Servo - May 2015

recorded the action in that corner on a laptop. The second change was the use of two flat screen TVs (Figure 6) to make it easier for people in the pits to see what was happening in the arena. Last year, we had a single old CRT; the much bigger flat screens were a huge improvement. The only real problem was a lack of true hi-definition due to the limitations of the S-Video output utilized.

Next year, we will have to see if we can fix that and perhaps also add another monitor showing what the blind-spot laptop is recording.

Safety inspections were over by about 11:00 am, and after a drivers meeting, the main event got underway before noon.

This year, there was a large increase in the numbers of bots in all classes, but the Beetleweight class saw the greatest growth. Twenty-one Beetleweights competed in 2014 and now there were 37. A lot of old favorites like Grande Tambor (Figure

7), Kitbots kits Weta, Trilobite (seen with Hobbyweight Isotelus Rex in

Figure 8), Play’n Crazy, Mondo Bizarro, Devastating Moment (Figure 9), and Thunder Child (Figure 10) were back.

There were a number of impressive new bots, like the twins Project Excelsior (Figure 11) and Project Darkness (Figure 12), horizontal spinners, In the Margins (Figure 13), Silent Spring (Figure 14), Enterprise (Figure 15), and Dick Dastardly (Figure 16), plus wedges Speed Wedge 3 (Figure 17) and Terrapin (Figure 18), and even a ring spinner Smitti Werbenjagermanjensen (Figure 19).