We have just received an invite from the Melbourne Society of Model Engineers to display at their big exhibition at Monash Uni again.

Last time we did this, it was a very enjoyable weekend.. Most of the other exhibitors are more the older trains/planes/boat craftsmen type guys, so having some of the "wilder side" of model engineers (crazy robot builders) there was a real buzz for them I think.. definitely a hit with the younger visitors, some of who'm camped in front of our stand watching the videos for about 6 hours..

Its not until 30 September - 1 October 2006 (Saturday & Sunday), (Hey, thats not near the annihlator date is it ?) so no hurry, and I dont know if we will have the Arena there or not yet (they're talking to their committee about that), but just letting you all know. Any thoughts/questions on the msmee show ?

Things are quiet down here in Vic at the moment. Seems everyone is busy doing other things at the moment. Cars, Planes, Work etc.

Is anyone out there itching to organise other combat event just yet ? I'm hoping Danny (Rye) would get his arena together soon, but no word yet.
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so is there any plans to have this as a mini event type thing this time?
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Brett: Yeah that is the Annihilator dates. Bugger

This just brought up an idea I had a while ago too. To the NSWers I was thinking we could do something similar. There is a huge model railway expo on at Liverpool every year. Used to go with my Dad who was really into that (he paints now, but thinks robots are cool). So yeah maybe we could set up something there too like Brett has done. Whether it be videos only and displayed robots.

Did you get much follow up interest in the sport from it last time Brett?[/u]

Hmm. Would it be inconvenient to move the annihlator back a week or so, or is that weekend a holiday weekend or something ?

If it could, we could make the exhibition a pre-event builders meeting or something.

Actually, We got a lot of interest on the day, but not a heap of follow-ups..

I think the older fellas who are into the model trains and things probably arent on the right vibe for smash-things combat. Probably an RC-Car-racing meet which is likely to be populated by younger guys would suit combat bots better.

I doubt it'll turn into a proper event. Its a lot of work to move the arena and assemble it (as you guys all know now), and I cant imagine monash uni covering too much in the way of costs. I'll see what they say after their meeting.
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Part of the problem last year was that the date kept getting changed and people didn't know if it was going to be a sure thing or not. We'll have to discuss that when we get a chance. Personally I'm actually going to Japan for 2 weeks. I would have missed the last day of the annihilator but I was prepared for that.

Sounds good brett, although I was hoping to make it to sydney this year (work permitting). So we will have to see what happens there.

On the topic of an event in melbourne, I was hoping since team nmo is currently building 2 new robots, that we could have about 2 events before sydney to iron out any bugs. It seams a shame that the vic guy's have been so quiet lately, maybe we need to announce a date for everyone to work towards.

There shouldnt be too much of a problem to change the annihilator date (obviously we don't need to liase with the event location or anything). We just want to make sure that enough people can come. So is there a date that might suit you Vics a bit better?

The beauty of that weekend tho, at least for the NSW people, is thats the first weekend of our school holidays, so it might not be important for some, but for people like me who still attend school thats a good thing. And any later and it starts to get a bit too close for those who do the HSC

Moving over to the annihilator thread for discussion about its date etc....

It sounds like the Annihilator dates are fixed by the usual overlap in the school holidays so we have a conflict.
The Rotwang team will do the MSMEE exhibit so as Nick suggested those who wont to go to the Annihilator don’t have to worry about turning up at Monash.
Obviously we would appreciate some help manning the display and everyone is welcome to bring along his or her bots to display.

If Daniel or Brett can do a deal with one of the arenas I am sure that we have enough bots for a good event even with some of us off at the Annihilator.

The MSMEE Engineers RoboWars Exhibition Stand has been confirmed, so I thought I'd see if we can get a bit of a plan together as to who is going to exhibit their machines and when..

Its a 2-day event, 9-5 Sat, and 10-5 Sun, the 30th of Sep and the 1st of Oct, at Monash Uni. More details here. http://www.msmee.org/

We would like at least 2 people manning the stand over the weekend to keep an eye on the machines, answer questions and talk to people, so an idea of who can commit to a session on the stand would be good.

I'll bet Sunday morning wont be popular spot, so I'll put my hand up for that, but I'll likely be around most of the time anyway. Its a great show to have a look around at, so come and plug the sport and have a bo-peep.

We will most likely (working that out at the moment) have a small (4m2) floor area where Demo-drives and testing/practice can occur, so if you want to show off your bot you will be able to. We probably arent going to setup the Polycarb walls, so no KE weapon operations please.

Also, we want to keep the stand looking reasonably nice, so lets keep pit-operations to a minimum. No tools, parts, battery chargers etc scattered around.. Be aware that any 240v gear requires electrical test tags.

Printing out a nicely presented easy-to-read A4 "Info Page" for your Robot would be a nice touch. Name, Design type, Tech-Details (motors, Batteries, etc), Combat record, Action Pics etc.

I'll bring a TV and video's along. Neweyn, if you'd like to have a go at capturing the BattleBots Tapes on your DVD recorder, this could be a good opportunity to do so. Dont forget your tag (I'm sure that wont be a problem for you. )

If we get too many Robots for our table space (we have a pretty large area, so it shouldnt be too squishy), we may put some "on rotation" and they can be stored under the table, or in the back of gary's van, so if you want to bring your bot along, exhibit it for a few hours, or just 1 day, let us know so we can figure a bit of a plan and make sure we dont have everyone wanting to exhibit at the same time..

Oh, they had a nice dinner for the exhibitors last year. I forget if it was saturday or the sunday night, but it was good food and a nice socialise, so if everyone wants to show up for a bit of a builders meeting and some planning on what we have in mind for the future, this would be a good opportunity. Only 4 weeks to go !

So who's in ?
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Hey Brett, Mat and I can put in time on Saturday. also bring along a couple of bots and we might try burning a couple of those tapes to DVD.

Just thought I would confirm that the Rotwang team would be at the MSMEE show.
We can bring as many bots and necessary for a static show but I think it would be best to have impute from as many builders as possible.

Obviously we will be there early Saturday and late Sunday, some help manning the display would be appreciated at other times but it would be good to catch up with everyone and do a bit of planing etc.

It sounds like having enough people to drive bots for demos could be a problem and running bots means lots of battery chargers and clutter so a static display with perhaps very limited demos is the go.

I have heard they have just put down new carpet and they don’t wont it blemished.

Rob and I are very busy at the moment so building is on hold, pity as I did wont to get Pyrobot together for this show.

I'll be there on sunday, can be there all day.
ill bring 2 bots.
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Just wondering is the 9AM our move in and set up start time?