Armour questions

Please post all questions and answers in here. This way people can easily see if someone else has the same problem.

Moderators: BeligerAnt, petec, administrator

daveimi
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2014 10:39 am

Armour questions

Post by daveimi »

Some of the ant stuff I've read states you can't use thicker than 1mm, and your body can't be made from one continuous piece of material. Do these rules still stand, ie I couldn't use 2mm plastic sheet or 1.something mm Ti for example? Just looking for a bit of clarity. I couldn't see any similar topics to this using the search function but apologies if its been asked before.
haz
Posts: 1855
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:20 am
Location: Underwater Lair
Contact:

Re: Armour questions

Post by haz »

Nope. That went ages ago. You can have a 15mm aluminium unibody if you can get it in weight :wink:
User avatar
Rhys
Posts: 738
Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2002 12:00 am
Location: Caerphilly, South Wales

Re: Armour questions

Post by Rhys »

It used to be you couldn't use thicker than 1mm if it was metal. But as haz says, rules have now changed and you can go thick as you like. Having said that, most first timers go with 1mm polycarbonate. Cheap, readily available, easy to work with and will stop most attacks.
Image
User avatar
BeligerAnt
Posts: 1872
Joined: Wed May 15, 2002 12:00 am
Location: Brighton
Contact:

Re: Armour questions

Post by BeligerAnt »

You must have found something *really* old :o
The current rules can always be found at http://robotwars101.org/ants/rules.htm and http://www.antweight.co.uk/rules.htm

This rather fancy WikiHow article http://www.wikihow.com/Build-an-Antweight-Combat-Robot is slightly misleading in that it shows version 4.2 of the rules (current) in a graphic, but doesn't actually link to the current rules and mentions the metal armour thickness limit, which went a long time ago.

In short, you can do what you like as regards armour. Always refer to the current rules before shelling out on parts and materials or getting too carried away with your design!
Gary, Team BeligerAnt
daveimi
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2014 10:39 am

Re: Armour questions

Post by daveimi »

Yeah like you say I've been reading around and stumbled onto a guide somewhere that mentioned 1mm and continuous material. But then when I read the rules through it seems pretty relaxed so thought I'd ask. Can't wait for kit to arrive after the cash clears lol.
User avatar
Shakey
Posts: 1119
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 8:38 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Armour questions

Post by Shakey »

On the note of armour it's vital to make sure your armour is well mounted, spinners are less likely to damage the armour as they are to just rip it off the robot.
Nuts And Bots - For all your components and ready built antweights!

Alex Shakespeare - Team Shakey / Nuts And Bots / Team Nuts:
AWS 44, 45, 49, 51 & 55 Winner - Far too many robots!
daveimi
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2014 10:39 am

Re: Armour questions

Post by daveimi »

Ok. Any rules against using insulation tape to stick bits together and stuff?
User avatar
BeligerAnt
Posts: 1872
Joined: Wed May 15, 2002 12:00 am
Location: Brighton
Contact:

Re: Armour questions

Post by BeligerAnt »

Haha! You need to ask Remote Controlled Dave about that, it's his speciality, so much so that a roll of duct tape was an appropriate wedding gift :)

You can use what you like, and in fact art card and duct tape actually works really well. Just don't use superglue on polycarbonate - it's OK for a while but significantly weakens the polycarb' over time.
2-part epoxy, small nuts & bolts (nylon are lighter), double-sided sticky pads, cable ties, sellotape, and of course the aforementioned duct tape are all very suitable for holding various parts of your robots together.
Gary, Team BeligerAnt
daveimi
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2014 10:39 am

Re: Armour questions

Post by daveimi »

This is so awesome the possibilities are endless! You could even make robots sat watching the telly. I'm 30 and still getting excited about this is that sad? Lol. As long as you have the electrics to put in them you can try different things out in different robots. No way on earth could I do that with feathers!
Remote-Controlled Dave
Posts: 3716
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2005 5:30 pm
Location: Antrim, Northern Ireland
Contact:

Re: Armour questions

Post by Remote-Controlled Dave »

My robots tend to take me a couple of hours each to build from scratch. I don't design anything beforehand, just go on what's in my head and if its rubbish, dismantle and start again another day, and my robots more than hold their own in the arena now. Its the one weight class left where you really can go your own way without compromising your chances of winning fights too much. Every AWS competition throws up at least one for the 'famous victory' list, if not a fair few (Sidewinder beating Kinda Accelerant, Ant With Top Hat Returns beating Warhorses, and Robototron Mrk 2 beating Flail Whale spring immediately to mind from the last competition).
Die Gracefully Robotics
Winner - AWS 39
Post Reply