Rigid Robotics Build Diary - Flat Damon

[lowndsy]

Hello everyone. Pleased to meet you. I'm Steve and being 35, Northern and single I have decided to fill my days building a robot. Apparently it is some sort of midlife crisis thing but that's fine, at least I didn't buy a Harley.

I'm starting off with a wedge featherweight based around being really structurally rigid. I have a solid ribbed chassis that I will be insulating and covering with Polypropylene armour. Bolts, grip rivets and screws will anchor the skin to the chassis almost every cm so it should be pretty strong. A layer of rubber sheet will spread the force of impacts and if weight allows I'll protect the corners with angle alu and corner brackets.

The design is currently a wedge but once I understand the weight implications I can tear into the chassis pretty easily so there is the option to cut the nose off to accommodate weapons, scoops etc. I know you are meant to start at the weapon and build around it but the main draw for me is seeing exactly how rigid / durable I can get it, so that needs the frame to be designed first.
The aim is to get to a localish event and for the robot to stand half a chance against any featherweight spinners it comes across.

The whole thing is on a budget while I knock up something that runs. When it comes to competing I'll have a think about investing to upgrade weak components, but atm the total budget is < £150 for V1. I have the chassis / some armour sorted already so I can definitely get her running for that.

For motors I am starting cheap with some cheap Chinese drill motors / escs from Amazon and I'll swap them out later if it looks like a goer. Going for ~24v if poss for a bit of grunt.

Potential names... I am watching the film The Martian a bit more than is healthy so at the moment I am thinking "Flat Damon" but with the armour being an integral part of the rigidity theme "Stressed Member" is coming a close second.

Photos to follow - currently it's just a big yellow chunk of chassis, but the motors and receiver are on order, should be arriving in my Amazon locker any day now.

Peace!
Rigid Robotics