HardWired II

[daveimi]

I've got 50mm! (2x2 tho ;P)

[harry hills]

Yours is as thick as mine is high lol

On topic, looking solid man. I say go 40mm if you got weight. Purely because you can

[Flag Captured]

Thanks for all the comments!

Just to respond to some questions -
Dave, Thanks! I've got a pair of BotBitz TZ85A's to run the motors (S900 sized I think), on a Turnigy 4S 5000mAh battery, 30C discharge (fused for 100A) and 80mm wheels there abouts, should be pretty nippy I hope!

MrSam, I'll get the actual dimensions when I can, it's about 380x250 for the box itself, and then the shovel itself makes it about 380x380 square-ish. Just estimating of course, but it's quite small, just a tad wider than HardWired I!

Razerdave, I'll be unpopular? That's a shame, I really wanted a form of weaponry on my robot Haha, I'm kidding! Just enough to give a nice blue glow through 40mm thick HDPE, or failing that I'll sandwich them between the two 20mm sides... They're all going to be internally mounted, apart from a single surface mounted green LED (for rule purposes) right next to the fuse (link) which'll just be of the normal variety!

Harry, is it really? I feel like I've overdone it a bit now haha! Massacre's pretty low though, don't think anyone's going to escape that bar! Thanks too, even though I might not even need that much, I'm going to just pile it on all the sides 'till I hit 13.5 kilos! Probably not going to push it up to 13.6 purely because I need to account for differences in my numbers - I don't actually have any scales to properly weigh the robot (bathroom scales just say 'error') so I'm having to weigh it using a luggage hook type thing which could be a little bit out...



Only things I need to get now are the connectors (I don't know if chocolate blocks will cause me to fail the tech check) and higher gauge wiring so that I'm well within the rules. At the minute, I use twin earth wire or something, which looks up the job but I'm not 100%... Will post pictures and stuff soon!

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Also, just as a question to anyone who has a pushbot or a wedge on their machine, how much ground clearance is best for the RoboChallenge arena? The whole machine has quite a large amount of clearance at the back (it actually has a slight slant forward, so technically it's a wedge I guess) but it has some at the front still, not being flush with the floor - is it best to have a zero ground clearance or to have at least a little bit so it doesn't get caught on the floor panels?

[razerdave]

Highest part of the ground clearance on Satanix is 5mm, only been beached once, that was on the pit lid, but not sure if I was stuck on it, or a random bolt.

[Flag Captured]

Ah, I see - I've got a lot more than that at the back (8mm) so I think I'll be alright on that one!
Is the front of Satanix a zero ground clearance for the wedge parts?

[razerdave]

Yeah, the wedges sat on the ground, but the robot did wheely, hence I added the hinged ones, they remain in contact with the floor when the robot rocks (soon to be held down with magnets).

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Might have to make a slight adjustment to my front then, I have a bit of clearance at the front, probably not going to end well for me 9 times out of 10! For the next version of this, I might implement a similar system, not really got time to do it now but I can see that'd be pretty useful...

I have no doubts that my machine won't be able to get underneath other machines as efficiently as other pushers, but hopefully I'll be able to put up a fight!

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Slight update, stainless steel plate still not here, however I am going to make a baseplate from a side of dishwasher and see how that stands up, probably not well but then I can use it as a template!

As a sidenote, work has slightly begun on my new beetleweight, which I'm provisionally calling Abandon because it sounds cool, hopefully that's not been taken yet... I've started designing it, hopefully to be a full-bodied spinner with a bit of a twist that'll probably make it a force to be reckoned with - more soon!

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Looking at a couple of options for active weaponry again for HardWired II, even if it's purely for the aesthetic value. Most likely thing at the minute is some kind of spinning thing, powered by a car fan motor if I can find one cheap (and I mean, dead cheap...) Either that or a rather light drum powered by a drill motor might work - this is probably all going to be interchangeable I should mention. A claw powered by one of the linear actuators I have might work too, though it would literally just be for gripping, not crushing!

Rather late in the day to be changing stuff around, but hopefully it works!

[Niels - Team K.a.L.M.]

If you can fit the linear actuator inside your current box you could look into a sideway lifter. It will offcourse only work if you can get completely under your opponent and will double as a selfrighter to get your wedge back into play.

[Revsmin]

I've got a claw I fancy selling if you want it?

[mrsam]

If you decide on the drum, rather than the drill motor i've got a speed 700 laying around, they're more powerful than your standard drill motor and it has a 5mm shaft that would be a bit more sturdy.

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The sideways lifter sounds an interesting one, might have a look at that!

Thanks too for the offers there, I'll let you both know if I manage to design something in to it - what I'm looking for really is cheap, simple and not too heavy since I've got some Speed 900s for drive... I don't mind really if it ends up as more of a novelty than anything, but it'd be nice to at least have something on it!

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Did some more work on HardWired II today, and it's not good news.

The machine is an absolute travesty, and I can see it getting wrecked by 90% of the machines in the championships. Dare I say, the only machines it'll stand up to are the horizontal spinners, weirdly.

I'll list the problems as they appeared throughout the day:

The chassis has warped. This is really only cosmetic, and doesn't impact the performance of it thankfully, but it isn't half annoying...

Shovel has a 5mm clearance. Partly to do with the twisted chassis, now fixed, though with a 1mm clearance since the scoop itself isn't flush with the floor, I need a grinder to just adjust slightly but I don't have one or indeed anything to amend with) which means that my robot's main strength, the huge drive motors, won't be much use against anything with a lower scoop, such as the legions of flippers and other rambots. Speaking of which:

The drive motors are exposed, which is a very, very, very, very bad thing. I don't have any spares whatsoever, and due to the way it's designed, it's a choice between having thin armour and invertibility, or thicker armour and no invertibility. I did look into both making the wheels larger and different kinds of armour, but to get the necessary clearance to drive upside I'd need something that was no more than 2mm thick which puts my motors in a very dodgy position. Of course, I could look at a self-righting mechanism but, to follow on the chain of events...

I've run out of budget. That's it, I'm stuck with these parts now to resolve the situation. I can't use the Linacs I bought from Mario because they take 24v, and I don't have the weight or money for a 24v battery. The ONLY solution I have to the srimech problem is to use the drills from HardWired I, but that's pushing it in the space I have now, and bearing in mind that I can't afford any more parts until GSL I don't think it'll be doable. Of course, I could always go with no srimech and thick armour on the top, but I have no zero ground clearance on the front scoop and no srimech which is just a loss waiting to happen.

So yeah, if you draw up against HardWired II, you've got yourself a free win! Extremely frustrated with the whole thing now, and I've still got to buy a LiPo sack (to be within the rules) with approximately £0.00 so that should be fun...