hmmm, id like a crusher too

or an axe bot

or a flipper

or a drill bot

mm my thoughts are why not make the whole lot from mdf includeing the wheapons ..mabee only metal tips or or teeth this would definatly make for more inivative desighns that could deal out a big blow and still be engenered good enough not to self destruct .. im not into the mdf bots my self as i would then also have to buy the stuff at the moment wei just use what ever i can scrounge and modifie .

Will chipboard be allowed too? It's a fair bit cheaper then MDF and i've already got a large amount of it.
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YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Has anyone remembered that to calculate the KE of a spinning mass not only do you need to konow the speed but also the inertia. How are you going to accuratly calculate that for all these custom made spinning weapons?
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Get Some!!!

Secretary of the Queensland Robotics Sports Club inc.

Maybe limit the energy via a rough method of restrictions on speed/weight/diameter. Could use something along the lines of this:

- 2kg max.
- 2500rpm max.
- Diameter 250mm max.

This would ensure that all weapons would be within the decided limit. Sure, you can dump 90% of the weight on the outter rim, but if the limit takes that into concern, a reasonable limit can be reached.
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https://www.halfdonethings.com/

I reckon the way to do it is to be very relaxed on the rules, but if people have an objection to someone's design (usually if it keeps winning ) then they can bring it up and people will discuss it.

Maybe even a handicapping system could be introduced like they do with penalty weight in motor racing, in a case by case way.
Eg, spinner rpm could be reduced, or overall battery voltage could be reduced if people think it should be.

The other way to look at it though is to not have limits.
Instead of limiting the better / more destructive bots, encourage everyone else to upgrade

There's always anothe side to everything though, and there's no way to keep everyone happy.
The same materials rule works pretty well for putting people on more even ground, but there will always be people with better weaponry, better drive motors, better batteries, better controls, etc.
The trick is to limit things enough so that everyone can be competitive, but not so much that there's no room for innovation.
Really I think the only way to do that is for people to post designs and see if people accept it, as Jake's done, or build it and see if people accept it at an event.

Obviously not everything can be built out of MDF, but at the same time there's no use having an MDF rule if someone's going to bolt Titanium over the whole thing.

I see the idea as a way of getting some more carnage happening. Armour is limited and really has to be sacrificial, so the focus is more on weapon strength and drivability.
In a way it's more about doing damage rather than surviving damage - while still being easy to fix afterwards. It should be fun to watch, and fun to compete.
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

as glen posted before
http://www.teamcosmos.com/ke/ke.shtml
will give you a pretty good idea for anything that dosent need a cad
if it needs cad then use the cad program to work out the MOI.
i'll also "real soon now" release a bodgy custom spinner calculator that just takes a picture/paint whatever as its input and gives you the answer.

we dont want arbitary limits. saying you *must* use a motor size less than X limits creativity.
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

I reckon if someone shows up with a bot that ends up smashing everyone else's to bits then should win the day, but should be limited next time (along with anyone else who turns up next time with a direct copy
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

Getting down to the details, if I make a fancy aluminium corner connector to join MDF sheets, would that be approved? Also, would the use of similar sized plywood be acceptable? Its lighter and I have a heap of it.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

nah plywood is specifically out.
it is more expensive and wont break as easily.
chipboard yeah we think so but we dont know really how to specify anything other than MDF (in general terms) without saying yes or no on a case by case basis.
i think funky edge connectors are allowed but keep the metal % of the bot in mind
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

I'm thinking about a small drum bot - sorta like Happy Robot's Sunflower. Would aluminium bearing mounts be acceptable? I don't think even the thickest MDF drum mounts would last more than 1 or 2 hits, which would make for a boring match. I would be powering this from a fan motor like jake's.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

you are allowed metal
we are fixing what the % should be
but atm its looking like 50% by weight (including everything except esc) is about right
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

basically I see the idea as being that all armour and general construction is MDF (and sacrificial if necessary) but you can use whatever you want for weapon and general hardware on the bot.
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

cant really find many flaws, but does the % weight of wood and metal in the robot mean it has to have say 50% of the total robots weight as MDF or metal or 50% of the weight in frame/armour/supports etc. getting half the weight of mdf might be a bit tricky, i think kang is about 50% ali and that thing has a ton of weight in the frame i thought?
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

our Plan-B cad seems to say theres about 6kg worth of MDF out of 11kg worth of weight without batteries.
i think we may change it to say 40% MDF if people start running into problems. all numbers in the rules are still made up so theres a fair bit of wiggle room after a few are made "in the spirit" then we'll fix the rules down somemore
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets