autonomous clusterbot

[alasdair]

hi

i am planning a cluster bot which comprises of two or three robots, but only one is rc. the other one or two would be either fully or semi autonomous ( and another point to consider would be that the semi/auto bot/s would be probably lighter than the controlled)
would this be allowed?

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Yes, that would be allowed Alasdair. As long as it all fits in the weight/cube limit, its perfectly legal. I'd love to see it!

[bitternboy]

Doesn't any robot have to be deactivate-able by remote control?

[alasdair]

yes i would make the robots de/activateable by rc. also, do the autonomous ones have to be able to move? they will probably have moving weapons but i dont want to reveal too much

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Yes, it has to start moving when activate happens, so you need a way of remotely starting it. And of course they have to move, or they'll be counted out...

[peterwaller]

I have been thinking of adding a degree of automation to an ant because of the way my minisumos lock on to the opposition is better than my driving.
What I was going to do was have normal radio control as standard but then when I hold down a button the autonomus lock on would take over.
The biggest problem is that our arena's have side walls which will confuse the sensors and no white line at the drop off.
I dont see any problem with the rules using this approach.

[alasdair]

Yes, it has to start moving when activate happens, so you need a way of remotely starting it. And of course they have to move, or they'll be counted out...

ok. one last thing, probably the main point is whether the cluster has to be seperate at the start, or whether they can seperate later on in the battle

[BeligerAnt]

Read the rules very carefully. If the robots meet all the rules then they will be fine.
Particularly, the "controlled motion" part of deciding whether a robot is immobilised could be difficult?
Active weapons must fail safe. For this reason I would be very wary of an autonomous spinner!
A cluster can start with all botlets connected together, there are no rules governing this.

I think it probably depends on how much autonomy you are planning. A semi-autonomous bot shouldn't have too many problems with the rules if it is fundamentally still remote controlled. A fully autonomous bot may be more difficult.