can make and executive decision. We can also talk about when to bring in any rule changes; I suggest we wait until the start of next year to give builders time to adjust their bots.
|
Mon Aug 24, 2009 1:13 pm |
|
|
|
Nick
Experienced Roboteer
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 11802
Location: Sydney, NSW
|
I agree, its difficult making matches exciting but not too damaging - I am definitely not suggesting we just make nudge-bots! It would be a good idea to have a few more wedges like Cobra for when numbers of spinners are down, but they would need to be at least as exciting as Cobra.
To use your car analogy, many race formulas have rules to limit performance, such as tyre widths or track design. This can make the race more exciting rather than boring as the difference between cars is less and driver skill makes more of a difference.
To use your other example of Scissorhands vs Demon (I don't think we have had that match yet BTW). If we limited the weapon power by reducing voltage, there would still be plenty of sparks and noise, but there would be lees chance of a quick OK and more driving and strategy, so the fight could be at least as exciting and likely to go a full 3 minutes. At the end of the match, at least one and possibly both bots would have less damage to repair.
|
Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:00 pm |
|
|
Knightrous
Site Admin
Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Posts: 8511
Location: NSW
|
Spinners are a double edged sword, they bring excitement and attraction to the sport with their destructive ways, but they are also the biggest bane to the builders. The damage caused has a big toll on ones wallet, and that's what burns a lot of builders out.
Just a wild idea for y'all NSW peoples, what about if the spinner guys had to use a secondary non spinner robot ever 2nd/3rd round? This would give you something cheap to battle with and allow you to attend an event if your regular bot is pretty hammered. An example, Scissorhands and Rapture/Orbit are both out for the next round due to upgrades/repairs, if Andrew and Nick both had a cheap bot they could use they could attend the event, while thinning the spinners out for that event.
Glen has cobra, Chris always has two robots running, Nick has 3-4 half built decent robots, surely he could knock a box up in a weekend, Andrew is always talking about building a lifter or something (But always turns up with a spinner ), Dylon still has the wedge misfortune and Anguz has ya mum. Anyway, just an idea for you, sweep it under the carpet if you want. _________________ https://www.halfdonethings.com/
|
Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:07 pm |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|