Brand new and rare

[craig_colliass]

Technically Pilgrim is under the current set of rules a shuffle bot, I had tried for a long time to get a better definition of walker for combat applications but there are a number of people who wanted such guarantees that people would not get around any definition and make a robot that would disturb the status-quo. And suddenly everyone would loose to the insidious walkers! Like the first bit of War of the Worlds.

I have now given up on this. I hope you have better luck than I did.

[Danny B]

I do think there's something to be said here. because the whole point of these events is to encourage participation from all levels of experience and expertise. But making the rules on walkers so restrictive means that only a professional could possibly have a chance at making one that would qualify for the extra weight allowance. Personally I think the extra allowance should depend upon the type of walking mechanism and it's complexity. I don't think it would be unreasonable to allow the following:
- Shufflebots and hoppers (e.g. Drillzilla, Clawed Hopper, RT-81) 25% extra
- Simple legged bots (e.g. Anarchy, Eleven, Black Widow, Pilgrim) 50% extra
- Fully independent walkers (e.g. Mechadon, Jim Struts) 100% extra

[Team-101]

Anarchy weighed in at around 185Kg, I would not have got it a lot lighter. The problem is that wheels are very light and leave you with spare weight for armour and weapons. Anything else like legs or tracks just eats into your weapons budget. The other problem is given the work in building the legs and drive mechanism you need quite a lot of armour to protect the investment in time and money! I am still confident that the leg mechanism on Anarchy complies with the rules as written!


BTW Anarchy with the upgraded 2.7Kw motors (from Bosch 750w) was a lot faster than 5mph more like 15mph. The main reason Anarchy lost to Tornado was one of the of batteries stopped producing 12v, plus some very bad weapons control by me!

[Anttazz]

I think the issue is that not only would you need to be a professional to build one, but that the rules aren't immediately clear what qualifies as a walker. It does seem strange that Pilgrim using a Jansen walker linkage and Spiderbot using a Klaan walker linkage are classed as walkers everywhere except in combat robotics. Unless we want to continue with having events where all the robots look the same and have the same weaponry (which maybe some people do) we need to encourage builders to do something different and the likelihood is that that would need to come from changing the rules somehow, because the arenas are unlikely to change, and I would say that its best they don't. Particularly with the HWs it seems as if an optimum design has been achieved and now it's just a case of copying and changing the paint colour.

[Danny B]

I know this is only a small group of people talking about this, but what would it take to try and get the rules changed? It sounds as though there's a pretty solid argument here that could really do with attending to.

[Danny B]

I would certainly believe that if the public and other roboteers call it a walker, it's a walker.

[typhoon_driver]

Just stumbled across this thread. I'm BIG in favour of keeping the 2 independent DOF ruleset to get the full 100% weight limit increase. This is especially key in the featherweights. Putting 13.6kg machines against a 27.2kg machine is a huge mismatch especially when spinning weapons are brought into the equation.

I do have designs for a feather walker that fits the rule and with my 3D printing business taking off this year I plan to print out a few prototype designs to determine how feasible it is.

[MikeNCR]

If people are interested in looking at alternate rules packages, here's the SPARC has an optional rule where non-wheeled robots that don't classify as true walkers (typically referred to as shufflers- See Son of Whyachi, Pitter Patter, etc...) get a 50% weight bonus. Things like the Jansen mechanism would classify as a shuffler in that system. That ruleset has been used at NERC events for quite a few years and it has worked quite well.

[Danny B]

I would certainly agree that only true walkers should get the full extra weight allowance, but I maintain that other non-wheeled robots deserve some degree of extra weight rather than none at all. I'm completely behind the SPARC ruling, it sounds like a good compromise.