Defcon Robot Wars?

[blackwave]

Originally posted by guano
Thoughts?

I hope that some actual skill is required to implement the requirements. The complexity should be based off the time-involved, and if this project is to be done at home and carried in, or done out of a tube of stuff that everyone gets at the same time for 3 hours in a locked room... using only a leatherman/gerber...

obviously the home project should be a lot more complex than having a stick man breakdance... something like an hid serial generator, an ir led adapter - you send it a signal, it adapts and sends the same signal back, or even the next signal back... things out of nuts and volts would be neat... although more involved...

it would be nice to know how this is going to lean.

[DISINGENUOUS]

Originally posted by blackwave
things out of nuts and volts would be neat...

I believe you just found a good sponsor potential!!!

:)

--S

[russ]

There are some things I can keep a secret about. :-) Besides, I have to keep surprising everyone. What fun would it be if everyone knew WAY in advance?!

Originally posted by KeLviN
back to the topic.......kinda.........

what i wanna know is, why was the program the first i have heard of this robot wars.....

i mean....we ARE dc forums.......?!

[russ]

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haha

[kraa26]

Russ can't keep a secret :)

We need to have the wars in one of the pools.. have them drain it.. that way there is a bit of protection from my flamethrower... hope not to singe too many peoples eyebrows.

[blackwave]

Originally posted by kraa26
that way there is a bit of protection from my flamethrower... hope not to singe too many peoples eyebrows.

ah yes that will only help out my napalm nets that my robot shoots at high velocity... once the napalm burns through itself the thermite inner cords go green... then its miller time!

[murakami]

How about an army of robots?

http://www.ai.sri.com/centibots/

[guano]

Originally posted by murakami
How about an army of robots?

http://www.ai.sri.com/centibots/

That will never fly at Defcon. Everyone would "modify" the directions and it would end up with an army of uglies attacking each other. ;-)

Good suggestion though. 8-)

[russ]

Ya'll is killing me! hahaha I think we're finally getting settled on the final contest layout and should be able to release something in the next couple of weeks so that folks can start building their bots. I want to allow for plenty of time on this one.

BTW, I'm suckered.... errrr, asked Kraa to help out. He's got no clue wha..... errrr.... he accepted.

Probably should have talked to chris, kaigoth, doc, and some others before accepting! hahaha

:D

That will never fly at Defcon. Everyone would "modify" the directions and it would end up with an army of uglies attacking each other. ;-)

Good suggestion though. 8-)

[blackwave]

I think we're finally getting settled on the final contest layout and should be able to release something in the next couple of weeks so that folks can start building their bots.

whoo hoo! Hmm... [idea # 40102] how about points for a functional bot that transforms into something else functional and fights! :D

[TwinVega]

After a few hours, they get to see if they built something to solve the goal. Goals can be simple: move a 3" plastic sheep into a box (navigating around obsticles), move a dildo into a hole and vibrate it (alignment and accuracy), inflate a balloon and attach it to a bottle of beer (complex task), etc.

I'm liking the usefulness of this idea.
As for the contest, I kind of got into this discussion a little late, buuuut...I'm liking that this isn't going to be a battle bot/melt the oponent competition. As for the wireless control, there's bound to be some tricksters around the corner with a jammer of some sort, so that might want to be considered as well. I am interested into finding out how this contest will turn out. Great idea

[kraa26]

There are so many ways to do this event that it could get very big very fast.

Here is what we are looking at doing. NOTE this could change as we come up with more ideas. And we will post an OFFICIAL rules and reqs later on but I wanted to get something out there so everyone has time to get working on their bots.

There will be 2 catagories. Each catagory will have a few events. You can join all events or one event.. what ever interests you.

Beauty catagory
Cooliest looking bot
Most functional
Best Value

Beast catagory
Relay course (baton transfer, and possibly around one of the pools, so don't fall in)
Sumo (push bot out of circle)
Obsitcal course ( this might involve moving items out of the way, putting things up on blocks, and terrain negotiation.)

Each competition will have its own winner. There will also be teams that you can work on if you want a team to work together

4 bots per team (1 for beauty, 1 sumo, and 2 relay)

Rules that we have decided on
1. No destructive bots (flamethrowers (there goes my idea), chainsaws, stun guns, electrical sparks, blades, or projectiles... ANY thing that will cause DAMAGE is out)
2. Control your bot at all times.
3. NO kits. Can use parts of a couple kits.


I am sure there will be more things added to and or changes to these areas. We will post offical rules and regulations soon.

Thanks

Kraa

[DISINGENUOUS]

Rules that we have decided on
1. No destructive bots (flamethrowers (there goes my idea), chainsaws, stun guns, electrical sparks, blades, or projectiles... ANY thing that will cause DAMAGE is out)
2. Control your bot at all times.
3. NO kits. Can use parts of a couple kits.

The only thing I don't want to see is this turn into an RC Car competition with cooler cars. That's why I dislike robot wars that consist of three guys with 12 channel RC remotes.

If we're worried about control, I could see a single chanel remote kill switch to a rela that would shut off power. That would be fine. Short of that they should have independent action based on logic programming.

[TwinVega]

An idea....
There could be a race to get to the other side of the pool, you could either go through the pool, or around it, through it will be a shorter distance but you'll have to make a bot that will drop in, and then climb up the other side....just thought I'd put that thought in the creative minds of the creators of el contesto

[blackwave]

oh man... these rules are going to need to be tuned for hackers...
say i have a bot that is jamming most commercial radio frequencies for RCs making your robot go wacko... all the while my robot has a neat little cord that I am walking along side with to finish the race/relay/sumo while yours keeps jerking around in one place...

are there going to be rules on the dimensions and classes of bots?
check out this battlebots link for examples on weight classes, size classes, locomotion classes, etc... gas powered, electric powered, band powered...

http://www.battlebots.com/bnc_rules.asp

If I have a 200 lb 5 foot chunk of steel bot with a swinging mace on dual treads and someone just built their lego mindstorm spider-bot ... guess who is going to lose the sumo challenge.