VGC Design Challenge 001: Japanese Weapons

OK, so as I discussed in the other thread, I thought it might be fun and get people coming by again to have some design challenges. The format is simple, I will set a brief, which can be anything I like, but may include things like design something around a specific design element (eg. design something with car style steering, design something with no armour), design something inspired by a particular theme (eg. sealife, pirates ) or design something under some crazy modified rules (eg. explosives allowed, flying and can't touch the floor)

These are meant to just get your creative juices flowing to work around the design problems that these briefs throw up and have a bit fun while you are at it.

The entry system NO RESERVATIONS, I set a date, in this case the 16th JULY and whoever has entered by that point is in, and whoever hasn't isn't. I'll then structure the tournament to account for the number of valid robots entered. In each case I'm only asking for one entry per person.

There are a few minor rules - no previously used vapours, everything entered must be original and obviously must meet the brief to gain entry. This isn't to say that if you are in a hurry and you see that a vapour you have could be retrofitted into something, I'm not going to be that mean, but if you do that give it a differentiating name (like the whole firestorm/snowstorm thing) However, not allowing will include things that go against the spirit of the challenge even if not breaking any rules I've specifically stated because you found a loophole.

So, to start off with an easy-ish challenge, as I'm going to be away on holiday in Japan during some of the period the signups are going on, what better than a Samurai theme to the first challenge?

The brief here is a pretty simple one:

1) You can't use any materials in the weapons or armour which wasn't available in 18th century Japan or previously. In the mechanism is fine, but the actual active part of the weapon must be (approximatly) authentic materials.
2) Any active weapons must be based upon pre-firearms weapons from Japan, this is not limited to the famous swords, but literally any pre-firearms weapon - polearms, daggers, clubs, and even projectile weapons. Whatever you like.

A useful starting point might be here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Templat..._and_equipment

I look forward to seeing any entries I get! Leave a message on here if you have any questions or talk to me online in whatever other way you feel like.

I have one! (That I totally didn't finish last minute or anything.)

OniBox 359

Shape - Boxy

Colour - Diotor fur coloured, kikko armour showing through in places because honestly how much spotted fur can you swipe from a bot nearly always on fire? (I just wanted spots on the robot. :P)

Weight - 100kg

Motors – 2 LEM130s running on 36 volts

Batteries: three 36v 4ah NiCad packs

Wheels - 4 go-kart style wheels

Speed - 16mph

Clearance - 16mm

Armour - Steel hexagons sewn onto leather, with chainmail connecting the hexagons. (kikko!)

Dimensions - 100cm x 100cm x 20cm

Weapons - Kanabō (heavy wooden club, iron studs), counterweighted to make it so it doesn't buck all over, being powered with a rack and pinion mechanism, with 150psi out of a single 2kg CO2 tank. Fed off of a 125mm x 210mm pneumatic ram

Scrimech: the club written above!

Scorpio

Shape - Like a large scorpion/beetle with large hammer as tail and large jaws at the front to hold/very lightly crush opponents. It has cage like armour like beast.

Colour - Painted mainly Matt black with toxic green japanesse symbols

Weight - 100kg

Motors – Uses small mag motors (I don't know what sort- I'm new to vapour bots and can't get the mag motor website loaded!) for drive as needs to be lightweight- it has a large 10-1 reduction to give it lots of power when gripping opponents but little speed as doesn't need it as fires weapon from a distance.

Batteries: 2x 12s lipo battery 8000mah

Wheels - 2 go-cart wheels at back, ball transfer units at the front

Speed - 5mph

Clearance - 30mm at back, 10mm at front

Armour - not much weight for armour due to large weapons system- uses strong bamboo bent into shape with warm water and formers then bolted together to form a cage- like beast. This allows lots of flex in the bamboo to absorb impacts.

Dimensions - excluding claws and hammer- 600x700x175mm- claws are out the front and have a gap of 1m betwwens jaws when fully open, hammer is up above the robot vertically then swings down.

Weapons - Uses a Kyoketsu-shoge style weapon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoketsu-shoge) which it fires at opponents from between the jaws using a 40mm bore 100mm stroke FP ram, this hopefully pierces any weak armour or joints between armour (eg. Leather or wood etc.), it then pulls in the opponent with a winch powered by a Lem130 motor and a 80-1 worm gear gearbox and uses a high tensile rope made from horse hair to pull them in. The opponent is then lightly grabbed with the claws made from 5 pieces of bent bamboo which has been bent into into shape using warm water and a former then all 5 pieces bound together with more horse hair string, these claws are powered by a Gimson robotics linear actuator (one for each claw). Once held by the claws they are hit repeatedly with a otsuchi hammer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōtsuchi) powered by a pneumatic ram 35mm bore and 100mm stroke via a rack and pinion, the weight of the hammer (8kgs) should provide the power to hit them rather than the pneumatic ram. They are then releas after 30 seconds. All the pneumatics is powered by 2 2kg bottles with only a small 600gram buffer tank. This should give me enough gas for about 5 throws of the Kyoketsu-shoge and then 6 hits with the hammer each time.

Scrimech: uses the otsuchi hammer

Hopefully that is all ok- I am new to vapour bots so am not entirely sure what is acceptable, I also hope the weapon is ok for the rules as strictly the claws aren't really a japanesse weapon.

I'm I'm the process of finishing a work of genius

Here is my machine...

The inspiration is fairly simple... I felt like throwing shuriken. Ive been thinking of catapults or using pnuematics to fire actual shuriken... but I couldnt get it to work properly. It wouldnt be an effective robotic weapon, nor for that matter would it even look like how an actual trained ninja would skillfully fling a shuriken around.

Then came the realization that effectively in robotic combat, I can have the shuriken propel themselves! That is how I ended up with this 8-part clusterbot, each of them a ring spinner. While this result is fairly far away from the concept of actually throwing shuriken, I think that I did a fair job at grabbing the essence of it. Im able to fling a lightweight weapon at my opponent (lightweight for robotic standards that is), one at a time, Part 1 goes in, Part 1 goes out, Part 2 comes in, et cetera et cetera. A continuous stream of "shuriken" fired at my opponent. I actually on purpose made these 2WD with relatively high ground clearance (with the wheels off center to create a clear front, and make the bot tilted such that at the front the weapon reaches lower than at the bacl) to enhance the bouncy effect, after all, a thrown shuriken hardly ever flies perfectly flat either.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...psddef9c79.jpg

STATS ARE GIVEN FOR 1 PART, MULTIPLY BY 8 TO UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE ROBOT

Name - Shuriken Throw

Weight - 12.5kg

Motors – 2 Gimson GR02 gearmotors

Wheels - 2 wheels of solid rubber

Speed - 16mph

Clearance - for the main body... at the front it touches the ground, at the back the clearance would be roughly 2 cm

Armour - 1 cm of oak for the main body!

Dimensions - 50cm x 50cm x 10cm

Weapons - Big steel shuriken shaped spinning ring that weighs in at roughly 4 kg, powered by a DeWalt at 18V, and spins at 2500 rpm

Last but not least...

http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/r...pscef6eb9c.png

Name: Hellsprout Tower
Weight: 100kgs
Length: 800mm
Width: 800mm
Height: 1500mm
Drive: 2x 150mm diameter Aluminium wheels, each of which has a urethane rubber tyre. These are driven by 2x A28-400 Ampflow motors, which are run at 26.4v from 4x 8-Cell A123 M1 Lithium Ion battery packs.
Turning Circle: 0mm
Speed: 10mph
Ground Clearance: 0mm due to hinged skirts on all sides – it is 10mm behind the skirts.
Armour: Hellsprout Tower is based around a 3mm wall thickness steel box section frame. The skirts and floor panels are all made of 10mm thick oak. The tower itself is armoured in steel chainmail.
Weapons: The main weapon is a spring-loaded Japanese sword blade based upon the same mechanism as Robot Wars competitor Toe Cutter. The blade travels at in excess of 100mph and has proved to be devastating against watermelons and purple fur.
Strengths: Potential to damage leather and bamboo.
Weaknesses: Grapefruits.

I hope that's okay! :)

At a quick scan those are all looking great! I'm actually going to extend opening for 48 hours (eg until midnight tomorrow GMT) as I've arrived home to discover my computer is really messed up and I don't really fancy typing fights out on my tablet... So if anyone else is nearly finished feel free to get them in!

So, we have four entries! Fights will be done this weekend, and as it's 4 entries, we will have a straight grand final format of three 1 on 1 fights. These will be, at an arbitary pick:

Hellsprout Tower vs. OniBox 359
Shuriken Throw vs. Scorpio

The Grand Final of the winners of those fights.

Fights will be up this weekend.
What I'm also going to do to give people a headstart, is put up the second design challenge so people can start pondering that one.

My tactics;
Panic! I didn't plan on coming across a cluster! I will have to take each one in one at a time, hopefully I will be able to grab each part of the cluster when it comes to attack or pull in one of the other robots not currently attacking me using my kyoketsu-shoge. Once grabbed I will give them a quick couple of hits with my hammer to hopefully break them as they should be quite weak and I could snap the gimson axles. If that doesn't work dump them in the pit using my more powerful drive, all I need to do is destroy half of the clusters.

So, welcome to the first fights of the VGC Design Challenges! This evening we will witness the first challenge – with four contestants patterned from historical Japan.

Hellsprout Tower vs. OniBox 359

San, Ni, Ichi….. Akutibinisuru!

Immediately as the countdown finishes, OniBox is away as the quicker of the two, with it’s 4 go-kart wheels giving it greater acceleration than it’s opponent’s two. It tries to steer to the right of it’s foe but Hellsprout Tower’s broad sweeping weapon means that flanking it is harder than that. Hellsprout pushes forward the attach with it’s blade swinging but it deflects off the steel hexagons this time, merely managing to make a gash through some of the spotted material and the chain links.

An attack by the kanabō against the height of Hellsprout is not taken so lightly however, the upper part of the robot buckles and there is an unpleasant noise as the centimeter of oak begins to splinter beneath the blows. Hellsprout manages to twist out of the way and slice a long gash through a corner of the kikko armour, causing a flap of it to come loose and sag downwards.

However, a second flurry by the Kanabo caves in the tower to the left side of Hellsprout. The wood splinters downwards and whole panels begin to break away… A few more slashes get through the Kikko but by this point it is too little too later, as another blow by the mighty club breaks the upper level off entirely and caves in the steel chassis and the motors slow to a halt…

The match is declared over!

OniBox 359 advances to the final!

Up next….

Shuriken Throw vs. Scorpio

Shuriken Throw vs. Scorpio

San, Ni, Ichi….. Akutibinisuru!

The insectile robot charges off straight away, but is far slower than the 8 Shuriken of its opponent. Three of the shuriken spin straight into the bamboo armour, and prove effective at cutting straight through it, but less effective at getting out again – although one of them succeeds in spraying shards of bamboo across the arena floor, the other two become lodged in the armour, and against the greater mass of their foe are unable wriggle free.

Unfortunately for Scorpio, the Kyoketsu-shoe weapon is far too slow and unsuitably angled to hit any of the tiny spinners, even as two more of the spinners impact into the side, shredding more bamboo and freeing one of the lodged robots, a shot from the blade deflects off the top of one of the little robots, but manages to snag a second of the little clusterbots by accident as it gets tangled into the chord as it’s spinning motion entines it entirely. A quick retracting of it’s within range of the huge hammer, a single two strokes leaves the tiny robot flat as a pancake.

By this point the arena is littered with shards of bamboo, and two of the clusters have actually got enough clogged in their drive train to immobilize one side of them and so they spin helplessly on the spot.

However, by now the repeated attacks against Scorpio is taking its tole- the robot is slowing under the sustained attacks, and the armour is really not suited for blocking spinners. It manages to grab onto one of the semi immobilised machines and again crush the thing flat, but this proves its undoing – it leaves itself exposed at the back where one of the little shuriken manages to shred out one of the go-cart wheels, leaving it barely moving and entirely vulnerable to the death my a thousand cuts that the spinners are free to dole out.

CEASE IS CALLED

Shuriken Throw advances to the final!

Up next….

The Grand Final!

Shuriken Throw vs. OniBox 359


Remember to also be considering your entries for the VGC Design Challenge 2: Vapours on Ice!

So, we come to our first grand final, with Shuriken Throw vs. OniBox 359!

San, Ni, Ichi….. Akutibinisuru!

Immediately, the eight small clusterbots are spinning up to speed, but even as the first of them impacts their foe, it becomes clear that the armour, while not a perfect protection from the little spinners, is in fact a hazard to them! As the first little robot attacks it tears off a long strip of diotor fur and this wraps around the little robot, getting snagged around its drive train and causing the left side of the machine to go incredibly slowly.

OniBox on the other hand, is mashing its huge Kanabō around wildly – a single swipe splits the top oak panel of one of the robots in half and straight off the top of the machine and seemingly knocking it out the match. Having got through the initial layers on one side, three more of the small robots slash further into even as OniBox slams one of the smaller robots into the arena wall, propping it up against the side and out of the fight for now.

Even as it retreats and one of the smaller robots narrowly dodges another huge mace blow, one of it’s compatriots tries to unprop the stuck one. Another Shuriken impact sprays chain links across the arena while a second merely deflects off one of the metal plates. OniBox manages to catch up with the tangled machine and a heavy impact snaps the wheels straight off their shafts finishing it.

OniBox begins to take charge of the fight however, the bludgeoning finishes off another two of the robots, whenever it gets a direct hit it seems to be an almost guaranteed knockout. However, by this point the armour on the left side is almost entirely gone, while they are big holes on the right. One of the little robots manages to get through the left side enough to slash a hole in the rear left go-kart wheel, sending OniBox into a trudge.

However, by this point the fight is well and truly in the final straight, the robot caught against the side is finally freed even as the one who frees it is squashed like a pancake. Two of the little robots are left – one manages to spin its way inside, even as the penultimate robot is flattened, but even as CO2 is vented from a severed hosepipe inside, it’s foe is tangled in it’s innards. Continued movement from OniBox however signals a winner!

ONIBOX 359 wins the first ever VGC DESIGN CHALLENGE!

Remember to enter the second round: vapours of ice!

Great fun Alex, fun little tournament idea, even though the specific topic of Japanese folklore is not really my thing, but that's just me.

Keep it up!