Pop!

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

I think there's gonna be a few aren't there? Pop, Anticide, the Explosion team have one if they're coming, and I think Rhys is building one too.

[Team Invade]

That looks amazing. It's incredible how much you can cram into 150g if you try

And Dave, I think Shapeways have made the biggest contribution to our robot so far

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

I'm just glad the arena is supposedly going to be bigger! Haha. I so want to see a pneumatic flipper against a suction robot...

[Rhys]

Bigger areana? What's this all about? Sounds like a good idea to me.

Has to be said though Josh, this is looking amazing. Fingers crossed nothing does actually go pop before the event, I'd love to see it finally running. And yes Dave I am building a pneumatic flipper too, but currently most of the bits are still with UPS thanks to Shapeways being so useless.

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Scott and Andy are apparently building a bigger arena for it, with slightly less drop off than usual

[EpicentrE]

To clarify: The drop-off will be adjustable, so it just depends if the judges agree with it or not on the day .

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Who are the judges? I say everyone. Just a straight forward "hands up for this config" before we start. Majority wins.

[BeligerAnt]

Guys, the AWS rules are clear and explicit,

At least half of the edge of the arena must be unwalled

Even if you don't agree with the rules, organising the event doesn't give you the right to change them! For non-AWS events, you can do whatever you like, but the AWS must be run to the AWS rules or we are all wasting our time.
A bigger arena is no problem, as the rules only state the minimum size (although too big would get a bit boring/silly)

Nothing to stop you having 100% drop-off though...

[EpicentrE]

Gary, which is exactly why A. the walls are removeable, and B. I said I'd ask people's opinions. The size of this arena, assuming it all goes to plan, is such that the size of the drop-offs we have planned would still cover more area than in any of the traditional arenas, while also being less than 50% of the edge.

We've had various rules that have proven to be unnecessary or pointless, and as such have changed those rules as time has gone on. I, and many other people, believe that we no longer need 50% drop off in the era when almost every robot has gearmotor drive. It is my understanding that the rule was originally to ensure pushers were on an even playing field. However, I don't believe more modern pushers need this advantage; they can be made very fast and maneuverable, and as long as there is still a reasonable amount of drop off, a good pusher with a good driver behind it should never have trouble getting someone out. Additionally, the increasing power of spinners has meant that horizontal spinners are now almost completely pointless, as you're quite likely to just fly straight out if you hit anyone with any force.

I'm not trying to force my opinion on anyone in order to start a revolution, but if things arn't tried and tested, we'll never know if they'll work or not. It might be that we try it for the warmup competition, and it doesn't feel as good as it should and so we remove them for the AWS. It might be that everybody at the event loves the idea, and wants them kept on for the AWS as well. If the vast majority who are competing want them on, it hardly seems logical to then remove them just to ensure we're complying with a ruleset that people disagree with.

Edit: For some reason, I thought we were in the Rules thread. This isn't really the place to be having this discussion, so sorry for dragging it off topic. I guess we should continue there if people want to continue the discussion.

[malivoirec]

"I think there's gonna be a few aren't there?"

Don't forget Inertiant, but I'm still waiting for the day when it actually flips something in a fight .