The weather is starting to get cooler, and you know what that means: time to start building those NRL combat robots!
We have some rules updates for the year and all kinds of free resources for teams and team supporters, so read on to make sure you have everything you need.
2014-2015 NRL Rules and Regulations
There are no updates for the 2014-2015 school year to the NRL Technical Regulations.
We made some small updates to the competition rules for this season, mostly to clarify safety rules. The new rules are available here, and the changes are outlined below.
- Standard prescription glasses do not count as safety glasses. Prescription safety glasses or safety glasses designed to fit over prescription lenses are acceptable. Standard safety glasses should not be worn over prescription lenses. This rule also applies to coaches and technical advisors.
- Long pants are required in the pits.
- Postponements will no longer be allowed at the national tournament, and we are returning to a guaranteed 20 (rather than 30) minutes between matches. Regional competitions may continue to offer postponements at the tournament director’s discretion.
National Competition
The dates and location have been set for NRL Nationals 2015! We’ll be back at Baldwin Wallace University and the event dates are May 15-16, 2015.
Just like last year we’ll do safety inspections, documentation judging and team interviews on Friday May 15th. We are also putting together a series of fun and educational workshops for teachers and students, so plan to be with us all day Friday and Saturday!
New event details will be posted on this page as they become available.
Resources
Starter Kits
Want to get a jumpstart on your ‘bot? The GEARS Heavy metal Chassis kit provides many of the parts you need to get started, along with step-by-step instructions on how to build a basic robot. These kits are especially helpful for new teams. Plus, NRL members are eligible for special pricing.
If you are interested in purchasing a GEARS kit, contact us and we’ll connect you with the sales rep in your area.
Solidworks Licences
Student robot builders are eligible for free seats of Solidworks to help ensure their robotic creations are built upon rock-solid designs.
To score your copy, have one member of your team visit the Solidworks website.
Note: The software is for student’s personal computers and not for schools.
Forums
If you’ve ever wished it was easier to get in touch with other NRL participants across the country, this next update is for you. The NRL website now includes a community forum. Here’s how to get started.
Create a free account on the NRL Website
It’s free to register with the NRL, and addition to forum access you get other cool stuff. If you are already a member, just make sure you are signed in, and you should be able to start threads in the forums. To register for a free account click the link below.
Note: we get a lot of spammers trying to register with the site so we approve everyone manually. That process usually takes less than 24 hours (sometimes less than 24 minutes!) but real registrations sometimes slip by, so if you don’t have your login info after 24 hours, please contact us and we’ll fish your request out of the spam filter.
Introduce Yourself in the Forum
Communities like this work best when members get to know each other, so please don’t skip this step. Let us know who you are and why combat robot building is important to you.
Be a leader
Online communities can be a great way to meet people who share your passions, get your questions answered, or share your years of accumulated knowledge—or they can be a ghost town. Please help get the ball rolling by posting information about your own projects, and commenting on the posts of others.
Free Hat!
To help inspire you to post, I have a free NRL baseball hat for the first 10 forum posters*.
That’s all the updates! Please leave a comment below if you have additional questions.
Can’t wait to see this year’s robotic creations!
* Send me a hat” doesn’t count as a real post.
