Wooden Robot Class

[Ellis]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

Chain saw - wood chopping axe - wood chipper?!

[PJ-27]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

We considered having a percentage of bot having to be wood, I think it was 50%? But concluded it as too difficult to enforce or check.

You can ban things like brushless tech and modern materials (titanium, Harris, etc.) out right, but that just quashes enthusiasm, Innovation and alienates some people.

Since there's no formal league we have a unique situation of if someone didn't want to fight you they won't, so don't bring a gun to a knite fight.

[Hoppy]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

I think a wooden bot class is a great idea where all novices and experienced builders alike can have some fun and most importantly entertain the audiences with a lot of destruction!

My idea would be to construct a tough chassis out of ali, plastic or steel and to this mount a drivetrain using only drill type motors and house the R/C, ESC and batteries etc in a metal enclosure(s) affixed to the chassis for protection. The chassis could be designed and used to affix all timber components and armouring in such a way that damaged material can be easily removed from the chassis to enable a re-build. My view is that only specified soft wood types and MDF / Chipboard should be used, to exclude all 'hard' woods but allowing soft steel DIY type brackets as a metallic option to screws and nails for joining timber components.

The rules could stipulate that all bots should have an active weapon of some type, which could include 'spinners' if it can be established and agreed what constitutes an acceptable and safe build.

Hoppy

[Hoppy]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

I have attached a photo showing my interpretation of PJ-27's idea of using a metal box to house the ESC, R/C receiver etc attached to the chassis. The box is galv steel and although shown angled for the photo, will be mounted upright to form a front bulkhead which will be secured top and bottom to a rear timber bulkhead (shown in the other photo). This box with its lid will form an enclosure to give some protection to the motor set. The rear timber bulkhead also forms a battery compartment. A base plate of 5mm polycarb will complete the chassis, to which will be fixed a ball transfer unit.

The frame is welded square section ali with two wheel protection uprights that will be used to fix the timber members forming the armouring and weapon mounts.

Hoppy

[PJ-27]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

Looking good, glad to see some interest in the class.

In response to your earlier post it's the finer details that are making this class difficult to get off the ground. Everyone has their own interpretation of what the rules should be, and unless someone (most likely me) says the rules are this way and that's that, it will likely never take off. But at the same time stating the rules that way may put people off.

For instance, I initially said all armour and structure must be MDF (not other woods) but the idea of building on a metal chassis with easy to swap MDF armour panels is a good one.
I also have no issue with people using screws or nails to join the timber.

Then there's the issue of a lack of events to run the robots in. The UK Champs is the only constant Full-Combat event and everyone is pretty tied up with their competition robots in that time.

I'm hoping we'll get a chance to run some wooden robots soon and see what results we get.

[archie2000]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

nice bot hoppy. i would be interested to see the advantage of using 30 shore wheels.
PJ i think the wooden class is a great idea.
MDF is quite easy to work with (until it starts to crumble into fibres)
softwood like pine is nice and strong and good for mounts and is quite cheap but it won't fall to bits like we want it too when it gets attacked and is quite heavy.
hardwood like oak is incredibly tough and quite expensive which isn't what we need.
with some drills and eBay speed control that'd a robot for about £75

[Hoppy]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

Hi archie2000,

I envisage a timber bot to turn-out reasonably light in weight at least in comparison to a heavy steel box rammer, so grippy wheels may be best. However, as the prime objective is to have some fun with lots of destruction, wheel friction is probably not a particularly important factor.

Given that this inexpensive and quite easy to build wooden class will very likely attract more people into the sport, its also very important IMO to limit damage to the vulnerable and quite expensive drive and control components, so the need for a robust / protective chassis. The cost of building a bot is a prime consideration, especially for young builders and they really don't want everything trashed from the outset!

You raise a good point about pine being strong, so there may be a need to restrict the section size for structural components. Equally, the thickness of any MDF armour could be restricted in the class rules. We could start with a max of 20mm x 20mm for softwood and 10mm for MDF and see how that pans out.

I can see no real reason why this great idea should not be developed into a new exciting robot class.

Hoppy

[PJ-27]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

Bitzawood is 8.6kgs, so very light!

[Eventorizon]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

We are going to try and get a wooden machine going for the Armories event in leeds. It will weigh the full 13.6kg.
The design includes space for twin wood saw blades driven by a Speed 900 but if people dont want to fight a spinner we can take the blades off.
In terms or armour thickness it has two layers of 18mm MDF at the back and sides with a 18mm bulk head then a 5mm scoop at the front, also MDF.
But there is no metal in the chassis or armour at all, that is why its so thick. I had planned to paint the surface of the inner layer so that I could tell how far people had cut in and if necessary throw in the towel.

For the rules I think that if its wood; hard, soft, man-made, it should be allowed. Yes some hard wood are VERY hard but its expensive. If you want to spend a load of money on an completely Ash or Maple machine then fine but after a few rounds in the arena with even a simple wood saw, or worse a chainsaw, it will be have to be replaced.

[attachment=0:3n5yw2it]Hard Woods.gif[/attachment:3n5yw2it]

Weapons. The blades to go on our machine were going to be Ti but now we are getting some 3mm Alu so they will probably be cut from that. As you will all know, MDF is very easy to cut so even with Ali blades, at 6000 rpm, it wont matter; they will make a nice mess. Heck, you could cut it from an old piece of pine floor board and that would make a mess of MDF.

Bitzawood I think is a brilliant example. Yes it has 3 blades but in that way its almost comical. Its like going back to series 1 of robotwars; remember Scrapper or Tracie. A Tracie style machine with 4 drill bits sticking out would be cool.

Idea... what do you think would happen if you awarded points for a machine being 'in the spirit' if the class. You still won 4 points for a KO, 3 for 1st etc... but before combat people voted, out of say 10, for all the machines on how interesting or unique the robot was. This was then added to the points of its victories. This would mean that even if you lost all your fights then you could still get through the qualifiers because your machine was built in the spirt if the class.

Does that make any sense or am I just talking rubbish?

-Edit: Sorry, idea diarrhea...

[PJ-27]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

It's good that you're full of ideas!

I will say this now though, I'm going to move for an MDF only rule. The idea of the class was to make the machines cheap and to bring everyone onto a level playing field. By limiting the material to MDF it covers both those bases.

I like the idea of painting the layers to monitor damage, that's neat!
Is the Leeds event RL? They won't allow spinners.

Bitzawood I think is a brilliant example. Yes it has 3 blades but in that way its almost comical. Its like going back to series 1 of robotwars;

Series 1 robotwars was exactly what I was trying to embody!

[psycho_fling]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

Block of wood is ready and waiting 8.2kg

[ewan]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

Got to disagree with the MDF rule, it's horrible stuff, structurally a nightmare and if bonded with certain chemicals creates a horrible dust [http://www.childrensfurniture.co.uk/mdf.html]. By all means use it if you want to but a 'just wood' rule sounds much better than just MDF to me, and would allow the use of a wider range of wood scraps/cuttings from around the house/skips etc.

[Eventorizon]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

You are right. MDF dust is horrible (Some are even carcinogenic I believe) so we cant just limit it to MDF. But when in the arena it should not matter. If people are worried, covering the RR arenas top net with say a clear plastic sheet to trap the dust might be a solution to stop it reaching the crowd. Thought with no spinners allowed I cant see there being much dust...

Side: Can you run spinning twack bots like Stinger or Bladerunner (US middle weight) in the RR arena? When at full speed Bladerunner's spike tipped tail was doing around 50mph.

[Anttazz]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

Jamie's away building a tent in a field on some island so will add this for him

He built Reaver out of MDF and it only had 1 fight at the event he took it to. It spent most of the fight upside down then when it got righted just pushing other robots around ripped the front wheels off. Random offcuts of better quality wood are probably going to be a bit better.

That and all the other stuff MDF does to you.

As for the thwackbots comment, the limit is 550rpm for robots like that. Stinger is owned by RR.

[Ellis]

Re: Wooden Robot Class

Plywood is very strong when used properly. Light and cheap, too. If we were ever to put something together we'd use thick plywood. If allowed, of course.

Then again, our oak floorboard bodge did us very well at Yeovil. Incredibly tough stuff. Did two full on FW battles without a problem. It still lives on in fact, in the form of a motorised bicycle engine mount. :P