Here is part of a post from the FRA forum that I found interesting.

"So if we look at the 600 active machines of featherweight and over they are distributed as follows:

US 57%
UK 25%
Australia 12%
Rest of world 7%

Total 101% (rounding errors)

Is this an accurate picture of the world of fighting robots? "
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So even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and our river systems

The UK numbers look a little optimistic to me, but they doubtless have a lot of bots that are gathering dust that would reappear if a TV shows happened.
As he says he has no knowledge of our other classes and we do have a number of Lightweights that are active and should be included and after the first Ultibots event we will rate a number of big bots extra.
As for the rest of the world no idea.
The US figure should be accurate due to Botrank.

The UK seems to have readily come on board with the proposal to standardise the weights. The USA appears to have the largest number of dissenting voices. Many thought the outcome would be the reverse.
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So even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and our river systems

Yes there is an awful lot of noise on those 2 RFL threads, and yes the rest of the world seems prepared to go with Judge Dave’s weight classes.
Slightly ironic really but my guess is that it will go through ok.

Good for you there Philip as you end up compatible with the UK at the end of the day, you just have to be careful with your pneumatics or sit back till they work out all there differences there.

Minutes from the FRA meeting:

7. Robot weights world harmonisation
A proposal by the commissioner of the RFL (Robot Fighting League of America) was made via our forum to harmonise robot weight classes throughout the world.
Maximum weights.
Antweights 150g (no change)
Raptors 6Kg (no change)
Featherweights 13.6Kg (1.6Kg increase)
Lightweights 27.5Kg (2.5Kg increase)
Middleweights 55Kg (5Kg increase)
Heavyweights 100Kg (no change)
Superheavyweights 155Kg (45Kg reduction)
Official confirmation was requested of the RFL to present to the meeting, this had not arrived by the time of the meeting.
Other matters were discussed with the commissioner, such as harmonisation of per cent (%) weight variances for competitions and the possible adoption by the RFL of the FRA pneumatic rules.
The meeting felt that the FRA would not have a problem in adopting these weight changes with the exception of the featherweight class that needed further consideration and discussion.
A proposal was made by your executive that the featherweight class change maximum weight from 12Kg to 13.6Kg, this was rejected on the grounds that there were educational projects already running and could not change.
A further proposal was made to adopt 13.6kg from January 1st 2008 as it was felt this would give adequate time to roboteers and educational projects alike. This was also rejected.
The governing body members decided to defer the subject to a future meeting or automatically in one year.

http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/meetings/013_30_09_06.pdf
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So even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and our river systems

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy
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Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

quote:

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Originally posted by Spockie-Tech:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy

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The UK/EU robots will be changing to 13.6kg, including consumables, as of the start of next year. So we almost have an international standard, except:
US Hobbyweights (12lb) and EU Raptor Class (6kg) don't match and the yanks refuse to increase.
The UK/EU rules seem to have now banned all gas except CO2. HPA robots can't fight in europe.
Feather weights can only use 6 A123 cells in their robots. I'm not sure why.

too much hardcore in one spot?
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

That A123 limit of 6 cells sounds weird, given that the chemistry is fairly safe. Is there any limit on Lipo packs? It sounds like they a placing an artificial limit on the energy density of packs and further biasing things against powerful KE weapons.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Its something to do with their "trial" to make sure it is safe. I'm not sure is anyone uses Li-Pol's in feathers over there. Even the American's said my brother was crazy for using Li-Pol's in Devastator when he went to RoboGames because "you can't use them in a robot that big".

Sounds like I should hide Scissorhands two 3.8Ah Lipos inside an old SLA shell when I go over there! That UK rule sounds rather lame to me; it doesn't matter how many cells you use, its how you handle them and discharge them that makes them safe or dangerous.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

I find that A123 rule funky... John Reid did a heap of testing with them, even crushing one with Tiberius! All his tests showed they were safe...
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https://www.halfdonethings.com/

The 6 cell A123 limit is upped to 7 cell.
And nobody says anything about using 7 cell packs parallel.

There are UK feathers using LiPo. Ploughbout for one.
And that isn't limited to 23.1V nominal. The extra "rules" on LiPo are that those have to be recharged in a heat resistant container,including enough kitchensalt to cover the battery. Also, low voltage cut off is mandated by the FRA rules.

the rule is not 7 cells A123 per robot. just 7 cells per pack. you can have more than 1 pack on board in series or parralel. so s7p2 is allowwed, s8p1 isnt.

2x s5p2 is also allowed, 2x s8p1 isnt.

I know its funky but its because they want balancers to be used and most commercial balancers dont exceed 8 cells.