I only mentioned spinners cause I got thoroughly trashed by two at the last AWS (plus I'm hopefully bringing my own this time around )
I wouldn't say spare wheels or weapons servos are essential; though certainly advisable. I managed the last AWS without breaking either despite the spinners. I'd agree with the rest though. Also don't forget to set your alarm clock; I did that and almost missed tech checks
Yeah, there's no real need to have your own lipo bag for ants, or at least nothing formal. Most ants charge their battery without removing it from the robot anyway. As long as there is one around on the day, though I've been competing for a good while now and only seen a couple of lipo related incidents at AWSs.
I'd still thoroughly recommend LiPo bags, especially if you end up like me with between 20-30 LiPo cells in your possession at once. For a few dollars it's better safe than sorry. I've seen my fair share of failed LiPos. Not just for charging but also storing them in.
Also on spinner proofing, just something to take the blow other than your chassis. I normally use 2mm Ali, though inertia wrecked 4mm ali I had on last weekend, and it's just to let me take a hit or two.
Although it may be slightly off topic, I would suggest that when competing against spinners that having a defensive stance will not work in your favour. Attack from where and when possible, doing so will possibly mean that you could prevent the disk from spinning up to full speed with enough luck/skill.
dcr raptor wrote:Although it may be slightly off topic, I would suggest that when competing against spinners that having a defensive stance will not work in your favour. Attack from where and when possible, doing so will possibly mean that you could prevent the disk from spinning up to full speed with enough luck/skill.
pretty sure most spinners can get to dangerous speed before almost all rammers can get across the arena.
It doesn't matter. You'd be surprised how little damage a thick card robot like that can take, providing it wins the battle before it takes a battering. If a spinner is given chance to rip into it it'll be all over the arena, but that's not necessarily the way things go!
My philosophy is that even if my first bot is vaporised (now that be a epic spinner) that what ive learned and will learn will serve me well in the next bot. I get the the feeling good bots are as much about evolution as design.
I think that's a very good philosophy. Your electronics are rarely damaged from spinner hits in ant weights; the fight usually ends after the first effective hit which takes out your chassis and nothing else. So as long as the chassis is low cost and fairly simple, you should be able to rebuild something pretty quick if necessary! It also helps loads to watch the other robots competing, and see what designs do well and what doesn't; the amount you can learn just from going to an event is huge.
If your expensive electronics are suddenly looking vulnerable you can always surrender.
I did lose a receiver once (forgot to surrender in time!) and I have seen a couple of batteries destroyed. However, you are extremely unlikely to lose all your electronics in one go. Even the most "destroyed" robots probably don't cost more than about £20 in replacement parts to rebuild. Lucky we don't cost our time though!
Go for it, you'll be surprised what a robot can stand up to. And if it all gets too much, run away!
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