RogueTwo Robots

[RogueTwoRobots]

I've got a dead axle, though it has only recently been bolted either side. At the very least there are a couple of events before the champs that I can run it at (minus spinning) to see how the scoop does. If I feel it's more of a hindrance than a help I'll revise it before the champs.

Update

Had a couple of days off work due to the (frankly, pathetic) weather but I'm not complaining as it gave me more time in the Cave of Blunders. Spent the best part of today getting Carcinus wired up so it's all running now. Despite the wiring being pretty much the same as the previous versions, it seems a lot simpler this time, but that makes it nice and easy to trace any problems:



The big empty space at the top right corner is exactly that. Got nothing to put there, though if I actually do build a swinging saw for it, the controls will fit in there nicely.
All that's now left to do on Carcinus is fit and wire in some limit switches for the actuator and weld up a spiky/shapey thing for the back to stop it resting there. Gonna recycle a couple of old ring-teeth from Drumroll for that.

Speaking of Drumroll; I managed to cut and fit the steel plates that go over the XL and receiver so that will hopefully offer some protection from Cobalt's beak. The XL has the 6mm polycarb top panel over it, then a localised piece of 6mm steel so that will be hard to damage (fingers crossed!) and the receiver just has 3mm steel over the polycarb. To finish off I shaped and fitted a 4mm HDPE drum belt protector, to shield it in the off-chance that a bent flipper blade snags it again.
All that's left to do on that is fashion some more side armour protection (couple hours work) and then paint. Will probably do a complete strip down and rebuild as well, just to double check every connector and fixing.

Ready by January FTW

[RogueTwoRobots]

Update

Got the necessary bits to build some limit switches for Carcinus in the post the other day, so managed to get out and fit them today. After mulling over various mounting locations and possible attachments for hitting the switches, I realised that the bolt attached to the actuator tube would work perfectly if I just mounted the switches to the base plate:



A couple of screws and some soldering later, they were good to go. Got a quick video of them in action; managed to time it with some decent music on the radio this time too:



If the actuator hits the switches at full speed, it does still try to destroy/crush itself for a split second before the power cuts out, but if it hits at a slightly slower speed it's fine. Just need to get my dad to put that into practice!

Snippet from the UK champs thread:

6- Drumroll - Sort out that belt problem Jamie!

Like so?



4mm HDPE belt guard, providing protection yet flexibility when needed. And two spare belts on hand just in case. No more repeats of last year hopefully.

[PJ-27]

:wink:

[RogueTwoRobots]

Been a bit quiet here lately, partly due to the robots being mostly ready, and partly due to getting things organised for the GSC event. Now that that's been and gone, I can turn my attention back to champs business.

The GSC event was a good chance to give the bots a pre-champs run-out, which was handy as it brought up some issues. Drumroll is having problems with its left-hand drive. The pins on the output shaft popped out on Friday (repaired) and again on Saturday (gearbox replaced), then today it stopped working again. Haven't had a chance to look at it today to find the latest problem, but I'll be giving it a thorough strip down and service in the next couple of days to try and rectify the issue. Also still need to re-balance and paint the drum.

Carcinus's XL has stopped working/continued misbehaving in the same way it did when in Drumroll. I really need to get it sent to Rick Maas for repair but I was holding off until after the champs. However I'll now need to look at putting some spare Botbitz controllers in there. Also got a couple of cheeky additions to add to it before the champs and I'm keeping those under wraps so you'll just have to wait till Saturday

In other news, and in keeping with the tradition of Scottish roboteers moving machines between each other like a game of pass the parcel, I now have a new team member

129.jpg

So that will be a new source of money drainage. Been keen on it for a while now and Tony was happy to sell it; it will be an ongoing long-term project to bring it back up to running condition. Not a lot of internal room but that should suit my style of building quite nicely.

FW updates to follow during the week.

[RogueTwoRobots]

Update

So we're all ready to go here at RogueTwo Towers. Sadly my plan of making an additional weapon for Carcinus worked up until the point where I weighed it and it was 1.3kg too heavy. Could have lost the weight if I had more time but I'll bring it along anyway and might attach it for a whiteboard test.

Spent the rest of the day with last minute preparations and the customary pre-champs strip down and service:



Forgot to check the weights before I shut up shop for the night but I think Drumroll is 12.7kg and Carcinus 10.3kg. Managed a wee photo session in the sun too, don't anybody be scratching my paint now! (ignore the already scratched bits)



We'll be leaving tomorrow lunchtime so will catch all you cool cats on Friday morning

[joey_picus]

Looks very very nice, best of luck at the championships!

Are we allowed to know what this extra weapon is/was, and does it spin? hehe...

[RogueTwoRobots]

Thanks Joey. I'd normally fancy my chances leading up to a championship, even if I thought my machine wasn't at its best, but it's going to be a tough year this year so I'll just need to see how it goes. Could be the last year for Drumroll II in its current spec. Might need a chassis/parts overhaul to keep up with things next year.

And of course you're allowed to know what the extra weapon is/was, but you'll just need to wait till after the champs

[RogueTwoRobots]

Post-Champs Event Report

So another championship has been and gone, and it was a fantastic affair all round. Not quite as successful on a personal level but much fun was had and that was the important thing. Here's a run-down of the fights.

Drumroll II v IronConkers v Massacre
Drumroll II started off terribly. Ten seconds into the fight it just died completely. IronConkers then started smoking and the fight was halted with the victory going to Massacre. The failure was traced to a connection on the fuse which I had soldered over a year ago with a semi-duff soldering iron. I meant to re-do it when I got a new iron recently but completely forgot and it had been working fine in several events over the past year and got through the tech-check on the day without any problems. (1 point)

Drumroll II v No Toy
Up and running again, and after a couple of bog-standard impacts I managed to immobilise No Toy. Adam very sportingly agreed to carry on and I planned to just toss it about without causing too much damage. Instead the teeth caught a corner and ripped it apart, with components flying out. Felt pretty bad but thankfully Adam managed to get it back together soon enough. Apparently my reaction when it happened was pretty comical. (4 point KO)

Drumroll II v Conker 2 v Night Fury
Needed another KO to stand a chance of progressing and managed it quite nicely. Attacked Conker 2's backside first, spraying bits of MDF (where was that hiding?!) all over the arena before ramming it against the wall upside-down and out. Then tussled with Night Fury, getting a few hits here and there, before catching a corner and thumping it. They lost their power but I managed to bend the drum shaft and suffered sheared pins in the left-hand drive in the process. (4 point KO)

Drumroll II v Galactus - Knockout stages
Was quietly confident of making it through this; instead Drumroll got well and truly duffed up. Galactus got the first big hit that bent my wedge and turned me upside down, and in the process of self-righting and trying to get back on the attack, Galactus kept coming at me, eventually bending my wedge against the drum to jam it and knocking the power out (blown fuse). Excellent showing from Galactus.

Losers' meleé
Up against six other robots with the last one standing going through. Well it wasn't me, knocked out first in about 10 seconds again (another blown fuse, don't know why though), leaving Drumroll finishing 16th. The rest of the fight was intense though, with Satanix suffering the best/worst exit when it was thrown sky-high by 720 and crashed back down onto Binky's spinning disc, which launched it out of the arena. 720 went on to qualify.


As usual there isn't a lot to report on Carcinus's battles, being hit repeatedly and pitted by LH3, having its claws smashed to bits by LS4 and getting flipped out by Explosion. Managed six points though which is an improvement on last year, and the new claws look smexy

Looking forward; gonna have a few weeks off from robots as it's being all-consuming since February through the Glasgow Science Centre event and this, then I'll work out the best steps to take. Carcinus will probably just be repaired and kept going as is. It looks good and although it's not hugely effective, it's fun and gives my dad something to drive.

Drumroll II is looking a bit worse for wear after a few whiteboard battles (including against LS4). I've had to replace the left-hand drive gearbox about four or five times over the last couple of week due to pins failing in the gearbox, and the electrical faults it suffered at the weekend were uncharacteristic, so I'll have to address both those issues. I reckon 125mm wheels on drills/Gimsons is pushing it load-wise so I'm going to look into adding an intermediate drive stage (1:1 either chains or belts), or switch to 24:1 gearboxes and drop down to 100mm wheels (which would require chassis mods). As much as I liked the wedge, I can't have a repeat of the Galactus fight so it's gone. Sticking with the same brushless setup which has worked faultlessly, but will be going back to the ring-tooth design. Probably warrants a whole new build so the current Drumroll II might be renamed/downgraded and kept for whiteboards. Haven't yet stripped it down so all that might change depending on how it looks.

[RogueTwoRobots]

And for those who were curious as to what Carcinus's extra weapon was going to be - had it not been overweight - here you go:



Inspired by Alex's (Bodge Job) axe attachment for Bruiser, I threw this together in a few hours over Tuesday afternoon/Wednesday morning. Powered by an 18V 550 motor through a standard 36:1 drill gearbox, then on to a 5:1 chain and sprocket reduction. Had a Bosch 400 sitting for years to put in an axe but never did due to the design complexity, then got a 300W scooter motor to try in the hope that it might be more straightforward. But when I saw how effective the one in Bruiser is with a GR02, I figured I may as well keep it simple. So the 300W motor might be twinned with another and fitted into Scar.



A picture of the mechanism. Quite pleased with the quality of the construction, considering a) I'd never worked with chains and sprockets before and b) I built it.
Have only tested it on a semi-charged 12 battery so not yet sure of how hard it hits. Won't be adding it on to Carcinus now the champs are over, but will build a robot around it to use at Scot-Bots/Robot Wars/Robots Live shows when I can't run Drumroll's weapon.

[joey_picus]

My gods, it appears as though Splinter has melted and been exposed to some rather bizarre mutagens!

That looks absolutely excellent, the construction quality is top notch and I can see that putting a few dents and even holes in things - I'd love to see it in action. Shame about the championships, but you did do well in the great scheme of things and I'm looking forward to Drumroll 3!

(incidentally, the bits at the back of Carcinus remind me of the two counterotating discs that I'm sure at least one robot had in series 5/6/7 - can't remember what though!)