HardWired II

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At a reduction and at 4S it might just get there, I do recall an axe bot running on one before and self-righting, though that could just be my bad memory! Really, it's just precautions just in case the worst should happen and Little Hitter or Grant's new hammer bot goes straight through and wrecks a motor or my battery. I'm really hoping that 2.5mm stainless should be alright, though I do remember hearing someone mention that there was a great big dent in their 3mm baseplate, but again that could just be me.

It might still be a project for the future and whiteboards though, quite like the idea of an optional axe...

And I could increase the wheel diameter, but the problem with that is that it actually increases the ground clearance on the bottom - I recall Mario mentioning that the wheels were about 1mm above the baseplate, so I'm going to increase the width through some thicker tyre which should leave me I think about 2-3mm above, which is plenty enough to stop me getting beached but then to add another 2mm of steel on top of that 2.5mm I already have, I'll be looking at adding probably about 3-4mm of tread onto the wheels, which might be a tad problematic in terms of the strength not to mention adding a lot more to the ground clearance which could throw things off... I'll give it a go and see how it fares though

I've got plenty of bike tyre too, got like 6 bike wheels spare in the shed from old bikes over the years! Might head down to halfords though and see if there's anything just a little more suitable...

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Assortment of photos from HardWired II's build - had a few issues to start with, but nothing major so far, I don't think. It's going well, other than that - mostly it's now just down to fitting everything in because the space is so insanely limited in there - enough and fantastically compact, but I'm having to cut down heavily on how much wiring I use which can't be a bad thing. Those connectors are temporary too, just whilst I sort positions of everything out.

Has a few problems with my OrangeRX R620 receiver, doesn't appear to fail safe properly, can't set it into the mode where it failsafes, when it does one esc doesn't work, sometimes it's the one with the SBec, sometimes it's the one without it... It's all a bit strange, and sometimes it doesn't even want to connect up. Going to just assume this is it being temperamental, and I'm working round it accordingly, but may need manual failsafes on standby... Managed to get things rolling with my old non-failsafing rx

The other thing is the pinion that's welded on to the motor shaft coming off, something only I could manage on a test drive but that's being sorted now, one less thing to worry about! Really, just need the LED wiring into my system (need to look that up to make sure I can do it without wrecking my setup) and then the link and also lipo fuse placing into position, then it's ready to go!




Also, as a side note, I've already started drafting the plans for next year's machine, to run alongside HardWired, would like the name Midas but I'm sure that's gone - let's just say it more than makes up for HardWired II's lack of an active weapon...

[SamO]

Sorry, didn't mean to thank the above post, iPod screen is basically dead. Bot looks good though

[razerdave]

There is a way to make them failsafe, it doesn't so it straight out of the box.

Power up the RX with the bind plug in as you have before, but then take the bind plug out. The little light should flash weird. Turn on the TX in bind mode with all the positions set at the neutral position. They should bind together and the RX accepts the current TX settings as the 'default' setting when it loses the connection.

[shakesc]

Great tip, thanks Dave

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I'll try it again when I can Dave, problem when I last did it is that it simply wouldn't bind in that mode, I think I may be doing something wrong, probably will post a video tomorrow to troubleshoot... Thanks for the help there though!

[Eventorizon]

I have to say, I am definitely looking forward to fighting Binky, that will be rather interesting indeed. I'd be surprised if anything can get through the front hardox scoop, but the real danger will come from the potential OOTA. Course, there's Ironside in there too, which could cause me plenty of internal damage too...

Going to be a cracking first ever fight for me though!

I am sure the machine will still run at the end. Our main worry is you getting under Binky and pushing us around so we never hit you with the disc. If Ironside is the spinner then we are boh in trouble, if its just the pushing octagon then it will be a strange fight. Binky could OOTA both machines or it could get pitted and be left to watch the other 2 machines fight it out.

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I'm sure Binky will, HardWired... Depends how well I manage to shock-mount everything, bike tire and bubble wrap!
Really, my main tactic with spinners is going to be to attack the spinning element as much as possible, since it'll do more damage to the other robot than it will do mine probably. Binky's probably the spinner I'm most afraid of simply because it's a vertical with the OOTA ability. If Ironside's the pusher too, that'll be quite interesting.

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Since everyone else is doing it, here's HardWired's admittedly kind draw for the championships:

Binky vs Ironside vs HardWired

This is a funny one, for my first matchup. Starting with the unknown, Ironside, I can't seem to figure out whether it's the hexagonal pusher, the spinner or the bar spinner (most likely the bar, I think) really only poses a risk from battering my electronics out of their sockets, spinners won't do much at all to HardWired I don't think. Course, I don't know what it is, so this is one I'm being cautious of. Binky is the major threat here, mainly due to that spinning disc sending me potentially OOTA. Most likely going to use HardWired's speed to avoid that. Again, spinner - probably not going to do a whole lot to mine, but still a fun fight for my first ever venture into combat robotics.

HardWired vs Carcinus vs NST

Carcinus has the claws, and I think the grinder atop, which would be back for my wheels, but I hope I can take it on. Might not have to, since number 4 seed NST's reared it's (very well engineered) head. Again, a spinner won't be bothering HardWired too much, but need to be careful of the shocks to the electronics. Few good hits and it'll hopefully send itself out of the arena - despite it's pedigree, I'm quietly confident about this one. This will be swiftly deleted and henceforth forgotten if I'm sweeping HardWired out of the arena.

Joule vs Gianto vs HardWired

Just what I didn't want. Joule terrifies me, despite the obvious technical issues an electric hammer could pose to itself, this is a very well engineered machine and could absolutely murder HardWired. I don't have the advantage I'd have with Little Hitter either, being able to get it to waste CO2, electrically driven axes I'd assume are just consistently brutal. I'd guess that it'll jump a lot, and HardWired's low front will help considerably here, and the energy dissipated into the machine will be much less, I would guess. Really, I'm just praying that there's a bit too much power in the axe and it conks itself out, is that wrong? Gianto is an unknown here, going to take an educated guess and say it's not Gianto from Robot Wars but a featherweight Tanto, which is still something to be very cautious of. Assuming this, it poses less risk in the way of straight up tenderisation, but more in the way of brute force. If Joule goes, it's just a pushing match and driver skill will prevail, not something I'm all too confident on. I'm great with RC cars, just inexperienced in combat.

Beauty 8 vs Gianto vs HardWired

Over in ten seconds, if Beauty has it's way. I've seen Beauty 2, less of Beauty 3 through 7 so I really can't comment, but would assume it's just as dangerous. My planer blade on the front will be crucial here. Gianto's here again too, and I have no idea what it is or anything so again I can't really comment further than what I've already said. Hopefully I can get Beauty to waste those flips, since I can't keep it in the pit either whilst it still has them. Going to be a tough one again.


Pretty pleased overall, managed to miss the flippers and most of the ones that would give HardWired the hardest time. That's got to be a good thing!

All this said, I cannot wait to get there, it's going to be a ton of fun, and finally living that childhood dream! Albeit 17 years late, but I got there eventually!

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HardWired II is finally running!


Absolutely enormous thanks to Mario again for all the help with it!


I was running the robot at somewhere below full power with no mixing so my driving was well off, should be sorted for the championships. Do need to get an external mixer though, the mixing inbuilt to the DX5e is dreadful...

Just a short update, had a busy today and am tired, but I'm just showing that progress is happening!