Don't forget its only a "slow start" if you weren't at the Brisbane event.
It seems 2 weeks in-between a major event and the start of our set wasn't really enough time for people to get things back together
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

LOL looks like Andrews gonna be ready by July and Angus is waiting for a public works project to be completed.
Following the trend here folks.
As Nick said he did suggest lesser events and its odvious thats probably the way to go.Its no use running a comp with 4-5 robots.
Its about being realistic and if we wanna get together 2 -3 times a year and have 10 robots then thats fine but its up to Jeff J if he wants to have the arena for just 2-3 battles
As we have said numbers have declined severly over the past 2 seasons and i really cant see it changing.
A lot more money and time is needed now to build compeditive robots and therefore a lot more time and money spent between rounds.
Going off the last couple of seasons 5-6 weeks between rounds isnt enough time to rebuild or repair so heres my thoughts.
1 NSW featherweight championship battle and Battleshed combined with the VIC Robowars and 1 major QLD event.
To me thats all that most could muster, 4 Major rounds a year ,2 in NSW and 2 Interstate Public events.
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Are you giving up on lightweights or is there a chance for lightweights at one of the NSW events.
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Satisfaction is proportional to effort and results.

Without a comp there is no real goal anymore. YAY lets spend heaps of time and money and get nothing out of it in the end, doesn't really get the motivation going very much.

With this publicity we have seem to be getting, its a good start to get more people interested, just need to put in the effort.
I'm a good 2 hours away from the events and yet i still try to find people who'd like to come compete from my way.

i reckon we need to think about a portable arena at some stage and doing what they have been in Qld and VIC, it seems to work and entertaining a crowd is a good motivation.

With lesser events i feel we would get poorer quality robots, there is no better of a test then an actual fight to find all the flaws.
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Barton Robotics Youtube Channel:
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I don't think we need to cut back that far! In the previous discussions, around 8 weeks between events was what people seem comfortable with - having just 2 or three local events is just not enough. We have lost a few builders, but we have also seen some very competitive new ones like Dylon and some builders come back, like Jeff F with his new bot Starfish. Don't forget new guys like Jaemus, just starting his first build.

To me, the problem is that our bots are way too good ! Almost everyone has a high KE spinner and major damage is guaranteed. While we don't want to go back to boring nudge-bot matches, a few more bots like cobra would be a very good idea. If we all had a back-up bot as dependable as Cobra, we could field something every round without having to feverishly rebuild every 5 weeks. I am looking at a simple 4 wheel wedge with Bisalloy armour, just so I don't have to spend so much on repairs myself.

What we had planned was this:

April 18th (school holidays)

June 6th

July 18th (school holidays)

August 29th

October 10th Battleshed (school holidays)

November 21st

As you can see, we left the season start too late and while there are only 6 events, they are all bunched up after April. What we need to do for next year is to do the timetable in December and start the season as early as possible; probably in early February to give a gap after Robowars in Melbourne.

i think we are finally getting there with the spinner proof spinners, demon is a good example, destructive weapon yet a very solid steel frame.
More like that would make high KE spinner fights last a lot longer i feel.

My plan for the new misfortune is a destructive weapon yet a strong solid frame to take impacts from the likes of scissorhands.

Yes having a back up robot is very handy, even if 1 event in the year is full of them your guaranteed the next events will be back to the main robots, just like sports such as soccer, players get injured and replacement players that aren't as good as the injured player is sent in to rest the good player for the next match.
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I will be aiming to get mine functional for the first event. It may not yet have a weapon tho.

This is a change for me as i previously refused to attempt to adhere to any of the proposed deadlines Bort gave me (event dates) when building other, uncompleted robots.

I personally certainly wouldnt want any less events than this number, tho

Just you guys wait till the lifter is decent, it'll turn the whole comp on its side. How many robots have dead spots? /Trash
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YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

oh well ideas festival is a once in 3 year event and im sure the last time it was on robowars melbourne was still being held in december so we had a bit more time iirc.

anyway you look at it a 3 day full on event puts a years worth of wear on a robot. 4 weeks to smack them back together (2 in my case) i dont think is too bad an effort

guess its a bit like an olympic year we will just have to make the most of whats left and pack if full of ass kicking maybe we can have a 2 day event back to back to get another round in there.

I would leave out the june 6th battle.
That leaves 5 rounds which is ok with me but are we going to get more robots at less events??
As for the lightweights i think they are now years away"sorry Gary".
If we say we are going to build then please build!
We need to forget about building Porches and build Kingswoods occasionally.
You cant tell me that everyone who builds and competes in Sydney couldnt put together a robot in a few days????
We all have access to steel and welders etc and most even have jobs to buy a few bits and pieces.
Nick made a good point, look at cobra nothing flash nothing pretty and yes a wedge but it woops every robot everytime.
A battle is a battle, i dont care if im battling a wedge or a spinner i just enjoy the 3 minutes for what it is competing to beat another robot.
So get out all the old bits throw together a few ghetto bots and battle them and when you finish your Uba robot then battle with that.
I have built 2 robots both are wedges but so what,at least im getting in and having a go and i reckon all the rest should.
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Sounds good, so who's going to help me weld up a wedge from Bisalloy? I should mention its going to be rather thick...

tore down orbit today

am beginning repairs now

also was eyeballing old orbit frame and realised i have enough parts to make a second orbit quite easily using already available bits

he he he

hopefully i can get orbit banged out and sorted before next event

wont make promises but am trying
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

nick - i think you still had an argon bottle there, you can borrow my lift tig and filler rods if you want to try your hand at it only does 160 amps ~ 10mm thick stuff tho

Tempting - it might not handle the thickness though - there are a number of heavy Tee joints in 8 to 10mm sheet

I have numerous welders if you want weldings

Also plasma cutter
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things