Quick intro (plus a weight categories question)

[Duffman]

Afternoon all,

First off i'd like to say how much I've enjoyed looking around the forum over the last week or so. There are clearly a lot of very knowledgeable people on here, and some of the machines are amazing!

For old times' sake, i series linked an old series of RW currently showing on 'Challenge'. It soon became clear that my 8-year-old became completely infactuated with it! Within days he was able to build little lego replicas of his favourite machines... The wonderful thing is, I've been reminded of feeling exactly the same at his age. I even made a start on building a Feather in a similar style to Stinger. Unfortunately, i didn't have anyone around at that age to help direct that enthusiasm, so it very soon stalled. I'm giving him a better upbringing than i had.

Anyway, i'm rambling now...

What would people suggest is the most accessable weight category? I'm ruling out Heavy for logistical reasons, so my options are Feather, Beetle and Ant. I had thought that the Feather class was the most widely used, but i've also noticed the Kinematic [sp?] Beetle events being staged around the UK which seem prettly well supported. Would this be a good option?

I'm not from a design/engineering background, so whatever we end up building will be necessarily simple - no fancy CAD images from me, i'm afraid! Also, if the boy is to drive it, then it'll need to be pretty basic and robust. For that reason, a Featherweight 'drill-brick' seems like a good option. Sound logic?

Your thoughts appreciated!

[Mouldy]

Welcome to the forum.

Featherweights are easy to make and probably the most competitive class to get into currently, and you can make a machine with basic DIY tools.

[Garfie489]

Good thing about featherweight is the wide options to partake in Whiteboard fights, whilst also being very easy to build with limited experience.

The wiring and components are big enough that it doesnt take much skill to solder (useful for me), whilst also being easily commercially available. It can be slightly more expensive than smaller weight classes, but i still feel its better value for money than beetles at the moment.

[daveimi]

Everything for beetles is available off the shelf.

[Albear]

in fact you could use the shelf as well! you could call it.. Shelf-destruction! see-what-i-did-there? lol

[john_frizell]

Feathers combine ease of build with good opportunities to fight. I suggest you build a simple one and bring it to a live event. You are on the right track with featherweight 'drill-brick'. Wood is a good building material.

[Garfie489]

in fact you could use the shelf as well! you could call it.. Shelf-destruction! see-what-i-did-there? lol

Kill your shelf! :P

[Albear]

Kill your shelf! :P

very good! i would think up some more but ive gotvery low SHELF motivation

[Duffman]

Thanks for the input, all (shelf puns notwithstanding!).

My concern is not with building a machine; there is plenty of good info on this website to help with that. My concern is building a machine that we'll only be able to use once a year, which is why the regular Kinematic events grabbed my interest. Also, are the 'Live' events easy enough to enter? Are there any other events which we could enter?

Garfie - please excuse my ignorance; whiteboard?

Thanks again!

[typhoon_driver]

A whiteboard is a friendly match. Essentially a whiteboard is put up in the pit area and people sign their machines up for fights as they wish. They are usually large melees with several machines in the arena at once.

[RogueTwoRobots]

The once-a-year feather events are only in relation to full combat (i.e. spinners are allowed). Robot Wars and Robots Live live events have featherweight battles during their shows and aren't full combat, so you're not at risk of taking your robot home in a binbag. There are several of these events throughout the year.

[Duffman]

Thanks for the input all!

So, its starting to look like the Feather is the one to have (although the Beetles do look amazing!). I think i'll start picking some bits up in the new year. I'll start by building some kind of test mule, so we can get it all dialed in and the boy can get some practice driving. Then i'll look to move it all over to something more robust!

I think i've got most of it straight in my head, but there's still some things i don't understand (specifically electrical stuff). Can anyone please point me towards some kind of tutorial where i can learn about current draw and battery requirements?

Thanks again!

[Duffman]

OK, this is where we are now; the thought of building a Beetle really appeals to me more than the other weights. That said, there doesn't seem to be the same opportunities for Beetles in competition as for Feathers. So it seems like a Feather is the best bet, to begin with at least.

With that in mind, are cordless drills still the best bet for cheap reliable drive? Given that i'll have no weapon to call upon, i think i'd be better off investing in some more substantial drive (i'm imagining something akin to an upscaled version of Ellis' Gonzales).