BotFest 4 (25th April 2020)

[Bad Wolf]

Ill be there as usual Can't wait!

Bad Wolf

[McMullet]

Hi Lucy, if we're registering three people from a team with three robots, should we each register separately or register as a team with three robots? We shouldn't need to share driving, transmitters etc. Just wondering if it makes any difference for your admin!

[Ocracoke]

Hi Sam, yes, you would need to register as three independent teams. That won't be a problem from the admin side, hope to see you there!

[Ocracoke]

Apologies, I noticed last night that the registration to the originally planned event was still open on AntLog, which I have now force closed. If you have signed up for BotFest 4 via AntLog, you will need to register again through the Google form.

[McMullet]

Hi Sam, yes, you would need to register as three independent teams. That won't be a problem from the admin side, hope to see you there!

Done - thanks Lucy, looking forward it!

[Ocracoke]

Coolio!

All 14 slots have now been filled and the Google form has been closed. With that said, I am going back to the Church this Sunday to see if it is possible to rise this by 6 to make 20 slots for anyone who missed out on registration the first time around.

[voyanuitoa]

Hi Lucy, would it be possible to get some more info on what gloves are acceptable as mentioned in the additional rules. Are heavy duty work/gardening gloves okay or are medical type gloves required?

[Ocracoke]

Hi Liam, I would recommend rubber or latex type gloves, such as marigolds or the like for the extra precision in feeling when being used. That being said, I'd be OK with any type of closed finger gloves so long as they are being worn.

[Mr Manuva27]

Hi,

I'm a microbiologist by profession, including working in quality control/food safety in the food industry, where hand hygiene is highly emphasised on the production lines. This would be my advice:

Gloves are fantastic, but they are only as clean as the person wearing them. Gloves need to be changed/sanitised frequently to be effective. I see many people thinking that they are completely safe as soon as they put a pair of gloves, which causes them to act less cautiously with safety regulations. This results in contamination no different to if they weren't wearing gloves at all.

If you are wearing nitrile/latex gloves, then either change them regularly or apply hand sanitiser over the top. In addition to all of the above, keep your hands washed frequently and clean at all times, regardless of if you are wearing gloves or not.

Also a very important point: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES operate heated tools such as soldering irons and hot-glue guns while wearing nitrile/latex medical gloves. They will melt the gloves on to your skin and result in 3rd degree burns and a quick trip to A&E. If you have to do any repairs of this nature, wash your hands before and after the repairs using your bare hands.

[Ocracoke]

Thanks for the input, well received. As noted, you would need to bring your own hand gel (or similar) with you anyway so another reason to bring it. The comment about using soldering irons with gloves, I figured that'd be the case anyway, again the hand gel should cover that?

[Ocracoke]

So I've had a look at the church hall and the layout of the place and I think I am comfortable with adding two more spaces to the event but then that will be it. The signup form has been re-opened.

Because of the very limited plugs available, I recommend that people share extension leads where possible. It is also worth noting that since there is also little in the way of tables to begin with, we'll have to fashion some tables out of the abundance of chairs around.

[Ocracoke]

The two extra slots have been filled. I'll sort out the draw later on, there will be 8 groups rather than 4 this time as there are 35 robots in this one.

[James Williams]

Mad idea time, if we have exactly 35 bots, could we do 7 groups of 5 & have a big rumble for the 8th slot? That way every bot gets the same amount of fights & even robots that don't do well in the groups still have a chance.

[Ocracoke]

That isn't a bad idea though it'd be a case of each team selecting (where they have more than one robot signed up) one of their machines to participate. If people are OK with that, I've no problem going down that route though distancing around the arena might be tricky. I'll also need to ensure each group has only one robot from each team. I'll try and figure that out.

[voyanuitoa]

Hi Lucy, I was wondering if you could provide any info on the tech check procedures you use? This will be my first proper event and I know that AWS ants don’t exactly have the same safety rules as other weight classes (eg no power light or cradle requirements). I just want to make sure that I don’t miss anything blindingly obvious as I’m guessing that social distancing requirements will mean that checking each robot may take longer than in previous years.