clusterbot with interchangeable botlets.

[Hogi]

hi everyone. as i have mentioned before, i am working on a three part cluster consisting of a new version of transit ant that is specially designed to be a formidable opponent for antweights but also to be light enough to be clustered with two nanoweights. i have also started work on a shufflebot that i anticipate will be very small and light. if i can make it clusterable with the two nanos, would it be ok for me to weigh the cluster with transit ant and the two nanos and then weigh the cluster with the shufflebot and the two nanos and then interchange between them during the competition? i know some robots ( including thunder strike now ) have interchangeable weapons. are interchangeable cluster botlets within the rules as well? i don't mind if they're not i just thought it'd be fun to build and fun to drive.

[TeamCrash]

Ooh! Cluster!

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Yeah Dan, that's perfectly fine as long as whichever combination goes into the arena obeys the rules, that you state your intentions at sign up, and that none of the botlets are part of any other entry.

We have actually talked before about the idea of signing up all fleaweights as one single cluster and then picking whichever two are best to beat whichever opponent it gets drawn up against as a theoretical possible entry before, so your idea is fine, it just needs declaring at tech check. Wouldn't be that different from Lemmings.

Though it might be best to bare in mind (for Lemmings too actually) that the proposal for the rules is drivers are only allowed to help out with one other clusterbot that isn't part of their team, so might be worth securing people to help you drive in advance.

[peterwaller]

I would have thought changing robots in a cluster between rounds would not be allowed.
If it is I have about 4 or 5 Ants I could cluster with Alsoran and change them to suit the opponent or when one suffers damage.

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

I don't really like the idea of that but is it actually against any rules? As long as you declared all possible combinations at sign up...

[limpet]

I think that would amount to being a 'team' rather than a robot, you could end up with a Triggers Broom situation where the original cluster is not the same as the final one.
I`m patenting the robot name Triggers Broom too!

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

I guess you could rule it out under the "all botlets must weigh in as a single unit" rule. If you have to weigh it in twice then it becomes 2 units, not one. Sorry Dan, guess you'll have to stick to three.

Also, if we do Lemmings again, that'll have to stick to the original 'team' too. If one is ruled out due to damage, then it cant be replaced with another.

[Hogi]

oh well, i just thought it would be cool but yeah i suppose it's not really in the spirit of the rules. after all, the intention is that you can enter a team of four individual robots and i kind of can't help agreeing with the point raised about an interchangeable clusterbot being more of a team than an individual robot. oh well, a three botlet clusterbot is a cool idea in itself and that also means i can build my shufflebot up to 225 grams! for anyone that was wondering the idea of my shufflebot project is to build the first effective pusher that pushes with legs instead of wheels.

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

I look forward to seeing it! Hope it works.

[Hogi]

me too! as usual the design has come straight out of my head and straight onto the robot pictures and videos soon but i doubt it'll be ready by the AWS.