RogueTwo Robots

[calumco]

haha, jamie i really wouldn't mind where was your actuator from btw? got mine off ebay agessss ago, i was lucky to just randomly stumble on it.

i was going to do a crusher out of a 1.5 ton car jack mechanism but they're too heavy so it woulda been near impossible to get that in the weight

[mattsdragons]

Mine was from team mayhem and it was originally used in Mr Happy

I'm always looking for more powerful ones though if anyone has any spare

[typhoon_driver]

Jamie, you'll probably find that it's the relay that's gone on the battle switch board. Had a similar situation a while back. All I did was take another relay and piggy back solder the connections onto the original board to see if it was goosed completely. Usually if the LED changes from flashing to solid etc when activated it is still good

[RogueTwoRobots]

Good shout Gary, I've got a fair few spare relays kicking about that I can try that with. I thought it might be the relay since the green light was still on but having not used them before, I couldn't be sure.

Calum, it's an Okin Deltadrive I bought the actuator off Alex Marler a few years ago now but I have no idea where he got it (eBay perhaps). I looked at changing the motor to a Speed 900 for more speed/power but couldn't see a way of doing it without risking messing up the gearbox.

[RogueTwoRobots]

Update

Finally some progress on Carcinus
It was partly done before the champs but as I was rushing it I never took any pictures, so it's now gone from a pile of parts to something that looks close to completion:



Pretty basic setup. Two 12V drill motors controlled by Electronize 15A speedos, an Electronize switcher controlling the actuator and everything powered by two 9.6V, 3700mAh Nimh packs.

There's still a bit of work needing done to the main claw mechanism, which I hope to press on with tomorrow. I think I've hit a mental block with it; I know what needs to be done on it but just can't be bothered with the hassle of cutting and drilling a bunch of 20mm Nylon and 5mm steel. But ideally I will get through most of it tomorrow. The mechanism is going to be the opposite of the previous model - i.e the claws will close when the actuator retracts. I'm not sure if that method has any advantages or disadvantages compared to the push-to-close mechanism, but there will be a few more linkages involved. It just happens to be the mechanism which is more suited to this design.

In the meantime, it's started to get a bit of personality as I incorporated the power LEDs into some crab eyes:



Gimmicky more than anything but I like it

Started forming the armour for it too:



8mm thick HDPE bent to shape using a heat gun. The original plan was to stick quite religiously to the octagonal(ish) shape of the base plate, but as I was bending it, it was easier just to let the pieces bend over a larger radius. So there's a bit of an air gap between the armour and the internals, which is always a good thing. It was also going to wrap right around at the back but it was easier to bolt it on at the edges, so the gap between the panels (where the linear actuator mount is) will play host to some sort of chain flail that will cause deadly paint scratches to any opponent when the robot is in a full-body spin!

And finally, placing the claws to get an idea of how it will look:



I'm leaving the armour clamped overnight so that it cools in the correct position. With the curvy sides, it should make it harder for a spinner to grab hold - compared to the boxy old chassis - and it's also reminding me a little bit of The Stag, or its featherweight replica Staglet (for those of you who remember that). Overall, it's definitely a massive improvement on the first incarnation.

More work to come tomorrow; fingers crossed for getting some proper claw actuation!

[Team Invade]

Looks great

[calumco]

looking nice jamie, love to fight that with mine when we're both finished once my permant hangovers worn off from download i really wana crack on with mine and get it all finished off, hopefuly have mine driving and everything in a week or so (Y)

[mattsdragons]

we need to have a 3 way clawed bot fight once all ours are done

[Anttazz]

Should be more worried about the flail than the claws I think, from what i've seen Carcinus is either in a full body spin or in the pit

[RogueTwoRobots]

Very true, very true

Not sure if it'll have a flail on it for this event, probably just a fail.
Then again, might grab some chain from B&Q tomorrow, or weld something up from excess turbine base plate