Team Riptide: Hardwired and other builds

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Well, the wheels do touch the ground but I'm willing to bet that it won't be particularly nippy around the arena upside down... I might have a try with something like that, it sounds an interesting idea so might be worth a couple of experiments at least!

My main plan is to flat out hope that I don't get flipped upside down (K2 style) but might be worth a try. Probably a few tweaks to be made to the design too, slightly worried about the potential for getting stuck on the boxy sides but with any luck could be solved relatively simply. And stylishly haha!

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Riptide Goes to Scotland, gets rekt
It'd be funny if it weren't so true...

Beetles

That above synopsis pretty much tells you all you need to know haha. Alasdair/Suvv's video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHmAxhNCKOQ

Fhqwhgads once again turned up unfinished and a last minute rush to get the thing working meant it wasn't in 100% shape, as if it ever was. Was a brand new version of it, with 20mm HDPE on the front and was alarmingly not that over-armoured... Lynx and Spin Cycle were both pushing between 8 and 15mm gouges on each hit, roughly, which is pretty insane.

Managed to win a fight though, against Bonecrusher (which has been conveniently omitted from the above video... ) though in all seriousness Bonecrusher should have had that one by all accounts. I just fell lucky that he drove into the pit!

Working on a new horizontal spinner for the next event/champs, called Zodiac. Basic horizontal spinner, nothing fancy but should hopefully be reliable is what I'm hoping. Think Newton/Spin Cycle but less ambitious and probably not as good hah.

Other things

New featherweight in the works, Zen - horizontal spinner using one of those discs that seem to be everywhere - the 300mm ones like Inertia and Combustion both use. Basically a FW version of Zodiac, similarly unambitious horizontal but more designed for reliability than anything else. Will be a backup in case Overdrive underdrives again. Probably an SK3 or NTM 5060 motor, 6s, disc speed aiming for about 6-7000 there abouts, nothing extreme but fun all the same!

[suvv]

i ommited nothing....i simply forgot to hit record befor our fight cause im a spanner

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Just a quick update whilst I'm still doing the event post mortem, FHQWHGADS is now the UK Beetleweight Champion! Thanks to everyone who helped on the day as well as Stu and the team for making it such an awesome event. Lots of fun, and I actually did well for once, with the help of Rory of course! Congrats to Jamie for 2nd with Flatulence, Luke for 3rd with Fat Lip and PJ for 4th with Spinza!

Few videos here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...lwh81Al6hYPps4

[overkill]

Congrats on the well deserved win!

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Beetleweight Champs 2015

Loads to get through here, so I'll divide it up by individual robot. Just want to say beforehand though, a gigantic thank you to Stu, Aimee and Kevin, as well as Shane for helping host a remarkable event, loads of fun and very well organised! Also want to thank everyone there for being just generally awesome, particularly to Rory who brought Fhqwhgads back from the dead, Shakey who made Zodiac not wired like spaghetti, Ceri for loaning me escs and everyone else who helped in some way, sorry if I've forgotten anyone. All success that weekend was a great big team effort!

Right then, on with the fights...



Bananageddon

Pair of clusterbots with bananas atop them. Didn't really expect anything at all out of these apart from maybe being a fun way to make up numbers... which is basically what happened. They got a lot further than I thought they would though. Since I could only drive two robots, these were commandeered by Dave, Sam, Alex, Ian, Shakey and one of Matt Pearman's friends throughout the day. Basically, whoever was free and wanted a drive!

Fight 1: VS RPM/ Bonecrusher/ Incomplete Control

https://youtu.be/C3c97rdauVQ

This one ended pretty quickly for Bananageddon. Sam's half of the cluster got quickly pushed into the pit by Bonecrusher after driving around for a bit, then Dave reversed into the pit since the entire machine was out at that point anyway. Shame about the rules regarding clusters...

Fight 2: Losers Melee vs Flatulence/Atom/Blackout

https://youtu.be/j1Y0Xoz5wrg

This time, things went a little better - Blackout was defeated by Flatulence (we've all been there) early on leaving the more damaging threat to the machine out of the way. Flatulence and Atom then paired up to take on a Bananageddon each, but Atom then appeared to conk out, somehow sending Bananageddon through to round 2! Miracles do happen.

Fight 3: (Round 2) RPM/ Rancid 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5ei4DVv9kI

This fight required a win to progress - with that in mind RPM went straight on the offensive, getting a slight hit on Bananageddon then going on the attack against Rancid. The bananas carried on doing what they do best (survive, despite all the odds) and took a few hits on the wheels from RPM which pulled them off but still both mobile. Which was more than could be said for RPM, which I'm told cut its wiring and immobilised itself, eliminating it from the fight. It was now a fight against Rancid, and the bananas just got bullied and pushed around - they have very little grip and pushing power so it was inevitable at that point. Still, another loser's melee and somehow the joke entry didn't get brutally slaughtered in the first 3 fights. Might actually make it through an event here...

Fight 4: Losers Melee vs Zodiac/Incomplete Control/Bar Fight
(win to progress)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASaS30a_-IE

Now, normally someone with two robots in a fight would make an unofficial allegiance to try and get one of them through at least. Not me however, I realised enough was enough and since Zodiac was struggling too due to issues I wouldn't be able to fix until after the championships, I'd send them both out in a blaze of glory. Bananageddon died.

Actually, not strictly true - just the wheels got turned into a thin paste across the whole arena, the rest of the machine was weirdly still functional other than that. Consider me impressed with your rover kits, Hobbyking...




Zodiac

Formerly Soundwave, Zodiac was just a repaired and refined version of the existing chassis, running on 4s instead of 3. Unfortunately, I later realised that running the disc that fast led to a pretty alarming lack of bite, so I think for the next iteration I'll drop the voltage or end disc speed. Other than that, it carried on running despite taking a bit of a beating!

Fight 1: Vs Ion/Blackout/Napalm Beach

The first fight I had at the champs, so the nerves were pretty high and I think that was rather obvious in my driving. Also fast robot is very twitchy... Not much to say really, landed a good few hits on Blackout, the former of which got hit upside down by Ion, who then got stuck on its side for a relatively quick victory! The hit on Ion's drum towards the end of the fight ended up bending the bulkheads of the machine, which naturally had repercussions through the rest of the tournament. Still spun though, impressively!

Fight 2: Vs Spinza/Ion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzvhB_HibDM

This one was a lot more drawn out. The initial hit from Spinza actually pulled a wheel off, leaving me technically immobile straight away. Thanks to spinners doing spinnery things though I was able to still navigate the arena, but the damage was relatively terminal still - I wasn't able to actually get any worthwhile hits other than one on Ion that took off a wheel towards the end, but other than that this was a relatively unimpressive fight for my machine. On the damage front you can very clearly see bits of the 3d printed pulleys get ejected out of the front of the machine from where the disc was tilted. Still ended up with second place however, but with a win needed to progress this put me in a loser's melee...

Fight 3: Loser's Melee vs Bananageddon/Incomplete Control/Bar Fight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASaS30a_-IE

Mutiny! As said before, I decided pretty early on that my only aim in this fight was to destroy Bananageddon, and Zodiac didn't disappoint - I nearly got all 6 wheels off the robots (Alex ruined my fun) before being pushed near the pit and losing one side of drive again. Unfortunately despite trying to gyro-steer my way around the pit I just ended up stuck on the edge before being pushed down by Incomplete Control. A 2nd place finish meant Zodiac was out of the competition in Round 2!

(going to write Fhqwhgads' up in a second post, brb lel)

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FHQWHGADS

The robot that laughs in the face of the pit. After a pair of rushed Fhqwhgadses I actually started this one early (though still did the bulk of the work the night before because procrastination) and opted for a more competitive 4wd setup, with wide wheels and 4s for punchy, fast drive. The idea was purely to have a competitive pushbot core with the wide catcher style design of Fhqwhgads 1 and 2, and it worked actually surprisingly well. Far better than I thought it would! Once again, thanks to Rory for un-nuking this thing and to Ceri for the controllers that made it work. Unfortunately BB10s don't like 4s...

Fight 1: Vs Fat Lip/Mr Snappy 2/Newton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHq22Anv22w

Having encountered weight issues earlier I was left unable to actually fit a lid to Fhqwhgads and instead ended up taping the electronics in. Bad move. Early signs were rather promising - it was fast and able to push things which made it automatically 50 times better than the old ones. Unfortunately, despite me sticking a Ranglebox sticker on the back of the machine Newton carved into my electronics and rendered me out. Granted I did charge into the disc but oh well. It turned out that large pieces of ESC were no longer actually on the esc, something that Rory managed to use legit robot necromancy to cure and get the thing actually running again, which I was rather amazed at given the state it was in post Newton. Also managed to take some of the weight out of it to fit a .5mm polycarbonate lid - not enough to save getting axed but enough to prevent death by spinner again! Point of note too, I felt extremely bad for this fight as I found out during the fight there's no unstick rule in the 4-way matches, hence Newton was stuck on the guts of Fhqwhgads with no way out...

Fight 2: Loser's Melee Vs Lynx/Spin Cycle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9URhyhh2x4

Two very dangerous spinners here - had to play this one very cautiously indeed. The speed of the machine definitely helped here - managed to get at Spin Cycle before it got up to top speed, though it did land one good hit on the catcher which I think bent it down onto the floor, but otherwise did something to slow the machine down a tad (never really figured it out but it was never the same the rest of the event, slight drag on that side). Lynx got pushed about a bit, landed on top of the robot (and scarily close to the link) before being thrown off and Spin Cycle ended up in a corner. At that point I decided to go for Spin Cycle to get back at Jamie for breaking all our things at the Scotland KE event back in the Summer, but also because out of the two it's probably the one I'd least have liked to fight again since I've seen what it did to the 20mm block of HDPE on Fhqwhgads 2... As it happened, it appeared to lose the drive to the disc, followed by a whole entire wheel. In the pit, job's a goodun!

Fight 3: Vs Fat Lip/ Surprize

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDvKKNF1Nas

This one was a pushing match - I think Surprize had some kind of drive issue and was pitted quite early on by Fat Lip (note opportunistic nudge attempt lol) after which it was a very close fight between Fhqwhgads and Fat Lip. No idea what it uses for wheels but I honestly couldn't push that thing at all! In the end, it was a lucky bit of miscalculated driving from Fat Lip that put it on the edge of the pit, otherwise I'm not sure which way it would have gone on a judge's decision...

Fight 4: vs Limpet XS (Quarter Finals)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32CkYoKXENU

Into the knockout stages! Limpet has a pretty faultless record at these events, so this was definitely a fight I was dreading. By happy coincidence however, the wedge on Limpet is higher off the ground than I thought and Fhqwhgads got straight underneath - I knew all I needed after that initial shove was to keep that front facing it, and the catchers definitely helped block Limpet getting round the sides. One lucky push across the arena saw Limpet in the pit, and Fhqwhgads through to the Semi Finals!

Fight 5: Vs Spinza (Semi Final)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUzO595Lhms

Spinza is a pretty fearsome robot when it gets spinning, so the main tactic here was to just not let it spin. Unfortunately, it looked like it had a few problems on startup which was a real shame but meant I could get in to push it about a whole lot more. Despite being predominantly a spinner, Spinza has quite a nice drive behind it, meaning it was a lot more awkward to get anywhere but in the end the catchers did a nice job and helped me keep a hold of Spinza just enough to send it into the pit. Had Spinza's bar gotten up to full speed, I have no doubt this would have ended VERY differently...

Fight 6: Vs Flatulence (Grand Final)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4qsrB6sHoM

This was the point at which the nerves came back - this was the first event where I'd actually achieved some success but I never thought it'd be this much success! Flatulence is a VERY good robot, simple but reliable and exceedingly efficient if the Scotland KE event was anything to go by. There'd be no shame being second here...

Pre-fight I opted for some Anti-Flatulence duct tape (well that sounds weird out of context) cross the bumpers, but this ended up putting me overweight. I tried without the lid but still just slightly over, so the bumpers got cut off to prevent flatulence having any points to hook Fhqwhgads on like it did to #2, and as Jamie demonstrated pre-fight (cheers! )

Despite the main worry being dealt with, Flatulence's scoop was actually able to get under Fhqwhgads's paint scraper, and I also had electrical problems during the fight meaning the machine was a bit twitchier and sometimes unresponsive, something I still haven't quite figured out... The fight progressed as you'd expect, both robots circling each other trying to get into a position to push the other into the pit, thankfully the catchers helped keep Flatulence on the scoop whenever I got the opportunity. With around a minute left of the fight, I thought I was losing on points so needed to finish it with a knockout. One bold move and that was that, 2015 Champion!

Like I said earlier, there'd have been absolutely no shame whatsoever in losing to Flatulence, Jamie's a very good driver and it definitely could have gone either way by the end!


Post champs, I've since taken Fhqwhgads apart to take a look at it and it is in dire need of a few things - namely, new speed controllers (the 30a monsters in there are needlessly huge) as well as replacement motors as one of them seems to only work sporadically, and I also need a new sheet of 2mm HDPE for some replacement bumpers. It'll be back for more when Kinematic do more events, but until then it's sat on my shelf looking a tad sorry for itself. Next plan is to work on the 4th incarnation, that I'm hoping will incorporate a sawblade arm with some luck - will need a rebuild from this chassis because of weight reasons but the basic idea will stay the same!

Once again, thanks to the KE crew and all the teams who took part, extremely fun event and it's great to see how the beetleweight class has progressed in such a short space of time!

[daveimi]

You did really well! I had a problem with an intermittent 25mm motor. It ended up being that where the motor mounts to the gearbox the screws had vibrated loose. It meant the motor came out of alignment here and there and the pinion would bind the gearbox up. I took it apart and tightened everything and it was fine. Now after each event its part of my routine to strip the motors down n tighten everything up.

[mrsam]

I think the cheer from the crowd when Flatulence went in the pit says it all you did so well dude, shame Lynx never really got working i would have preferred more of a scrap.

I'll be after your title next time #Whatiseventeamwork

[Duffman]

What a great write-up; thanks!

Has there been any word on the Kinematic events for 2016? The website hasn't been updated.

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Thank you!

Dave, I shall have to have a look! Did you get the ones off eBay, or did you buy some from Ranglebox? I've not noticed any problems with mine I got from the latter, but I think they've been loctited and whatnot already. Could be an idea?

Yeah Sam I think there's a few rematches that need doing! It was a really close call that last fight though, genuinely haha

And Duffman, not yet but I'm led to believe any announcements won't be too far off! Hopefully will be taking my lot to a few of them haha

[daveimi]

Mine were just cheap from eBay :-) if yours are from Ellis they will already have been sorted. For the champs I threadlocked everything and didn't have a problem lol. Have noticed a few places selling them do a battle hardened version :-)

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Well, I've just dropped my application form in for the featherweight champs, whilst I'm down for driving a far superior robot to any of mine, I'm also working on the next generation of ridiculous combat robot, though this one should actually pack a bit of a punch too, it's a vertical spinner using the same basic setup as made famous by Inertia and Combustion but with mini clusterbotlets, 2wd wedges with small cutting discs if I can find the weight. They won't do much but hopefully make some nice sparks!

Will post build photos soon

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Featherweight Champs 2016

Not gonna write too much about this given my only fights were with Massacre which got Massacred, and Bananageddon Overdrive 2: Electric Boogaloo suffered much the same fate after not being charged (oops)

As a result, it's time to look at plans for next year. I'm not so sure where my financial situation is going to be at by then so I'm putting anything overly ambitious on the back burner and bringing back Hardwired 2 with a little twist.



As part of an upgrade to brushless drive motors, Hardwired is going to become a full body lifter, inspired by Team Toad's Polar Vortex. I've got a few ideas of how to achieve this, but the favourite at the minute is going to be a heavier duty gearbox (most likely a Saturn) with a brushless outrunner to save space, geared to some kind of linkage underneath the machine. Another idea I'd have liked to pursue would be 80-100mm hubmotors for the wheels, but I expect that to be reasonably expensive (that being the main reason for not building Zen, horizontal spinner, for 2017)

It's gonna be a tough challenge but should be rewarding and something quite different if I manage to pull it off. I would have gone for a simple overhead lifter but I thought it'd be interesting to go for a more unconventional setup, and so that I can still make use of the needlessly thick hardox on the front of the machine haha.

Fhqwhgads

I'm sure it's probably wrong on some kind of level taking this seriously, but I've retired Fhqwhgads 3 from competition to make way for Fhqwhgads 4, cardboard mockup attached:





As you can see, it's a lot smaller than the old Fhqwhgads. As a result it's a LOT more of a squeeze, considering it has 5 motors, 5 Escs, a 4s battery and a lifter mechanism to fit in there. It should be a pretty potent machine, the wheel size is dropping slightly but gaining grippier and wider tyres so push should be even less of an issue, and it will actually be built properly for once (yay) so it might not start falling apart after 2 fights. Hoping to debut it at Burgess Hill but we'll see. It's predecessor will be there regardless.

And that's about all for now, regular updates again soon - just dealing with the end of my final year which is just a barrel of laughs and sunshine and all those nice things.

Stay tuned!

[daveimi]

Your robots have been promoted to rank of awesome. Please may you put up a picture of the insides of the wooden robot you took to the feather weight champs?