The future of roboting

[joey_picus]

Re: The future of roboting

Thanks for the good words Shane

I've been trying to build robots lately myself...bloody Royal Mail redirection though, haven't got the bits I need :P but come next Saturday I should be a roboteer of sorts. Let it never be said with people like Jack and Dave W and me around that fanfic serves no purpose

[RogueTwoRobots]

Re: The future of roboting

Hey Swanny, check out the FRA Official Announcements section at the top of the forum, Kane's posted a date of 25th July for the next FRA meeting

I haven't posted here yet because I've not been sure of where I see roboteering in the future. Attending two or three events a year means I don't tend to notice situations such as falling crowd numbers at RR events or the need to change event formats etc.

Now that I've given it some thought, here's what I think. Gary mentioned about promoting the sport as robotic combat or robotic entertainment, which is something I do when asked what my hobby is. I say I build and compete in combat robotics - I don't say Robot Wars as (a) I was never on the show, (b) the show's absence from our screens for the past few years means more and more people have either forgotten about it or don't know about it, and (c) people who do know the show associate the heavyweights with it, which is a weight category I don't build for yet.
As I believe has already been posted, while a Robot Wars connection can be beneficial when it comes to event promotion, it can also be a hinderance because those who remember the show may be expecting to see the 'big guns' if you like; Razer, Chaos 2, Hypno-disc, etc. Even though the current crop of machines competing are exceptional and are well-known names now, they may not have been big on TV at the time and so don't generate the same awe-factor at events from people expecting to see Chaos 2 flipping like crazy or Razer crushing stuff. I think perhaps some disconnection from the Robot Wars brand, while maybe initially having a detrimental effect, would be more beneficial in the long run for our sport/hobby.

Someone also mentioned how successful Robogames is over in America, with the various different categories alongside the traditional combat. I also know Craig is mentioning walkers, middleweights etc at his upcoming events. I think disversity such as this will be more prominent in the future. First off however, comparing Robogames and an RR event for example; having such a range of categories at RR events may not work so well purely due to the 'entertainment' need. Robogames is a competition first and foremost. They compete to find the winners in each category and if its entertaining then hey, great! If its not, its not really a problem as the competition carries on regardless. RR on the other hand, although its running a competiton throughout all of its events this year, needs to be entertaining to continue to pull the crowds in. As Jonno has already mentioned, the flip-out cages have already helped to lengthen battles and therefore prolong entertainment so that's good.

The UK Robotic Games was the closest thing to Robogames that's been run in the UK recently, but it sadly on lasted two years. From my own viewpoint, I still love the combat aspect of things and feel there's still a lot more I want to achieve in that category, so considering that, I often found some of the non-combat/non-featherweight categories competing at the UKRG a bit uninteresting (sorry!). That's what I like about Robogames; they've got so many different categories competing (walkers, fire-fighting machines, dancing robots etc) but the full-on robot combat still commands a large percentage of the event so that's currently enough to hold my interest, and hopefully from events like that I would develop more of an interest in the other categories and as a result, would build machines to compete in them and help keep competitior levels up.

Combined events of the Robogames style are a good way forward in my eyes from the following perspective:
Split it into two main groups: the robot combat and the other events. Technology clubs from schools I believe would be more willing to cater to the 'other events' categories because they may see it as being more educational than simply raw robot combat. I always consider building combat robots as a personal/team of friends or workers endeavour due to the sheer amount of money and time that is required to keep a robot going. That dedication is fuelled by a passion and that is something that doesn't always exist in school-formed teams (there are bound to be exceptions of course!)
So, you've got individuals and friend/colleague teams entering the robot combat, and the school teams entering the other events. A kid or two from each of the school teams might be keen on building a combat robot and upon seeing them fighting live at the event, decide to take the plunge and build their own self-funded robot (compared to the machines their technology club has built, which may have been funded by the school and have restrictions on for safety reasons). So they build their robots and help to boost robot combat numbers.
In return, the robot combat teams/individuals have a chance to have a look round all the other events besides robotic combat that are taking place, and may be interested in having a go at a few of the non-combat challenges either by themselves or with their team just as a change to building fighting machines all the time. If a lot of robot combat poeple did this, it would boost the numbers of the other event entries.
So what you've got is basically each group supplementing entries for the other group as a result of discovering an enjoyment or wanting to try something new and due to the quantity of entries, the event can run successfully many times.

That made a lot more sense in my head than when I typed it out but hopefully what I'm saying comes across
Obviously an event like this can't be held every month the same way current events are so its not likely that an event of such a nature would 100% replace the current style of events but I feel (or would like to hope ) that Robogames-style events will come to prominence in the coming years.

And just to say a big thank you to all our event organisers, and in particular Jonno with Roaming Robots, for giving us places to fight and keeping our hobby/sport alive for all the years that you have so far. People may nag or criticise at times when things aren't being done the way they imagined or expected, but deep down the effort you all put in is appreciated by each and every one of us who chooses to fritter away their wages on bits of metal and fritter away their weekends in a shed in the middle of winter

[robotwars]

Re: The future of roboting

Well there's been a lot of good ideas flowing in this thread. Of which i have been involved in it all.

Its a shame more haven't wanted to have an input in there own hobby. Maybe they are busy with other things. Maybe they don't read the forum. Or maybe they just don't want to get involved. Thats their choice.

After riat unfortunately there is going to be some changes some good, some bad, some people will like, others won't, work is underway putting things in place

[anukhet]

Re: The future of roboting

when my daughter went to one event all she kept talking about was the girls dressed in pink with the sweets!!

Many thanks for that compliment Ady - the whole 'look' is meant to be distinctive and memorable and we have gained quite a fanbase because of it - mainly the dads and daughters That, together with the posters and keyrings have appealed to girls. Now the team is going in a new direction with making Geoff more prominent, getting David more involved and Mike Lambert joining the team. A brand new HW is on the way and we are changing our 'public image' for want of better words. In the end that 'girlie' part won't disappear but we are working to widen our appeal

Why am I telling everyone all this - well it's simple - self promotion! There's nothing like it for raising interest. This is something that (for those who are there) can talk about at length at RIAT without the officialdom of the FRA getting in the way of free speech. The future of this sport is down to all of us - perhaps through the haze of alcohol we can start to see things more clearly :shock:

[dragonmaster_1]

Re: The future of roboting

Did not want to post on this subject so i wont. The reason will not be attending any events in the near future with robots any way. But good luck with the future.

[Team Invade]

Re: The future of roboting

Hi. I have been reading this debate with interest and have decided to post for the first time ever as an indication of Michael and Adrian's commitment to the sport!

Firstly a massive thank you to all EO's, I agree with Ian that these events provide great opportunities for all young roboteers out there and more importantly are hugely enjoyable. As such we are commited to building a heavyweight as soon as we can, unfortunately for us the two constraints are time and transport but we will persevere.

I also agree that we should all do whatever we can to help EO's, therefore to Jonno an offer of help to promote Wigan if you need as we are only 10 miles away!!

I can add no value to the technical future of roboteering. However the debate needs to also focus on the cold hard fact that events need to become commercially viable. Hence the following two suggestions for debate and peoples' views:

Timing of events is very important!!! The audience seems to me to be made up largely of families with boys aged from 8 to 13. Bank holidays such as Easter and the recent Spring Bank holiday are traditionally the time when everyone goes on holiday!! Even in a credit crunch people will still go to Tesco, buy a cheap tent and go camping.
I just have always thought the market simply isn't there at these times and that there are too many other alternative events going on to complete against. Maybe events scheduled during term times and when the weather is cold might fare better??????

Also, am sure this has already been thought of, but a focus on maximising the £spend per paying customer at events could also help.The time between battles may be an ideal opportunity for this. An idea might be to be a bit more agressive in selling merchandise between battles eg by physically walking up to and amongst the crowd, a bit like when the old cinemas used to sell ice creams at intervals??? It seems to me we encourage the crowd to the autographs and not to spend money.

As I say this is my first (and probably last ever) post and I hope the comments are interpreted in the constructive manner in which they were intended. Thanks again to all EO's for all their efforts!! Would put a smiley face here but don't know how to!

Gill(Michaels mum)

[grafix]

Re: The future of roboting

Gill, your not my mum.

[craig_colliass]

Re: The future of roboting

Thank you Gill

Good Ideas!!

[robotwars]

Re: The future of roboting

Hi Tony,

Good Luck for the future, in what ever you do.

You must pop along to Barnsley next year, I'm sure we can find a robot for you to drive.... even if its MD... Just for old times sake !!

:-)

Thanks for getting involved everyone it has helped in my decision process :-)

[dragonmaster_1]

Re: The future of roboting

Hi Jonno
Not gone forever
The overtime at work paid for the robots
Now no overtime for a year we have been told plus no pay rise this year.
Hopefully it will improve next year
Fingers crossed
Tony.

[cliveb]

Re: The future of roboting

No payrise up here either Tony , but all things being equal we will be at Barmsley next year, and one of our robots will be at your disposal for the weekend. If you are really nice to Wendy she won't offer Stagefright.

[Ianshock]

Re: The future of roboting

Hi. A thought came to me today. A few of the teams produce stickers us included.

I thought why not produce something that the audience can pick up on their way in ?...of course its impossible to do a programme for each event and costly for the EOs. So then thought if each of the teams used a standard template eg word document etc, we could all produce our robots stats on say A5 (1/2 A4) with some team info, have the EOs details, forum website etc and next events etc.

Upto each of the teams if they want to fund this themselves / put the effort in but if a couple of teams can do this every event it could help the community and advertise. Plus the fact gives the audience something to aim their cheers for !

Just an idea.
Cheers Ian

[robotwars]

Re: The future of roboting

Hi Ian,

See this is why its good to chat and talk, and come up with ideas, although im already one step ahead of you.

We have a generic event program which we sell at events, high volume printed to keep the cost down.. however...

I had already decided, that it wouldnt cost much to print some extra info to slip inside it for each event, along the lines of what you sugessted, it would have an up to date robot list, any news / gossip, current standings on the the league table, and some stats from the robots etc....

if roboteers wanted to print off their own signs and banners etc,,,,, to brighten up the pits they would be more than welcome. hint hint !!

Regards

John

[widow_twanky]

Re: The future of roboting

The league version of the UK championships has been a reall success with HW roboteers this year but I think this means that with one day events there is less chance of a competition for the day being organised. Personally I think this loses something for the crowds. When we used to come to events as a spectator we would generally book to see the final because it was more exciting. Maybe it is the case that commercially/marketing wise it makes more sense to have a competition which can be sold to the public and is decided on the day rather than their event just being part of a league and being invited to watch some fights where they have absolutely no chance of seeing who the winner of the overall competition is. Or maybe there's a halfway house.

Andy

[calumco]

Re: The future of roboting

something i think the audience might like is a giant board or projector screen showing a list of all the shows fights to come mabye with a picture by the name of the competing robots for each fight,- or mabye on a screen a thing saying 'next fight up' with pictures of the robots and their names. i no this wouldn't be really possible with the feathers but it might be a good idea for the heavy weights, becasue the audience will be happily able to see the robots names and cheer on which they think is best.