Team Pasty Build Diary: Loki

[Flag Captured]

I see... what's your chassis made of? Perhaps you could find some thicker scrap metal or something for the front? If you can drive it well, the only part that'll be in contact with the spinners is the front, and being a lifter you'll probably want to control it as best as you can. You could always look at putting some HDPE or something behind the aluminium to reinforce it a little! It should stand up to damage enough, I think (especially with it being angled) but a little reinforcement will probably help too in a worst-case scenario! Of course, if you've already done that then ignore me!

I'l probably just look at countersinking your bolts/screws a little bit more if you're worried, a bit less for the spinners to grab onto!

[plargen]

you might want to put some material over the motor as i saw what little hitter did to someone actuator which was in a similar place

[RoboLibre]

I concurr with plargen... little hitter can put a nice enough dent in 3mm hardened steel, so I'd get something in there... maybe some 20mm hdpe as consumable armor?

Looking good though!

[razerdave]

I hate to be the one to say it, because it's a great little machine, but for the FW champs, 3 mm aluminium is going to get torn apart! I hope you have something substantial underneath?

[Ellis]

I believe there is 15mm+ HDPE behind? And multiple bulkheads back and forth. The armour panels will likely get pretty torn up but the underlying structure should last well. If you don't mind me posting, Chris: https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/...54003891_o.jpg

Chunky!

Also, 8mm HDPE is a little lighter than 3mm alu, and in certain situations would likely hold up a lot better. It'll get mashed and gashed but it'll do a good job of protecting if mounted well. The counter intuitive thing with thin metals in full combat is that they're actually less suitable than less dense (but thicker) material. 3mm alu (or even 3mm steel in truth) will bend and be pierced and stay that way, whereas something like 8mm HDPE will just bounce back, so it lasts longer.

Either way, this is a brilliant step up from the first incarnation of Loki. Look forward to seeing it.

[daveimi]

This is an awesome robot

[ChrisKazoo]

Thanks for the advice guys going to have the get the drill out and do some weight saving!

[RoboLibre]

I agree that 3mm alu will get eaten up, but there seems to be plenty of space around the wheels with those chunky hdpe sidings, and they will no doubt get chewed up, but will keep most things out.

I would be tempted to cover the top in hdpe (maybe with a couple of extra little sheets to box in the radio gear and battery underneath the top sheet) and keep the front plates as is with possibly some extra hdpe to wall off the motors from the front plates (just in case)... all depends what you can get away with if your needing to save weight, but maybe changing some of it to hdpe would help with this?

[ChrisKazoo]

All ready for the champs tomorrow!

Had to resort to removing 2 of the motors to get it in weight but doesn't drive so well anymore I have left a motor in opposite corners (like MoBot). Was that the best way to do it? Anyway, here's a video and some pictures:

[Max]

Personally I'd leave the front 2 motors in but that's just my opinion, I've never driven a robot with diagonal drive.
Looks good though and solidly built so could do quite well.
I'd bring some spare bars for the 4 bar lifter though incase they get bent!

[mrsam]

Looks awesome, hopefully i can get to the event and get Hatchet working so we can have our fights, is the top still 3mm ali or have you gone for something a little more substantial?

[ChrisKazoo]

Nope still the same top so you should be able to give me a few battle scars! (I think it's actually 2mm but we won't mention that...)

[ChrisKazoo]

Well I thought I'd write up a report of the Champs and Yeovil. I hope you're sitting comfortably....

So the day before the event I do my last weigh in. Came in a 14.1 kg, balls. Out come 2 motors which brought me down to 13.5 kg. Needs a redesign already!

Arrive at the event and make it through tech check at 13.57 kg, phew!

And then I'm ready for my first fight:

Loki V Mr Mangle V Hatchet

Mr Mangle managed to crack Hatchet's base plate early on and then knocked me about the arena a fair phew times, also didn't help that I kept bottoming out. I managed to hook him with my lifter but didn't really have the power or traction to carry him to the pit. Luckily he drove to near the pit and I got a lucky shot and got him in my first competition fight and my first win! 4 points in the bag.




A few nicks out the side but otherwise working fine. Round 2!

Loki V Nightfury V Diablo


Going in I was worried that if Diablo got a good flip in I could be out in seconds. Luckily Diablo took flipped Nightfury and itself and I was able to push him into the side where he tried to self right again and landed on top of me. I reversed back and used to lifter to turn it on its side and push it against the wall (what the weapon was designed to do!). Diablo tried to self right several times but was unsuccessful and finally counted out. After some pshing around I got beached by the pit and Nightfury shoved me in. 2 points for coming second brings me to 6.


Day 2

Loki V LS4 V Utopia

Utopia pulled out due to damage from DB10 and Rango leaving me to fight the 8 seed on my own. Oh dear. I've seen videos of what this robot can do... I didn't have high hopes. I decided to dive straight at it before it could spin up and tip it over. Unfortunate what I call straight and what the robot called straight were two different things... I missed completely and now had to face a full speed LS4. I took two hits which threw me across the arena but was still working. one more shot and LS4 nearly went out of the arena but landed the right way up. On the fourth hit LS4 went over and I had won for a second time! So happy! 4 more points brought me to 10 points. LS4 managed to crack a bulk head and take some gouges out of the HDPE but other than that was working fine.



Loki V Hatchet V Binky

Also very scare of Binky, I've seen what it can do it ovens! I found it really difficult to manuovre in this fight, having issues with clearance. Binky eventually took out Hatchet. I tried lifting Binky a few times but didn't have a good hold on him. Then I drove up into the disk... and then said goodbye to my lifter after driving around with the lifter sticking out the back like a tail, I managed to reverse in to the pit with 7 seconds to go. I doubt I would have won on a judges decision so it just meant that Binky got 1 more point than if it had gone to the judges. 2 more points for me gives me 12 which was enough to get through to the qualifiers! Although I had to fix my lifter first :/




The front HDPE scoop had to be hacked away and the Ti scoop made smaller so the lifter would close properly.The bolts had been pulled through the bottom of the box section and the titanium scoop was bent and had a chunk missing. Quick trip to B&Q and some angle grinding and voila, lifter is fixed and ready to take on the next robot, which was...

Loki v Beauty 8

Ahh, the new Beauty being driven by Will Thomas who hadn't lost a fight thus far. I ended the same as all of his fights, I was flipped out in 3 seconds after driving onto the wedge, although I didn't mean to do that... stupid drive problems.

Losers Melee

Last chance to stay in the competition but would have to beat number 7 seed Galactus and Ricochet.It started off with Ricochet pushing me against the wall and the getting perched on top. I managed to drive off but onto Galactus were we both got stuck. After a slow turn Galactus shredded my tyre (and took the heads off of all the screws) and we were both free although I could only go round it circles. After doing some lifter dancing I was pushed into the pit by Ricochet and was out of the competition.

I decided to start sticking the other 2 motors in to have more power and traction for the whiteboards and put my name down for the Annihilator cos you never know, might get selected. Half hour later of putting motors in turns out we've been selected for the Annihilator! Out come those motors!

Annihilator: Loki V Mr Mangle V Explosion V Tiny Toon V No Toy V LS4

3 seeds (1, 6 and 8 ), 2 ex champions, previous annihilator champions... this was going to be tough.

Round 1
LS4 got a hit on the back of Loki which meant to rear armour and pushed the wheels off the floor, we were immobile. Then, 8 seconds later Explosion flips No Toy out of the arena! PHEW!






Round 2
I go straight for LS4 again. After a couple hits he flies off into the path of Mr Mangle and ends up of the arena, we made it through round 2! The hit broke the scoop from the arm and disconnected one of the motor's dean connectors so we cable tied all the connections and the scoop back on and was ready for round 3.



Round 3
After a couple close calls with Explosion and nearly going down the pit, Mr Mangle gets a good hit on Explosion and sends it OOTA.

Round 4
Mr Mangle pushes me against the wall and removed my scoop again. I managed the hook him but can't move anywhere so have no choice but to let go. Mr Mangle then gets stuck on the edge of the pit and I give him a shove in. I'm now in the final with the ex UK and Annihilator champions! Double the amount of cable ties and we're ready to go again.



Final

Looking very worse for ware, Loki and Tiny Toon have a push and shove match, after nearly going in the pit twice, Alex out-drives me and nudges me in the pit.

So, I finished in the top 18 robots in the country and came runner up in the annihilator, not bad for a newbie with an untested robot that wouldn't drive straight! I had an amazing time and finally got to put names to faces (and names to usernames!). I can't wait to do it all again next year!

I'll write up Yeovil next. Well done if you got this far, sorry I wrote so much!

[mrsam]

Loki was brilliant at the champs, really well built tough machine, sort out the vulnerable top plate ( like seriously, right now because Hatchet 2 won't let you off so easy ) and you'll have a machine that could do very well in the future. Even if it is the size of a small moon.

[RogueTwoRobots]

That's no moon, it's a space station.