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I'm quite sure Mortis didn't have a crankshaft on the axe. It obviously has that cam though.
I reckon that the Mortis axe was servo driven/closed loop system. Hence why it occasionally stopped mid way through the arc, he hasn't pushed the stick far enough.
Good thinking guys. At the end of the swing it'll be getting ready for the return so will have little power. I'm thinking have the pivot point quite far from the ground (like Thor), and the end of the swing touching the floor, that way if a robot is at any point in the movement it'll still have some velocity.
Stealing the Gabriel cam though is a good shout (Sorry Craig!), that is a seriously neat design and would solve the problem.
if you saw suprize (i think thats how its spelt) at kidderminster, you could see how effective wood is as armour, that thing would not break!
Despite some great initial enthusiasm from quite a few people this idea suddenly died a swift death.
I think this was due in part to a potential lack of spinners, interest from EOs or place to run them. People being picky over the rules and even a health scare mid way didn't help either......
None the less taking inspiration from Calum's super quick build and people's recent thoughts on the forum I am going to carry the torch and make a wooden robot! (Time and expense pending)
If anyone else wishes to join me then please do. We have 2 potential Robo Challenge events coming up within which there will hopefully be time for a wooden robot fight, if not I'll simply enter BitzaWood along with Bitza 2 into the Uk Champs, not because I want to win, but because I enjoy building and fighting robots and making them out of wood makes that ever more possible.
My rules if you want to join are as follow:
Standard FW rules with the following exceptions -
It must be made out of wood! All armour and structure. I'll promote the use of MDF.
Weapons can be metal, but I promote the use of wood working tools, circular saws, chisels etc..
No large amounts of metal are allowed to be exposed so, no metal flipper arms or wedges. But you can have metal axes, spinning weapons etc.
fine, i'll get on it later today.
well im ready :)
I'm game. I was discussing a wooden robot with my Dad on Friday and I resolved to make one then!
But are we allowed a small metal box inside to contain expensive stuff? ESC's and the like. I don't mind my drill motors getting smashed in but I draw the line at expensive electronics.
Just don't do both at the same time. That could end badly. :PQuote:
Originally Posted by PJ-27
Also do you guys think a sabertooth 2x12 esc could handle 2 12v drill motors?
By all means have everything inside a metal box. As long as everything protecting and holding your robot together is wood.
12a a side should be fine for a drill motor, just fuse appropriately. I plan on using a 2x12a Sabertooth too.
Oh good. That's one thing taken off of my shopping list!
hmmm, once I get the hdpe shell for minor tom done i might have to make a wooden one so I can enter it here, would I be able to put everything in a small hdpe box for protection ( esc's, rx, etc ) ?
If I wanted to use metal L bracket for upright support, would that be allowed?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tweedermeister
I'm contemplating throwing something together if I have time, as I'll be stocking up on some MDF soon to sort out prototypes for a couple of robots. But I'm not sure about the legality of my planned weapon. It's basically the small bar-tooth drum I have that was going to feature in my tutorial robot. The plan is to run it at quite a high ratio so that it's more like an electric flipper than a destructive spinner.Quote:
Originally Posted by PJ-27
Having read through the thread, it wouldn't be permitted for use in RL and RR arenas but since the current talk is about possibly holding this at a Robo Challenge event, the safety/insurance issue isn't a problem. It then comes down to whether it's fair, so I'm uploading a video from a few years back that will provide the best representation of what it would be capable of, and I'll let everyone decide if it's too much or not. I also don't want to take advantage of the 'don't build to win, build to have fun' emphasis. It would be easier to make the drum as the design's pretty much sorted, but I could sort something else out if people weren't happy with it. Vid to follow.
providing i get smidsy done in time, ill throw one together :)
Okay, that uploaded quicker than expected!
Right, so my proposed design would feature as its weapon, a small bar-tooth drum. It would be hooked up to a Speed 900 running on 19.2V with a ratio of 4:1. This would give a theoretical top speed of 2600rpm, but take something off for friction losses. The drum is an aluminium/steel composite weighing 2kg. Everything else would be MDF.
In the video below, the two Speed 900s are running the above voltage and ratio. A couple of things to bear in mind are that the drum in the video is longer and of a larger diameter, so the drum I propose to use won't store as much energy. Also, the chassis getting tossed about weighs 2.5kg, five times lighter than the weight of most opponents. So I reckon it would be more of a tosser (if you'll excuse the term) than a rip-the-arse-outta-them spinner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ARvi7__weE
Glad people are still interested!
I don't want this to descend into another case by case series of questions over what is legal, that's partly what killed it last time.
Just use common sense, and think what's fair.
Unfortunately it's very hard to blanket define what a wooden robot is, even more so without quashing experimentation.
If someone has a neat solution on how to make this definition then please do say. I believe the Aussie's tried a weight rule, whereby a certain percentage of your robots weight had to be MDF, but that has it's own complications.
The underlying thesis is:
- We actually want some destruction, MDF breaks.
- It gives everyone a level playing field if we build with the same materials, it's not a question of who has the deepest pockets.
- MDF is easy and inexpensive to work with so encourages more robot building.
- Have fun! (Although I appreciate humans (especially males) are inherently competitive)
At the end of the day if someone turns up with a robot that is clearly taking the peas with what a wooden robot is, then no one is going to want to fight it and you've wasted your time.
As a footnote, and largely inspired by Dave and Jamie's asking, the Aussies also implemented a community rule, whereby you had to be open with what you're building.
So contrary to the 'case by case questions' point say what you're building (don't ask), use common sense and people will whinge if they feel the need.
Just remember the 'Taking the Peas' paradigm.
Personally i'd have no problem with a drum. I'm building a wooden robot to see a bit of destruction coming my way anyway, plus it's going to be made out of wood so it'll pretty much be the definition of a Glass Cannon. I say go for it.
Also with people mainly mentioning MDF, are we purely limited to MDF or are we allowed other woods aswell?
Any wood, but I think few would be advantageous over MDF.
big question is..... were is this wooden fight happening?
While that is true PJ, when I think of a wooden robot I think of something make out of Oak, Pine or Timber , not a box made from Medium Density Fibreboard.
Very tempted to have a go at this as I'm sure I've got enough spare parts to make one- not sure if I'll have enough time but if Robochallenge are happy to let them run then I'll see what I can do
Well I don't mean to talk out of place but I mentioned the idea a while back to the RoboChallenge guys and they seemed to like it.
Given that there are potentially 2 RoboChallenge events in April one of which being the Champs, the other more of an Expo I hoped there would be room for a fight in this category. There are always whiteboards at the Champs, and if all those fail you could always enter a wooden robot along with your competitive one at the champs.
3 robots per team, 1 per driver was the rule last year.
Apologies if I'm talking out of terms guys (RoboChallenge) but if you'd like pass your opinion?
I am sure you can bring a robot along that you've not entered into the champs for other events. I think Annihilation was entered into whiteboards and driven by micheal when he was also driving Explosion in the UK champs.
Its a very interesting discussion. Would be great to see some good spinners against MDF bot and would look great. Details on the Championships and our second event in April will be released this week so keep your eyes peeled.
Why not enter the wood bot into the champs???
Im interested in this also, although i definitely dont see my attempt being built in the near future (Need to save up for a ESC for Prodigy). What is the current standing on Spinning weapons? I read earlier that people were contemplating Wood working tools like saw blades and chisels. If we are going by the current FRA rules surely the saw blades will be banned straight of the bat? I personally think it would be okay, just checking before i go out and buy some honking great blade. Oh and what was the limit for RPM?
Jack
That is pretty much my plan for my wooden robot! So i'm guessing there wouldn't be any problems with sawdust or wood splinters in the arena then?Quote:
Originally Posted by james...venom
Considering last year laptops, stereos and all sorts of things were demolished, I think wood splinters would be fine. :wink:Quote:
Originally Posted by Leonardomayo
Even better! I'm planning to strap some of those to my robot aswell.Quote:
Originally Posted by Relentless
I would so be up for this :)
I have a load of stuff left over from the first version of Shrapnel, I even have the wooden prototype! I can seem myself making a small box of HDPE to contain the expensive parts of the robot but besides thats I would love to make a wooden robot!
[attachment=0:32vmk1rf]Shrapnel Proto 05 Small.jpeg[/attachment:32vmk1rf]
I would be happy to put this into a wooden class. The only thing that would be metal is the bearings for the disc and then the teeth on the disc. I would just bolt them to a wooden core. That way I can still cause damage but If i push it to far the teeth will rip off and become useless.
It also means I get to use a design I spent about 5 months developing! Hot glue guns rule as well!
Awesome idea Alex! I bit like how people that make playing card sculptures then destroy them, you too will get to destroy your hard work for the fun of it.
My plan will be to enter BitzaWood alongside Bitza2 if no wooden class runs.
Regarding cutting disks, can someone clarify this? Spinning weapons are allowed in the RoboChallenge arena with pretty much no restrictions, but circular saw blades can be prone to shattering.
Grant, James could you confirm?
Cheers,
I think it would be better to have wooden robots against wooden robots and more fair. Also a weapon like a circular saw would be good against a wooden robot but ineffective against metal robots.
Personally I would only build a wooden robot if it was against other wooden robot.
I'm interested in this class, and I was wondering if there should also be a weigh limit for metal parts, so you either have a spinning weapon, and weaker protection (like less bolts screws and brackets, and no electronics protection) like wire and circuits could be excluded from the rule, but I think it would stop well structured robots with big spinning blades etc. it's just an idea
The Australians did something similar whereby a certain percentage of your robot had to be MDF (I think it was around 50) but this ran into all sorts of complications since it's very difficult to test this.
Even when building the robot it can be tricky to keep track of how much weight went into a certain material. For components it's easier but the wood could be used for all sorts.
There is a slight caveat to this though. The robot's structure and armour must be wooden, so if someone does turn up with a 6kg Hardox disk attached to the robot, it will rip itself apart in no time.
That and no one will want to fight it....
By the way, I don't plan on running any sort of competition with this class, is mostly about putting on a good show and having fun. Although it'll be interesting to see who's is still running come the end of the weekend.
You say wooden frame, does that mean I can't build something akin to the Rex's Robot Challenge robot that has Ali brackets holding the uprights ?
if we are going to be that niminy pinminy then this class of robot is doomed from the start.
David, from my understanding, no.
You can use ali angle or brackets to affix and support, say, bulkheads or mounts etc. You just can't go overboard with the amount of metal structural bits you use, especially in such a way that it forms more of a chassis than the wood does.
Harry, cheer up :wink:
I don't think anyone's going to be completely anal about rules and what-not, just as long as those involved apply a bit of common sense. As PJ said, the idea behind this is more to do with fun, entertaining but visibly destructive battles. But there can't be too much leniency regarding what's permitted otherwise people will bend the rules to gain a possible unfair advantage, something that's not really desired in a fun class.
Question: If I was to make a wooden wedge robot, would I be allowed a small strip of metal on the edge of the wedge to make it more effective than, well, a piece of wood?
I'd say yes, but it's not up to me! :P
As long as it was only a strip to provide a good edge, and not the whole wedge covered in a slab of metal, then I'd have no objection competing against that :)
I initially said no exposed metal (accept on active weapons) that includes wedges and flipper arms.
If someone uses Ti for their edging then we are back at square one, just use wood.
As for the Ali angle it's pretty insignificant so I wouldn't be too fussed about it, but you could easily do the same thing with wooden edging and you avoid any rule bending complications, so I'd do that.
Whats the standing on Circular saw blades? Can someone in the know clarify this please.