The 39th Antweight World Series comes to Coventry for a day full of awesome robotic combat. A horde of nimble pushers, calculating flippers and vicious spinners will all compete in a tournament to be crowned Antweight World Series champion, and take home the elusive trophy. Taking place in an auditorium with all the action being shown on a huge screen, with an all-new bigger arena and everything being streamed live on the internet, this is one you don't want to miss!
Registration Page: Click Here
Entry List: Click Here
Rules: Click Here
Location
Whitley Academy, Abbey Road, Coventry, CV3 4BD.
Google Maps Link
If anyone wants any pointers regarding directions then feel free to ask, but I figure with the abundance of route-planning websites, satnavs, and smartphones, it probably isn't necessary to write them here.
Site
Here's a map of the site:
The aerial imagery from Google Maps is a bit out of date, as there's now a large sports hall covering half of the parking to the left of the picture, but new parking has been put in at the other red squares that I've marked.
Venue
The event will be taking place in the academy's new auditorium:
There will be fixed cameras on the arena, which will be linked up to a HD projector to ensure the action is visible wherever you are. The chairs that you see in the picture will be out, with the arena set up at the bottom, so there will be plenty of space if you just want to relax and watch the fighting.
As the room is fairly new, the academy is somewhat protective of it; while I don't expect us all to tiptoe around with slippers on, please try to avoid dropping/spilling food and drink, using power tools which will fill the carpet with shards of metal, etc. I'm looking at the possibility of having a small area off-carpet where people can use power tools without fear of damaging anything, but in reality I'm not sure if this will be required or not. Feedback would be welcome.
Schedule
Please note - times are not set in stone.
09:00 - 10:30 Setup, Registration and Tech Checks
10:30 - 12:00 Warmup Tourament
10:30 - 12:00 Fleaweight World Series
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 16:00 Antweight World Series
16:00 - 18:00 Prizegiving & Just For Fun - Annihilators, Tag Team etc.
18:00 - 18:30 Clean Up and Pack Away
Events
Warmup Tournament - This will be a non-spinner contest, with a maximum of one robot per team allowed to enter. It will run in the main arena side-by-side with the Fleaweight World Series in the morning, and thus, depending on entrant numbers and time constraints, we may have to only allow a team to enter either this tournament or the FWS. It will run on a full double-elimination system, and uneven numbers of robots will be handled by byes being distributed randomly during the draw. This tournament will be recorded, but will most likely not be shown on stream.
Fleaweight World Series - The FWS will take place in a secondary arena side-by-side with the Warmup Tournament in the morning, and thus, depending on entrant numbers and time constraints, we may have to only allow a team to enter either this tournament or the Warmup. It will run on a full double-elimination system, and uneven numbers of robots will be handled by byes being distributed randomly during the draw. This tournament will be recorded and shown on stream.
Antweight World Series - After lunch, the main AWS event will begin. The event will take place in the main arena, and will run on a full double-elimination system, with uneven numbers of robots will be handled by byes being distributed randomly during the draw. The entire event will be recorded and shown on stream.
Fun Stuff - After the main tournament has ended, depending on how much time we have, we may run some just-for-fun tournaments. These may include a tag-team tournament, annihilators, etc. Details of these tournaments will be decided on the day, dependant on various factors. At some point during this time, the prizegiving will also occur.
Stream
Intent - As mentioned above, in what I believe is a first for robotic combat events in the UK (and possibly elsewhere?), the entire event will be streamed live online. My intentions for this are two-fold; firstly, I hope that roboteers who were unable to travel to the event, are from other countries, or don't really know that much about antweights and want to see more of them, may wish to watch as the action unfolds. Secondly, it is my intention to advertise the stream heavily anywhere where I think there might be people interested in robotic combat. As many of you know I am an avid gamer, and I have seen multiple gaming communities recieve a huge boost in interest and numbers due to the recent prevalence of streaming. I'm hoping that some people who used to watch Robot Wars, or people who may just have an interest in this sort of thing in general, will be able to tune in and see all the action live. If we even get one new person interested in roboteering and/or antweights from the stream, I will consider it a success.
More detailed information about the stream will be coming soon
Casters - It is my intention to have one or two people available at all times to give brief commentary, insights, and possibly interviews with roboteers throughout the day. My intent for the commentary is not to have a constantly-shouting-over-hyped-pun-making-Jonathan-Pearce-esque soundtrack over every fight, but more to point out details, offer explanations and give insight to those tuning into the stream who may not be familiar with the specifics of what's going on. In the later stages of the competition (top 4 or 8, most likely), I may also look to do short interviews with roboteers before and/or after fights.
If you're knowledgeable in the ways of antweights, enjoy talking, and wouldn't mind giving up some time during the day to help out, please let me know.
Update - 14/10/2012 - Due to the interest I've from people wanting to cast, I'm going to keep it fairly informal; ideally we'd have two casters on at any point in time, but as long as there's someone at the desk it's fine. People are welcome to jump on and off as and when they need to, due to fights etc.
Additional Information
Food and Drink - There will be a table set up with light refreshments, such as crisps and biscuits. There will also be cold drinks along with tea and coffee making facilities.
For lunch, people are of course welcome to bring their own, but there is an Asda just 5 minutes walk away, as well as a chip shop which is just a few minutes away by car.
Post-AWS Meal - I am looking at the possibility of going to a nearby restaurant after the event for a meal, drinks, or whatever you want really. If this is something you'd be interested in, please let me know. More details to come.
Bracket organisation & fight announcement - I'm looking for someone to assist in the organisation of the brackets and the announcement of upcoming fights. This would involve helping with draws, entering the data into a laptop, and then noting in the software which robots won and lost their fights. You would also be responsibile for calling out the next two fights in advance, so that the roboteers could get their robots ready. As if this didn't already sound exciting enough, you will be given a radio mic which feeds into the room's sound system, which makes you sound omnipresent.
. There's plenty of time yet to make these decisions.