Arena Discussions

[EpicentrE]

To throw more ideas into the melting pot of configurations, how about having two of the pits in their square configuration, but have a wall along one of the sides to reduce the angles at which you can approach it?

Also, what did people think of the height of the walls? They're a good deal lower than the ones Andy and I run in our arena (1 inch compared to 2), and because of this I noticed people getting themselves stuck up on them and their weapons stuck on them far more often, as well as it being easier to get people over them, even with a pusher.

[peterwaller]

I have just run through the video of the 96 Antweight fights at AWS47 and had a go at trying to classify how each was won or lost in an attempt to evaluate the arenas performance. Where there were multiple bots I tried to decide which was the main reason for the decision so there could be some disagreements on some of those. When it came to judges dicisions I didn't include those where it was just a question of counting botlets but tried to concentrate on how the main botlet won or lost.
Here are my findings.
Pushed out no wall......................29...*
Flipped out no wall......................13...*
Drove out no wall........................11...*
Spinner Damage.........................11
Flipped unable to self right.............8
Spinner flew out no wall................7...*
Flipped out over wall.....................6
Flipped on side unable to self right..3
Thrown out by spinner no wall........2...*
Carried out no wall........................2...*
Damaged by non spinner................1
Spinner flew out over wall...............1
Pushed onto wall............................1
Judges decision..............................1
All results with an * were where the loser ended up in an unwalled pit so it appears that despite reducing the unwalled pits to 16% of the edge 66% of battles ended in them anyway and only 6% went into the low walled pit.
The number of times a robot was saved by either the pillars at the end of the walls or the two low walls seemed quite high but I didn't think to count them.

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Interesting.

[Roboteernat]

Not that i have used any,. but could the pit base be removable? so you could remove bots by just releasing the floor of the pit?
Anything needing to be retrieved from the arena, could then be accessed by the lid?

It would seem to me the by hinging the lid and having the weigh sit on one edge could stress and snap the plastic?

[peterwaller]

I suppose it would be possible to have removable floors in the pits but remember the table top sits about 4 cms below them so access would be somewhat limited and remeber there ar 4 pits. The floors would have to be able to withstand a spinner at full tilt dropping in. The weight of the lid is evenly distributed along both 6mm polycarb end plates so I don't think there is much danger stress or snapping.
Anyway the lid wasn't that hard to lift it was more the fact that the handle went out of reach from the end so the need for a better way to park it in the up position should make life a lot easier.

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Having pit floors removable wouldn't make a difference on this design as you'd still have to reach in to get the removable pit out, so you may as well just get the robot. I didn't really find it all that inconvenient myself.

The success of this arena can be judged on a single fight - Mr Peter Waller managed to take a spinner to a judge's decision without launching himself out or driving out in the process. This is unheard of and proof the arena is a good size. :-p

[peterwaller]

Too True.

[peterwaller]

I have now built a hook on supprt frame to enable the lid to be parked in the open position without having to go vertical.
Here is the frame hooked on to the trolly axel.

Here is the lid in the parked position.

I can reach it OK when it is on the ground but it might be a bit of a stretch when it is on the table.
I can't test at the moment due to a pallet full of laminate flooring taking up garages space.
If it is still difficult to reach it may need a handle extention of some kind.

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Or just use a tall person like me

[peterwaller]

Having just spent the best part of 4 days laying laminate flooring (2.5 rooms layed ) it occured to me that they might make a much more scratch / gouge resistant arena serface although they would increase the weight and the joins however good may be a problem. The newer stuff I am using now has an intentional uneven / grained surface but I do have some older stuff that is smooth but I don't know how much grip you would get.
Might have to do some tests.