Team DD Robots

Hi!

Starting this thread to have one place where I gather all my projects.
I'm a swedish roboteer whos been around for several years but yet to actually complete
a worthy combat robot!
I wont post pictures of my old projects but they can be found on my photobucket page.

My FW is on it's second version as the first one was a trial and error one, it did actually work decent!

My ant is being completely rebuilt for the 5th time as there have always been things I havn't been
satisfied with.
The current name is V5 which stands for Version 5 and now I'm keeping things simple and here's the result so far:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...s/Version5.jpg

6V Voltage regulator for weapon servo along with a removable link made out of a jumper.

Specs:

1mm Polycarbonate
Polulu 50:1 HP motors + wheels
Sabertooth 2x5RC
OrangeRX dsm2 4 chan reciever
Gravity 250mAh 2S LiPo
GWS Park HPX Flipper servo

looks good :) why do you need a voltage reg?

Cheers, well i dont think my servo would handle the 8,4V from the Lipo pack and not sure if the BEC from the speedo will manage
to power it either.

Actually the HPXF's will run on lipo voltage, I have done in the past. Put the positive line from the servo into the positive terminal of the speedo to use it on full voltage. I would recommend to avoid stalling it at all costs.

You underestimate sabertooths, I have run lots of setups using servos off the saber BEC and it works just fine.

Ah I see thanks for the info.
Just remember I've read about ppl having the bec to shut down while using the Park HPX servos because of their high current draw
and wanted to not suffer from that, and afaik it would be able to flip most things at 6V anyways.
But I'll look it up and try it in another project as I should have plenty of weight left over for the regulator anyways.

Made the top shell along with servo holder and then soldered the regulator to the removable link and put a mini deans as the cables were short:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...rregulator.jpg

This is my current progress on my FW which has no name as of now:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3.../FWpreview.jpg

Specs:
4WD by 4 standard drill motors (100mm blue wheels)
Sabertooth 2x25 Speed controller
Lifter powered by drill motor and threaded rod
Electronize 30A weapon controller
4600mAh home made NiMh 12v battery
15mm HDPE armor (5mm top and bottom)

I've now finished the top and sides of the robot, including soem side rails so it wont get stuck.
Flipper arm is also done and the last part to be done is the flipper scoop itself out of 1mm titanium grade 2.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...lbarsfront.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...iewflipper.jpg

I am building an ant with all the same parts funny enough, what weight are you at now then ?

Ah sounds nice :)
Havn't rly weighed it until now but the scale show 148g, without the ti flipper blade..
I'm gonna reduce the size of it, and started to plan where to get rid of some excess weight.
Gonna try to see how much 1mm titanium weigh, but it should be alright.

Actually ordered some 0.4mm titanium aswell to possibly replace it later on to get a bigger flipper

Flipper is done, but waiting for the new sabertooth and then strip the plastic off and I will post a pic and a test drive vid.

Meantime I started building the tracked ant, quite basic and unfortunately gonna look much like other people's tracked ones.
But I want one so here i go :)

Specifications,
Drive: 2 Pololu 50:1 HP motors
ESC: Sabertooth dual 5a
Tracks: Tamia model tracks + extra grippy material
Battery: 2S 240mAh Lipo
Reciever: OrangeRX 4 chan Dsm2
Armor: 1mm Polycarbonate
Weapon: 0,4mm Titanium grade 2 wedge (or 1mm if I got enough weight)

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ackedsetup.jpg

My flipper is done and now named Bounce!
It has been some planning and then much trial and error but the general idea was having a flipper with low ground clearance,
non-exposed wheels and armor all around and this is the result of my first combat ready ant I'm actually keeping as it is for now.

Specifications:
Motors: 2 polulo 50:1 HP
Esc: EScheap10 from botbitz
Reciever: OrangeRX 6 chan DSM2
Battery: Gravity 250mAh 8,4V LiPo
Weapon: Park HPX BB servo operating 0,4mm Ti flipper
Weight: 145g

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ceincube-1.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...Bounceside.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...hts/Bounce.jpg

Recordded a 1 min long vid of test driving, its about 100mb, do you know of any good program I can use to shrink it?
And maybe add some text as description?

add text in movie maker and upload to youtube?

how sthe featherweight coming on?

I havn't actually done anything on the feather for months and thus its in the same shape as in the picture.
Have worked out more on the design and the use of limit switches etc so once I get to it again it will go quite fast
as I got all the parts really.
It's a bit cold atm in my brothers shed but I'll try and get some heat fan going and it should be ok working out there again!

Reviving this old thread as bot building has become of interest for me again, esp with the return of robot wars. Bot building is kinda dead in sweden, but hopefully can get back on its feet with some aid from the television.
Anyhow I've made some progress on my first beetle.I did learn some mistakes from my Ant which i tried getting to be perfect even though it was my first bot. Hence i dialed down and made this a bit less complicated and not having to scrap and rebuild it over and over.
The design i wanted was to hace protected wheels, invertible and somewhat flat wedge.
I have the regular 1000rpm motors, 3s 850mah Lipo, 40mm wheels and an old sabretooth 2x10 so i chuck it in there. 5mm hpde sides and 2mm alu for baseplate and bulkheads. everything hold together using m3 bolds and lokc nuts. its hack sawed and hand drilled so I know its not straight and clean :)
My ambition was to attach 15mm hdpe sides, some 2mm angled mild steel at the back (hard time getting hold of hardox cutoffs here) and probably some mild steel wedge at the front. along with either hdpe or polycarb top as iI have that lying around.
at 760g here's where it is atm:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...rx%20bat_1.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...%20front_1.jpg

That's awesome, my beetle runs a Sabertooth as well. Where did you get your wheels from?

cool, running a 2x10 or 2x5 sabertooth? how is your bot handling with that esc?
the wheels are from hobbyking, bought 2 different types of lightweight wheens, but I'm trying out these ones first

Hiya! My Sabertooth is a 2 x 12A, it was originally bought to power the featherweights I was fighting with at the time. I got into beetles as they're a bit cheaper and there's been loads of events for them. I'm always trying to save some cash if I can, so just decided to stick the Sabertooth in to see how it went. A nice by-product is that is gives the motors plenty of current so the robot will easily out-push most things in the weight class. The motors are lower geared than those of most other people (don't tell anyone that's my trade secret lol), and when that was coupled with the beefy Sabertooth and a nice lipo it was awesome. I've been using Pololu hubs and wheels that I've modified to toughen them up and they've been great. I find decent wheels are the hardest part to source or make on a robot.

I find the Sabertooth can be twitchy when cornering, the forward and back response is a lot smoother than the side to side spins. I've learnt to compensate by now, but in the heat of a fight when I get a bit panicky it can be hard. For help have a look at Unmakerbots driving style. I've learnt to mimick it and it works soooooo well...

Sounds good there mate.
I also ordered the sabertooth gor my first FW project. But have gotten a 2x25 after that and even a couple of tz85's lately. Hence putting it in the beetle which like you said is a really nice class in between ants and fw!
Im at a bit of a stand still with the armor, but can hopefully get it cut soon for some more progress. Working out the removable link next in the meantime.

Back panel welded, just need some straightening up.
what awg wire should i run on my beetle motors? Eill 20 suffice or should i use 18?

Yeah that sounds about right..