The Rules: Assembly and Competition

2. LEGO bricks only! All parts must be produced by LEGO. LEGO parts must be used in their completeness, without the removal of any material. No modifying of LEGO parts (opening of motors, heavier wire gauge, milling, drilling or dremeling etc.) with three exceptions:

• LEGO shafts may be cut down to size. Example a six stud shaft may be cut to a five or three stud shaft. You may not cut shafts to a non standard shaft length and no modifying of shafts in any other way (permanently bending, melting, drilling, pinning, etc.).
• Small plastic balls, ping pong balls, plastic injected balls like the ones in the Robosports mindstorms expansion may be used.
• Rubber bands, belts, string, and 1/16" bungee other than the ones supplied by LEGO may be used as long a it is no bigger in thickness and length than LEGO rubber bands, bungee or string. No cutting of rubber bands.

4. Robots must fit into a 1'6" X 1'6" X 1'6" volume at the beginning of the match. Extension by mechanical means to a larger size during the match is legal. There is no weight limit or limit to the number of LEGO bricks you use or as long as you fit into the volume. Buying more LEGOs above and beyond the kits that have been sent to us is fine as long as your bank account is happy with it.

5. All control must be done by using the LEGO RCX bricks. Hacking and reprogramming of the RCX brick by other software is legal.

6. There is no rule number 6.

7. You may not build a second robot that was developed for a certain situation (i.e. you used your fast robot for the match but for your second match you use your slow robot). However, you may completely rebuild your robot between matches, time permitting. (see competition rules).

8. Modular weapons are allowed as long as they make up no more than 50% of your robot.

9. Projectile weapons are allowed. But remember it is no fun until someone loses an eye. Don't hurt the spectators.

2. All robots must pass an inspection before the event.

3. Physical modification and repairs are permitted between matches as long as it does not conflict with the assembly rules. The robot must pass inspection after physical modification.

4. Software modification is permitted at anytime outside of combat. Downloading to your RCX brick is allowed only in the downloading area. Although the downloading area is designed to block accidental transmission to other RCX bricks, you should warn nearby competitors.

5. If you need more time for repairs/modifications you might get it depending on the situation. We're all friends.

6. Your robot must start each match from a stationary position; nothing can be whirling or spinning (Blendo rule). However, rubber bands can be pre stretched and the lego air tanks can be pre loaded.

7. Jamming or taking control of another's robot is not permitted. Intentionally blocking IR. signal to your competitors robot is not permitted.

8. You (the competitor) may move around the arena space (8’X8’) during the combat but you may not hinder other competitors movement around the area.

9. Winning will be determined by destroying or dominating your opponent. Pins and holds will not win the event; after 20 seconds of non action the robots will be broken up. In the case of no clear victor, the other competitors will vote in secret (slips of paper in a hat) if it comes to that.

01-30           Peter Abrahamson
31-60           Jason Bardis
61-90           Christian Carlberg
91-120          Dan Danknick
121-150         Rick Galinson
151-180         Luke Khanlian
181-210         Greg Munson/Trey Roski/Carlo Bertocchini
211-240         Clint Lynch

What follows is an initial breakdown of the Robogladiators competition format. Note that the general conference hours are Thursday 10-6, Friday 9-6 and Saturday 9-4. Although the competition will conclude on Friday, everyone is invited to return to the show on Saturday, when we'll be able to be much more impromptu with the goings-on perhaps we can run a melee round.

Robogladiators will take place over a two-day period: May 13 through May 14.

The first day's events will constitute the round-robin round. Players will be divided randomly into two categories, Division A and Division B. A and B will play against competitors in their own section throughout the round robin round to determine their seeding in the Eliminator round. Competitions will be scheduled on the half-hour. There are two options on how we can do the round-robin: one places all Division A matches in the morning and Division B matches in the afternoon, the other intermingles Division A and Division B. The benefit of the first option is that it will leave the morning/afternoon open if you need to attend to personal/work business during the day. The disadvantage of that scenario is that it forces scheduling of some competitors in back-to-back rounds' which might be unfair should a robot sustain serious damage and need lengthy repairs. I prefer the second option, but would like your collective feedback.

The Eliminator round will take the form of a traditional bracketed tournament, with first and fourth place pitted against one another, and second and third coupled together. These matches will be scheduled on the hour, beginning at 10.

Layout of round-robin round:

10:30am     A-B
11:00am     C-D
11:30am     E-F
12:00pm     G-H
12:30pm     B-C
1:00pm      A-D
1:30pm      E-H
2:00pm      F-G
2:30pm      A-C
3:00pm      B-D
3:30pm      E-G
4:00pm      F-H

10am            Div. A #1 plays Div. A #4 
11am            Div. A #2 plays Div. A #3 
12pm            Div. B #1 plays Div. B #4 
1pm             Div. B #2 plays Div. B #3 

2pm             Div. A championship round 
3pm             Div. B championship round 

4pm             Consolation Round (loser of 2pm match plays the loser of 3pm match) 

5pm             Championship Round (winner of 2pm match plays winner of 3pm match)