RobotWars101

Thanks! It's slowly getting better, as I'm learning from my mistakes: Last year: Match #1: My servo arm was a paper clip, which broke. Cut a polycarb arm to replace it. Match #2: Forgot to actually screw on the servo arm, which broke. Screwed it in. Rumble: Thin taped-on plastic flipper extension he...

Robogames was a blast, and my 150g bot finally won a match. I think Swarf might have been one of the only flippers in the event, in a field full of scary kinetic spinners. Still, I ended up going 2-2, losing to a wide dustpan that I couldn't flip (no 4" cube restrictions here!) and a spinner th...

A friend finally rebuilt his 150g horizontal spinner (Afro 20a OPTO esc, the typical red dys1806 motor), and wanted to test the failsafe. Spun the weapon up to full power, but when he turned off the transmitter, the blade stopped VERY suddenly. He thought maybe it might have produced some back EMF t...

Out of curiousity, how are brushed N20 motors used for hammers? Are there endpoints somehow set so the motor doesn't burn itself out pushing the hammer arm against the frame? Or do you just use the throttle channel and wing it?

I'd love to build something like this, but am not sure how it's done...

Nope, it's a coincidence! The name is from a character in the old, bizzare Uncle series of kids books. The Badfort crowd of villains have wonderful names I'm hoping to use for our bots: Nailrod Hateman, Hitmouse, Jellytussle... Man, I loved Jellyfish, though--as someone whose first bot built not lon...

Well, I finally got another "pink" servo, as well as a couple of others to test. One is rated at 7.4V--should I NOT run it directly off of a 2S lipo, since it's 8.4V fully charged? I'm not sure how sensitive these things are to being overvolted. (The "pink" is rated to 8.4V, and ...

Cool, so if my receiver is powered through my brushed drive ESCs, I don't need to do anything different? Thanks!

I just picked up a set of BLHeli 20a ESCs to run the classic DYS BE1806 motor for my weapon. But while my old bot used an ESC with a BEC, these are "OPTO". If I remember correctly, this means I need to wire it a bit differently--but for the life of me, I can't figure out what I should do. ...

I'm building another clamp/flipper, and the "pink" Turnigy servo is out of stock at HobbyKing. What other 150g-appropriate servos would folks recommend? Also, if I'm just clamping, I presume I don't need as burly a servo as the "pink" I use for a flipper. Is there a popular weake...

Okay, so I now have three 150g ants, and our backyard arena is finished enough to use. Hopefully we can get a local league going soon! Here's a video my son made of our recent "event", which was mostly an excuse to force us to finish building. My friend's bot broke very quickly, so it was ...