This events looks really fun to compete in. I would love to compete in 2009. I assume that any type of actuators will do so long as the robot is less than 18 inches? So I could use air muscles? I could have a lot of torque for a much smaller price.
Its a really neat idea!
18" isnt a maximum, I was just stating the range the majority of bots will be in. That said, keep in mind larger bots may end up getting a weight penalty or be moved to another class if they end up having too much of an advantage. For year 1 we’re keeping the guidelines pretty loose though.
I’ve noticed on both weapon rules, it is stated
does this mean I can’t use an air piston or something like that?
in any case, could this rule be clarified a bit?
What exactly is meant by a “basic melee weapon”? Stuff like swords and maces?
By basic melee weapons I mean swords, axes, etc. No powered/rotary weapon rules out air pistons 
Competition is meant to be based around projectile weapons, I don’t want this to turn into Battlebots.
Is it required to have a projectile weapon?
I bet he meant non-projectile, i.e. melee, because I don’t think people would look fondly on robots fighting with guns in a public arena. 
No, I meant projectile. We have a fully enclosed arena available for this competition. There are some limitations on velocity and what you can use for projectiles.
Your mech is not required to have a projectile weapon, but on the same accord only basic melee weapons are allowed. This is because the focus on this competition is ranged weapons rather than melee.
I placed an order with the Toy East company. I got 5 each of the three cannons linked in the forum. James and I are building up some bots. I’m building up at least one maybe two hexapods, even though there isn’t a hexapod class… Yet! We are planning a biped as well. 8)
Ooooh,
This event is going to be awesome!
Cool. Are you guys planning to take the biped to RoboGames in San Francisco?
I’m not big on travel, but we might send the robots to someone to run them for us.
Or he might send me to run the robot 
hint hint
Well, maybe… Here’s to hoping 
Hrm, maybe… 
Oh! my guns have arrived. 8)
I ordered 5 of each of three different styles, but they only shipped 2 of one of them. The green camo ones on the right weigh 3.59 oz. I found the wires that go to the motor and applied 6vdc to them, turned on the switch and zip-BAM, zip-BAM, zip-BAM, etc. lol There are two more wires that appear to go to a switch inside the gun. I assume it’s used to synchronize the motor circuitry. Now to build some bots. hahaha 
Ho! It looks like there is an error on the mech-warefare.com website. The third link to Toyeast for the guns lists a 200mm airsoft cannon, but in reality it’s got an LED in the barrel, and the motor just handles the recoil of the barrel. So I’m lucky they only had two of the five I ordered. Oh well np.
Ah crap, sorry about that Jim. I got the links from another participant and should’ve more closely inspected them. I’ll buy em for you as it was an error on my part.
Fiddlesticks you will. lol It’s no problem really. They weren’t that much anyway. I only mentioned it so you can fix it so others don’t buy them. 
Pretty cool guns eh? I just have to figure out how to make um shoot. I guess I needs to get me some bullets.
I’ve been building a Biped Pete but still can’t part with my dream to build a Scout which I’ve always considered to be one of the coolest looking robots ever. After seeing this, I really want to build one a stick a gun on it. Would it be a good platform for this? It seems like it.
that scout idea seems like a perfect idea to me i’d go for it maybe you can combine your ideas somehow
my debate is simular I have two projects one is project for joining mech wars (to help promote my robotic experiments)
however my other project is much larger but long story short
my mechwarrior bot could be built but I won’t have enough for it’s special systems
my quarterscale project will only alow me to build half of it not including it’s “special features”
this is all due to lack of funds but I just wonder what to do first?
Here’s the 2nd mech I’m building, using the SES system:
Wow that looks fantastic, cant wait to see it in action…
