GeorgeR's robots

[Kyro]

interesting... i hope you get it up and running successfully because i would love to see a waddlebot

[TeamScrewUp]

It's starting to take shape...



Rather more bodged than normal, but it's more of a prototype/proof of concept than a finished design right now.

Is this like Vibrant?

[GeorgeR]

Not really. Vibrant's a bristlebot, the walking mechanism on this is very different. If you're trying to picture how this works Wrecks from battlebots is probably the closest approximation.
It's going to look a bit different when it's finished, I've got two more spinners to bolt on yet!

[GeorgeR]

Made some more progress on the new one...




I quickly bodged the cardboard top on so I could do a bit of testing, and I'm very relieved to report it actually works!
It's almost impossible to control right now, and my lack of a decent sized testing arena is making the task of tuning it in rather difficult, but overall I couldn't be happier, it's not every day you invent an entirely new method of robot propulsion!

[Derek Dudge]

Oh myyyy.

[MySolderIsOlder]

Sudden flashback to the bit in one of those star wars movies, where General Grievous reveals he has double the usual complement of arms and is spinning a light sabre at the end of each one. Gonna get messy - can't wait to see the fight videos!

[EddieJ]

Ooo nice! But... I think it's lacking something I think it needs... more spinners!!!

Seriously, looks amazing already. 4 independently controlled weapons?

[GeorgeR]

If in doubt, add more spinners!

Cheers. It's actually only three fully independent weapons, the two little verts are both running off of the same channel, but the big ones and the pair are all individually controlled. I'll do a post explaining how the walking motion works when I get a spare minute.

[GeorgeR]

And now for something completely different, here's RBMK....



This is a bit of an unusual one, a torque reaction gyro walker utilizing an entirely new and unique walking mechanism!

Specs
99x122x38mm, 200g
2x 90mm horizontal spinners (LeTodar 2204/DYS XM10A) combined with 2x 25mm vertical spinners (SunnySky r1104/Emax Bullet 6A), with the spinners also providing the forces required for the walking motion.
The chassis is my usual mix of aluminium and polycarbonate, 6Al4V titanium for the blades.

So how does it work then???

The bot sits on the two side sections of the chassis (i'll call them the feet), and moves by alternately stepping forward each foot in a kind of waddling motion. It achieves this by accelerating and braking the big spinners to turn the robot, and using the gyroscopic force resulting from that turn to lift the feet up and take a step.

In operation the large spinners spin in opposite directions, to take a step it simultaneously accelerates one, and brakes the other; this creates a force that tries to turn the robot on the spot. Without gyro forces the robot would simply sit in one place as the combined reaction forces from the spinners turn it left or right. But now we consider the gyro forces.
As I'm sure you've seen on many other robots when you try to turn a vertical spinner the gyro forces try and lift the "outside" wheel of the robot (turn the bot left and the right hand side will lift up).
RBMK has two vertical spinners of it own, and the "horizontal" spinners are mounted at an angle (effectively making them partial vertical spinners). So as the reaction forces from the spinners try to turn RBMK left or right, the gyroscopic forces try and lift up the "outside" foot. So if it rotates left, the right foot lifts up, and it pivots around the left foot on the floor, reverse the acceleration of the spinners and it puts down the right foot and the left one lifts and steps forward... before you know it it's scampering across the arena.

It's a rather mad looking thing in action, as you'll see at Ant Freeze tomorrow.

[Derek Dudge]

It looks bonkers and I can't wait to see it spun up and is it just me or does it have a robot crab/crustation look going on? Those top bolts for little shrimp eyes and the little vert spinners look like mandibles.