Anything in the North

[McMad]

Hi all,

Looking to get started in robot building with my son but all the events seem to be based around London or in the South. Is there ever anything further North as we're in Central Scotland?

Also if there is what categories of robot do they normally include as there's no point building (say) an ant weight if there are no events local that it could compete at.

Cheers

Edit: posted in events as I can't create a post in general for some reason.

[R9000]

This annoys me a bit too. I'm in the midlands but it's a bit of a pain when 99% of the events seem to be down south. Like, really down south. Your best bet might be Robots Live in Grantham or Cannock (perhaps next year along with Manchester for Extreme Robots). These are heavyweight events, but they also do featherweight rumbles, so there's plenty of action for them too.

The Insomnia 61 gaming convention is at Birmingham, hopefully Robochallenge's featherweight championship is happening then (not confirmed yet). I know all this is still fairly southern compared to Glasgow, but at least it's not London.

[RogueTwoRobots]

I do always chuckle when things advertised as being 'north' are still a four and a half hour drive away from central Scotland

Hey Jeff, full Scottish live events are hard to come by sadly. We've had it good for a few years when Robots Live came to the National Museum of Flight and Glasgow Comic Con, but the last event was 2015, and as far as I know, they haven't got anything booked up this way for the foreseeable future. Obviously we do have the Robot Wars arena but that's not the same as a 'show up and go' live event.

Most of us Scottish lot who need a live event fix have to go down south, with the most common trip being to the Robo Challenge Featherweight Championship events at the NEC in Birmingham (usually a 10 hour round trip for us). It's far from convenient but the community and the fun to be had more than makes up for it.

In terms of what class to build for up here, I'd say featherweights are best. Every Scottish roboteer I know has at least one and, in the absence of events, they're quite easy to battle on the street with (obviously no spinners, limited axes etc) and Robot Wars may be looking at having featherweights in upcoming series', so there would be a potential opportunity there. The other main classes are heavyweights, but they're a pain to start with (and a pain in the back most of the time!) and the small 1.5kg beetleweights. We've only had one beetleweight event in Scotland, back in 2015, but they're much easier to host/build an arena for and they're lighter and cheaper too, though again most of the competitions for them are down south.

[daveimi]

I know I'm not quite in the same region, but Blackpool is still well out the way of London. If anyone wants to get together for a Northern underground street fight series I'm up for it

[Tim The Plumber]

I know I'm not quite in the same region, but Blackpool is still well out the way of London. If anyone wants to get together for a Northern underground street fight series I'm up for it

I have had an exchange with a guy here who's parents have a farm with camping.

We have got to be able to organise a just for fun, no paying spectators thing with bring your own robot to the disused cow shed and fight. Then talk robots over lots of beer event, surely!!

So, does anybody have or know somebody who has a farm with a camping site or similar or has a disused building near somewhere there are cheap hotels?

[Redirect Left]

I'm in Wakefield (West Yorkshire), would love to go to a live event, especially as i'm in the middle of helping build a robot. But affording to go to London is a little out of my pocket for the forseeable future! Wish there was more in the larger northern cities, say Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle etc!

[Ocracoke]

Same here, coming from the Wirral near Liverpool. The nearest live event to me was Manchester just gone, wouldn't mind meeting up.

[Eventorizon]

We are based near York and we have our own Class 1 Beetle arena; Full BW combat and FW testing/demonstration. If there was enough interest I am sure we could put something on even if it was just a social event where people could do whiteboards and test out their robots.

[daveimi]

That sounds good, I'd bring a beetle and/or a feather and donate towards costs.

[Redirect Left]

Oh bummer. Now i'm tempted to research beetleweights and give one of them a go...

[Ocracoke]

I'd be up for that, I've got a Featherweight almost finished (will be by July) and have some bits to make a Beetleweight with.