Sparing Arena

[Spaceman]

Hello all

I have been putting some thought towards building a sparing arena. The primary purpose is to train up my driving skills ( or the designated driver) help develop future ants and let others try them out. I may also use it at our local fete to help raise a bit of money for their charity.

My design consideration at the moment is a arena designed for pushers and lifters that can be broken down for transit if needed. Id apreciate any advise as to materials, size, and how much it should be enclosed.

Its a backburner idea at the moment. But best to learn before i go buy the wrong stuff or make it wrong.

[deejaycool86]

Hi there,

There was one for sale a while back on the FRA forum. Might be good for reference for you, there's a few photos.
I was thinking about making one in the future after building a first ant.

http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/threads ... etle-arena

[peterwaller]

That looks a bit big and heavy for a small test arena.
Here is my old test arena I have just modified for a school fete I am doing a week Saturday.
The arena is 75 X 75 cms with drop off on two opposite sides see below with Ant for scale.
Because some of the children will be as young as 5 I have fitted two drop down walls on the open sides one is up and the other down in the picture.

I thought I would give them 1 min to practice with the walls up then drop them down for the battle.
The arena is just made from old bed slats and a square of hard board and only weighs about 4.5 Kgs.

I have added a small area of hardboard with some beading below each drop of to try and stop the ants dropping to the floor.

[Spaceman]

Cheers for the link.

I like the design of your arena. The only thing i may do is split it into two parts to make transit easyer.

If doing a fete with pushers or lifters do i need to worry about polycarbonate or mesh sides?

[Hogi]

i use my practise arena for small contests against my cousins without a pollycarb box. we've all got pushers and lifters and it's been alright. the reason for the pollycarb box is for spinners and pneumatic flippers that could potentially send debris flying out everywhere. i've actually built a small practise arena out of an old picture frame and some wood!

[peterwaller]

I am using just pushers and lifters and hav no polycarb cover.
Most ants have a very thin sheet at the front to get under the other robots.
A single thickness of tape on the arena can be enough to stop an ant so if you do have a joint it would need to be so precise as to be difficult to make and maintain.

[Spaceman]

Hmmm. I shall have to have a rethink then