Barróg - Featherweight Lifter Build Diary

[Shooty]

So Robodojo January 2019 has come and went, and was a fantastic event overall, but before I get into the fights I'd just like to get into some of the repairs that had to be made between Insomnia and Robodojo. First of all was needing to get a new green top cut for the bot afting using up my spares at KOB UK, nothing too fancy needed there (at this point, I've accepted I'll be going through one of these per event if spinners are involved). Second of all was repairing my broken linear actuator; when testing the linac for the first time months after KOB UK it seems a bolt came loose within and ruined two of the nylon gears within. Fortunately Gimson Robotics sent over some replacements free of charge upon contacting them, so all it took was some reassembly and some loctite for insurance and I was good to go. The horizontal configuration for the machine was also prepared: I knew Telekenisis would be there, and wouldn't want to chance facing them without it.


A shot of the busted gears in the linac. fortunately the pieces were easily replaced.

ROBODOJO JANUARY 2019

Getting to the event was far more comfortable than previous excursions to the UK. By going to Liverpool over Holyhead, the drive to the event was not only shorter, but due to the increased length of the cruise we were actually able to sleep on the way. We ended up being one of the first teams to arrive, and ended up sharing the same table with Colin and No Imagination and Chimera's Revenge, and Alice and Tantrum. The machine was given some last minute touches, and was at 100% health going into the main tournament.


A shot of Barróg, probably the best it'll ever look.

ROUND 1: FORGE MASTER

The format had been announced a few days before the tournament. Both the Sportsman and Full Combat contestants would take part in four 1v1s with other machines in the bracket, drawn at random. For the first round I was drawn up against Mark Smith's Forge Master, an axe-bot that made it to the top 20 at last years Insomnia. I knew it was a sturdy bot with a lot of experience of driving for the short time it's been active, and that weapon could cause cracks in the HDPE if it hit the right spots. I knew it would be a control match over all else, and those hinged forks would beat the HDPE wedgelets in head-on collisions, so I opted to use the 1.5mm stainless steel wedge instead. I loaded up the bot and got ready to fight.

(Thanks again to Cosmin Gorgovan for filming and uploading all the fights, the recordings of which I'm using for this post)



Some observations from this fight:

• Forge Master seemed to be having issues with the axe beforehand, so believing it wasn't working, he just left the cover for the axehead on. Eventually the axe seemed to work later on, throwing the head off eventually.
• The metal wedge performed beyond my expectations in this fight, and seemed to take priority over the forks more often than not. I'm crediting this to having more weight on the end. As someone who's seriously looking into the idea of hinged forks, this something I'm keeping in mind for the future.
• Eventually I corner Forge Master and get a really good grab on them. For the first time in what feels like forever, the weapon is working as I originally intended, grabbing tightly, and allowing me to drive with them on top. Unfortunately, the pit ended up not working for this fight due to damage, so I was unable to get the pitting I was hoping for and end up having to let go shortly after.
• From this point the fight is mostly just a back and forth shoving match with me possibly having the slight edge due to size. Eventually though Forge Master takes a thwack that seems to kill the receiver. It seems that earlier problems with the bot could also be attributed to this malfunctioning part.

POST-FIGHT:

It's always good to start off a competition with a win, and thankfully the machine seemed almost unharmed. One corner of the steel wedge was slightly bent, but easily fixed, and there was a small crack on one side of the chopping board near the lifter, but with none of that looking to be too bad I just swapped out my batteries for the next fight.

ROUND 2: X-303

For the second round I was dealt a far deadlier opponent, Cosmin Gorgovan's X-303. This drum bot had come off a relatively disappointing performance at KOB UK to go on undefeated and win Dutch Robot Games 2018, so the bot was no joke. I didn't really have any configurations planned against drum bots, my only prior experience was with Drumroll at XR Manchester 2018, so reasoning off the fact that the plastic wedgelets would be torn up and the horizontal configuration would just give him something nice to bite onto, I opted for the steel wedge and went in with a strategy to finish the fight as quickly as possible.



Some observations from this fight:

• Fairly happy with how quickly I was on X-303 at the beginning, my style of trying to stay in the face of spinners as much as possible left little room for the drum to get a truly good hit in at the start.
• All of the hits taken at the front of the machine, while damaging the wedge further, never launch the machine that far, only lightly lifting it. Again, I owe this to the peculiar weight distribution on the bot, which is a great strength except when...
• While trying to correct my driving, I end up oversteering a little too much, which reveals the back of the bot to X-303 for just a second, which is just enough time for it to get that perfect hit and send me packing out of the arena for the first time ever. At least it's hard evidence for my weight theories though!

POST-FIGHT:

A very exciting fight for basically only being 30 seconds long, and in retrospect it was probably good the bot got off with that little damage, things could have certainly been a lot worse had the fight gone on longer. The metal wedge up front was at a 90 degree angle and messed up (a good gift for Cosmin at least), but other than that no major damage, which was a relief as all I'd need to do is some TLC for the green front and charge some batteries and I was good to go for the next fight.


A shot of the wedge post-X-303. The left holding bolt seemed to almost be fused with the plastic, so it took a bit of fiddling to get it out.



The back of the bot where it was hit. Though it isn't very clear, there's a clear concave mark left in the back where the drum made contact. No damage to the securing bolt or the linac though, which was surprising.