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Robowars 2015 - Ideas, Thoughts, dates, etc.
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marto
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Joined: 08 Jul 2004
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Location: Brisbane, QLD


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Robowars 2015 - Ideas, Thoughts, dates, etc.

Hi Guys,

Hope everyone had a good time at the Nationals. Guess now its time to start planning for 2015.

As you all know I was unfortunately unable to attend the event. I also know quite a few of our regulars were in the same boat.

So things which I would like to know:
- Anything that worked well on the day?
- Anything that didn't and we could sort out for next year?
- Any upgrades that need to be done to the arena? (Hows my precious polycarb)
- Where could we spend a bit of cash next year?
- Why was everyone unable to make the event?
- What dates would you like for next year?
- Is it worth doing antweights? (Should we separate this into antweight & featherweight events on different weekends?)
- How many robots did we have? Do we need more?
- Should we be promoting the event to anyone? Schools, TAFE, Uni....
- Anything Else (token catch all statement)

Steve
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Post Thu Oct 09, 2014 2:53 pm 
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seanet1310



Joined: 08 Nov 2006
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Location: Adelaide


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Set up was slower this year. Not sure what we can do about that other then more hands on deck or someone like Steve to help direct setup.

Ants did not work well. Half the crowd could not see them and did not move from their seats near the main arena during ant fights. Ants also fizzled out with the final round then finals held after the public left. If we had another half dozen feathers or had reliable feathers I would say give up on a second class but as we don't and had a terrible attrition rate not sure what we can do a full feather event in public.

Upgrades: Fix the door, crowbar to open is a horrible look and most of the time only had one latch even for spinners. Mount the extraction and filtration fan as well is a must. A couple of polycarb panels have nice big marks on them but most are decent enough. I think our roof held up well and the LED lights are a great improvement from the hotbox of helegen.
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Post Thu Oct 09, 2014 5:11 pm 
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miles&Jules
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Joined: 19 May 2010
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Location: ipswich QLD


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Also what worked great was Daniel's robot trading cards…the kids loved them and even had roboteers signing them.

Yes the door was even worse than last year ….We have the door at our house and are planning to cut an inch off the bottom….and maybe upgrade the hinges.(anyone got any other ideas?)

Also i believe we will never find a venue as good as the ipswich art gallery. Not only is it a great venue …they pay us to do it….I just hope they want us back after our lipo smoke fest…that said they didn't seem angry.
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Post Thu Oct 09, 2014 7:44 pm 
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Glen
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Joined: 16 Jun 2004
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Was great this year, possibly the best event i can recall in terms of crowd attendance and how much they got into it. Just awesome.

As for arena yeah the door needs sorting out for good. (told yah so! Razz) The frame sags majorly with the weight on it. Need to chop an inch off the top bottom and side i reckon then weld flat steel to cover the gap. She'll be sweet after that. If you wanna take some pictures of the door cause i cant remember it - i will lathe/mill some massive hinges for the thing Very Happy

IMHO the lipo deal was handled well. With the carbon filter set up properly it should be a non issue. Maybe its worth just blowing up a battery in the arena as a test should it be set up again fully through the year.

Also the arena bowed out alot more than the year past. Can't recall if we ran ratchet straps around the walls year before last? Maybe something to look at.

The lighting was great too.

My sentiments on the ants follows Seans. I don't like them that much anyway. Rather beetles or something or just dont have them at all. The kids can go play with the green ants out the front.

The cards were great, i will try have a finished robot before the day of the event next time so you can do them earlier >.>

Gotta remind myself to book flights much earlier. They got super expensive on account of the long weekend. Otherwise it's a good time. Not too close to christmas like the robowars melbourne events which i like. Weather is usually great around this time too.

Robot attendance was okay. Nearly half were new builders which was -awesome- to see. Lack of NSW attendance seemed to just be bad timing for many. Andrew started a new job, angus recently moved to perth etc etc. They can speak for themselves Razz Hopefully next year will see more of us show up if it can be organised nice and early Smile

There was a fair bit of attrition given there was 7 spinners in the comp. The fights kept coming even despite that. Whiteboard fights are a good idea, but most of the robots were smashed up before being knocked out of the comp so they didn't happen.

Possibly having some retired robots to smash up vcr's / entertain the crowd in the down time would be good. Happy to donate old demon to the cause now it's properly retired Smile

Seems there is enough public attendance and exposure now that maybe inviting some colleges to participate could be a realistic option.

Things to do on top of that and spend money on, maybe streaming the event. Lots of my friends asked if it was being streamed. So i reckon that'd be great. Specially for the guys that can't attend.
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Post Thu Oct 09, 2014 8:07 pm 
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seanet1310



Joined: 08 Nov 2006
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Location: Adelaide


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I am not sure the arena bowed much more on its own this year to last. Last year a couple times a day I kicked it with steal caps but didn't have any this year. Still something that should be looked at as it was significant.

What does it take to contain a beetle?
We have some spare polycarb not utalised on the roof from the old walls. If a couple of the damaged wall panels are replaced could this free up enough polycarb to cordon off 1/4 of the featherweight arena for beetles? The old timber wood for beetle arena did not work too well due to the low height but if an easy to move setup could be moved and placed inside the feather arena (so the feather arena provides 2 of the 4 sides) made of polycarb so you can see into it this could work.
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Post Thu Oct 09, 2014 8:30 pm 
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Daniel
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Joined: 30 Aug 2005
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Location: Gold Coast


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This year we had 14 feathers and 10 ants. Last year we had 19 feathers and 20 ants.
I've been looking at the draw and I think if we had 24 feathers we could run without the ants. But that is difficult to ask for.

The door is annoying. It worked fine when we fixed it but then dropped on the day. I measured a 15mm drop. The hinges can't take the weight.

I'm already looking at getting new trading cards for next year. A bit expensive but everyone enjoyed it.

I ran out of time to organise the live stream. I'm thinking we'll set one up at the next small event to test it all.

The polycarb on the arena is still good. Only got 2 new scratches.

Post Thu Oct 09, 2014 8:52 pm 
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Nick
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Joined: 16 Jun 2004
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Having a DJ was great, it really raised the energy level and I think it helped keep people in their seats during the breaks. The announcer was crap, definitely not worth the money!
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Post Thu Oct 09, 2014 10:58 pm 
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Philip
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Location: Queensland near Brisbane


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Would have loved to have gone. I am working huge hours at the moment.
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Post Fri Oct 10, 2014 2:21 am 
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Jaemus
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Joined: 01 Apr 2009
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Location: NSW


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I wasn't able to make it due to a newborn child, however I don't anticipate this stopping me making it to future events.

I too am ambivalent about antweights, would rather see beetles and it's easy to do it in the feather arena, perhaps with slightly more effort put into the intermediate barriers. Happy to have a flip-out zone, but the majority of the circumference I'd like to see high enough to stop that, which means polycarb or something clear.

The trick, as any TV producer will tell you, will be to wrap up all the small details before you present the grand finale, otherwise your audience will change channels. Ergo the insect class final needs to be before the feather final if they're running concurrently.

I think back to back weekends is a big ask even for the locals to attend, so my suggestion is find a format that incorporates both, or drop the insects entirely (but bring enough so filler matches can be had if the feathers experience catastrophic attrition rates).
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Post Fri Oct 10, 2014 7:42 am 
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Knightrous
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Joined: 15 Jun 2004
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I wasn't able to attend due to taking up a new job in Sydney and having to move the week before. Looking forward to next years event and looking to have a serious robot built for probably the first time in 10 years.
Unfortunately the insect classes seem to have become a passing craze, which personally I think is a shame as they are a good class for people to get into the sport for very little cash. However, if they won't fly, we might as well support the classes that do.

Personally, I would like to support Sportsmen and Feathers for Nationals. It's one arena, one weight class and gives people the option to play hard with the spinners or enjoy the unique designs in Sportsmen.
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Post Fri Oct 10, 2014 8:30 am 
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kato



Joined: 11 Dec 2010
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I didn't field a robot because I'm slack / povo / not much of a constructor, however my son and I came along on the Saturday and watched from 11:00 until the end.

I was very motivated by everyone's efforts, but particularly by Geronimo. How cool was it that a new constructor came along with admittedly cannon fodder and somehow scored a reasonably favourable draw to have at least a couple of bouts before being reduced to its component parts. I shall be doing that next year at least, I can make wooden things and will probably have a crack at fielding a sportsman.

Post Fri Oct 10, 2014 8:34 am 
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marto
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For the ants I was more thinking of having them offset by 3 or 6 months because its always a struggle to do both. Definitely not possible to do back to back weekends. I just wonder if travelling with ants and beetles somewhere would be easier because they are small. Could have the Nationals which is Feathers and then Aus Insect champs or something on a different date.

Steve
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Post Fri Oct 10, 2014 9:24 am 
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marto
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Given how well the Green Ants have been received what would people think about a similar thing with Featherweights?

Would this be something to fill in times between rounds and keep people busy on the 2nd day of competition if we didnt do ants? It might also be something to bring people back on the second day if we only ran it then.

Steve
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Post Fri Oct 10, 2014 10:52 am 
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Glen
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I like the idea Smile What type of robots would you be thinking of?

Maybe leave ants and beetles out of the nationals. The arenas are too hard to see for crowds of people and really don't seem to get the builders excited anymore. Ants were always a chore for me. Seemed to be that way for some this weekend too.
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Post Fri Oct 10, 2014 11:02 am 
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marto
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I have a few ideas but this would be coupled in with noob style bots as well. I will think about it a bit more and let you guys know but essentially I am thinking ply bots. Which can be wedges or if you buy a $100 winch you can make it into a lifter.

Tools required to assemble would be a drill, jigsaw and soldering iron.

Drills for drive, 3S batteries, Tz85s or 30s for drives (with voltage cut out), winch for lifter, winch electronics and 10A for control, custom controllers same as the green ants. Same chargers as green ants (can do 5A I think) big lipos.

Would be pretty simple to make and timber would be easy to replace.

I was also thinking about doing CNC wood routed ones but also having A3 print outs of the panels so if someone wanted to make them they would just use the paper and clue it to wood then cut it out with jigsaw.

If it worked might even be able to charge a few $$ for sessions to cover maintainence.

Steve
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Post Fri Oct 10, 2014 11:23 am 
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