Talk to the FRA

[Scorpionbuilder]

As President of the FRA I have created this new thread because now & again questions crop up which the committee or possibly event organisers need to consider & answer. But they can pop up anywhere on the forum & on any subject, so this is a place to put them to ensure they get considered. Any questions, comments or ideas you have let us know - I can't promise to answer all of your questions myself but with the wealth of knowledge across the committee, event organisers & roboteers someone should be able to answer.

With all members help the community can work together to move forward and hopefully become stronger & united.

The FRA looks forward to your input and guidance.

John

[typhoon_driver]

Re: Talk to the FRA

could this be made a sticky thread? I can see it falling down the list relatively quickly

[swanaldo]

Re: Talk to the FRA

My thoughts too.

[Scorpionbuilder]

Re: Talk to the FRA

I've already asked Kane to do that

[dgr]

Re: Talk to the FRA

Or maybe make it a whole section, so different threads can be posted under it?

[dgr]

Re: Talk to the FRA

Noticed a fair bit yesterday that featherweight robots were being driven about a fair bit whilst arming up was still taking place. I really thing that issue needs addressing (again).

[Scorpionbuilder]

Re: Talk to the FRA

Hi Dave

Thanks for bringing this up. I will pass your concerns to the arena marshals as what goes on in the arena is their jurisdiction. However it may be worth reminding everyone that once you are armed up & told where to go in the arena your robot should not move again until the arena is locked and safe

John

[geoff]

Re: Talk to the FRA

From the RFL forum....



I just got a call from the UK - it is 11pm here in SoCal so apparently they are using a new crop of interns... anyway, there is renewed interest in spinning up the RW brand in the USA.

Rachael expressed that there is a lot of room amongst the soft holdings and robot fighting, if re-purposed, could be a real win in 2010. She asked what my thoughts were and I mentioned that I'd worked with the Makers Faire people for a couple of years - and their R/C Warship compo was a big hit - so they should look there.

She did say that this would be shot for TV reality style - which means there isn't all the glitz and flash. And as per usual, there would be appearance fees offered for proper robots. Guys/gals, I gotta tell you that from my work in the past this means that wedgiebots are verboten.

I turned her on to this forum so hopefully she will keep us all informed.

Dan


Why do I have to be the one to report the fact that a production company from the UK is having to contact a senior US roboteer to get his views, rather than those of our own roboteers organisation?
It begs the following questions...
1) why is the association not involved in discussions with this UK company?
2) Did they even know about it, if not, why not?

If however the association have been approached then....
1) Why does the production company feel that they still have to approach the US builders? (could our association not give them the required infomation?)
2) Why have the association not informed it's members (you and me) of any such approach? After all, amongst their stated aims are the representation of the intrersts of it's members and the promotion of our sport.

Either way, the members are owed an explaination.

The relavent thread can be viewed at... http://forums.delphiforums.com/THERFL/messages/?msg

[widow_twanky]

Re: Talk to the FRA

there is renewed interest in spinning up the RW brand in the USA

For me that explains why they are talking to people in the USA

Andy

[RogueTwoRobots]

Re: Talk to the FRA

1) why is the association not involved in discussions with this UK company?
2) Did they even know about it, if not, why not?

1) There is no mention of what company it is in the original post, so it is possible that the association is not involved in discussions because how are they supposed to know which company it is? If it's a company previously connected with the RW franchise here, then why bother trying to reboot said franchise here. It ran its course and had its day. Yes there are still fans out there but not enough to pull off a successful reboot in my opinion. Perhaps they feel it will be easier to reboot in America?

2) What gives the FRA the devine right to know about every little robot-related movement? The association helps to allow us to enjoy our hobby and hopefully help promote it. But that does not mean that every robotic 'movement' has to go through it - it is not the supreme ruler of all things robotic in the UK. If I was this UK company contacting America and had a UK organisation asking questions about it out of the blue and wanting to know more, I'd find it a bit nosey. I don't think the FRA should be faulted here for not knowing about it.

On the subject of informing its members, how developed is this situation with the US community? If it has currently gone no further than a phonecall (and say it was a phonecall made to the FRA instead of the RFL) then there wouldn't be much point, in my eyes, of informing the community until there was at least something more definitive to report. What would be the point in getting people's hopes up about Robot Wars coming back based on a phonecall then have to tell everyone it's not going to happen when you hear back from this company and they decide they don't want to take things further?

I personally can't really fault the FRA on this and think implying otherwise is a bit over the top. Besides, we've only just got a new president and as you know there have been changes in positions so I think a little time to let everything 'bed in' should be granted. I don't know if anyone else has noticed but members of the governing body have been posting more regularly to remind us that we can contact them regarding anything to do with this hobby, whether we want it brought up for a meeting or just for general discussion. We've also now got this thread allowing us to fire direct questions. To me it is a positive sign and a step forward but to expect the association to be involved in discussions of this nature when it is perfectly plausible that no-one knew about it is asking a bit much at this stage.

My opinion anyway

[dgr]

Re: Talk to the FRA

I totally agree with everything Jamie said. That post seemed silly to me.

The FRA is not perfect, but it is most deinfately improving and trying to rectify any issues it's come up against, and I support that. John Bell has been doing a great job of starting to allow us members to have a say and things like posting minutes from meetings reassures me that they're not trying to hide anything from us roboteers.

[geeza]

Re: Talk to the FRA

If the company in question did a search on google, the first link is to the robot rule site which has FRA banners all over. The second link would be Roaming robots. Im sure that if John F had been contacted the FRA exec would have been informed or we would have found out directly. If we can find out the compnay an email or letter thier way wouldn't be a bad thing.

But having done that seach there is no direct link to the FRA website using 'robot wars'. Any way we can promote ourselves higher up this list? I only checked the first 8 pages then got bored.

[robotwars]

Re: Talk to the FRA

Im going to say much, because this is a pointless conversation obviously posted to try and cause a little bit of trouble for the FRA ! Ding Ding round 23 !

If they wanted to contact someone in the UK, they would have done.

I would say i probably speak on the phone, or have emails for alsorts of things at least three or four times a month, but they are always tentertive enquiries which lead to nothing. Our trip to the middle east took 3 years to sort out !!

Im even currently discussing options with a production company, but im not about to tell every one ive got it back on Tv, Im not about to get people hopes up with false claims, or even hint as to whats going on.

So even if the FRA had been approached, which im pretty sure it hasn't, it doesn't need to tell anyone until there's something to tell.

At this point in time, remember, it isnt us and them, the FRA, roboteers and Eo's are working together, that should include you too.

Please let the FRA continue to try and improve its service to the members, and stop with the pointless posting !
I actually think the FRA is taking steps forward !

John

[Scorpionbuilder]

Re: Talk to the FRA

I would like to thank everybody for their comments so far on this subject, your support is appreciated.

Ed that is a very good idea, perhaps we can discuss at the next meeting how we can raise our profile on google.

Geoff

It is very simple, if we were in discussion with a production company and it got to the point where a TV show was a real possibility, we would inform our members. First discussions - that would be very remiss of us to get the members hopes up.

It would be a bit like me coming on here and saying to all our members that I am in the middle of discussions with what could be a potential sponsor to supply a prize fund for this year's FRA Heavyweight champs. Things like that are wrong, you don't do it until it is actually likely to happen.

As a committee we are moving forward, I can inform everyone that this year the FRA is finally supplying the trophies for the championships.

But obviously if you have any constructive suggestions, please feel free to put them on this thread, that is what it is here for.

John

[joey_picus]

Re: Talk to the FRA

I think raising the FRA's profile in general would be a good idea...the committee does need a bit of time to 'bed down' as Jamie said but would it be at all possible to make the actual association more visible to the event-going public, maybe through a stand handing out leaflets and guides to building very basic robots, or a condensed version of the build rules and guidelines? I haven't been around long enough to know if there's been any similar measures taken in the past, but it seems like a fundamentally good idea that should be looked at.

I'd also like to join the general consensus that this thread and members of the committee talking to us more is a good thing, more transparency can only improve the sport in my opinion