Team Kaizen - The Honey Badger

[Ocracoke]

The batteries and some of the wiring loom is now in a dedicated box (made from a old lunch box we had laying around) screwed down in the robot that I've put some material in help absorb some of the shock and make it look just that little neater than before. Just waiting to get a bit more money in before I can get the rest of the little bits and pieces together. As far as rule compliance goes, the only thing I am missing at this point is a label stating where the removable link is.

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The little blue markers on the front crossmember is where the chisels are supposed to be mounted to but I've not got access to my drill at the moment (it is at the in-laws for some reason) but that really is the last thing to do before Stevenage.

[Ocracoke]

Side weapons are now in! Not having the right tools to hand meant this was a absolute faff to do but they are drilled out and the chisels in. They need attaching to the crossmember and swarfe cleaning up mind but that can be done tomorrow, I am just glad they are in.

With that done, I am going to call this one ready for Stevenage barring cosmetic/minor improvements before then. I would have liked to get the spear weapon in for then but I am not going to realistically have time over the coming months as I get Shu! finished and begin work on Kaizen in the new year. Hopefully The Honey Badger will survive a round of combat this time. :P

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[Ocracoke]

And here we are. Built over 79 days from the 3rd of July till today in evenings/weekends, The Honey Badger is now rebuilt in its 2.0 form. Sure, it doesn't have a active weapon yet and there is still wood involved but it represents (to me anyway), a big improvement over what the 1.0 robot was like. The wiring is done properly, the motor selection is much more in keeping for Featherweights than the previous selection and the armour is vastly superior (much thicker anyway).

The side weapons, all the external screws and the front bash plate have all been painted in satin black. Link sticker has been put on the robot and the weapon guards made out of masking tape. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it only weighs 8kg, which is a fair weight allowance for a active weapon when I build it for next year.

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Here is hoping this one survives at least one match, I'll make a run through video tomorrow.

[Ocracoke]

To cap this off until after Stevenage (at least), here is the run through video with a side by side comparison with the 1.0 version.

[Ocracoke]

Well, I said it would be wrapped up until Stevenage, I may have been telling a fib. I've put in some weight to the front of the robot to add more momentum to the robot turning for the side chisels.

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I think this brings the robot up to 8.4kg now. I'll see about adding one or two extras onto the robot before Stevenage as well, such as something to help deflect blows off of the rear.

[Theo]

Why not do some chain flails, or just one at the back? They'll be quite entertaining for the audience which is essentially what these meles are for.

[Ocracoke]

As I noted, I do plan on having something on the rear. One of the ideas I had was kinda like a flail but effectively towed (so it sits on its own plate with a castor wheel). I reckon I could cook up a suitable modification for the rear to have a flail in time for Stevenage

[Spikygoat]

Will you be at Stevenage both days ? We're going Saturday ( just watching ) but will have to keep an eye out for the Badger if you're there.

[Ocracoke]

Certainly will be for both days, looking forwards to putting The Honey Badger 2.0 through it's paces although the HW championship should be a excellent event as well!

I'll probably look to paint the Badger during the week (so it actually looks like a Honey Badger) but I did get the flail tail made up on Friday, just need to decide on how to finish it off.

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[Albear]

why not bolt the old honey badger to the back and make a cluster bot haha!

[Outlaw]

why not bolt the old honey badger to the back and make a cluster bot haha!

Or put the shell on top of a bowling ball.

[Ocracoke]

Hahaha - All good ideas! I think what I'll do with the 1.0 version is rebuild the drive in it and put the flails on a static part of the shell as the top part is badly twisted and run it as a fun entry for live events, I'll see if Rachael (my wife) will drive it.

As for being a clusterbot... I'll have to read the regulations into that but I think if the 1.1 version weighs 4kg after the drive and the chassis is built back up, I think it'll just fit within the 13.6kg weight limit. I doubt it'll go directly on the back of 2.0, it is about 10cm too big.

[Ocracoke]

The "flail tail" is now complete!

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I might need to remove a link or two so it doesn't run over it's own tail. :P

One of the motor mounts has also twisted a little so as a temporary fix, I've placed a metal spacer between the motor and the rear crossmember to straighten it out until I can get a bit of time to remake the motor mounts. I think the L shaped brackets I used were a bit twisted before I installed them...

[Ocracoke]

Well Stevenage was just awesome. Congratulations to Manta for winning the UK Heavyweight championships!

As an aside, managed to get involved in setting up the arena this time around. The outer kickboards are awfully heavy.

As for The Honey Badger 2.0, it was a interesting and very revealing experience. Managed to get in a test of the drive in the arena before the 3pm show on Saturday and it drove OK once the flip switches were in the right place, plenty fast enough however it still struggles with getting traction over the rear wheels. Other than that, it was ready to go. The show announcers came round to examine the entries and I must have struck a chord with one (Rob I think it was) who got excited over my batteries being contained in a tupperware container. I am sure he mentioned this before every match.

Melee 1
This was easily the Badger's best fight. It actually managed to get involved in a pileup briefly but with the control issues, it was sliding around everywhere, pirouetting on the front castor as it turned and eventually I ended up in the pit. Scuff marks and the motor mounts were loose but otherwise came out of that damage free. The flail tail did manage to do its job of keeping the robot the right way up when Team Shock attempted to flip the Badger from the front.

In between the fights, I watched as Alex put together his cannibalised Microwave robot that I think ended up being called PsychoWave in the finish, even donated the googly eyes!

Melee 2
Urmm... yeah. Even though the motor mounts were re-secured, The Honey Badger just wasn't moving very well at all. I got told by the Pressure Point team that my wheels were arched upwards in the fight so one can only assume they were bent and I'd missed it. Looking back at the fight, it looks as if the right hand side wheel (as you look at it from the back) was the cause of the issue. During that, the Badger took several hits from BattleAxe and you know when you have that moment of deja vu and think "I know what is coming next". Yeah... on the arena flipper, went flying, hit the outer polycarbonate wall and promptly disintegrated.

It was a mess. The top crossmember and rear crossmembers were cracked, the front cross member was in the process of doing so and the tupperware box was smashed. However, BattleAxe's hammer didn't leave much more than several marks on the HDPE so despite it all, it was an improvement over 1.0! I managed to get The Honey Badger 2.0 patched up by replacing the sheared screw in the rear crossmember, rotate the top crossmember 90 degrees so the side panels could be screwed back into place and refit the electrics. By the end of Saturday, it was back together.

Melee 3
The Honey Badger 2.0 was now feeling the strain of combat. I added a front tongue to the front to help push competitors out of the way but it wasn't effective as there was still drive issues (I had also removed a few links out of the tail to stop it catching underneath the back of the robot as well). Eventually got flipped over by Team Shock (not sure if this was Heatwave or Avalanche) after bouncing around on the front tongue and flail tail and then pushed into a corner.

Not much to report here but again, the mounts were loose though not as badly as the first match.

Melee 4
This was the worst fight for the Badger, got caught on the edge of the pit and with the drive issues, wasn't going anywhere. Team Shock came in and boom, it was over. Aftermarth then tried to get The Badger into the pit but I think ended up going in first, The Honey Badger got pushed in thanks to the Heavy Metal team. I also noted that this fight I forgot to remove the weapon covers, not that it made much difference.

I must mention Pressure Point, they had been itching to get their crusher into something and eventually did into the Arc Robotics machine. Cracked the top cover in great style, very near the batteries mind.

So that was that. Ultimately, despite not lasting the full three minutes in a single match, it is important to note that this one survived practically everything thrown at it bar the rough landing. I am planning to go to Maidstone next (Glocuster is too close to an important date I cannot afford to miss) with The Honey Badger 2.1, the revisions planned are:

• Rewire the robot with the thicker tupperware container kindly donated by Arc Robotics.
• Move the weight bias to the rear of the robot.
• Fabricate custom motor mounts to get the drivewheels lower to the ground.
• Replace the wooden crossmembers with HDPE or Nylon crossmembers (Have already ordered some).

I'll post a compilation video + pictures later on this evening showing all 4 melee fights and some work being done on The Honey Badger.

[emisnug]

It was great seeing the Honey Badger be so resilient against so many other bots! I hope the new tupperwear box holds up!

Rob (Team ARC)