Rule 3c - Arena Drop-off

[Rapidrory]

Yeah, I'd agree and say keep it nice and simple: between 25-50% drop off, minimum 30cm gap sounds fine to me.

[earthwormjim]

Sounds good to me.
Illustration is 1m x 1m arena, 4 x 30mm wide drop offs, with 30mm corner pieces to stop stanley!!!( )
Low walls are 50mm high.
Is this what we are looking at as a realistic arena design at the present point in the discussion?? (Possible arena size increase aside).


Jim.

[peterwaller]

That is exactly what I was hoping to do to my arena if this all goes through.

[ajw]

Thats a good idea Dave a quick statment of what each person would like the rule to be to see how close we are to a concensus.

Drop off between 25% to 50% of arena perimeter.
Maximum amount of full height wall 55%. (so my arena sneaks in)
All other walls 2.5 to 5cm in height.
Smallest dropoff gap to be 30cms.

I agree with Peter's proposal above. This should give a well balanced arena that I hope will increase the level of robot diversity. I've particularly enjoyed competing in Andy's/Scott's arena with the additional midway low walls (AWS39) & Will's arena last year (AWS40) both of which I believe will be legal with this rule set.

[EpicentrE]

My personal numbers:

Drop off between 20% and 50% (with less obviously preferred).
Smallest drop-off 20 or 25cm.
Preferably ~50% full-height walls
All other walls 5cm minimum, no maximum.

[peterwaller]

The reason I was suggesting all other walls 5cm max was to give the flippers a chance to get people over them.
If all walls are full height there is little advantage in building a flipper over a pusher which was one of the things I was truing to encourage.

[EpicentrE]

I don't disagree at all, I would ideally like to see all arenas have some low walls, but as I've stated elsewhere in this thread, my own personal preference is to keep things as open as possible to allow people to experiment. That said, I'm perfectly happy with the other numbers people have opined, with the exception that I still think 30cm is too wide for the minimum drop-off width.

Either way, I'm glad this is finally being formally discussed .

[Psychostorm]

Should there be a minimum thickness of wall? Otherwise these walls are going to get broken or bent and everything is back to square one.

Scott, this discussion format is limiting. I'll talk to you face to face again. Since I already consider this passing a foregone conclusion, it may as well be tried. I still object though.

[EpicentrE]

Andy mentioned rules arena materials in his post earlier in the thread:

4mm polycarbonate is the minimum recommended thickness. With no gaps greater than 2mm for safety.

Which I agree should be added to the rule. It may be worth mentioning that polycarbonate with UV protection should be avoided, as this is more likely to shatter.

[Rhys]

I agree with Pete on the 5cm maximum wall height. Any more and you'll struggle to get people over, unless you have a spinner or pneumatics.