hey all, am wondering where the build meet is this saturday.

People were saying jeffs place but some were saying chris's work also so just wished to find out for sure

Thanks
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

It will be at Jeff's unless Chris is 'free' (can be stand putting up with us at his place).


Speaking of club robots... I've been pulling out all the old gear. XU1 drill and batteries, red wheels etc. One thing I am missing an awful lot of are left hand screws. Anybody know a good place to buy a wang load of them?

Also been pulling apart some cp2400 packs that Glen fried and donated to me and Lindsay. To separate them I had to pull the plastic off each cell. Is there a good solution to covering them again? I remember some people had their cells stuck in round holes of polycarb that separated them. How did that go as a solution?

heatshrink from dick smith or jaycar will work covering the cells for the smaler 2400 cells and some rings cut from pvc pipe on every second cell seperating the cells from each other would work well for displacing heat better
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

i have a heap of things,

drill batteries x 1000
2x 300w scooter setups
4x 100w scooter sets

etc etc.

doing a big clean out now
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

Ditto them drill cells.
Anyone have servos to knock up some switch drives? I gave my last set away... stupidly.
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YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

ive got 3 in the old box of mystery here

got a few fan motors and drill gearboxes + some pretty nice chargers for some 18v nimh batteries. they have a UK plug tho so we'll have to get some adaptors or put a 10 amp plug on the ends instead if we wanna use em.
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

mind if i grab two of them 100 watt setups form ye, still leaves u with soem for a fun robot, i need spares for current vert spinner and another project

thanks, let me know
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

nah there for the club robots or if not ill save them for a rainy day.

they only cost like $30 new anyway
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

I've found a few servos, but not sure how many will be used in my club bot.

This is where we need a smaller controller. Just a H bridge setup with full off/full on would be all that's needed. Speaking of which whilst doing a once a year clean up I found a control board that Dumhed was working on some time ago. Looked kinda cool.

good to see all building club robots.
After a lot of phone talking with Russell and Jeff j ,i was wondering about us all making robot purpose built for non combat events,but still have your combat robot.
these robots would need to be reasonably tough but by no means spinner proof, the events would not allow any form of kenetic spinning weapon.
flippers are allowed,thwackbots allowed,flamethrowers allowed,crushers,lifters and so on.
How would folks feel about having say ,4 battle events per season and maybe 3 or 4 non combat rounds.
We could introduce them into this years current season on a trial basis ,see how it goes and then decide on which direction to go next year.
Russell suggested a type of "Road rage" event where a track is set up in the arena "tyres in the middle" to create a type of Oval track. 4 to 6 robots battle to see who can complete the most laps but the idea is a type of wacky races concept where you can try to slow down or the opponents from completing laps so a quick spin and you have left them facing the wrong way etc.
As before we can still have robot soccer where these robots can be used in both non battle formats
These are just some ideas discussed,if we trial them sought out rules etc as we go along and in doing so hoping we can add another element to the club so as to give current builders and new ones an option rather than having to build mega bots straight up.
I know there are a thousand pros and cons but hey we can sought it out as we go along ..........cheers chris


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Photos - http://community.webshots.com/album/154092733uokpXC
Photos- http://community.webshots.com/album/166819552PDWWqP

all of em sound pretty awesome to me, theres various non spinner desigsn ive wanted to do but cant purely because of nasty spinners and the need to protect yoruself form them
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

Jeff the way elbravo steered you would do very nicely in a race!!!!!

Some interesting proposals that might encourage participation.

Not sure about non combat events with weapons though??

If the presence of nasty spinners is discouraging new builders or old builders (well really I say pump up) but some non spinner events would be the solution.

The lightweights were meant to offer some protection in that way. However with the upgrade to our screen spinners were built. Also the increased size was suggested to increase the cost of building.

An alternate weight division is the answer, but this has been suggested before. So my idea is taken from similar ideas.

If we want to do something different then I suggest a weight class less than our current 30lbs/13.63kg. Say around 10kg. With no KE spinners. Possibly saw bots allowed. Robots must have active weapon unless its your first robot (that rule is important). With the lower weight people will have to build a new bot and not just field their uber feather in the lightweights.

So it would mean that current builders who want to try out some idea they always wanted to do will get involved, and any new builders won't be put off by the destructiveness. Basically the class will be like what Season 1 was for NSW.


However in saying all that I'm not sure that its needed. The club robots might invigorate some people into building. These build days might get current people off their bums, or teach new people some tricks.

I'm just not that sure that I'm interested in non combat events... They were good for a novelty (I mean hey it was my idea for the hugnry hungry robots game which was a hoot). But I was never into the robotics side of things. More interested in machines destroying other machines. Pitting your building, driving and tactical skills against each other.

Having said that I don't know where I stand on the whole ideas Chris proposed, or mine for that matter. But we should talk about all in person and vote on it.

Lastly, if anybody is scared about taking on spinners, people need only remember some of Lindsay's robots that have more often than not beaten Jolt. Then they should realise that spinners can be beaten by driving and tactics and not be scared of them. If your robot gets destroyed then get the broom and start rebuilding.
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Farnsworth - "I hate these nerds. Just because I'm stupider than them they think they're smarter than me."

The problem with adding new weight classes is you split the field.
If you have 20 players, you can either have them all playing cricket or half play cricket and half play table tennis.
Everybody keeps saying that the spinners are scaring off the "new builders"
Have you seen anybody new at an event that I missed? dylon and his crew seem to have stood up to jolt etc without a problem.

If there is a new builder then they can be given a steel box type frame (like Courtneys current bot) that should stand up to any spinner without too much risk to the internals of the bot, and they can bolt on whatever weapon/wedge they want.
Build days would be the thing to help them get started, access to heavy duty metal working equipment. Once they decide they like it they can get a $100 stick welder and a $20 Xu1 grinder and keep it up themselves.
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

I've looked at this myself for up here in QLD. The only solution I can see to make arena's cheaper, and to keep bots going all event is to get rid of the spinners (As fun as they are). also makes having a public event cheaper too.

But to prevent it from becoming a boring wedge fest, active weapons would be required. Although if your a new comer, I'm sure this can be bent for a few events, like Bort said.

Anyone that competes in the non spinner class and wants more action can just walk straight into the spinner classes. No need to adjust weights, no limit on where you can compete, and it's still the same costs...
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