Newby question

[Hoppy]

Hi all,

This is my first post on the forum.

I'm a 62 year old retired telecom engineer and have been interested in building fighting robots for many years since watching Robot Wars on the TV. I've built a couple of robots, the latest being a 12lb hobby weight / raptor. I appreciate that this weight class is not popular in the UK but I'm hoping that I can at least try out my robot at a future rumble. I originally tried building a lightweight and found this very difficult and although this was a failure mechanically, it did give me sufficient experience a few years later to try a second build in the 12lb / 6Kg class as I felt that this was about the right level for me. I'm more knowledgeable in the electrical aspects of robotics than the mechanical.

I would be interested in learning if this hobby appeals to older people, or whether its predominantly a young persons hobby? Also, are there any forthcoming opportunities for me to enter my robot into a rumble either later this year or next year? I live in the London area.

Thanks

Hoppy

[Max]

Re: Newby question

Hi,
From my expiriance roboteers can be any age it's defiantly not just young people especially in the heavier weight categories.
Also as fair as I'm aware there are no raptor fights in the uk at the moment and no plans do have any, you could go over the germany or Belgium where they are more popular. I imagine you could put it in with feather weights if you wanted to, one of my robots 'Colin' only weighed about 6kg.
Hope that's helpful

[Ellis]

Re: Newby question

Welcome to the forum!

First off I'd like to say please post any pictures or videos of your projects that you may have as I think I can speak for everyone in saying I'm busting to see them!

It is true, sadly, that there is little competition in the raptor class in the UK. If you're looking for raptor-on-raptor, there is an event in Germany where the 6kg machines are much more popular, called the Mad Metal Machines (MMM). I believe the next event, MMM14, takes place near Dortmund on the 29th/30th of September.

In the UK, the featherweight (13.6kg) weight class is very popular. If you trust the strength of your 6kg machine(s?) you could put it into a rumble-style featherweight battle at one of the many events held across the country. When and where such events will take place soon is probably best advised by someone more in the know than me.

As for age, I don't think it matters at all. You get young roboteers starting at 10 and under (as you will have seen on Robot Wars) and roboteers old enough to be their grandparents. We're all in it for the laugh and to share our creations, old or young. Generally (generally) you will find younger people doing antweight scale robots, though more or less anything bigger and you will find all ages. I for example am 16 and my dad, 55, is as into it as me!

Looking forward to seeing your creations.
Ellis

[mattsdragons]

Re: Newby question

Just a though, if you have 2 raptors then can do a cluster bot

[razerdave]

Re: Newby question

Matt beat me to the punch there

Welcome to the forum

As Matt said, you can make your 2 raptors up to 6.8kg and enter the 2 as a clusterbot if you don't feel like making a new machine right away. As its been said, the main raptor combat happens on the continent.

As for age, it doesn't even come into it. There is a gentleman named Peter waller (You will have seen him with his ants on robot wars) and he is 68 and still fighting in the antweight class at the highest level

[craig_colliass]

Re: Newby question

Hi welcome

Technically your robot would be fine in a feather weight class fight the rules weight limits are 1-13.6Kg.
It won't win but I have three in this class and I don't ever win either so why not join the club!

Craig
(51)

[Hoppy]

Re: Newby question

Hi Craig & all,

Thank you all for welcoming me to the forum.

I have no expectations of winning a fight, so I could beef-up my bot and take it into a featherweight contest. The twin motor / gearbox set are Gimson GR01's with 14.4V RS550 motors. Some consider these to be over the top for a 12lb bot and are more suited to the featherweight class. I could also add a weapon as I have enough space in the chassis

The ESC is a Sabertooth RC 2x25A with a 13.2V 2.4A/hr NICAD battery pack. I have kept the voltage at around the nominal motor rating as I have built my own ESC's for other applications and know how easy it is to smoke them when over-volting drill type motors.

My wheels are 124mm banebot type and I have the choice of both green and blue tyres.

Any advice would be welcomed.

Hoppy

[Ellis]

Re: Newby question

Sounds like you're well on the way to a featherweight if you wish to be, then! Those components are perfectly usable in the FW category.

Magic-smoke wise, from other roboteers' experience, you'll be fine running the nominal voltage on the 14.4v Gimsons with the 25a ESC. For more grunt (which you may want with biggish wheels if you start to add weight) I think you would be safe over-volting the motors.

In our machine, for example (well, before retiring it due to it getting mashed), we ran 4 cheap 12v drill motors at 18v, 20v fully charged, without a single problem. We were using 30a-capable ESCs, 2 drills each.

[maddox10]

Re: Newby question

Welcome Hoppy.

Raptors.

The Germans love this class, what was ment as a starter class. The most succesfull machines here use small drill-drives or even rebuild electric screwdriver sets. The bigger batterydrill drives, like the Gimsons are rather overpowered in that class, and eat weight you like to use for other purposes. (on the other side, Gimsons GR01's are easy to use)
Same thing on big wheels. Most Germans try to keep the wheels as small as possible. Easy to protect, and light.
One of the German raptors, Enigma, routinely participates in full combat featherweight fights, and even have an even chance on winning, especialy against non-rammers.

And 29-30 september, the next MMM.

[Hoppy]

Re: Newby question

Hi Maddox,

Thanks for your comments about the German's approach to Raptor design. I had originally intended to use the Gimson's in a featherweight but having built a light but strong chassis, I thought I could complete the bot within the 12lb class. However, I did not at the time appreciate that the Gimson RS550 motors was over the top in both power and weight. Fortunately, I'm in a position to alter the build, so that it will fit better into the featherweight class.

As a novice, I've connected with some of the comments made in the 'wooden bot' thread, promoting a more simple and expensive design and build philosophy for combat robotics. It seems to me that newcomers may be put-off from building combat robots, given the very high standard of both build and performance, in all classes, plus considerable cost to get to a winning level. The idea of having an entry class level for novices, using inexpensive materials like wood and easily obtainable weapons in the form of wood hand tools may encourage newcomers to feel that that have a reasonable chance of competing and possibly winning contests with just initiative and design flare, rather than feeling that they need to seek out rather expensive drive components and exotic / expensive armouring from the outset in order to stand some chance of winning. Inexpensive repair of robots also seems to me to be a very important issue, which is effectively addressed by the wooden bot class.

Hoppy

[typhoon_driver]

Re: Newby question

The topic of an easy starter class is a non starter in my book for a number of reasons.

- Any class started up, it doesn't take long for those in the know to take builds to the limits of what's possible
- You don't have to have a great deal of cash or materials available. BITZA being a prime example, built on the cheap and it survived a fight with one of the deadliest machines in the arena at that time
- A simple steel box rammer is easy enough to throw together with a drill and a cheap welder and until recently these were the machines winning the competitions
- If you don't want to fight spinners then many of the heavyweight events hold featherweight fights that spinners can't compete in

[maddox10]

Re: Newby question

The topic of an easy starter class is a non starter in my book for a number of reasons.

How do you define starter class?
Weightclass ain't a good definition. There are antweights that are more expensive than heavies.
Allowed materials? Riveting ali sheet is cheap, welding the same sheet is rather expensive.

- Any class started up, it doesn't take long for those in the know to take builds to the limits of what's possible

Yep. for example. the German raptors have a limitation on motorsize and magnet-technology. Speed 700 can-size and no rare earth magnets. But that didn't stop people to use more smaller motors to achive the goal of more power.

- You don't have to have a great deal of cash or materials available. BITZA being a prime example, built on the cheap and it survived a fight with one of the deadliest machines in the arena at that time
- A simple steel box rammer is easy enough to throw together with a drill and a cheap welder and until recently these were the machines winning the competitions

BonX survived a US competition. And the current rebuild is even stronger and better shaped. A BonX clone with a cheaper drive still is worth the effort.

[PJ-27]

Re: Newby question

BITZA being a prime example, built on the cheap and it survived a fight with one of the deadliest machines in the arena at that time

It won! I would say though, building a bot from bits like we do is more challenging and very weighty. We mostly won through luck and making the robot very tough, but it had naff-all offensive capabilities and was pretty much written off after the event.

One thing I would say is that there is a pretty good rock-paper-scissors set of designs and many variables that can alter the outcome of an fight.
Spending lots of money doesn't necessarily mean winning either (but it does help)
Only 1 of the 10 robots that qualified last year did so this year and this year's winner didn't qualify last year, despite being the same bot.