Building an arena question

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limpet
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Re: Building an arena question

Post by limpet »

AntFreeze arena is about 1200x750mm floor size, which with the pit in each corner make it just under 1m2. I’ll measure it when I get chance/remember and let you know. I think the poly is 5mm.
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minionhunter
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Re: Building an arena question

Post by minionhunter »

James Williams wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 6:06 pm A central pit would definitely be an interesting change, but depending on design could be a bit of a pain to clear out after every fight, especially if something small but important flies in there. One good thing about the Bugglebots pit is it's designed so it can be accessed from underneath the arena floor fairly easily (granted it's for beetles instead of ants but the principle's the same).

1200mm sounds pretty good for a size. To be honest arena size preference depends more on the properties of each of the competitors rather than anything.
That's a good thought! Since my outside box design is going to similar if not identical to Chris Malton's there will be no issues with getting into the box, also it will have a significantly elevated stage so there will be plenty of room, but I should design it so that the pit can be easily swept out from the sides. Another possibility is that it could drop to below the arena for easy retrieval. Thanks for thinking about this, I think this will be an ant arena that looks like a miniature beetle arena.

I'm going to have to start watching bugglebots now.
Tufty
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Re: Building an arena question

Post by Tufty »

I built a test arena (nowhere near safety specs, but it's only for personal use so not important) at 4x4ft, arena offset centre as 1x1ft. This is probably too big for ants, but it made an interesting challenge during tests of robots. Not sure how it would translate to professional use as a layout but I'd be interested to see.
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Ocracoke
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Re: Building an arena question

Post by Ocracoke »

Just to throw this in, the BotFest arena only has a arena floor space of 810mm squared with one side exposed as the pit which does perfectly well for the event that it is used in. I think the overall size is 900mm long x 840mm wide x 300mm tall with 4mm polycarbonate on all the sides and roof. Sounds as if it is a bit on the small side these days :P
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minionhunter
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Re: Building an arena question

Post by minionhunter »

Welp, the guy on Craigslist who led me to believe that they were new sheets with some of the paper peeled off turned out to say they had some scratches but the centers were clear. He refused to text me a picture saying that his phone was broken. That's when he said they were scratched up but I could polish them out. I didn't want to drive for two hours for that. Oh well, back to seeking donations...
Ant Ipodean
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Re: Building an arena question

Post by Ant Ipodean »

If its any consolation, I think that ½ inch thick poly would be substantial overkill for an Antweight arena. 4mm thick is fine, or 6mm to be conservative.
minionhunter
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Re: Building an arena question

Post by minionhunter »

Ant Ipodean wrote: Sat Feb 08, 2020 10:16 pm If its any consolation, I think that ½ inch thick poly would be substantial overkill for an Antweight arena. 4mm thick is fine, or 6mm to be conservative.
Thanks. Yeah I know, but it would have been cool... I should have known the price was too good. But as soon as he said something was wrong with his phone (he was texting me with, lol) I knew it was a problem. I don't know why but in MA every other deal on Craigslist seems to be trying to put one over on you. In MN all was fine and 95%of the time it was a good transaction. Here most deals tend to be scams of some sort.
Ant Ipodean
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Re: Building an arena question

Post by Ant Ipodean »

Re Antweight arena design ..
I designed and built the Ant arena that we use here.
It has a fighting floor area of 1100mm x 1400mm with pits at each end.
Originally there were low pit walls, with 250mm wide openings/drop offs, but later 150mm high pit walls and sliding pit "gates" were added.
The floor is 0.5mm thick galvanised sheet steel laminated onto MDF. It has held up really well, with no maintenance required.
The battle box is "frameless" 3mm polycarbonate, hinged on one side for access. It provides really good optics. (Credit this concept to Peter Waller)
Easily detached legs mean it is not reliant on available tables.
When I built it in 2017 there was no scene here, so I was guessing how things might pan out.
I tried to incorporate the best aspects of what I saw in the UK arenas.
If I was to design it again, knowing what I know now, I would consider ..
- Making the floor area a bit smaller (My original thoughts anticipated the possibility that 1 lbers may have been a thing here)
- Make the floor from 0.5mm austenitic stainless steel, as magnets have become fairly dominant here and are a bit contentious.
- Make the battle box collapsible for transport, as the bulky nature of the present one limits the transport options.
You can see several shots of the arena in action in the videos here .. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI1ZSy ... VYA/videos
Mike.
minionhunter
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 5:36 pm

Re: Building an arena question

Post by minionhunter »

Ant Ipodean wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 12:03 pm Re Antweight arena design ..
I designed and built the Ant arena that we use here.
It has a fighting floor area of 1100mm x 1400mm with pits at each end.
Originally there were low pit walls, with 250mm wide openings/drop offs, but later 150mm high pit walls and sliding pit "gates" were added.
The floor is 0.5mm thick galvanised sheet steel laminated onto MDF. It has held up really well, with no maintenance required.
The battle box is "frameless" 3mm polycarbonate, hinged on one side for access. It provides really good optics. (Credit this concept to Peter Waller)
Easily detached legs mean it is not reliant on available tables.
When I built it in 2017 there was no scene here, so I was guessing how things might pan out.
I tried to incorporate the best aspects of what I saw in the UK arenas.
If I was to design it again, knowing what I know now, I would consider ..
- Making the floor area a bit smaller (My original thoughts anticipated the possibility that 1 lbers may have been a thing here)
- Make the floor from 0.5mm austenitic stainless steel, as magnets have become fairly dominant here and are a bit contentious.
- Make the battle box collapsible for transport, as the bulky nature of the present one limits the transport options.
You can see several shots of the arena in action in the videos here .. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI1ZSy ... VYA/videos
Mike.
Ipo! You're awesome! I'm going to check this out.
minionhunter
Posts: 186
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 5:36 pm

Re: Building an arena question

Post by minionhunter »

https://robotwars101.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2339

This is Peter Waller's arena thread. The pictures don't show up on my tablet, but they do show up on the computer.
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