New bot from team Bitza

[Dan-27]

Well after a fairly disappointing trip to Birmingham I've retired Splinter and decided to build a machine that'll hopefully survive the weekend. As much as I've enjoyed the challenge of using recycled scrap this machine will be a more traditional construction, that said it's made from unwanted (and free ) nylon and tool steel so I guess it sort of carries the Bitza mentality.


This is going to be my final project at university before I start as a Design & Technology teacher so it's part combat robot / part teaching aid. My design basically revolves around a solid control box containing all the electronics which the motors plug in to. The idea is that it can be demoed to a group of students then the control box can be removed and they can build their own machines around it plugging in they own weapons and motors. There is another box that attaches on top which has an Arduino, Genie board in it so it can either be RC or autonomous.


As a side note I've applied for a bursary so I can build 3 more of these control boxes and run a small after school robotics club, should find out in a couple of weeks if I get it. These units would just be RC though.


So to my designs, I wanted something visually exciting that had some of the theatrics that excited kids in the TV show. I found a lump of tool steel which with some advice has been turned into a fairly substantial small dia disk. One of my previous uni projects was a robotic gecko with an articulated tail so I've included a more heavy duty version of that into my design. One of the few things that worked really well in Splinter was the electro magnet so I've fastened one to the end of the tail that'll hold up to 40kgs. The torque required to lift 13.6kg off the floor would be huge but I'm hoping it'll look cool, and stick and drag the Hardox boxes around.


It's loosely based on some sort of scorpion / insect idea, disk at front, magnetic tail at back. I'd like to have done some sheet metal work on the shell running curved strips of ali from front to back, but I think I might end up with a Polycarb shell similar to Tiny Hurtz. 8mm Polycarb baseplate, 20mm nylon frame 6mm armour.


Think that might be it for now. I'm working on it everyday until June 6th so progress should be fairly quick.

Any thoughts / advise appreciated.

Also if anyone understand coding Arduino I could really use some pointers!

[daveimi]

That's really cool

Some of your latest robots have been a good source of inspiration!

[TeamPsyclone]

I've never seen Electro Magnets in use in combat robots. I'd love to see how they turn out.]

If you don't mind me asking, where are you thinking as working as a D&T Teacher?

[Eventorizon]

After Wednesday I can give you some help with Arduino. I have used it several times for various projects. I am not a wizz but I get there in the end.

That disc looks good, should be good at tossing machines over.

I also had the idea of a box you can plug parts into or a robot that is entirely modular so that it can be used in schools. Collaboration?

[Dan-27]

Sure collaboration sounds good, I know a few people wanted to see more of this sort of thing in schools so hopefully it might gain some momentum. I received conformation last night that I've been given £500 to build more of these units for use in schools! It's not a huge amount but should be enough to build 2 or 3 more, including the kit I've already got it should be enough for a small club. I was hoping with this set up anywhere up to 10+ machines could be produced and then move the motors and control boxes between them.

I'll be making a thread this afternoon looking for people thought on how I can best spend this money.

@ Team Psyclone, I'll be on placements in Sheffield all next year then chances are I'll be working up here for a few years.

[RogueTwoRobots]

Looking nice Dan! We planned a similar thing with modular control/ESC boxes when we started the Scot-Bots kits but didn't get round to implementing them before they went on sale. We're getting more involved in school things now though so they've moved up the to-do list. It will be good to follow the progress of yours as well.

And best of luck with the summer school club too, that'll keep a lot of kids entertained. Not sure if you're aware of it or not, but if you find yourself needing extra bodies to help run the club, stick a request in for a STEM Ambassador, as the activities would definitely qualify and it's something that a fair few people would be interested in helping out with: http://www.stemnet.org.uk/content/stem-ambassadors

[typhoon_driver]

As lovely as the whole modular get others involved thing and use second hand materials is, if you want to have a good robot, design it and then find the materials rather than finding the materials and then designing the robot.

If you want to get a kit for fun with robots then give the rampaging chariots guild a shout. Nice controllable machines that can have additions made and not a bad price for em but combat machines for full on combat are a different kettle of fish if you want to get far.

[Dan-27]

Little more progress today, this is the assembled disk. It's at a professional flame hardening company tonight and should be finished my lunch time tomorrow.

What do people do to prevent the tool steel rusting up?

[typhoon_driver]

coat it with oil, grease or wax

[Dan-27]

Thanks Gary.

A little progress but I'm waiting on the CNC machine to be freed up so I can mill the parts for the chassis.

Polycarb for the base and armour arrived a couple of days ago, they were the last of the parts I've been waiting for so it should come together quite quickly now.

The disk is back from the flame hardeners. He said it's at 52-55 rockwell, down from 58. I have no idea what that means but it looks cool!

A little vid of the tail mechanism I've been working on. I'm hoping the high torque servo I've ordered will be enough to move it, failing that I've got a 24v ice crusher at home that should have more than enough torque. I don't think it's going to be able to lift anything off the ground unfortunately but should be an interesting feature and easily strong enough to have some tug-of-war's with the hardox ram bots.