I’ve put fur on the top, and I plan on taping all the electronics I can to the front. Yes, taping. The whole point of the redesign was so I didn’t have to spend half an hour putting 2 screws in.
Rock and Robots 11 had the largest cast yet of 14 robots. I went 0-4 in the main contest due to forks being loose and the drive being overpowered.
However, in the rumble I was able to make it to the last 5 and ended up on my back along with a shuffler. The other 3 all fell out but, since I was presumed out but still slightly moving, I won the rumble setting SOA career record at 2-12!
I’ll be adding something to help me tun upside down next time, tightern my screws and not listen to my dad. If next time I bring a clusterbot where 1 has 10000 volts of electricity that happens to be going through slightly snapped wires and is emitting sparks and another that just so happens to be leaking lighter fluid, blame him.
Quick question, how do you reduce motor power?
Congrats on another event!
If the bot is too fast to control you have three options:
- Turn down the output of the transmitter k using the dual rate settings). This is easy to do, but it reduces your pushing power too. Effectively you get 0-50% throttle with 0-100% on the stick so your control is finer.
- Swap to lower RPM motors. You keep the same power but it is delivered at a lower speed. Obviously this means swapping the motors (I use 300 or 400 RPM with the bigger wheels).
- Swap to smaller wheels. Requires a full redesign so probably not an option.
Houndeye is going to be going to rock and robots 12 with minimal changes. I’ll add 2 fin-like bits to let it run upside down. As for reducing the motor power, I have no idea how to config the transmitter to do that. I only know how to move the joysticks and turn it on. As an unofficial joke response to Harry’s GT2 Question, they say some battles are won in CAD, and now everyone knows that you aren’t the best at that. Good luck.
I hear Eli is planning something this winter related to an Italy vs UK tournament, 2v2s and other events. After looking through some footage, the people possibly coming over use grabbers a lot. I sure hope that SOA is big enough to evade their grasp.
Might find this helpful
Thanks. I’ll have a look at it after school. The WiFi here blocks videos.
To pad this out, my dad has come up with 2 ideas for new robots, only 1 of which involves chemical warfare! He suggests SOA’s fur gets made of asbestos and after a hit everyone in the room will have a few years off their life. Except me. I’d have a hazmat suit. Play the (life)long game against them. The other is to use an old microwave to fry ahem: The battery, the radio waves, the opposing driver, the commentator, the judge and the audience.
Yeah, he gets some funny ideas for robot fighting, but it’s better than my classmates suggestions of adding a flamethrower or a gun.
Seal of Approval’s heading to Rock and Robots 12 (the future is now!) without any asbestos. I’ve procrastinated the upgrades, but since my dad built a panel that lets SOA run inverted (better). I hope I actually win a fight for once.
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Robots have been rocked. And for once, I didn’t lose all my fights!Thanks to a new back panel for inverted driving, and a panel to keep all the electrics under, I beat a robot driven by a 6 year old!
I did go down first in the rumble, taking Speedy with me. For next time, thicker forks and back panel are in order, and figuring out how to make the wheels grip more. Any suggestions are welcome, or reminding Eli to sandpaper the arena floor.
For better adhesion I highly recommend the toughhub wheels from nuts and bots, I used them in The Robot That Ate My Sandwich and I had really good grip in Eli’s arena. Link: 30mm ToughHub Wheels (Pack Of 2) » Nuts And Bots Note: I used 30mm but you can use whatever size you like!
The offer is… interesting. I couldn’t find any size options big enough for me. I’ll have a look around again. Fingers crossed I can get one before they go out of production.
Edit: Found some 50mm! Unfortunately they’re out of stock, and I doubt they’ll come back into it before they stop being sold.
I missed the window to get the tyres. Oops. Still, I’m headed to rock and robots 13 none the less (just signed up on rampage) to hopefully collect another win or two. I suppose I should look into ORCS, since it’s the second closest regular event to me and is also antweight. I don’t know how I’ll get there, but maybe I’ll find my way for number 7 or 8 (6 has stopped new entrants).
Oh no! Shame you couldn’t get them in time, have you considered smaller wheels? If your bot requires big wheels I saw some rubber wheels on ranglebox that have a 50mm diameter; they’re out of stock as of now but there are a couple pairs in stock on botbitz. They are in Australia however and shipping could take a long time. Might also be worth checking out the fingertech foam wheels on bbb, keep in mind that they are made for beetleweights and the hub size is a bit big for antweight but you can probably make it work.
Using large wheels combined with a redesign is a cool idea. I’m imagining an invertable wedge where the wheels are bigger than the robot and it just gets flipped about. Silliness would ensue. That is, if I could find antweight sized motors strong enough for the task.
The seal survived another engagement. 3 losses, despite 1 or 2 should have being more or less free wins. I did win 1 fight in a 2v2 with White Meat Babyface, a decent flipper. Nothing much happened in the rumble. I think I went out 3rd or 4th. I also got told off by my dad for taping on my screwdriver because it was too destructive. In a hobby with combat in the name.
My transmitter finally gave up and died. Maybe in part because the batteries came loose when I lost the cover. Hopefully some electrical tape win fix it, otherwise there’s nothing I can do. I’m also looking in to getting this tracked raspberry pi robot chassis.
I also had some driving fun with competitor warhog since someone was needed to drive it. I also had a go at this little bunny robot that Eli had after his competitor Step Up suffered a fatal soldering failure. It stopped running in the semi-finals after a wheel already had to be removed and it simply wouldn’t turn on. The little replacement had 2 buttons: Forwards and backwards and left a bit.
Rate my setup! (Seal Of Approval told me to)
SOA’s gotten a few upgrades since the last photo (bare chassis) and since I’m fairly sure I’m getting a shiny new body for my birthday, I decided to get it spic and span for GROCS 2v2s. I’m fairly sure I’m going (never received an email back) but I’m still going. I’ve just replaced the forks and a fork mount that got a large crack in it and got bent out of shape. I’ve also taped the back panel on tighter to keep the wheels in a good orientation.
With all this tape, I feel like I’m making a bodgebot (didn’t I say that about the first version?). If someone tells me if I’m headed to GROCS with a competitor at my side, it’d be greatly appreciated.
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Tape is 100% a valid structural material, especially at antweight.
Good luck at RnR!
I’ve realised that I haven’t linked videos to rock and robots 11, 12 or 13 (oh how the months fly by). I’ve linked the first one here, will add the other two soon.
Edit: It made a little video instead of a link. Who’s a good little video! Yes you are, yes you are!
So yesterday I had my GROCS misadventure. I got in 3 fights as part of the PLANT 2v2s. I got paired up with an undercutter without the undercutter part, and in my first fight I got an unfortunate encounter with 2 vertical spinners. It was in that moment my dad realised that “PLANTS” isn’t a funny way of spelling “Friendly”. That’s what whiteboards are for. I lost both panels, which I can’t screw back on. In part because one of the screws got torn in half. As a result, I’ve plundered 2 nuts and bolts from some random guys.
Needless to say, I lost that fight. And the second one as well. At least I survived until half way through the rumble. Also, a spinner should have won the spinner rumble, not that lifter.
The saga of the seal continues this weekend at rock and robots 14! I haven’t done any repairs (I’m scared to take anything off after how long it took for the first model to get put back together), but it should be fine. The chassis I hoped to get for my birthday is a no go, but I should be able to buy it anyway. I still haven’t got round to the fight videos though…
I could make a better version of the first chassis. The design is overall better than my current one, but some reworking would have to be done since the wheels rubbed the side and the switch needed some digging to get. And those screws that took an hour to put on…
Those screws…
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Well, rock and robots 14 happened. I went 1:3, plus a whiteboard match. I got a loss to Grey Fox 1.1, but by the looks of the wedge I might have been able to take it if I had it second. Next was a wide control bot, that got disposed of mostly with ease. I think I had a third fight, which I think I lost. I ended up in a joust VS Jet, Flipside and some other robot. I tried pointing myself at Flipside pre-fight, but I learnt a valuable lesson. Don’t stand in front of Jet. I went down first in the rumble, but got half way through the champion rumble. Finally I had a fight against a Kraken-style grabber called Ghost. It was quite a struggle, but eventually I was able to give up the Ghost.
New chassis is at a cousins house. Overall the performance is good, what did side panels ever do for me!
In conclusion: Lower mediocrity is better than abject failure.
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