T_Y's Build Log

All things antweight

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Matt
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Re: T_Y's Build Log

Post by Matt »

Will this be ready for next sunday?
T_Y
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Re: T_Y's Build Log

Post by T_Y »

If everything goes to plan, yes! I'll be bringing all 3 bots (Hello, World!, Percussive Maintenance and HYTTIOAOA) to Sheffield but I'm only entering the two flippers as PM is not combat-ready yet.
Thomas - Approximation Robotics AKA "the one that does the mechanums"

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T_Y
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Re: T_Y's Build Log

Post by T_Y »

HYTTIOAOA is coming along nicely. I really like how the wheels have turned out. We'll have to see if they're any good!

Image

The shell is cut out and bolted together. I had to do a couple of revisions on the motor stand-offs to make it easy enough to screw them into place. One issue is that I've given myself very little ground clearance - if I lose the ground clearance battle I'm going to be high-centred very quickly and won't be able to drive away. Version 2 I think is going to have the wheels protrude out the back to help with that, maybe also give me a few mm more clearance. Oh, I also need to remove the rear part of the lifting arm so it doesn't collide with the motors.

Image

I've got tomorrow and Saturday to mount the servo and flipper (in the picture above, it's being held up by friction from the sides, which I also need to trim down a bit), sort out the electronics and make sure I've got enough spare parts to put the bots back together!
Thomas - Approximation Robotics AKA "the one that does the mechanums"

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T_Y
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Re: T_Y's Build Log

Post by T_Y »

So I went to Sheffield last Sunday to take part in a Robodojo/Sheffield Roboteers event, which was incredibly enjoyable!

So the problems started even before the first fight. I brought HYTTIOAOA for its first run, and an hour before the event, I realised it was a few mm too long. That was simple enough to fix, just remove some material off the back. The more pressing concern was that it was 12g overweight! I realised I had made a mistake by printing my wheels at 100% infill... each one was 8.6g! Because of the time constraints, in order to get it under weight i had to remove the read self-righting spike and all the top armour, and cut a hole in the base of the bot! Luckily, there were no axebots there, though there was an overhead grabber. I held the components in with a makeshift lid made of acetate electrical taped to the bot. I'm going to redesign the bot for the next event to reduce its size and weight (spoked wheels and a lower infill for them should solve most of the weight issues by itself).

On to the fights, and I actually won some (my first ever victories)! Both Hello, World! and HYTTIOAOA had 4-5 fights I think, each winning about half of them (I'll have to watch the recordings once they're uploaded to see if I remembered correctly!). I think I'm starting to get the hang of driving antweight bots, as my driving was more controlled than at AWS55 and at Robodojo.

I also got to see some really cool bots. There was an under-cutting spinner that had a 50g bar, which couldn't spin up without the bot itself spinning to give it a kick! Though I think that was because the brushless motor driving it wasn't particularly powerful. Another spinner, in the first fight of the day, exploded spectacularly as the disk caught itself. There was also a pretty effective push bot made from recycled tin cans!

The main tournament was followed by a couple of rumbles. In the first one, HYTTIOAOA managed to last until near the end, where it duelled with Ant-Dino (the aforementioned overhead gripper) for a good few minutes before losing - a proper good scrap.

That was Hello, World!'s last event. I'm retiring it in favour of a new front hinged flipper which looks a bit like Firestorm. Hopefully I'll get it ready for events in January and February. I also need to fix the electronics in Percussive Maintenance, as I'm still excited for that (as ineffective it may be)! It can even self-right now - none of that flailing about like at AWS55!
Thomas - Approximation Robotics AKA "the one that does the mechanums"

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Matt
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Re: T_Y's Build Log

Post by Matt »

Hopefully we can have a fight with the robot spinning properly at the next competition.
T_Y
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Re: T_Y's Build Log

Post by T_Y »

This will be a bit of an infodump. So I've been working on the new flipper, which I'm calling Blue Screen of Death (gotta keep those computing related names coming!). I'm trying to take what I've learned with Hello, World! to improve the design.

Image

Image

So the design looks a bit like Firestorm. The front wedge has been widened significantly and the sides aren't as angled. The rear now slopes backwards and the drive motors have been moved to be attached to the back panel (designing the motor mounts is gonna be a fun prospect...). What this should do is make a lot more space for components, which should hopefully eliminate the intermittent issues where Hello, World! turns itself off after a small impact!

The wheels have been moved to the back as well, so if someone gets under the front, the bot can still drive.

I've also been planning where each component will go. I've found a single motor driver that seems up to spec and is tiny, at only 11mm x 13mm! That should help with space saving. I'm also going to try a 150RPM weapon motor instead of Hello, World!'s 300RPM motor, hopefully there will be more torque on the flipper for self-righting.

Image

I've also been thinking about screw placement. Hello, World! had screws low down on the wedge, which meant that I had to resort to putting a sheet of acetate over the screws in order to avoid opponents catching on them and not riding up onto the flipper. So I've moved the mount further back, beefed it up a bit and hopefully that will still hold the bot together when a spinner hits it.

Image
Thomas - Approximation Robotics AKA "the one that does the mechanums"

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T_Y
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Re: T_Y's Build Log

Post by T_Y »

Update time, and whooo, the shell is done!

Image

And for comparisons sake, here it is next to Hello, World!

Image
Thomas - Approximation Robotics AKA "the one that does the mechanums"

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Matt
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Re: T_Y's Build Log

Post by Matt »

Image My new disc design
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peterwaller
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Re: T_Y's Build Log

Post by peterwaller »

Saw blades don't tend to be as successful at this scale, if they do actually cut into the other robot they tend to jam.
Hence the number of one, two or three teeth cutters.
Matt
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Re: T_Y's Build Log

Post by Matt »

They do look cool, and make nice sparks, thought the size of blade needed usually forces the robot sideways across the arena, normally towards the pit.
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