A new comer

Hello, im looking to build a featherweight robot as a project for uni, but im not too sure where to start. ive been reading up on the forum, to get an idea of parts to look out for. so far, i know ill have to buy a cordless drill and strip it, to get the motor, the gearbox and the battery. battery value should be 12-14.4v. itll be a great help if you guys could give me a push in the correct direction. ive also come across a section in the forum that shows a layout of the drive system, im not too sure if i could use that particular method, or if there are other methods. thank you.

Hoi there,

On drive lay outs, there are as much options as you can imagine. But the most used in feathers are 2 and 4 wheel drives.
With the 4 wheel drive, the 4 wheels are in the corners.
2Wheel drive, I opt for wheels just behind the center of gravity.

Batterydrill drives, Never used them myself. So I cant give direct applicable advice.

In my opinion cordless drills are great for featherweights- my robot whirlpool uses 4, 12volt drills and has more than enough pushing power.

Heres a video of it at the London Expo last weekend pushing a 12kg beer barrel around (the batteries were running low when it was filmed) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo5dafd-MGghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo5dafd-MGg

Whirlpool is a quality robot.

What speedos are in there Will?

I like the lights.

Thanks for the nice comments.

We use a scorpion XL speedo in whirlpool but we have 2 small PC fans fitted to keep it cool.

we use them little blue speedos from leo

they have worked fine for ages now prob over a yr

think its time to get them changed just incase they go boom in a comp soon lol

and beauty use drill motors and is pretty powerful and speedy for what is it

Get two or four drills-maplin do powerful 18v cordless drills for about £13.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=221018&source=2001&doy=28m10http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...2001&doy=28m10

You can use the batteries out of these to power your drive.

Go to technobots and get two electronise speed controllers-

http://www.technobots.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Electronize_Speed_Controllers_351 .htmlhttp://www.technobots.co.uk/acatalog...Speed_Controll ers_351.html

While your there get the 40mhz 4ch transmitter-

http://www.technobots.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_4_Channel_Technobots_40MHz_251.ht mlhttp://www.technobots.co.uk/acatalog...chnobots_40MHz _251.html

E-mail James Cooper and get some wheels off of him-whatever size you want(75mm,100mm,125mm and 150mm).These come with a nut in the wheel that just screws sraight on to your drill motors.

Go to your local metal/plastic stockholders and get a load of polycarbonate out of the scrap bin(6mm upwards should be enough).For about £30.

A decent robot for about £150.

I dont think ive missed anything-but if i have im sure someone will point it out.

Perhaps someone more exsperianced will give you better suggestions.

Hope i helped anyway.

Dan.

cheers fellows

all your comments helped me alot. thanks again
Francis

I dont know if you saw this already:

http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/discus/messages/89/10050.html?1193653253http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/disc...tml?1193653253

Perfect for a first feather.

cheers for that Leo.

hey guys, first of all i would like to wish you all a happy new year. i have a couple of questions regarding the feather weight robot i am building. as its a uni final year project, i have to write a source code for the pic im using. im not sure how the remote control communicates with the robot. What frequency the remote gives out for each command? and finally will each basic command i.e left turn, right turn, etc will have separate frequencies? many thanks guys.

Your remote control has a frequency that is determined by the transmitter and receiver crystal. on that frequency a order of signals is being transmitted, called channels.

Typically you have 2 channels for drive. 1 channel for left and right, and 1 channel for forward and reverse. If you use tank style steering it is motor 1 on one channel, and motor 2 on the second.

How many channels you have is determined by the Transmitter. On a third channel you can control your weapon.

http://www.mp.ttu.ee/risto/rc/electronics/radio/signal.htmhttp://www.mp.ttu.ee/risto/rc/electr...dio/signal.htm

This is a good site explaining the RC signal.

http://robots.freehostia.com/Circuits/CircuitsMain.htmlhttp://robots.freehostia.com/Circuits/CircuitsMain.html

thank you guys.

Dont forget to browse all of the site ...I should really have linked to the home page.

http://robots.freehostia.com/index.htmlhttp://robots.freehostia.com/index.html

Hi all,

Decided to hi-jack an old thread than start a new one.

Ive been interested in robotics for a long while now, and have always intended to build one myself. Now i have the money to build one so I am planning to build myself a simple featherweight. A pic of my design is on my profile.

My design is basically pusher/lifter using drill motors for drive, and with an electric lifter (to avoid pneumatics, spinners etc for my first bot). Im aiming to make a cheap but effective bot.

Ive read through most of the pages on this forum - and most of the links too- but would still be appreciative of any advice people can spare. My contact details are on my profile.

Thanks

Chris

Hi Chris and welcome.
Seems that you have spent a few days browsing since registering.

A large proportion of Roboteers are attending Colchester this Easter weekend so a range of thoughts /advice wont come till next week.

Buy a Spektrum DX6 and BR6000 Receiver.
Purchase a decent motor controller ...the Scorpion XXL Speed Controller or the Sabertooth 25 Dual 25A Motor Driver are fairly robust.

Have a mooch around ....http://www.robotmarketplace.com/store.htmlhttp://www.robotmarketplace.com/store.html and http://www.technobots.co.uk/http://www.technobots.co.uk/ to get a look at what you could get.

dont bother getting a dx6 now get a dx6i its alot better and alot cheaper

they dont work yet apparnetly, some people have had trouble binding them to a br6000 reciever

it might just be a faultly few...

It was us that had that problem and we are currently speaking with Spektrum to try and work out why they dont bind with the DX6i

We also know that it isnt the reciever or transmitter that we have causing the problem because we have tried several sets.

Anyway we will see what spektrum have to say about this.

are you sure youve done it correctly? i know alot of people and myself using DX6is with BR6000s. I presume youve bound it as it says in the book with the trainer switch?

Grant we tried 3 Br6000s. We could only get 1 bind in 5 attempts. When we then powered off/on again we couldnt get a connection. Worked fine on the AR6200 RX supplied. We took the TX back and the shop tried another one but the result was the same on each of the 3 RXs.
Out of interest is yours a Uk spec DX6i or a US one ? Our local model shop (Horizon distributor) said that Horizon Uk dont sell the BR6000 therefore they were a little difficult in supporting us...even though the documentation states compatable with all Spektrun rxs.

Spektrum US have accpeted the query i sent them but I also contacted Horizon UK and await their comments.

Lets hope that its a simple glitch or user error !

How long did you wait for the receiver to bind? The BR6000 will take significantly longer to bind than newer DSM2 receivers as the transmitter waits around 30 seconds for the protocol handshake and then defaults to DSM.

I would imagine the problems people are seeing are because the older DSM receivers will take longer than people expect to bind than newer DSM2 receivers.

Hi Kane,

Thanks for your reply,

I have just tried the set in question and after getting it to bind initially it just wont bind after the power has been removed (I have been waiting for at least 5 mins)

Hopefully spektrum can find out what the problem is.

Right, my dad has just had a phone call from Horizon (the UK spektrum distributor) and they have also found that there is a compatability problem between the DX6i and the BR6000 rx. They will be speaking to spektrum in the US to try to sort the problem.

OK, that definately doesnt sound right!

Sounds funny to me too, And horizon do distribute BR6000 receivers, they do all spektrum products.

Thanks for the advice Woody.

What would people recommend isntead in light of the compatability issues of DX6i and BR6000?

Was originally planning to use technobots own - to make cheap and cheerful bot and then upgrade later when I have the funds.

Shop around and get a DX6 ...they are superseded by the DX6i and the prices are dropping.

http://alshobbies.com/shop/lookupstock.php?pc=8311http://alshobbies.com/shop/lookupstock.php?pc=8311

Now sold out, according to the page on that link Alan. At that price Idve got one of those...

The site I check for RC stuff in holland sells the DX7 for 1 euro more than the DX6, which is very odd. For 1 euro more you get a much smoother TX. But then again, both prices are too high anyway.

damn we missed a bargain there

We got 3 of those:proud:

They are mode 1 though but my dad is sorting that out this weekend

Does anyone know if Spektrum have resolved the compatibility issue?

I have talked to them and they are looking into it, a few of the ones we have sold i have contacted the buyers and they all work fine so far

Ok this is the status.

1. Horizon UK (great support) recreated same scenarios as we had.
2. We aslo tried 2 AR6000s with the DX6i and same problem. The DX6i works everytime with the AR6200 supplied.
3. Spektrum US just tell us to send the kit back to US with our receipt - As we ahve already tried another DX6i with same problem I cant see what this will achieve....and they asked us to send back all our BR6000s aswell !!! What a joke !

4. So I have asked them to contact me direct (cant dial the US freephone 877 number from UK)

I think we need to start a new thread and Id be interested to hear from anyone thats has definetly got theirs working.

We are on the point of taking back our DX6i... all I can say is just be aware of what you could be letting yourself in for !

Just spent 1 hour on Phone with Spektrum US...(had to dial a friend in US to transfer me !)

They confirmed DX6i should work fine with BR6000s. Might just have been really unlucky with 2 faulty DX6is - they cant explain why the AR6200 works ok though. But they are looking into it and will get back to me next week.

I seem to have the same problem. Sometimes it will bind and sometimes it wont. Then, it takes ages to connect together after the binding process. I had kronic on for 5 minutes and it didnt connect. Had to rebind it up and that was hit and miss. Weed seems to connect a lot easier than Kronic, but even that can take 2 mins or more.

Hopefully its only a software thing with the Rx or Tx