Houndeye - My first combat robot

The next chapter in the saga of the seal is nigh! I signed up for rock and robots 15 That mean’s I’ve been to over half the rock and robots. Since Freddy Fazbot left, that makes me the veteran that does abysmally! I still have to put a front scoop on it. It’s a very tight squeeze AFTER I drilled some holes in the chassis and cut some bits off the bottom. All the electronics are meant to go on the top. If that’s where your robot’s electronics are, you’re in a bit of a pickle.

I’ve also noted a most concerning development. One of the robots entering is Sargent(somethingsomething)Ant(something). As a member of the Air Cadets, I went to my squadron leader to get permission to beat it up. She neither confirmed nor denied. All I can hope for is that I don’t get put in the same bracket and to not actively attack it in the rumble.

1 Like


Look who’s all packed up!

Seal Of Approval’s redesign has been finished with minimal incident, aside from not having a switch soldered in. The forks have been taken straight from another 150(+25)g robot I found lying around in some corner of a 3D printing website. It should run inverted, and the forks will give it decent ground clearance against most other robots. The only concern is the likes of Sir Googly, since its forks are longer and might even be able to fit between mine. It should still make for an easier time against Grey fox 1.1 (maybe even 2 now) and Flipside. The traction is great, but the wiring is a bit of a mess. Every time I close it up, I’m afraid I’ll snap some of the electronics. I also had to have the wiring put together really weirdly between the motors and the ESC to get it to drive normally. Probably because it was meant to run the other way up originally, as well as have the back be the front. 2 spare forks means that with that shiny red ESC/transmitter chip, it’ll be omnivertible!

With all of that, I should be able to go 1:2 or 1:3.

1 Like


Hello dad!

The shiny new Seal and his silly little friend The Seal Avenger! As you can see(al), SOA has another fork, but the changes go further than that! It’s got heat shrink on the switch, so it isn’t a rolling OSHA violation, and those snazzy combined transmitters/ESC. It’s having a little trouble, since the new ESC doesn’t do turning AND going forwards and backwards, but it easily won all it’s test matches vs The Seal Avenger (so long as I’m the one using it). I also taped the fur down harder. This should be it’s final form until rock and robots 16 (how has it become so many…), but putting the switch on the outside should be the next change.

TSE is also just sitting around, I’ve seen a really good looking 3D printed undercutter model that I want to use. If you know where you can buy antweight spinners, please tell me!

Oh and also my Dad is there holding the electrics in. He said to say this so nobody gets mixed up.

Rock and robots 16 already! How time flies! 22 robots, 1 prize. I had 3 fights in my heat, however the driver of one robot wasn’t there, so after a nice little win followed by getting my boi beaten up (I tried ok) I had a lot of time to kill. The drummer also didn’t arrive so a roboteer had to take over. When he had to do battle, I had around a heat’s worth of fights to drum for. I’ve never played the drums before, but I think I did alright. Freddy Fazbot showed up and I slam dunked him, getting in an 8 way melee for a spot in the semi finals. I made it to the final 3, but blundered. I also lost a robot football match, totalling 2:3. Close, but when will I win more than I lose?

1 Like

We’re in the hours before RnR 17, and I’m going to make my prediction! I think I’ll go 2:1, maybe 2:2 depending on the format. A nice safe bet this time. As for the changes, I’ve recharged the battery and… that’s pretty much it. At least it’ll be full of energy and go fast since when it isn’t topped up it gets pretty sluggish.

I went 2:3 or 3:2 (I can’t remember). Take off a loss if you don’t count a very unfortunate error. The modern version performed well, delivering several good pins in it’s second fight and overall causing a 3 way joust. However it had an issue that pushed some of it’s fights back.

The connectors between the motors and the ESC were pretty loose, and I lost my roll of electrical tape. Still, nothing to worry about. At least until the joust. In a very comedic moment, Seal Of Approval’s connectors came loose again, so I opened it up, jiggled it a bit, and it worked. Then I sat it in the arena and it broke. So I fixed it. As soon as it started working again, the joust began. You can’t make this up!

At least it came 4th in the rumble. It again suffered faulty connections, but it fixed itself after a second.

The solution to the problem is pretty simple: directly solder instead of using those bad connectors. I’ll look through SOA and TSA and replace any I can find.

1 Like