The very first arena was made up of two mounting boards (£2 each) for the flooring, surrounded by cardboard which was held in place by a desk, wall, and some encyclopedias. Later on cushions where added and the arena rotated 90 degrees due to objects in the room having to be moved. A couple of basic bedside lamps where added for lighting. The result is that many of the fights in Series 1 look very different to each other. A Samsung 1065 Digital Camera was placed in one corner, a Microsoft Lifecam in another, and a Sony Ericsson K800i in the last. Another camera phone, Sony Ericsson again, was later placed over a plastic rod, extending from a chair (also propping up an arena wall) to get a more ariel view of the arena. This was added after battle 1.
A problem with this arena was the lack of light (where artificial light was used the results where poor) and also the arena had to be taken down several times as the room was used for other purposes. A couple of times weapons and castors would get stuck between the two mounting boards. Walls where easily bent and pulled apart.
Upgrading the arena was a huge challenge. First of all, I wanted at least one arena hazard - the classic Pit of Oblivion. Several robots could lift, but not flip and where majorly disadvantaged in the competition. A pit would also spice up the action and make fights more intense. But if I pit was to be added two things must also occur: the arena must be raised and enlarged. 3 mounting boards, many boxes, books and a reel of tape later the Arena Mk. 2 was born. There was more room to manouever, more room to spin up weapons, basically more room to fight. And the pit certainly did make fights more interesting. It was set up in another room below a large window, so light wasn't an issue any longer. With more area to cover all four cameras where allocated to a corner each.
There where however several issues. The arena could not be dismantled and as it took up so much space was frequently (though accidentally) kicked and trampled. The walls where not supported and as seen in several fights could be easily pushed away from the arena. In the final it became apparent how uneven the arena also was, propped up poorly by a random assortment of objects.
I could think of only one way to eradicate all of the issues experienced with the arena thus far. One would have to build an arena made of wood with the following key factors:
1) Walls must not move
2) Floor must be 100% flat
3) Must be collapsable
After discussion at great length with guitar luther in the making Christopher Mills who would go on to cut the huge MDF panels to size and make screwholes, the MDF Arena was born. Ironically, several books where needed to hold up the supports we'd forgotten to make but the key factors where met. After construction I felt the arena looked too bland so I decided to spray paint it. Very badly. Cost of wood was £60. Made up of 4 walls, 3 supports and 4 floor panels. Also requires several books though!
Please note - Lego dropped from a height (when constructed as my robots are) can break pieces and put pressure on them. beneath the pit there is a box filled with bags of air to cushion an otherwise nasty fall. Don't spray paint MDF. In hidsight I would have used white paint as this reflects infra-red which would have been useful for robots runing up-side down.