Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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quote:
Originally posted by shreddy:
We'll see, it takes time. I've been talking to friends I know that have had interest in the past and the main concern is not what to build, but where to get parts/costs. Hence why I am planning to not build a spinner myself 'yet' to avoid discouraging others.
Been there, done the same. When Gary and I started out, we had some incredibly high powered drum and overhead bar spinner (Hazard style) designs on the drawing board with some killer test platforms built. Gary being an Auto-Elec had a huge range of rare and very high powered (for the time) motors to play with. We deliberately shelved them and Victoria became known as the "Low energy (KJ wise) state" for Robot Combat for quite a time specifically because we ourselves didnt and did our best to encourage others to also avoid building high KE machines that would destroy newcomers before they finished their first event.
Why do you think I.G. ran a saw blade for so long before I eventually had to join the opponents in using a much more destructive bar instead of the fun and noisy, but only scratchy saw blade ? For the same reason, MiniMower had a deliberately slow-turning drum (more of a rotary lifter), because we found that it worked just as well in allowing Rob to control a fight and push opponents around easily without ripping huge chunks out of them... that way they could come back for another match rather than sweeping up the remnants into a body bag. It worked well enough that Minimower easily owned practically every other robot at the time even although it probably had the lowest powered weapon of any of them (an undervolted 100watt scooter motor friction driving the drum)
> For arena/location ideas, I'm kinda on my own here
Simple.. First question, Public or Private ? Private = someones backyard/garage. limited capacity, you have to be *very( careful who comes along.. Little johnny next doors dad might think its a great idea to let johnny watch until he comes come minus a finger or an eye because of an accident in the pits or arena, and you can bet Dad will forget all about being friendly and be reaching for his lawyers about then.. Big trouble for the poor sap whose place it is. Quite likely theyll lose their house or worse.
So forget about *ever* growing it beyond a carefully selected few who the house owner *hopes* wont sue him if something bad happens. Even inviting your sister or cuz along is asking a lot of extra risk for the venue owner to take on board since they are far less likely to have any appreciation of how *dangerous* combat robots can be when not treated carefully. Ive seen n00b's sticking their fingers in places on a powered up robot in the pits where a simple radio glitch would cause them to lose their hand without even realising how dumb they are being.
Public = Big $$. Insurance, staff, catering, toilets, parking, food, crowd control and managment, access via Public Transport. P.A. Systems, Chairs, Entertainment between rounds.. Sidetracked was Ideal, it had all of that covered for us.. you couldnt think of a better venue in my opinion. We had it made, which is why I get bitter sometimes that noone could be bothered taking advantage of all that stuff handed to them on a platter.
For a new smaller Arena, The Geodesign Dome design gives you maximum strength with minimum materials and weight (read up on them, theyre great), maximum viewing area, full overhead coverage and looks great compared to a plain box. The Sidetracked Arena was considered to be built that way, but at the time with the low KE bots, we didnt need a bulletproof roof, so the octagon shape was easier to make and required no cutting of the big polycarb panels as supplied (2400x1200). Now that you *do* need a full strength roof, Id seriously take another look at a dome design if I was you, and get the polycarb panels laser cut ( a lot chepaer these days !) to suit the dome panels..
> As far as the way bots are developing Brett, I personally really like it.
> Not only are the spinners/launchers/etc getting more powerful,
Sure, each to their own.. personally, simple power tools on wheels dont do it for me.. I prefer the bots to have at least some effort to give them a bit of personailty and character.. even if its just eyes painted on and some stripes and things to give them a slightly sentient look. Even R2D2 has more character than most of todays Combat Bots, and he was just a rubbish bin on wheels.. Up to you guys though.. if battling lawnmowers does it for you, enjoy.. but I wont be.
> (offtopic) about the medical problem, this person has regular major migraines
My mum suffered totally disabling (to the point where even light made her cry in pain) Migraines for around 10+ years of her life about once every few months on average. She would be bed ridden for days, and just suddenly they would vanish without reason... untill next time.. Medical science *still* doesnt know what causes them or how to cure them.. Search on "Cluster Headaches" for more information on that sort of thing if Migraines are the only symptom your friends suffers.
There are a few options that are reasonably well proven to help quite a bit, for migraine and cluster headache sufferers, but unfortunately, due to our current ridiculous prohibition laws and excessive influence of the regulations by the "Big Pharma (ceutical)" industries desire to profit from peoples misfortune, these options as you have noted are currently not legal. Very low non-psychedelic doses of Psilocybin (the active ingredient in Magic Mushrooms) have been well proven to significantly and often totally alleviate cluster headaches and Migraines without the user experiencing any mind altering effects. Regardless of the legality, many sufferers seek them out anyway, taking the legal risk, so debilitating can Migraines be. Might be worth looking into for your friend. Theyre not hard to find if you ask around.
Migraines were just *one* of a whole rash of symptoms that I started suffering, all developing within a few weeks and hammering me daily for a good 6-8 months while I had blood tests, saw several doctors, hospital visits, and so on trying to figure out what the hell it was without success. Like I said, it often affected my concentration causing regular "spaz outs" mid conversation that my friends just had to live with while I tried to remember what the hell I was just talking about, sudden intense crushing chest pains, reflux, depression/low energy, sudden extreme high blood pressure spikes (which got me rushed off to hospital for an overnight stay on a suspected heart attack when a doc saw my blood pressure suddenly go "higher than he had seen anyones ever go in person before", which thankfully Xrays, Blood Tests and ECG's all showed my heart to be fine), mucal coughing attacks, fairly frequent Diarrhea.
When H.Pylori gets its hooks into you and you go "Symptomatic", boy does it hammer you hard.. Interestingly, only about 20-30% of people who get infected with it actually become symptomatic.. for 2/3 of the population, it just lives in your stomach dormantly eating a few calories and doesnt cause any trouble. And apparently, its incidence rate is amazingly high - roughly equal to peoples age.. as in 20% of 20 year olds carry it unknowingly, 50% of 50 year olds, and 80% of 80 year olds.But when it arcs up for those that are carrying it and are one of the unlucky 20-odd% that become symptomatic, it can really screw you up..
Eventually (6 months later), a friend that I was whinging to who had suffered H.Pylori 10 years or so earlier asked if I had been tested for it (to which the answer was no), and so they did, and there it was. 80+% likely positive test result. So the docs started talking about the "Triple Antibiotic Therapy Treatment" which costs something hundred $ (I forget exactly, 300-600 maybe?), kills it in about 90% of cases, but will basically mean you are guaranteed to spend a 4-8 weeks feeling like utter crap *all the time*. Anyone who has done a course of antibiotics will know what they make you feel like. Well, to kill H.Pylori, they have to give *3* different extremely powerful antibiotics for 3-6 weeks at the same time to be reasonably sure of killing it.. it can survive in the stomach after all, so its a tough little bugger, laughing off stomach acid with ease.. So they needed to hit it *hard* with a triple whammy of different poisons simulataneously, so image antibiotic side effects (messed up digestion, skin problems, etc) times 3.. yumm.. sounded like I was in for a couple of months of expensive hell.. Oh, and by the way, after the treatment stops, theres no guarantee it wont come back again after a few months and we'll have to treat it all over again.. *Wonderful...*..
I demurred on starting the therapy for a bit while I did some research on my own, and within a week, had found out all about it, the little west australian doc who discovered it in the 80s, was opposed furiously by the Pharm industry, who thus deliberately infected (and cured) himself to force them to believe him (risking his life in the process),
*And* the big news that was upsetting the Pharma guys no end - the more recent discovery that Manuka Honey (but only the *UMF certified proven- bio-active* - which is regularly batch-tested tested and certified for its antibacterial properties by a NZ University team - not just labelled as being such which many fakes are) that had been made by bees majority feeding on Manuka bushes - not just bees living near a Manuka bush or two, which is all it takes for some Honey sellers to claim theirs is BioActive) had been proven to be just as effective as the Triple-Antibiotic-Treatment in killing H.Pylori dead with just a teaspoon a day on your toast, and *no* nasty side effects..
"Worth a try" thinks I, and hit the health food shop for some 15+ UMF Manuka Honey. Expensive stuff at $40 for a medium sized bottle, but better than the hundreds for the antibiotics. So I start having honey toast for brekky, and within a week Im feeling noticeably better, and its been *days* since I had a killer headache.. what relief !
Over the next month or so, all the symptoms continued to gradually get weaker and more infrequent and by about 3 months, were 95% gone. I kept it up for another month or so for good measure, and now only have the occasional teaspoon or two on toast every few weeks to make sure the bugger doesnt come back again.. (which it is known for doing).
So, Screw you Mr Big Pharma.. Further research revealed Honey has been known as a treatment for all sorts of ills practically forever (since Cleopatras days), and Manuka honey even more so for at least 10 or 20 years.. But not *1* doc of the 10+ I saw over 6 months ever mentioned it.. 1 that I went back to months later and told him what *I* had done to cure it couldnt believe it. He said he'd never heard of it. "And you guys wonder why people are turning to "Dr.Google" first before visiting you guys ?" I told him... Wisen up fellas, the days of you guys being the only source of medical information is rapidly dissapearing...
1 more little happy point we discovered.. sometime after all this hoohaa, Mel slipped and cut her face quite badly working with some tools on a home project. a pretty deep 3 or 4 cm long gash down her cheek.. "Thats gonna leave a nasty scar" she unhappily declared.. which is a big deal to a woman (and most men) who arent at all happy about the idea of wearing a facial scar for the rest of their lives. I suggested smearing some of the UMF Manuka Honey we had on the wound before putting a big bandage on it, since I during my research I had read it has pretty amazing skin healing properties as well thanks to its incredible anti-bacterial effects. Again, worth a try we decided.
Less than a week later, the bandage came off leaving the most unbelieveably tiny pink mark you wouldnt have believed was a 4cm long 3+mm deep gash just a week ago. 2 weeks go by, and you would never even know she was ever hurt. She was over the moon.. she thought she'd be scarred for life, and escaped without a mark..
Anyway, enough raving, or youll be thinking I bought the company or something and I need to hit the sack.
I cant say Manuka Honey will help your friend with Migraines, since its primarily an anti-bacterial treatment (H-Pylori is a bacterial infection) and Migraines on their own probably arent caused by Bateria. but to wrap up, the 9+ months of hell I went through starting just prior to the last RoboWars Event (6?) (which only a couple of the locals like Gary and Rick knew about) was cured by an ancient natural remedy that even tastes pretty good (not quite as nice as normal honey, Strong UMF Manuka Honey tastes a bit more "mediciney" than regular honey) and beats the hell out of poisoning your body with 3 different poisons and all the crap they cause.
So, Listen to your Docs when you need to, but dont think they know it all, because they sure as hell dont, and 90% of them these days are more interested in pushing profitable products you have to keep buying and eating forever rather than curing you using natural proven remedies. Do your own research, use your head and dont think that salvation from sickness has to come in a pill as so many seem to think these days.
Thanks for the well wishes Shreddy, I wasnt going to ramble on that much (curse of being able to type fast). I just wanted to let you know Im all better now, and how it all happened that I had to step away a bit more rapidly than you guys might have liked.
I hope your friend finds their solutions as well.. and the rest of you find a way to make your sport/hobby go where you want it to.. I try not to be grumpy and bitter, but as you all know, sometimes I am because we tried so long and hard to make it roll on its own momentum, only to watch it all fall apart the moment a few of us regulars had to deal with other pressing matters in life.
Oh well.. Good luck with finding some way to take Robot Combat wherever you want it to go. I'll do my bit by keeping the forums open and dispensing free advice wherever its wanted (and sometimes where its probably not , but its up to you guys now... Sorry for the big off topic waffle.. Im off to bed..
Didn't mean to sideline the thread there but continue on with the bot discussion!... if there is anyone there[/quote] _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
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