Team Kaizen - The Honey Badger

[Maxamuslead]

Yeah, I'll be adding a metal edge to lower front and rear edges. I'll also be covering up the other edges with something similar just to make it look a little tidier. Metal guards around the drive wheels as well.

I've never really been sold on the value of minibots to be honest.

but i want to see one be thrown by the floor flipper =P

[daveimi]

My first feather was 5kg wet thru and got thrown by the floor flipper. To my amazement it survived. It's on Youtube.

[Maxamuslead]

My first feather was 5kg wet thru and got thrown by the floor flipper. To my amazement it survived. It's on Youtube.

you have a link ?

[Ocracoke]

I'd be interested in seeing the video as well...

Wednesday was a bit of a nightmare. Took the Badger back to the community centre to make sure the adjustments I made to the rear panel means it won't jack itself any more and it refused to turn on. Point blank said no. Took it back home to make sure the batteries were charged, both report as being full.

At first, I thought it was the RC receiver but I decided to use one of the original batteries from the original Badger and it now works again. No idea why, just is (something gone wrong in the other batteries I suspect). Did delay me working on it though.

Been working on the weapon today. The reciprocating spear (which was a windscreen wiper linkage) is now pretty much done though it could do with a bit of length adjustment. I'll see about mounting the windscreen wiper motor and associated gubbins at somepoint next week. Side panels will hopefully be measured and cut this weekend if I can borrow a jigsaw and workbench.

1st photo is a generic lid off shot as I was trying to work out what was wrong with the Honey Badger, the second is me playing around with the angles at which the spear will come out at and the 3rd one is the spear itself, the cutting of which ruined one of my Dremel saw blades Hitting it very hard with a hammer was fun though.

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[Maxamuslead]

how are you going to get the spear to reciprocate with the wiper motor ?

As i would of used a right angled gearbox and used this linkage
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[Ocracoke]

When I bought the windscreen wiper motor, it came with the ball joint attachment which is 5cm long on the output shaft of the gearbox already, so it is a case of popping the linkage cup onto the ball joint after suitably greased.

Mounted high enough, the windscreen wiper motor should be able to go through 360 degrees and thus, reciprocation.

[Maxamuslead]

ah fair enough

[Ocracoke]

Well today was a big one, the side panels were cut but I fear I've made a fairly catastrophic error in measuring them (I didn't account for the overlap between the front and rear panels, so I've cut the side panels 1cm too short I think). I think I can overcome it with some 1cm thick box metal but it is going to be touch and go. We will see.

A video of it playing with some cardboard boxes in the kitchen. In truth, I had put these down to see how controllable it was. Turns out, quite.

[Ocracoke]

The side panel calamity turned out to be both not as serious and serious at the same time.

The plus side is that the side panels did account for the 1cm extra on the rear panel and are now fitted onto the robot, so the shell is technically completed! However, having never used a jigsaw before, my technique with such things means the panels are... fairly wonky. This isn't something beyond the scope of my Dremel but it is going to require a fair bit of faff to fit neatly onto the existing shell. I suspect the purchase of some metal right angled bars will be needed to make it look neater than it is now.

Hey, at least the shell is now together! Gotta focus on me weapon now.

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You'll note the shell of the original Badger in the background. One of my biggest gripes prior to Grantham was the lack of practice against moving targets (the original was built before I really got onto here). The shell still fits the original test chassis, which has a pair of direct drive 12v drill motors attached to it. With a old RC controller I have and with a new set of speed controllers and batteries, that will move as a thawckbot (sadly, the shell is simply too twisted to get the spinning flail back on).

[Ocracoke]

The weapon was mocked up today. Since the windscreen wiper motor is quite weighty, it really need to go in the middle of the robot but as the output shaft is on the right, the spear will end up being off centre, which won't pose a problem. It goes around but not as quickly as I thought it might. I'll need to see if it is a battery issue or something else. I am sure the spear will also need shortening as the arm only just fits when it is resting on one of the structural beams as below.

I also spent a little bit of time fettling the side panels so it fits a bit better than it did. Still need right angled metal to tidy it up. With the shell now together, I've also mocked up where I *think* the components should go.

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[Maxamuslead]

could you not bend the spikes shaft till it back in line with the motor ?

[Ocracoke]

The shaft is a metal pipe but with a plastic inner core all the way through, so bending it is much tougher than it looks.

[Maxamuslead]

The shaft is a metal pipe but with a plastic inner core all the way through, so bending it is much tougher than it looks.

What type of metal is it? Could you not cut it down and attach a new bent shaft with the spike ?

[Albear]

its looking pretty neat mate, well done

[Ocracoke]

What type of metal is it? Could you not cut it down and attach a new bent shaft with the spike ?

I believe it is Aluminium. I am not sure why it would need bending though... cutting down certainly.

The idea behind this is that when the opponent drives on (or is is driven onto) the wedge, there is going to be a pair of non return ridges on each side of the robot (in a similar shape to the robot itself thinking about it) which prevents the opponent from sliding back down. Once the opponent is in place, the spear will jab diagonally straight into the underside of the robot.