Dominance of pushers at AWS46

[peterwaller]

I know what you mean I can't quite convince myself either but 2mm polycarb is a lot stronger and more resiliant than 0.15 mm aluninium.
But rules are rules so I guess I will have to find a way to use 4mm if I ever build it.

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

The curve does offer a bit more resistence though. I don't think it'd be much trouble for the roof part. The square bit around the edge will still be thick as you say.

[peterwaller]

Finally made some decisions on the new arena.
Due to the difficulties of wraping 4 mm polycarb around the curve I have settled on two layeres of 2mm.
The base of the arena will have four 25 cm square corner pits built into the frame but the arena surface sheet can be cut to any of the three options so it can be adapted if necessary.
The end 6mm plates are 980 x 600 with 300mm radius so the cover will have a flat top and sides. This for some reason turns out much cheaper than getting a semi circle cut.
The arena will have a 2mm polycarb 100 mm high wall that completely surrounds the fighting area and pits to reduce damage to the larger polycarb sheets.
The cover will either be free standing or hinged and will be lifted from one end to allow access as with my previous domed arena.
Hopefully if my measurmants are correct and I can lift it the arena can be transported fully assembled.
I am not sure how long it will take as I have just ordered enough laminante flooring for three rooms so I might be busy elsewhere but at least the polycarb is on order so I have to build it.

[joey_picus]

Two layers of 2mm might actually work better than one 4mm layer when it comes to direct contact; I don't know if the physics translate that well to these thicknesses but back in the Robot Wars days I believe a few robots had dual-skin polycarbonate armour specifically to fight spinners since the interface between the panels took a lot of the energy out of the impact, and left the inner layer mostly intact in the worst case, while thicker one-ply panels just shattered and left a big hole I was around for the end of the old domed arena (my first event!) and I'm hoping either the hinges are stronger this time or we remember to shout at anyone lifting the cover too high...

EDIT: I'm guessing that's a CAD of a scale model of the arena going on the measurements, hehe...

[peterwaller]

Yes sorry that is 1/10 scale.

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Great Peter. I look forward to fighting in it. I'm guessing its quite a long stretch to have it ready for the AWS?

[Hogi]

could we book this arena for antweight open please Peter if it's done in time? ( late november )

[BeligerAnt]

Yes sorry that is 1/10 scale.

"Robots must fit in a 10mm cube and weigh no more than 150mg"

- Anyone up for a challenge?

[peterwaller]

The AWS is unlikely but November should be fine I will post on any progress or problems as I go.
One thing I might try and include is some internal lighting as curved surfaces can have reflection problems with overhead lighting.
Its no good trying to improve the visibility of the robots if all you can see is reflections.
Here it is with the proper dimensions.

I will probably start with the quarter circle shaped pits as shown in red.

[Max]

Hi,
Don't want to start another debate but one thing that strikes me when I see this design, it seems to favour pushers; by going with the idea that we shouldn't have low walls etc. as they are unfair to pushers as they can't really use them it now sort of means there is no point building anything other than pushers! With the 4 pits like that the best strategy would be to build a 4 wheel drive rambot with a scoop or wedge, an argument could be made for a grabber to help grab your opponent and drop them in the pit.
But there seems to be virtually no point in building a lifter or flipper as there are no walls to throw robots over, likewise for vertical spinners and drums and for horizontal spinners there is a very high risk of falling into pit if you also go flying off from a big hit.
It seems to me that to be fair an arena should have some limited push/drop off for pushers, some low walls for lifters, some higher walls for pneumatic flippers and vertical spinners/drums and a reasonable amount of wall round the outside to stop horizontal spinners flying out.

Personally I felt the arena at the last AWS worked really well, our teams pushers had enough drop off to push out opponents but it still required skill, and our vertical spinner was able to thow robots over the low walls, and likewise pneumatic flippers were able to throw robots out. All it may lacked were some very low walls (like 10-20mm) for lifters to lift over.

I'm not saying don't build that arena, by all means let's give it a go but I would suggest leaving enough flexibility in the design to revert to an arena more like the last AWS.
Just my (rather lengthy) 2 pence!