Coming back into combat robotics!

All,

Recently I've been thinking of returning to combat robotics - I used to partake in the 2010 Roaming Robots events with one of the original BattleRatz, and occasionally drove Mini Mighty Mouse (when Trevor let me! :P).
So, I did some searching around in my garage, and managed to find a whole ton of bits and bobs which I had acquired back when I wanted to make a featherweight (which I now want to do again).
Obviously, being a lot younger back then (12/13), the wiring is very bodge job! This is what I've found so far:
Attachment 4126
First off, the cordless drill motors. I bought these at an event I think.

Attachment 4127
Next, the battery. I'm surprised it still works.

Attachment 4128
This is where the confusion lies - I remember the speed controller being made by RoboteQ, and it came with a CD, but I can't for the life of me find that CD anywhere!

Attachment 4129
The removable link, made from dean's connectors if I remember correctly?

Attachment 4131
And I managed to find this sheet of paper detailing the wiring setup for the S/C.


I'm now unsure as to whether I even have the right parts, because after doing a bit of lurking there's now microcontrollers? And in the BattleRat is a part I don't even remember having!

George

I think lead acids are very outdated for FW's now. Probably be better to pick up a NiMH or Lipo :)

Welcome back.

Yeah SLAs aren't really used much now, although we use them in our Scot-Bots kits as they're a good, cheap and safe starter battery. Nimh or Lipo are the two main types used nowadays. Lipos aren't much more expensive and provide better performance, but they can be more prone to the abuse sustained in combat robots if not looked after properly and, as such, there are additional rules and regulations that you must follow if using this battery type.

The cordless drill motors don't look that great for a FW. The round plastic plates don't appear to have any fixing holes to attach to a standard drill gearbox so the design may have relied on pins or the drill casing to hold the two together. Also the plastic pinion (small gear on the motor) wouldn't last long. It's not uncommon to get plastic gears in the gearbox but I haven't seen them on the motor shaft before. I would suggest buying a couple of new cordless drills (Argos £15 each - all metal gears) and get the motors/gearboxes out of those. You can attach wheels directly to them (where the chuck usually goes) and are reasonably easy to mount in a robot. Save the motors you have for spares.

Never used that controller before so can't really advise on that I'm afraid.

Deans removable link looks fine.

If there's a way to get that speed controller working, great. If not, there are a few alternatives out there, the most popular currently being the Botbitz 85A controllers, reprogrammed from brushless to brushed for our benefit (either from Botbitz.com or buy the stock brushless controllers and reprogramme them yourself).

Other than that, you'll just need a power LED, chassis/armour, radio gear and some sort of weapon if you wish (go on, you know you want to ;) )

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RogueTwoRobots

Welcome back.

Yeah SLAs aren't really used much now, although we use them in our Scot-Bots kits as they're a good, cheap and safe starter battery. Nimh or Lipo are the two main types used nowadays. Lipos aren't much more expensive and provide better performance, but they can be more prone to the abuse sustained in combat robots if not looked after properly and, as such, there are additional rules and regulations that you must follow if using this battery type.

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Thanks for the advice and welcome, the both of you :) I'll probably get a Nimh, to stay on the safe side!

The cordless drill motors don't look that great for a FW. The round plastic plates don't appear to have any fixing holes to attach to a standard drill gearbox so the design may have relied on pins or the drill casing to hold the two together. Also the plastic pinion (small gear on the motor) wouldn't last long. It's not uncommon to get plastic gears in the gearbox but I haven't seen them on the motor shaft before. I would suggest buying a couple of new cordless drills (Argos £15 each - all metal gears) and get the motors/gearboxes out of those. You can attach wheels directly to them (where the chuck usually goes) and are reasonably easy to mount in a robot. Save the motors you have for spares.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's what I thought. I recently saw a video on YouTube discussing how to convert cordless drill motors into combat robot motors, and I realised my motors didn't come with the chuck! D:

Quote:

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If there's a way to get that speed controller working, great. If not, there are a few alternatives out there, the most popular currently being the Botbitz 85A controllers, reprogrammed from brushless to brushed for our benefit (either from Botbitz.com or buy the stock brushless controllers and reprogramme them yourself).

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Yeah, unfortunately I cannot seem to find the CD anywhere! The botbitz controller seems to be the way forward.

Quote:

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Other than that, you'll just need a power LED, chassis/armour, radio gear and some sort of weapon if you wish (go on, you know you want to ;) )

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Trust me, I do want to! The obvious weapon would be a flipper, but I've never ventured into the world of pneumatics before. I know Team Onslaught have a whole section on their website about it, but it seems very daunting, to say the least. Let's hope I'll put my mind to it this time and have something ready for Christmas! ;)

I can vouch for the Botbitz 85a's too, run them (albeit briefly) in HardWired, and they're ace controllers. May be moderately costly, but compared to the alternatives you really can't go wrong with them! Same with the SLA's too, they seem a bit bulky and heavy for today's machines, LiPos are pretty cheap, and getting a 3/4s Lipo and a set of cordless drill motors on those BotBitz controllers is a pretty solid starting point. And it's not too complicated too, I have all the construction ability of an amoeba and I still there abouts managed it!
There's also the gimsons gearmotors too, practically the same thing as a drill motor as far as I can tell, but they're pre-made with the metal gears and mounts, just have to bolt it onto a baseplate and away you go!

I do apologise if any of the above is stuff you know or sounds accidentally patronising too! I'm a relative newbie but I thought I'd share some of my knowledge :)

Would they really be shipping all the way from Australia? O.O
Where would the best place be to buy Lipos or NiMHs? Sorry for all the questions, lol. A lot has certainly changed in the past 3 years!
I've also messaged Jonno earlier, he said he'd come back to me with links etc, hoping for the best :)

Oh yes! Just for reference, I ordered mine with the cheapest shipping (tracked, I think) and the pair cost me £104, arrived after a week! Rather pleased with how quickly they turned up!
And as for that, hobbyking.com will be your best friend for LiPos, a lot of people go for the flightpower(?) ones, but the Turnigy ones from Hobbyking seem to be pretty good!

Ah, that's brilliant then!
As for the Turnigy lipos, I'm unsure which ones to get? Would the 4000mAh ones be a viable option?

I think 4000mah would be fine, I run a 5000mah one and I believe that the Tormenta team do too (though don't quote me on that), I have yet to drain one to a dangerous level in normal operation! If you wanted to be safe (and wanted an electrical weapon too) I'd go with the 5000mah one, but I'm sure you'd get away with 4000 :)

5000mah it is! Weight wise, should it be around a kilo? I did see some which were about 2.5 kilos! As for the weapons, I was hoping to go for a pneumatic weapon, but I may just have an electric lifter. We'll see :)

This 4s one (same as I have) is only 552g according to Hobbyking! http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...Lipo_Pack.html

Are you absolutely sure that Lipos are the way to go? I've just been reading the rules and regulations, they seem quite... Risky. I don't know, I could just be being paranoid :)

I did more searching around, and I found actual cordless drill motors now! That's them checked off the list! They come with everything attached, I've even found mounts for them! Today is my lucky day.

They are heavily regulated in the rules, and there are more stable batteries, but in terms of the power for the weight, LiPos seem the way to go - most machines run them now from what I can tell! Maybe they are a bit more messing about in terms of making sure they're safe, but it's worth it for the output you get, or so I'm told!

Use LiPo's in all my feathers. Treat 'em nice and they are the way to go

Okay, so currently on the new parts list is:
2 Turnigy 5000mAh 4S 25C Lipo Packs;
2 BotBitz 85amps.
I have found a transmitter and receiver, so that should be all sorted :) what about the possibility of having pneumatics?

Li-Pos are great as long as you know what you're doing. There's a whole section on here regarding them but in short:

Don't let the voltage drop too low, otherwise you'll permanently damage the pack. Most ESCs have a built in 'Low Voltage cut out' that will turn the ESC off (so not to keep using the battery and an indicator to the operator) that each Li-Po cell has dropped to 3.0-3.2v.

Each cell also needs to be in balance with the others. You'll need a Li-Po charger that also balance charges, this is done via the extra lead on the batteries. Fully charged each cell will be 4.2v, nominal is 3.7v.

Any sign of puncture, rupture or the pack puffing up and it's time to get a new one.

I run a 2.6mah pack in Bitza (with a spinning weapon) It's near empty after a fight, but I just take that as it being 'optimal'. Put it on a fast balance charge after each fight and it's good to go again!

I made a mockup of the drive wiring setup. Have I missed anything important?

Attachment 4135

As for the Lipo charger, would that have to be bought separately, or does it come with the battery itself?
And sorry if this sounds stupid, but what would an ESC be? :S

ESC= Electronic Speed Controler. A Speedo.

The TZ85a 's have a build in BEC=Battery Eliminator Circuit= reciever Power. You'll have to "cut" 1 of BEC's out otherwise you'll get strange results.

You'll have to buy a charger seperatly of the battery. The Imax B6 AC is the basic charger that is a complete package for LiPo's up to 6S

The BEC's the red (middle) wire isn't it?

Regards the charger too, sometimes you have to get your own 12v power supply for it too - I did with my Turnigy one! They're cheap off eBay but just make sure you're aware of that!

George,

Bowtell time you showed up again ;)

You can download the roborun software from the roboteq website. Check the reference but I seem to recall you had this one http://www.roboteq.com/index.php/pro...tail#resources check the model number and if it's not that one have a look round the site and find it. Software is normally available from the product page under feature. Tbh it's a very good controller.

Motors, you bought those motors with gearboxes on them at Guildford. As you do at 12/13 you seem to have taken them apart and probably lost most of the bits. Get some new ones.

Stopped using drill motors for something more robust. Personally I'd get some gimsons http://www.gimsonrobotics.co.uk/GR02...gearmotor.html seem to work ok for us. Easy to mount as well.

Batteries, if the motor turns don't worry too much but yes Niamh's or some lipo's would be much better.

Welcome back by the way.

Andy

Some Chargers come with the PSU built in, some come included and some not at all, so like flag_captured said, be aware.

Here's the one I use for my Li-Pos:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/iMAX-B6AC-...item20d5b3becb

Do some searches and you'll find it cheaper.