And to stir things up a bit more..

we have also been considering the possibility of running a spinner-less lightweight class at RoboWars for a few reasons..

To give the overweight feathers somewhere to play
To let beginners to the sport have a class to build for without fear of being destroyed first time out
To make it easier for peole with stick-welders, steel and Lead-Acid batteries to build something competitive.
To give the builders who want walkers, clamps and other "heavy" types a start without fear of spinners.
To gradually build the lightweight class up, prepatory to improving the arena to allow for lightweight spinners

a couple of points to consider.

Initially we were thinking of allowing any of the feather class bots to compete as multi-bots in the lightweight class, but are now wondering if this is a good idea or not.

While a feather-class spinner is going to be at a serious disadvantage when fighting a lightweight class bot, TWO of them together (like Annihlation and Basilisk's "Dream Team" :lol) could still do some serious damage to a newbie lightweight, which is what we want to avoid *initially*.

Eventually spinners of both the lightweight class and multi-feather spinners will be allowed into this class, and the no-spinners rule will move up the next class to be introduced (middleweights), but this may take a while before we can afford thousands of dollars worth of extra lexan, and by then the existing lightweight competitors should have garnered some experience to cope with them..

If the other proposed weight change (to 13.6Kg/30lb) is accepted, then this would make the lightweight class 27.27Kg or 60lb inline with the USA.

The "No Spinners" rule is a vague one, since its a difficult line to draw clearly. ie. Should a lightweight thwack bot capable of doing 300 rpm body spins with a 5Kg hammer on the end be allowed ? What about saw blades ? they would contain less energy than the thwack bot would ? Do we calculate Kilojoules ?

Its all very muddy, and disturbing the rock-paper-scissors equation by eliminating the scissors seriously messes up the balance of the competition, possibly leading to a situation like the UK's where it sounds like self-righting flippers and invertible pushy bots are the only types most people build now. But we do intend to introduce the scissors back into this class later, and it also has the advantage that people can build bots that can be demo'd and practiced with reasonably safely outside of an arena..

The final say on whether a bot is classed as a spinner or not would have to go down to the Event Operator, since its their sandbox (Arena), and their responsibility, so they get to say whether any bot can play there or not. So anyone thinking of being clever and pushing the envelope a bit with what can or cant be classed as a spinner, check first or risk getting sent home.

Again, comments, suggestions etc are welcome.
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Well i have many plans for robots/ride on electric vehicles (must get money and time one day) and i still have those 2 winch motors and with some clever fiddling could maybe make a lightweight clamp bot.

Will use 2 or even 4 100 watt scooter drives for drive or if they start selling the drive train with 300 watt motors i will get them. Does anybody know any more on this matter if oatley r selling it or planning to sell it.
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

umm, thats nice Andrew, but not really relevant to the thread, does that mean you are in favour of a no spinner lightweight class or not ?

(if anyone wants to answer Andrews question about availability of a particular motor from Oatley, please do it in another thread. Its off-topic here)
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oh yeah, sorry about that Brett, i kinda rambled on.

I am definitely in favour or the rule for 27 kg lightweights thingy no spinner class.

Would be great to be in step with the progressing action form the Us and be in step with them.
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

No spinners, lightweight class, I'm up for it. Parasite is perfect for it andI'm not sure if I will even use 27kg of weight Oh well, more 7amps!
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https://www.halfdonethings.com/

How about 27kgs no spinner and 25kg for spinners?

That gives the no spinner persons more armor and a stronger frame.
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Tim Team Reaper.

I think your missing the point Tim, the reason it has been proposed to be a no spinner class is because we cannot afford an arena to keep lightweight spinners in. And 2kg is SFA for armour and chassis strength to save yourself against a spinner which has a 5kg bar at 2500rpm.

No spinners till we win lotto and can buy 15mm Polycarb!
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https://www.halfdonethings.com/

i thought this was when we have a 15mm arena>

And that brett was thinking of upping the weight limit so we can build better bots but was saying newcomers would find it harder to keep there bot in one peace if we started makeing heavier spining weapons cos of the extra weight.
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Tim Team Reaper.

At present, we only have 6mm polycarb for the RoboWars arena, so Lightweight (whether 25 or 27.27Kg) spinners are definitely out.

Our original idea for the lightweight class was to give the "fat feathers" somewhere to go if they just couldnt make it down to the 12.2Kg limit we were thinking of, but now that it looks likely that the 13.6Kg limit will be adopted, the pressure is off a bit on those guys..

However, I'd still like to open the lightweight (no spinners) class up to builders who want to make something a bit bigger and chunkier, or build a heavy walker or clamp bot or something without risking getting it munched up while they get some experience.. Could be good for Davids new walker bot, or George's bigger clamps, and Gary has a lightweight flipper (Energise!) in the works..

I've got "The Acid Test" looking pretty in my living room, but since its a spinner, it wont be able to fight just yet either, and by the time it can fight, its probably going to be way outclassed, since it was the first bot we built way back when.. still, I'd like to get to thump something with it one day just to see what happens..

Anyway, I wont be offering any major prizes or anything for the lightweight class at the next RoboWars, so I dont expect everyone is going to rush there, but if you want to build a bigger bot, and a few do, then we'll find a way to fit you in..
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Prizes! Bah, who needs them, we build bots for the challenge and the experince. Battling them is just a bonus Depending if we have space, I should be bringing Parasite with me to Robowars 2004
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https://www.halfdonethings.com/

Just curious to know why you're not going with the UK standard of 25kg?

Personally, it sounds like a perfect way of getting owner's of fat feathers to get their weight down, or have to play with the lightweights.

you probably should have a look at the 13.6Kg thread 3Faze..

While we dont want to upset our cousins up there, and 12/25/50Kg etc are nicer numbers than 13.6/27.27 etc, I personally (and some others, some disagree) feel that International Competitions are more likely to happen with the big bad Yankee's at the moment than with you guys.. so it makes sense to comply with the metric equivalents of their imperial weight standards of 30/60/120lb.

The feeling I get is that you guys are presently having a bit of a hard time finding a way to run events bigger than no-spinner demo's, but smaller than full-on TV production Robot-Wars style events.. Whereas the Yanks have many no-holds barred major events on all over the country on a regular basis.

I'm sure you will make the transition from fleeting TV-Glam to a sustainable healthy sport sooner or later, but I think the Americans are the leaders there at the moment. Just like Drag Racing.. we've been metric in Australia for decades (longer than you guys I think), but we still Drag race on a 1/4 mile.. because thats what the leaders in the sport do and we want to be able to challenge them on their own turf and win.. Nick and crew are already making plans to do the Robotic Equivalent of an America's Cup on them..
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quote:

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Originally posted by teamvertex:
Prizes! Bah, who needs them, we build bots for the challenge and the experince. Battling them is just a bonus

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lol yeah im all up for it. i got nike in the works and New Idea?? comeing along (still havent thought of a name for it might call it "New Idea") but yeah. i know this is a little off topic but when was the dates you had proposed for the robowars event that was to be held early next year
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as a shadow is seen and not heard i am here
-Waddy the phoenix

Isnt "New Idea" a weekly womans magazine ? Thats almost as bad as "CakeTaker"..

The RoboWars event is looking like it will be mid-december again this time around. after this one, we will probbaly try to hold at least 2 big events a year (instead of 1). with that and the occasional trip to the interstate events, and some backyard events in between, that should keep us busy enough..
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Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people