So after several days of CAD design, several weeks of reading other build diaries and learning electronics, and several years of wanting build something, I've come up with a design for a machine that I think will work as a robot while also being easy to make. I've always liked the idea of control bots, from heavyweight/middleweight Complete Control, to antweights such as Krave Monster (US) and Flippant (UK), and have designed a feather to do much the same, with particular (almost shameless) inspiration from Flippant.

(see here: )

The machine is a four-wheeled lifter, powered by a linear actuator, and made almost entirely of HDPE, 10mm and 20mm respectively. The gimmick of Barróg is to get the wedge under a machine, lift them up via the actuator, and essentially beach them using the 3 hooks up top and side wedges, before using the four-wheel drive to bring them where I please. The machine is fairly huge, with the base plate alone being roughly 400 x 500 mm, and while this is far larger then most feathers, the size is mainly out of necessity for 1. to allow a linear actuator to fit in the model, to extend to a sufficient height, and to keep the angle of the front of the machine at around 30 degrees. 2. to be able to fit most feathers on the top. The hooks are there to keep a machine from rolling off Barróg once the lifter has been raised, as well as to aid in self righting. The side wedges on the face are meant to be expendable, hopefully to allow spinners to chew through them, before the machine is beached, and the spinning weapon is kept at a safe distance away from the rest of the robot. I may add further features to the face to aid in self righting when the machine is on its side, as well as a 2mm sheet of steel to the front of the wedge.

So far, the only parts I've definitively bought are two Argos 12V drill motors, and am planning for two more, probably mounted with Alex's printed motor mounts. The actuator I've based this around is a 100mm stroke 12V linear actuator capable of lifting 180kg. I've calculated it's position, and have estimated that it should provide roughly 20kg of lift at the tip of the lifter, which should be more then enough. Speed controllers and batteries are still the parts of building I'm least familiar with, but the Botbitz 85A controllers are currently my first choice, one for each side. 30A would be preferable, and one will probably be used for the LA, although I'm not sure if that will be able to take two motors. Might even use the FeatherTwo ESC's if two can be configured for 4WD. The battery I have planned is a 3300mAh 5S 30C lipo, although I may downgrade to a 4S if it will be too much for the motors. LED's, a receiver and a safety link have yet to be settled on. I'm currently looking at Banebot wheels for movement, though I can't really come up with a size until I've got exact measurements of how far off the center of the motors will be from the ground.

The current weight of the HDPE is slightly ridiculous: 8.46kg! I'm certain though that I can shave off some of that through optimization. Should the motors be 2kg, and the LA 1.3kg, I should be left roughly 2kg for batteries, ESC's, and further reinforcement of the body. Still need to figure out how to mount everything, presumably using barrel nuts and threaded bars. I still don't know everything, but hopefully what I've done so far is a good start, and I can't wait to start ordering parts once I've settled on everything! Special thanks to the build diaries of R9000 and dotDominic, which have been really helpful to read through.

(Note: Almost forgot, "Barróg" means "hug" in Irish, and is pronounced "bah-rogue", just in case anyone was confused.)

Linear Actuator: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/High-Force-Co...PiB0PiTCtG0bcg

ESC's: http://ranglebox.com/product/botbitz...2-brushed-esc/

Battery: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-3300mah-5s-30c-lipo-pack.html

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