Team Picus Telerobotics 2015

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joey_picus
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Team Picus Telerobotics 2015

Post by joey_picus »

Hiya all, hopefully nobody minds me making a new thread.

2014 ended up being a little bit of a write-off as far as robots are concerned, I had a lot of other things going on in my life and was starting to get very burned out by everything (also being the only 22 year old in a waiting room of 50+ year olds in the hospital was an interesting experience). However, it's a new year, a new AWS, new hopes, new materials, new website (well, the old one with some new graphics happening next update), and most importantly, a new name. Here's my first, hesitant steps into this new era at least two generations behind everyone else:

S. D. F. (this time with a top that fits and motors that move it faster than a very tired lion running out of petrol)

At the last AWS in Coventry I brought along S. D. F., which was meant to be my 'back to basics, testing out a new way of building' robot, but...well, look at the brackets up there for what it ended up being like.

LESSON THE FIRST: M2 does not mean 2mm holes
LESSON THE SECOND: Motors of unknown origin that materialise in your box of bits one day should be tested before you put them in a robot
LESSON THE THIRD: Under no circumstances should you leave most of the mechanical construction of a robot until the night before in a workshop surrounded by old Macintoshes

I learned enough from the experience though to give the construction method another go. Basically, I aim to fix the perennial 'no sides' problem in my construction by adopting a 'too much sides' approach, basically bolting everything to thick aluminium bulkheads at each side (kindly machined by Harry Hills in exchange for some chips and a bit of ribbon cable). This results in something looking like this:

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I like this picture because it looks professional, and you can't see all the slight unevenness in the panels...

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Aaaand with panels on. Old S. D. F. looks on in silent approval.

The concept is still pretty much the same as before - something wedgy and boxy to compete reliably and help me get back into robots - but it's going far better than the old version did. The body panels are all carbon fibre and aluminium composite (which sounds more technical than it is) and it'll have a fairly basic drivetrain, probably 50:1 Pololu HPs from my never-ending box o'parts. I'm hoping to have it all done by Monday or Tuesday, allowing me some driving practice and time to make spares...it's the first time in a long time I've really been this excited about robots, so all is looking good for the future :)

Mecha-Spall

This is my other...project for the upcoming AWS. After the CRUELLY UNJUST and DARKLY MOTIVATED BY SECRET AGENDAS rule (which is entirely reasonable, if subjective, it's just a shame it has to be an actual rule to stop increasing abuse of something that common sense should dictate people don't do) that led to the BANNING FOREVER of Spall from competition, I wanted to give THE ROBOT THEY TRIED TO BAN a decent sendoff, which led to this. Spall will be metamorphosed and reincarnated into a new being, which will EXACT VICIOUS REVENGE on those who tried to SUPPRESS it with CAPITAL LETTERS.

I haven't got any pictures of it yet because I haven't yet begun to build it, but here is an artist's impression:

Image
(specifications, colours, and contents may vary from illustrations)

The overall aesthetic I'm going for is probably best summed up by "Poundland Transformer". I'm also going to see if I can build it without spending anything, just using bits out of my seriously-way-too-big box o'parts, although that may end up not being that much of a restriction...

So that's what I'm doing, anyway. Hopefully I'm not just shouting into a void or building anything too hopeless, hehe :)
Joey McConnell-Farber - Team Picus Telerobotics - http://picus.org.uk/ - @joey_picus
"These dreams go on when I close my eyes...every second of the night, I live another life"
Hogi
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Re: Team Picus Telerobotics 2015

Post by Hogi »

another walker project! and that metal pusher looks awesome as well. awesome! :)
Daniel Jackson.

Team Hectic.

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Fleaweights: fleadom fighter, gaztons.

Featherweights: hectic (under construction)
Remote-Controlled Dave
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Re: Team Picus Telerobotics 2015

Post by Remote-Controlled Dave »

Impressive. I always liked S.D.F., even when snailing. Should be good with a bit of speed and power.
Die Gracefully Robotics
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Re: Team Picus Telerobotics 2015

Post by joey_picus »

...aaaaand for the first time in what feels like forever, a robot of mine is done with actual time to spare before the World Series!

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I have a horrible, horrible feeling that it's not going to look this good come Saturday night...(click for full size)

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Possibly the most important change; the EVIL CORPORATE ADVERTISING has been moved to the side where it should have been before.

I've only given it the briefest of test drives to confirm everything works but it already has a lot more speed and power than the old one had (thanks Dave!), and should be quite drivable too. It's hovering around 151-152g on my scales, but I have got some nylon bolts I can use for the AWS if necessary (while I work on a longer term weight loss solution).

Tomorrow will be driving practice I think, as well as getting the glitter glue out for Mecha Spall...:)
Joey McConnell-Farber - Team Picus Telerobotics - http://picus.org.uk/ - @joey_picus
"These dreams go on when I close my eyes...every second of the night, I live another life"
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Re: Team Picus Telerobotics 2015

Post by Remote-Controlled Dave »

Looks great Joey
Die Gracefully Robotics
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Hogi
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Re: Team Picus Telerobotics 2015

Post by Hogi »

awesome work dude! :)
Daniel Jackson.

Team Hectic.

Many antweights

Super antweights: territorial.

Fleaweights: fleadom fighter, gaztons.

Featherweights: hectic (under construction)
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Re: Team Picus Telerobotics 2015

Post by joey_picus »

Thanks :) I've had to make a different top panel to battle the weight issue, but it's ready to go, and as for the other thing...

Title: Mecha Spall
Media: Electronics, fibreglass, tin, extruded aluminium, mild steel bracket, elastic, turned aluminium, electric motors, sheet aluminium, copper, polycarbonate, commercially available vehicle not intended for combat, epoxy resin, adhesive tape, turned steel spikes, cable, wire, blood, silicon carbide, vulcanised rubber, White-Tack, lithium polymer, zinc, stainless steel. (also contains lanolin.)
Mood: Anger, delight, pride, resilience, nonrepentance, hunger, Richard O'Brien
Date: 27th March 2015
Value: £8

*posts a slightly different picture to the one in the events forum and collapses from exhaustion*
Attachments
Anyone who sings to me a line from the song in my signature tomorrow, correctly, will win a genuine piece of Mecha-Spall to cherish and pass down among generations to come.
Anyone who sings to me a line from the song in my signature tomorrow, correctly, will win a genuine piece of Mecha-Spall to cherish and pass down among generations to come.
DSC00061.jpg (154.73 KiB) Viewed 8924 times
Joey McConnell-Farber - Team Picus Telerobotics - http://picus.org.uk/ - @joey_picus
"These dreams go on when I close my eyes...every second of the night, I live another life"
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Re: Team Picus Telerobotics 2015

Post by joey_picus »

Hiya all, it's been a while since I've updated this - largely because until recently there's not been a lot to show. There is now though, and since I just took photographs of everything and don't quite feel up to updating the website yet, I present...

S. D. F. (now plural)

S. D. F. performed a *lot* better than I was expecting in Reading, making the top 16, but then went out immediately in Somerset and has only won one fight since then. It also turns out that if you build a robot entirely from aluminium and carbon fibre, even in the space year 2015 with the assistance of spread spectrum technology and 2.4 Ghz wavelengths, you're still setting yourself up for radio range problems, leading to this fetching addition (which promptly got caught underneath the robot at MIRA):

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What the well dressed robot is wearing for the new fashion season. In 1998.

Aside from that, there's nothing really wrong with S. D. F.; it functions well and is competitive when I've had driving practice (which hasn't really been often lately). The only real weakness is a lack of real armour, due to how heavy the aluminium sides are; therefore I'm building S. D. F. II using Nylon 6 instead to save weight for titanium wedges while hopefully retaining strength. Pictures of that will follow as it happens; no parts are being shared with S. D. F. I, so I'm entering both in Basingstoke, subject to construction going alright. Which leads me to the other robot being built in such a way...

JIGSAW 64

And it was only three years in the making! Jigsaw 64 is being built from pretty much the same materials as S. D. F. II, with nylon sides, aluminium and carbon fibre composite chassis panels, and a titanium front. The flipper is being powered by a Multiplex slim wing servo (which I don't have any spares of!) and it's about 20% smaller than Jigsaw V, as shown here:

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The new chassis, as of this afternoon. Other improvements over Jigsaw V include enclosed wheels and a generally far stiffer construction.

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And a comparison side by side. Though my robots may be terrible, I'd like to think I'm half decent at taking pictures of them.

I'm pleased with how it's turning out so far; everything fits together and looks like fitting inside the robot, which is a relief since it's extremely compact in there! I'm making good use of living near to a waterjet company as well - the nylon and titanium parts are all/will be waterjet, although there's a fair bit of bodging going on regardless.

Finally, a thing that isn't technically antweights:

PNEUMATIC...UNNAMED...FLEA...THING

This is something I've been working on for a few months and might never be actually finished, but it was close to hand when I had my camera and terrible knitwear out so I thought I'd include it. It uses a couple of Alex Shakespeare's nano drive units, a Hobbyking 5mm bore 10mm stroke ram, a Parker X-valve, and because I've designed myself into a corner (it ain't Team Picus Telerobotics unless I've designed myself into a corner) it's on hold for right now until I can get a 10mm diameter air tank that incorporates a filling valve made.

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The component parts arranged to look more finished than it is. The material throughout is the same ali/CF material I've apparently fallen in love with using...

It's basically a practical demonstration of the principle that 'just because something can be done, doesn't mean it *should* be', especially when it's being done by a complete idiot. It's been fun to work on so far though, and I might be able to get the flipper working before the AWS off a computer air can (FUN FACT: the fluid in those liquefies at 85 psi, although it's flammable enough that most of the can is dedicated to telling you in several languages not to buy it). If I can get it finished it probably won't be that competitive, but I'd get to hold some sort of world record*!

Hopefully the two or three people bothered to read this far enjoyed it, and if you saw Jigsaw 64 on the AWS entry list you now know what that is. :) Good luck to everyone else building for the AWS!

*whether this is for 'smallest pneumatically powered combat robot weapon' or 'biggest waste of everyone's time' is to be determined
Joey McConnell-Farber - Team Picus Telerobotics - http://picus.org.uk/ - @joey_picus
"These dreams go on when I close my eyes...every second of the night, I live another life"
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Re: Team Picus Telerobotics 2015

Post by Remote-Controlled Dave »

I'm still a fan of S.D.F. and glad you're building another. And its always nice to see precise construction without 3D printing. Disappointing lack of Mecha-Spall though!
Die Gracefully Robotics
Winner - AWS 39
Occashokka
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Re: Team Picus Telerobotics 2015

Post by Occashokka »

Would I be able to ask where you got such a tiny ram from, you know just invade any 'future investments' after the spinner land close to something good.
Team Badger
Has a 3d printer now yay
-£4.82+VAT (intact)
-cool modulated printed thingy
-not yet built nasty mean spinnt thingy

I'm gonna build something huge and stupid, try and stop me :P
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