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Thread: Wanted: Featherweight bot

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  2. #2
    Drive train - a couple of cordless drills stripped down
    Control hardware - an off the shelf speed controller such as the modified Tz85 or ragebridge

    You'll learn a whole lot more building yourself.

  3. #3
    1) Building a robot yourself is the best experience.²
    2) Buying a decent feather isn't cheap.³

    ² but with help from experienced roboteers you can avoid a lot of pitfalls and moneysinks.(and having the basic tools available helps too)
    ³ even the cheapest featherweight ready to run will cost you £200, and then you have a wooden or cutting board armored box. A full balls out weapons blazing titanium monster can easely go £2000+

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    Ocracoke's Avatar
    Team Kaizen

    I can see the sense in doing what you are planning but to make a basic rambot in the FW class is reasonably cheap to do. A verrrryyyy basic design, like a wedge rambot like The Honey Badger 2.0 would probably involve the following costs (and this is assuming all new stuff):

    - Transmitter: £40
    - 2x speed controllers: £80 for the pair (using the TZ85A example - cheaper if you can find someone to do the reprogramming for you but not by much)
    - Geared motors - £40
    - Batteries + Charger - £60
    - Assorted small bits (mixer, wiring, connectors etc) - £30
    - Amour/chassis stuff (assuming HDPE as the main constituent here) - £70
    = £320 (estimated)

    Of course, it is the experience in building it that is priceless. The Honey Badger 2.0 cost me roughly £400 odd to build (and that includes bits from the original Badger) but I've learnt a lot about how to build a effective robot from that which will go into other robots I plan to make next year.

    If you buy another person's robot, you inherit the builders methodology for building it, which includes things like wiring and so on and that can be risky if you don't get why they did what they did in that robot.
    Last edited by Ocracoke; 2nd November 2017 at 15:40.
    Team Kaizen - Build Diary for all the robots

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

  7. #7
    I can recommend the Haynes - Robot Wars book if you want a place to start. There is a pictorial instruction for a featherweight and heavy weight. That's what made me decide I would take the plunge. ISBN 978 1 78521 186 7
    They explain how to re-purpose drill motors etc.
    Last edited by Deathly Hallows; 2nd November 2017 at 22:35.

  8. #8
    Lostdreamer, where are you located?

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    I partially agree with the others. I knew the electeonics side and it seemed pretty straight forward but didn't have the equipment or expertise to make a chassis/shell and Harry just so happened to have an excellent one for sale. My advice would be to ask around for a shell (2WD wedge ideally, learn the basics) and work from there. A drill and Dremel will go a long way if you're just working with HDPE. The electronics are much simpler than you may think and just require basic knowledge and soldering skills. When you have a physical design to work with, knowing the ins and outs of it can help you a lot with upgrades. In short, buy a pre-made shell and do the electronics yourself.

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