Register To Comment
Page 6 of 11 FirstFirst ... 45678 ... LastLast
Results 51 to 60 of 103

Thread: Barróg - Featherweight Lifter Build Diary

  1. #51
    Well, it doesn't look like I'll ever finish that build report video, so I'll just fill in what happened at the event here instead.

    So the final few days leading up to the event were entirely focused on three goals: losing as much weight as possible without weakening many of the key structures, fitting the front claws, and finishing off the electronics. For losing weight, I opted to drill holes using a hole saw in the lifter spines, the rear curves on the machine, at the front of the base plate (though leaving enough space around the front motors so as a nasty shock wouldn't snap the plastic), on the back plate, as well as hollowing out the lifter supports/bulkheads.


    a shot of the machine with the front claws mounted, as well as the holes in the spines and sides

    After about a days worth of cutting and a years worth of swarf, the front claws were done. They were mounted simply to the base with two bolts each, and while I was worried about how much pressure they could take, they seemed to hold up well. They also gave me an idea of where I could mount the electronics within. A safety loop was added before the main circuit (link, 60A battery fuse, LED power light), 30A fuses were installed before each ESC, and a 20A fuse was added to the linear actuator. figuring out how to mount the battery was tricky given weight limitations, so for a small event like Mechatrons, I opted to cut out a slot in some corregated cardboard that would hold the battery snugly, and use velcro ties to keep everything in place. The end result wasn't the tidiest, but it weighed very little, and could survive a few tumbles.


    a shot of the electronics prior to the event

    With everything in place, I decided to test out the force outputted by the linear actuator by "grappling" some weighing scales. I decided to stop when I read 55kg on the scales! Unfortunately, another test against a small, thick cardboard box placed too much pressure on the center of the green piece, causing it to crack. Frustrated at this, I ended up needing to cut an extra piece using some offcuts to reinforce the vulnerable area, as well as a few extra nuts and bolts. Despite this however, I was actually slightly underweight from all of the holes, and after finally caving on drilling holes on the front piece of the robot, all that was needed was the metal sheet up front and something to stop it getting beached.

    DAY 0

    We drove down from Galway on the day before the event, and ended up being one of the earliest teams to arrive (team might not be the right word considering I was the only person at the event who had anything to do with it prior but whatever). I met Peter, Zulu, and many of the other crew members, and was given a place in the pits right where the guests wait to be allowed into the show. Much of the first part of the day was spent setting up and oogling the new King B (partly because it was one of the only other heavies there at the time, and partly because, well, it was the new King B).


    Barróg from the front


    Barróg from the back

    Another shot of the innards


    An example of Barróg doing what it was built to do

    A few things to note from the new pictures. The holes and the support piece along the front ended up looking a lot better than I thought they would; in fact, if I had known even a week beforehand how the holes would have looked, I would have drilled a whole lot more! I ended up ordering two sheets of metal that were fairly cheap for the front, and the 1.5mm stainless steel could get very low to the ground without catching on anything, and if that would be an issue, I made it a policy to keep the lifter slightly open while driving. I settled on threaded bars along the sides which would prevent Barróg from getting beached on its side, but would not help it if it were stuck 45 degrees upside down (ooo... foreshadowing...). Ultimately it came down yet again to time and weight, which by now have become dirty words to me.

    I was a little anxious coming up to the safety check that not having a locking bar for the claws would disqualify me from fighting, though I had gotten reassurances from Peter Redmond that the slow nature of the clamper would allow it to avoid this rule. I had a threaded bar with me, and would have been able to drill holes in the front claws where they meet the green piece so as to prevent the machine from opening, but this would have been an untested option, and could have led to the front claws breaking, or the actuator just breaking through its mounting. After using the machine, I highly doubt both of those things could happen, but it was something in the back of my head at the time.

    The safety inspector went through the operating procedures of the lifter and, fortunately enough, there was no problem. What DID end up becoming a problem for me however was the transmitter I was using, a modified Devo 7E, which decided, for the FIRST TIME, on that VERY DAY, with NO WARNING, that the power switch being set to the "off" position wouldn't turn the machine off. With this, I wasn't able to demonstrate that in the event of a loss of signal, the machine would turn off. If I couldn't do this, I would be disqualified from competing. In theory, I could have my batteries hanging out of the transmitter, and just disconnect the lead connecting the two whenever I wanted to show the events of a loss of signal, but fortunately for me, before having to resort to that, I was able to get help from Jamie of Team Coyote and Tony of Team Rusty, and was given a loan of a spare Spektrum DX6i for the event. The robot was rewired to work properly with the new transmitter, and I could pass safety. I was good to go for any fights tomorrow!


    The faulty transmitter, which stopped turning off for me


    The Spektrum DX6i I used for the remainder of the event, which worked like a charm


    A shot of the Arena the night before, looking uncharacteristically smooth. Rest of event report to follow soon.

  2. #52
    DAY 1

    Overall, there were 12 heavyweight machines and 6 featherweights at the event, mine included. For the other featherweight machines, there was Beauty 2, a legendary pneumatic flipper, Carcinus (Car-sin-us), an electronic crusher from Team Coyote, Cicatrix (sick-a-tricks), a 4WD pusher from Team Scot-Bots, Red Hot Tilly Pecker, an axe bot from Team Tilly (some of you may recognize the FW as the robot formerly known as Hatchet), and Node, the only other Irish FW, which was meant to be a Shockwave/style lifter, but was effectively still in construction at the event. It was a pretty nice variety of bots, basically everything except a spinner, so perfect for testing out a new machine.

    20180110_174553.jpg20180110_174603.jpg20180110_194820.jpg20180110_194849.jpg20180111_094910.jpg
    Attachment 7727Attachment 7726Attachment 7725Attachment 7728Attachment 7724

    Each event that happened roughly hourly would feature two fights, usually between heavies. On the feather end, two 3-way rumbles were scheduled for each day, and my first one was scheduled for the end of the day against Beauty 2 and Cicatrix. I had a lot of time to kill, which I spent talking to roboteers, taking advantage of the food vouchers provided by the expo (roughly £9 per day), and explaining to those waiting for the show to start about the robots, their weapons, and explaining to them how to build an antweight. I even made a makeshift arena for my antweight to drive around in, giving the controller to various audience members.


    A crude arena for driving my flipper AW, Sioc, around.

    Eventually it came time for my first fight, and I was pretty terrified of Beauty, as while I could self-right on my back, there were certain positions that I could not come back from. I brought the machine down to the arena, armed up, and drove over to the end.

    ​FIGHT 1:



    Some observations from the fight:

    • ...I have no idea what that enterance music was, we were told we could make requests for what to play (mine was Dearg Doom), but that apparently wasn't the case. In retrospect, a lot of the other intros made a lot more sense with this in mind (Thor had "Do You Like My Sword" as it's music).
    • Most of the first minute was getting used to steering Barróg; the machine was backheavy by design so as to be controllable with a robot on top of the front, but the downside to this was that it powerslides quite easily.
    • Beauty 2's flipper had problems throughout the event, and as a result never fired once. I didn't realise this until after the first minute, and so played it very safe when driving around Beauty 2 until then.
    • Cicatrix had traction problems throughout the event, leaving it stuck for large portions of fights. This is probably why when Cicatrix tried to push me at the 2:05 mark, I was able to push them right back.
    • The 1.5mm steel strip performed quite well in the fight, mainly as I was able to keep it off the ground when driving normally, and lowering it when going for a charge. This meant I could get under Beauty 2 fairly consistently, while having enough ground clearance everywhere else so that getting beached was not an issue.
    • Getting Barróg directly in front of other robots was an issue, as was getting a grip on them. I tried not to put more pressure on the front then what I thought was necessary for fear of self-damage, and as a result a lot of potential "grab" opportunities slipped me by. I did however manage to get one grab on Cicatrix though around the 3:50 mark!


    POST-FIGHT:

    Safe to say, I was feeling pretty chuffed after that first rumble. On trying to push Cicatrix back over to the arena entrance however I noticed that my pushing power had greatly diminished. I brought the machine back over to the pits and took a look at the damage.


    The state the steel strip was in at the end of the first fight. Easily removed and hammered straight before the next fight.


    Some of the scuffs along the front of the robot. Mostly cosmetic.


    The rear left wheel. It was not supposed to be spinning freely.

    DAY 2:

    My main focus for today was to figure out what was wrong with the rear wheel and to try to fix it. As you can see from the image below, there were several problems with the gearbox. The first were the visible cracks around where the ball bearings were (they were simply held in place by the tightened torque limiter as opposed to grub screws, I paid for this by losing a few bearings), clearly showing signs of stress. The second was that one of the metal pins that held the planetary gearbox on the inside together had slipped out, removing any contact the motor could make with the wheel. Fortunately, Team Node had written off on of their drill motors, and I was able to salvage the metal pins from it to restore functionality to the gearbox.


    The damaged gearbox

    With all four wheels working again I was able to enter by second fight, between Beauty 2 and Carcinus.

    FIGHT 2:



    Some observations from the fight:
    • This fight was originally going to have Red Hot Tilly Pecker fighting, but unfortunately they had burnt out a motor in the previous fight, and so Carcinus was brought in as a reserve.
    • The introduction was the first time I really drove the machine with the lifter all the way up, and I discovered that it was impossible to control like this. That hit on Beauty 2 at that point was a total accident.
    • Slower movements seemed to allow the machine far more control then last time. over-correcting was still an issue, but I was definitely getting more "good lifts" then last match
    • At the 3:05 mark, it wasn't caught on camera, but at that moment I decided to spin wildly just for the attention of the crowd. The machine actually started shaking back and forth while spinning at this point! Pretty sure I lost a wheel here as well.
    • At 3:20: another good lift! Probably the best one I got at the event.
    • From 3:30 onwards I lose a front wheel as well, and at this point the machine's mobility is greatly reduced, a fact both Beauty and Carcinus capitalize on.


    POST-FIGHT:

    So after this fight, Barróg was limping pretty badly. As well as the dents to the front strip, I had lost both the front left wheel and the back right wheel. one of the wheels was fine, but the other was cracked, and the gearboxes were an unknown for me at this point. I decided to purchase two drills on the way home (one of the gearboxes was more damaged then the other, I thought the other could be salvaged) and elected to fix everything tomorrow.

    (This post has reached the character limit, the rest will be posted shortly)

  3. #53
    DAY 3:

    This day was a total rush, and 80% of this was all centered around getting working wheels, including such things as dismantling half the robot to get to the rear wheels (a real design fault). It's at this point that I need to explain how the wheels were mounted. They were hard plastic, tapped onto the shaft of the gearbox, and held on tight with the reverse-threaded screw and a washer. I thought that these would be the point of failure before anything else; in reality they worked too well. I was unable to screw the wheels off, as I had nowhere to grip onto the gearbox that would stop it spinning. This meant that the front motor brackets were stuck in between both the wheel and the broken gearboxes, and if I couldn't get those off, then I wouldn't be able to mount the new motors.


    A shot of a wheel held in place by a reverse-threaded screw and a washer. Notice the crack as well.

    In the end, I ended up having to cut open both gearboxes, and use a vice grips on the inside of them to finally, slowly, remove the wheels. After dismantling both drills, the soldering of new connectors, and the dismantlement of the entire machine, followed by reattaching the wheels and rebuilding the machine again, I didn't even have enough time to hammer the steel front strip back in place, and so opted to use the replacement one instead. I also used zip ties across the metal pins so that they wouldn't fall out this time. I tested everything and was back to being fully operational in the nick of time.


    Node, in the best condition it had ever been.

    The final fight would be a 6-bot rumble, including Node, whose machine was finally working (sort of). I brought Barróg to the arena, armed up, and was ready to fight.


    A shot of the six, ready for battle.

    FIGHT 3:



    Some observations from the fight:

    • The opening was a total disaster. Cicatrix and Carcinus each ended up stuck at certain points, Node didn't move at all, and machines were being misnamed left and right.
    • Almost immediately, I noticed I had lost a rear wheel, and as a result I couldn't drive straight for the entire match. Grr!
    • I started to shuffle towards Node in the hopes of parading them around the arena, but couldn't get a grip on them due to my missing wheel.
    • Speaking of Node, they died immediately, and everyone ended up laying on them at some point in the fight, which leads to my favourite shot of the whole event at around the 3:40 mark: Node is flipped by a charge by Beauty, Tilly Pecker starts going mental on them, I try to drive in and save them but can't keep the machine straight, and then one more charge from Beauty straight up kills the LED's.
    • At around 4:45 I try to go after Tilly Pecker, as we had both won our rumbles and were competing for the grand title (or whatever could be considered a grand title for whiteboard rumbles). This leads to 5:20, when I start getting whacked relentlessly, and I even try raising the lifter just to take a few less hits to important areas.
    • At around 5:45, just as cease is called, Barróg gets flipped over for the first time, and in a position I cannot recover from as well. Fortunately, all the weight below meant that a light nudge was all that was needed to right myself again, so this is a good sign for future friendly matches!


    POST-FIGHT:

    The main thing I was interested in was to find out how I had lost a wheel early on. As it turned out, I had simply forgotten to re-insert the reverse-threaded screw which held the wheel in place, and as a result the wheel came loose. It still supported the machine from dragging on its corner, but the threads were completely shattered as a result. I also took far more damage this time as well thanks to Tilly Pecker, which left marks mostly in between the two front grabbers and at the back-right corner of the main face.


    A shot of the front of Barróg after the fight.

    Fortunately, outside of the cosmetic damage, everything still worked fine. The electronics hadn't failed at all during the event, and despite running on three wheels for the entire fight, the gearboxes and other wheels came out without a scratch, so I've finally gotten a reliable drive.


    A shot of the underside of the lifter where Tilly Pecker kept hitting me. Look at that crack!

    POST-EVENT THOUGHTS:


    • Upon returning from the event, I discovered that low batteries were the reason my transmitter wouldn't turn off. I was confused by this, and still am to an extent (I've never heard of something refusing to turn off on low power, usually it's the other way around). I'm going to give the transmitter one more chance at Manchester on a new set of batteries (beats spending triple figures on a new transmitter!).
    • I was pondering for a while how to get wheels off of the gearbox shafts, even thinking of cutting a slit down the center of them to allow for a flathead screwdriver to grip. It was only after the event that I realised I could just run the motors while holding the wheels, and they'd just screw off that way. Oops, knowing that could have saved me some money in broken gearboxes! I now have a setup for doing just that using a scrap piece of HDPE.
    • I need to come up with a better way to prevent Barróg from getting beached, while still meeting the weight limit. Possible areas for losing weight include more holes on the front green piece, and more holes at the back, covered with a strip of polycarb to protect the internals (though polycarb has a higher density than HDPE, so I wouldn't be saving much unless I was using very thin polycarb).
    • I'm planning to have an alternate configuration for Barróg, where the front wheels and the two front grabbers are replaced with just the front and a nice thick piece of Hardox along the edge. Mostly for spinners, I just need a low-weight way for mounting some free-wheeling wheels along the front.
    • I'm also planning to drive some screws through the front grabbers for better purchase when grappling something, I noticed machines would slip out very easily.



    A shot of the dismantled Barróg, before cleaning the pieces of the dust accumulated.

    Before ending this post I'd like to thank many of the people at the event who helped me along. I'd like to thank Peter Redmond, Dr. Zulu, and all the event organisers for organising everything and helping the show run along smoothly. I'd like to thank Simon Harrison and Natsuko Hori, who were both so lovely and friendly, Jamie and Tony for helping out with any of the technical problems I faced and providing certain tools, Shane for also being very helpful with knowledge and just beign friendly, and the Prophet family (Team Ironclads) for recording the entire event. I'm hoping to bring Barróg to Manchester later this year with whatever improvements I've made to it. I'm also trying to design my first beetle, which should hopefully make it to the Euro champs later in the year. It was a great event, and I'm hoping to return again next year!

    20180113_164444.jpg20180113_164505.jpg20180113_164447.jpg20180113_164519.jpg

  4. #54
    Update time! So with Manchester coming up in a few weeks, I've been looking at ways that I can improve Barróg to sort out its problems. The first two have to do with the front claws. I noticed that machines could easily slip out of my grip due to the slippery nature of HDPE, so I've elected to drive a screw through each claw point for better grip. The screws will only be poking out a small bit, less than a centimeter, but it should give me some much needed grip. I may even put some green ink on them before battles so that I can see where I've gripped other robots after (probably not though). the second change is that I've noticed that the claws can sometimes catch on the sides of the lifter, so I've elected to chamfer the sides of them to prevent this from happening in future.

    The major change however has been the need for a self righting mechanism for when I'm on my side. the bolts did a fine job for the most part, keeping the machine on its wheels and under the weight limit, but they look ugly, and prevent the machine from self righting on its side. So, I've been working on a design that would incorporate self-righting wings into the bot, where they are activated by the lifter raising via a connecting cable.


    Quick sketch of the idea


    Test-able prototype made from an old offcut


    Unfortunately I cannot upload a video of the test myself, but suffice to say, there were problems with the prototype:


    • The cable I used, which I quickly swiped from the charger of one of the six drill batteries I now own, snapped. I need a stronger cable, but this was obvious.
    • The wings wouldn't go out far enough to self right. The hinge point needs to be lower and closer in to the wall.
    • All of the bolts on one side ended up weighing 100g, twice what the 8mm bolt used to weigh.


    My current plan is a revised version of these wings, using some green 12mm HDPE offcuts instead, twisted 90 degrees so that the width is the side taking the weight. Less bolts will be involved overall, and I'm looking at using torsion springs to keep the wings inside when not in use.


    An idea of what I want to do. Green piece in the drawing is not to scale

  5. #55
    Barróg has been packed up and is ready for it's UK debut in Manchester. Unfortunately I could not get the self-righting wings working in time; I need a stronger cable as the light ropes I've been testing with just can't cut it, and supports are needed on the inside of the side walls so that it doesn't bend under the pressure. Changes have been made to the machine though, which should make the current iteration operate more smoothly.



    The battery at Dublin was held together by cardboard, velcro, and hopes and dreams, so a proper setup is needed to deal with being tossed around. This new setup uses packing foam all around the battery, and some thin mounts at the front and back to prevent it moving forwards and backwards. The velcro strap seemed to hold together well last time, so I've elected to use two this time around.





    The front claws on Barróg have been modified so that the sides are all chamfered so as to prevent the lifter catching them on elevation and descention. Screws have also been added up front to get a better bite on machines when holding them in place. The large washers have also been moved on to the bolts connecting the front piece and the lifter spines, so as to stop the plastic from splitting further.



    Here's how the machine looks like at the moment. I've kept the bolts for this iteration as they're better then nothing. My problem at the moment now though is that the lifter ESC seems to have stopped working as of last night. Power is getting to it, but I'm not getting any output from it. I've troubleshooted it to the best of my ability, but it seems that I'm going to have to buy another Mtronik's Viper ESC, though this time rated at a higher amperage so as to minimize any risks, and have it shipped to Manchester and install it there. I don't know what exactly caused it to stop working, but I suppose those are the risks when using uncommon ESC's.

  6. #56
    Alright very late update but technically within the month of the event so not too terrible. Here's how Manchester went for Barróg.

    DAY 1:


    A shot of Barróg loaded up into the car

    We ended up taking the Dublin/Holyhead ferry early Friday morning, which gave us a little free time in Manchester proper that day. We arrived at the event and were stationed next to two other FW teams, Team Kaizen (The Honey Badger) and Quantax Dynamics (Destroy It Yourself). Barróg passed another tech check (always a nervous time due to the grey nature of the weaponry), and most of the time leading up until the first fight was spent making sure everything was secured in the machine, as well as looking around at some of the other bots. The build up to the fight was particularly nerve-wracking due to it being the first fight I (and I assume many other teams) would be fighting a spinner. The first fight could have been a whole lot scarier though, as of the three "verts of the apocalypse" (Shrapnel, Blunt Force Trauma, and Get Shrekt), only Shrekt was rolling this fight.

    FIGHT 1:



    Some observations from this fight:

    • The new FW house robot that has replaced Oll-E (to what seems like to no ones remorse) was unexpectedly awesome looking, and I only found out it had a flamethrower after entering the box. That was fun, both in the terrifying way, and the fun way.
    • After 20 seconds of driving around, I suffer what I can only describe as a series of unfortunate events. Barróg gets flipped by the flipper into the only position it can't self-right from, proceeds to become the first machine to be effected by the CO2 jets by way of getting blasted around, and finally get toasted by the house robot before finally getting back onto my wheels.
    • At I proceed to get my first good lift on another machine, however it seems that I didn't leave the throttle stick in the neutral position completely, and once they slip out, the front proceeds to spring up, something it is not supposed to do. it takes another few attempts for me to figure out that the back of the lifter is rising instead of the front when I get underneath opponents, signalling that something has gone very wrong with my defining feature.
    • After being reduced to a wedgebot, I go for one final push on an opponent, before becoming completely dead, the first time to happen to me, before being pitted in the dying seconds of the rumble.


    POST-FIGHT:


    So obviously, there were some points that needed addressing with the machine. The front wedge was mangled a bit, some bolts on the wheels needed tightening, and it turns out that the reason I was dead in the water was because of the battery connection came loose, so that was easily remedied. I would be remiss to mention the most important casualty though, which was the lifter.


    Ow

    As it turns out, the lifter kept raising long after grabbing its target, and while I don't know exactly how much of a load it took, I so know that it was enough to completely snap the HDPE front into two pieces, where the part of the lid connected to the linac came completely apart. In hindsight, the area was not properly reinforced for how far it was back, and will hopefully be fixed for future incarnations. So while I worked on getting the wheels and wedges back in order, my dad and cousin worked hard on assembling a support bulkhead that would restore functionality to the lifter, and reinforce it greatly. With this new support Barróg was reborn now, presumably, with the power of Christ on its side.


    The new setup, certainly more durable

    Barróg was in full working order for fight two, which featured the three verts, as well as Blinky, another vert who made a surprise appearance. You know, the "that wasn't a fart" kind of surprise.

    ​FIGHT 2:



    Some observations from this fight:

    • This fight was actually pretty passé for me compared to the others. The lifter wasn't used much, whether that was down to caution on my part or technical failure I cannot remember.
    • much of the fight was just me trying to avoid the spinners, whom seemed to not be causing as much destruction as usual, which was a pleasant surprise.
    • I'm starting to realise that even with a broken lifter, the design of my wedge coupled with the claws stopping machines from driving over me, as well as a 4WD make Barróg a pretty nice pushbot, which comes in handy when necessary.
    • Personal highlight for this fight was unknowingly ending up behind a still quite dangerous Blunt Force Trauma, where I proceeded to ram it into the wall, all while screaming loudly.


    ​POST-FIGHT:

    After the last fight, I was pretty chuffed to survive the full three minutes in a spinner rumble, and aside from the wedge, the machine was still fully operational, the lifter hadn't broken, and I even got to fight in an off event "test", though after that, I noticed that two of my wheels were shagged, and so both spares I had needed to be used up.


    Barróg sustaining only cosmetic damage, an improvement over last time

    Day two post to follow shortly as I've reached a character limit.

  7. #57
    ​DAY 2:


    in awe at the size of this bot. absolute unit

    Getting the two wheels replaced as well as sorting out some last minute technical issues ended up taking up longer than I thought, from getting the gearbox shafts clean of plastic to taking the thing apart to put the wheels on in the first place. Fortunately, and after a scare with time management, Barróg was ready for fight three. This time, Drumroll also made an appearance at the event, bringing the total of spinners up to five, making for a rumble that I'm fairly certain is imprinted in the minds of many on the forum already.

    FIGHT 3:




    Some observations from this fight:

    • Barróg was finally reaching a point where I can call it decently controlled. It still overshoots a bit, but for the most part, I was going after people who I wanted to go after, and seemed to win most pushing contests it got involved in.
    • Personal highlight of the event was getting under Blinky's wedge, having one of my claws taken off by the disc, before driving full speed across the arena and into a wall. Unfortunately it seems the linac connector was undone with this hit, and so I couldn't get that all important good lift afterwards.
    • Around the midway point of the fight I start focusing on Get Shrekt, and make it my mission to pit them, coming close several times but falling just shy each time. Got a nice hit in on the microwave in the confusion though (let it be known that a microwave nearly made it to the end of the fight even after getting smashed several times by everyone).
    • Shortly after, I manage to get under Drumroll, proceed to ram him into the wall, and lose the battery connector again, falling dead in the water, though at least spared further punishment (despite several verts coming a little too close for comfort).


    POST-FIGHT:

    Needless to say, this was by far the most damage Barróg had taken yet. The wheels mercifully were still OK, just needed to be tightened a bit. The sides had gotten slightly chewed up and the wedge up front was mangled, both no doubt due to Drumroll. Blinky had taken out the right claw, and the left had great chunks taken out of it. Inside both the linac ESC to linac wire, and the battery to safety circuit wires had become disconnected. The damage was repairable though, and I wasn't deterred in the slightest, though admittedly most of that came from working next to The Honey Badger, which was, well, y'know.


    A shot with a good overview of all the damage Barróg took, though the left side had far more bites taken out of it, not shown in this photo


    A better shot of how the left claw looked after taking a few Blinky shots. Pleasantly surprised it held

    At this point two problems presented themselves to me. the first was remounting the right claw, fixed together with a simple piece of plastic and a few screws. What was weird at this time though was my transmitter seemed to stop working, and the machine wouldn't move when turned on. Fortunately, Greg from Quantax Dynamics gave me a spare transmitter he had to test out as a thanks for me giving him two reverse threaded screws on day one for his gearboxes, and after a few tweaks, the machine was moving again. The front wedge was replaced with my spare, and Barróg was ready for its final fight of the event.


    Barróg in the loading area before the final fight, next to fellow lifter/clamper Aegis

    FIGHT 4:



    Some observations from this fight:


    • While driving into the arena, I noticed the new transmitter wasn't identical to my old one. In fact, the mixing was reversed on it, so while forward was still forward and vice versa for reverse, holding left made the machine turn right, and vice-versa. It was still fully driveable, but definitely tougher to do so.
    • As the fight starts, I notice that Barróg also starts spinning at random intervals, which was a sign that something was definitely wrong.
    • After a minute of doing sod all, I end up in the center of the arena, where something explodes within Barróg, a puff of smoke comes out, and it is dead, full stop. Luckily, I get shoved into the corner before too much damage is caused to the machine.


    POST-FIGHT:

    A disappointing final fight certainly, but at least no external damage was caused this time. After a later diagnosis, it seems that something went wrong with the linac ESC that caused it to draw ludicrous amounts of energy, possibly due to me not cutting the red wire on all but one BEC wire, where the left drive ESC then took in excessive energy through the BEC wires, and toasted the wire along with the fuse connecting it. I've reached this conclusion as when I inputted in the link again later with the left ESC disconnected, the linac ESC became hot and the battery fuse blew.


    A shot of the toasted ESC. unknown if it would still work should I replace the BEC wire (I hope so)

    POST-EVENT THOUGHTS:



    • Fairly happy with how Barróg performed! Barring the final fight, I managed to survive one to the end, and put on a good show with the other two.
    • Spinners were scary, but I found myself getting more aggressive towards them as the fights went on, and feel like I would be far more ready to face one in the near future, even 1-on-1. The body of the machine is certainly a little more worn, but functionally as good as the day it was built, am very impressed with how well 10mm HDPE has held up.
    • The wedge needed to be fixed after every fight, and one of them had to be written off entirely, but they were bloody effective, and most of the damage to them seemed to be self-inflicted from bashing feathers against the walls. I reckon a more obtuse angle on the front should solve this problem somewhat, reducing effective wedge-y area but keeping it in peak performance for longer. Key point for me was getting underneath Blinky's front, a result I hope to replicate against future verts.
    • The claws did well, proving useful even when the lifter wasn't working by catching other machines upon a successful charge. Nothing broke internally when one was snapped off, and I am now considering reducing them from 20mm to 15mm for weight reasons. Should still be tough enough for grabbing, will net me some nice weight, and will redesign them to alter the breaking off-point, possibly higher up, so that I can bring spares and simply re-attach broken off pieces more efficiently.
    • The green front is a write off, but is at least handy for salvaging 12mm plastic off of now. The entire spine-support system needs to be redone to prevent breaks from happening again. The linac will probably go forward, reducing the speed and reach of the lifter but allows me more freedom with the supports and even increases that ever desireable crushability factor. the new support will probably be made using welds and 2mm steel angles.
    • BEC's will be altered so that only one powers the receiver, possibly one of the drive ESC's. I'm going to give the linac ESC makers one more chance, and place the fuse before the ESC instead of after from now on. Botbitz ESC's are high on my shopping list now.
    • While in Dublin gearboxes were the ones giving me trouble, it seems like the wheels gave me more to keep an eye on in Manchester. They hold for most of the fight, but start to come loose in the later half. I've gotten a few hex nuts now along with a wheel they slide into, but still need a way to secure the nut to the wheel. 50/50 on whether to stick with tapped plastic wheels or to transfer to nut-mounted wheels.
    • All other improvements are still on the cards, notably the horizontal spinner configuration and the self-righters. I'll try to emulate Pressure Point's system, as it seems to be working well for Alan (EDIT: put down Dave first, leaving evidence of this as removing it is the cowards way out), I simply need to figure out how to secure the steel cabling to the top of the robot.


    It was great to be at a UK event for the first time, and I had a blast. Next on the line is the FW champs in August, which should give me plenty of time to get the improvements up to scratch. I'm also going to be posting plans for a beetle in the near future, as soon as I get my copy of Solidworks usable again. Special thanks to Greg from Quantax Dynamics and Michael from Team Kaizen for sharing the pit with us. I hope Barróg can be the bot to represent Ireland for the first time in Birmingham later on this year!


    Barróg ready for the journey back home across the Irish sea
    Last edited by Shooty; 26th May 2018 at 21:04.

  8. #58
    Ocracoke's Avatar
    Team Kaizen

    Glad you had a good time at Manchester, hope to see you at the championships.
    Team Kaizen - Build Diary for all the robots

    AW: Amai, Ikari, Lafiel, Osu, Ramu
    BW: Shu!, The Honey Badger
    FW: Azriel
    MW: Jibril, Kaizen

  9. #59
    Al_'s Avatar
    Member

    Cracking write up of the event and good to see Barrog performing well. Drop me a PM if you want any more details of the self righting system on Pressure Point.

    Also, who is Dave?

  10. #60
    Quote Originally Posted by Al_ View Post
    Also, who is Dave?
    Hi Dave how are you XD

Register To Comment

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •