Skipdiving Robotics

[Gabe01]

That's not the point, it's always good to animate a pile of parts.

[Gaseraki]

Hey thats cool, I like the shape a lot. Could go with a large hardcore servo with a small arm to roll it back onto its wheels? Whens its first event?

[daveimi]

Yeah that's a cool idea with the servo! I saw a big one linked on Lazy Toads website:

http://www.vantec.com/ssps105.htm

I was trying to get to Barnsley at the end of June but baby number 2 is due 2nd July so not sure if that will happen or not lol.

The next one oop norf is Doncaster later in the year I think so could give it a run out then

Thank you for all the nice comments! I started out with La Machine in mind and the robot just sort of ended up like this the more I cut and drilled haha. Really really want to build a Torpedo 850 drive train but don't have a drill press just yet to get the accuracy for the Mod 1.0 stuff.

[Gaseraki]

Good luck with baby number two mate.
I am aware of those servos but 650+ dollars is quite a tall order for a servo
I would recommend hobby king:
Quick check and I found this. 25 bucks, 20kg of torque and should be more than enough.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...ec_140_5g.html

I wouldnt recommend attaching an arm directly onto the servo as they just arnt designed for this kind of thing but a leaver or pushing onto a leaver mechanism would work. Its what I do on the front prongs of my robot and I havnt knackered a servo yet.

[daveimi]

Yeah I will have to come up with some way of rolling it back over. Have looked at servos and high torque MFA motors etc. I've been really impressed with Scissorhands' and Mr Mangle's roll over hoops Been reading a few bits on which shapes work and don't work, also badgered a few people about it lol.

One thing I keep thinking is that there are very few "lifters" out there now. Most of those sorts of robots are FP Flippers that are after lobbing you out of the arena, in which case no amount of invertible-ness or self righting is going to help.

[daveimi]

Sat for ages and ages sketching and sorting out where everything is likely to go in heavy. The results of about 64 different pages of sketches can be summed up below.

[daveimi]

Thanks for all the info on the batteries in the other threads, they arrived this weekend and are happily charging

[overkill]

Thanks for the kind words about my roll-over hoops! The onion shaped hoop works best for me although different shaped bots might benefit from different shaped hoops - its important to experiment. Another important feature is to always make the base of the hoops stick out further than the frame.

Advantages:
* Low-tech, no moving parts to break
* Cheap
* Works automatically
* Relatively low weight
* Provides shock absorption

Disadvantages:
* Can hang up on arena hazards
* Won't always work in arena corners
* Can get tangled with hammer and lifter bots

Looking at the servos mentioned above, the Seiko has almost 30X the torque of the Hobbyking one - I really doubt the 2 ft/pounds from the HK servo will turn your bot over. The are some mid-range options to look at: Invenscience has servos similar to the Seiko here http://www.invenscience.com/index_fi...tary_servo.htm . The i01853 has 8.3 ft/pounds of torque and as it has continuous rotation, you can gear it to produce whatever torque you need.

If you search thru the Aussie forum, Glen fitted Demon with a very effective self-righter made from a drill motor. The latest version with a custom metal case and clutch looks indestructible.

[daveimi]

Cheers! Is demon the vertical spinner with the red bar sticking up? I've actually seen that one in one of the video's it looks awesome!

I first saw the servo idea on Ice Cube, one of the lazy toad robots. Am digging the hoops, I know they won't work every time but I was thinking most flippers throw with a fair amount of momentum so most times out of ten it should work lol. I know some have tried them but I don't feel they've been fully exploited here in the UK yet! I prefer it to the robot being invertible as there's a lot of nasty axes about this year onwards.

The servo you've listed looks pretty indestructible! I'm gonna try some different hoops and antlers etc. and see what works best

[overkill]

This is Demon's build thread: http://www.robowars.org/forum/viewto...t=1261&start=0 Apart from being a heavy hitter, its made of military grade armour plate and never gets dented.

Another cheap self-righter option would be combining a 64:1 Banebots P60 with a Robotpower Wasp ESC http://www.robotpower.com/products/wasp_info.html. The Wasp has limit switch inputs, giving you the equivalent of a giant servo for far less money.