the sparring bot thread

[Team Orr]

hey guys

i was using the other thread to go complely off topic, soz so heres the new thread to discus "the sparing bot"

things to talk about:

1: price

it seems the enitial price of ?130 was a bit much, i can get it down to ?90, but then il have no money to build any more...ahh the problems any ideas? (please take into consideration postage, additional weapons (?10) and my time )

2: availibility

i should be able to make a bot in a day/weekend if i have all the parts...at a push i recon i could do 5/6 a month do you recon thats anough?

3: optional extras

i just want to say this now, i dont want to mass produce, i just want to make robots, help people, gain experiance and mabey have anough money at the end of it to buy a gobstopper so each robot should fit the buyers needs, what do you want on your robot? what weapon? do you want any added features? (iv been trying to make a diffiulty switch )

ta

jack

[thebeardedone]

hey guys
1: price

it seems the enitial price of ?130 was a bit much, i can get it down to ?90, but then il have no money to build any more...ahh the problems any ideas? (please take into consideration postage, additional weapons (?10) and my time )

2: availibility

i should be able to make a bot in a day/weekend if i have all the parts...at a push i recon i could do 5/6 a month do you recon thats anough?

3: optional extras

i just want to say this now, i dont want to mass produce, i just want to make robots, help people, gain experiance and mabey have anough money at the end of it to buy a gobstopper so each robot should fit the buyers needs, what do you want on your robot? what weapon? do you want any added features? (iv been trying to make a diffiulty switch )

1) Charge enough to cover all your costs, labour and a small profit (this can go towards building your next bot). If you work out all your costs and it comes to ?130 then so be it.

2) You have to sell one before you can consider your output. It would not be worthwhile building five bots a month if you are only selling three. I would recommend building to order.

3) I would avoid doing too much personalistion to each robot as this could potentially cause more issues than doing good. I would produce one type to begin with and if you get requests for different types, then introduce them to your model line. In the end, you could end up with 3 different models that people could buy and personalise themselves.
What you would be doing is providing a barebones robot that the purchaser can develop themselves. Sort of like a barebones PC which you upgrade yourself

Just my 2p ...
Regards,
Sam

[Team Orr]

ahh i see, ta very much for the help

[thebeardedone]

ahh i see, ta very much for the help

No problemo

Do you have a parts list I can mull over?

Regards,
Sam

[peterwaller]

Deciding on the price is the trickiest part. Just taking into consideration the component costs is only half the deal you will be suprised just how much time these things take. If you price things too low you might sell more but then you will be spending all your spare time making them. I think I have got the price about right on my controllers as I have now sold 15 which is more than I expected and I think I have past the break even point actually probably in profit as I have quite a good stock of components. Having said that all the money has come in through PayPal and I have yet to withdraw any as I have spent most of it on things like my new arena, different receivers/servo's, several test bed robots and the Planet 5 radio to enable me to design and test my controllers. My intention was never a big profit more to reduce the cost, size, weight and complexity of the ants to encourage new designs but if it also helps pay for my hobby then who am I to complain. I must admit I do get a kick out of seeing my controllers used in so many ways.

[thebeardedone]

Deciding on the price is the trickiest part. Just taking into consideration the component costs is only half the deal you will be suprised just how much time these things take. If you price things too low you might sell more but then you will be spending all your spare time making them.

Superb point. It is absolutely essential to make sure all your "bases" are covered when it comes to cost.

Regards,
Sam