Ok. So I assembled the arena today and am considering how to modify it.

So a few things to consider....
- Did we actually want a pit in the arena?
- How much high did we want arena?
- Did we want the arena to have its own stand?
- Would everyone like a timer? I think this would cost ~ $100 and would be good chance to test it out before use in the feather arena.
- I am going to add some strips of steel that go the whole length of the joins. To cover up those gaps.
- Any other requests?
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

I'm trying to build a Ant Flipper bot, so I would prefer some sort of out of bounds area. A low inside wall, pit or no inside wall. Thats just me, you guys do whatever you want thou.
_________________
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
Albert Einstein.

A timer would be cheaper and much easier if we just used a laptop. I can write a timer to use.
_________________
Get Some!!!

Secretary of the Queensland Robotics Sports Club inc.

Possibly. But I was thinking about linking this in with whatever pit we use and trigger buttons so it can only be deployed after 2min. Could always interface it with PC pretty easily.

Steve
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

I like the idea of a pit or, as Trent said, a wall. We can always change wall heights and pit opening times if it gets boring.

What size would it have to be to fit into your waggon without pulling it apart? 900mm wide and 600 mm tall by 1200? Would that be a good thing?
_________________
So even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and our river systems

Hmmmm possibly. Would we prefer rectangular or square?
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

I don't like low walls. It reduces the size of the arena and I actually get bored of watching videos of ant fights that end with both robots getting thrown out of the arena. Once we get a vertical spinner the fights will be over very quickly. Ant physics are a lot different then feather and heavy weight physics and the robots ricochet and bounce around the arena a lot more and low arena walls will just catch flying robots. In a larger weight class arena the bouncing robots doesn't happen and it takes skill to put someone out, not a one hit ricochet. Scarlet and Spinderalla would have thrown themselves out of the arena serveral times last weekend without the skill of the other robot. A pit opened by a timer or button seems like a much better option.

I don't mind the idea of a low wall at one end of the arena, as long as it's only 100mm off the wall. This will give the lifters/flippers a chance to pop other bots OOTA and the gap is small enough that most spinners will bounce the opponent off the main wall and back into the arena (100mm is a small gap when you consider how for the ants ricochet around the arena).
_________________
https://www.halfdonethings.com/

Ah so how high did we actually want the arena? I am thinking 300 or 400 would be plenty. I am also thinking about cutting it down to 900 x 900 or something similar so it can sit in the back of my car.

The plan is to put a pit in one of the corners which is about 100mm deep which can be triggered by either servos or a simple pin. This will only be triggered after 2min.

Steve
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

IIRC, 900 * 900 is the UK standard arena size. You could shorten the height of the arena. Maybe you should make it the tallest height that would fit into the back of your car. You can always cut it shorter later, but it is very hard to cut it taller.
_________________
So even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and our river systems

Feather weight arena floor:

The yellow tongue sheets are normally laid out in a staggered pattern, like bricks in a wall. This would stop the height difference issue we had recently. We could also place support timber perpendicular to the yellow tongue. If we screwed down to this, everything would have to remain level.

Neil suggested the use of form ply as flooring. This would be very good IMO as it would not swell with moisture as do the yellow tongue sheets.

Ant weight arena floor:

The floor was good at the last event. The crowd loved the pit. We need a fast reliable way to reset the pit. A solid push rod would work well for this.
_________________
So even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and our river systems

I get the feeling our arena is probably currently underwater. Aaron has expressed concerns that it may have floated away. Given that it doesn't float and is in a shed I am doubtful of this however given the current water levels I have seen I think it may possibly be very wet.

Should we look at pulling it out next week and giving it a clean up?

I will email the edge and see how they are doing.
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

The water wasn't that high when I went past on the train at 3pm, but remeber that the tide is currently going out and I think it will be wet tonight.

The city was a ghost town at 3pm. My work has cancelled for tomorrow but I guess for the rest week too.

i wonder how warped the floor will be now

considering how warped and uneven it was last event the water may help us actually.

_________________
Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics