POST-EVENT THOUGHTS


  • For another event, I haven't had a single wheel or gearbox break, which I'm happy with given how much the machine was tossed around this time round. Some of the wheels are more cracked than they were before the event, but given how much trouble I had removing a "damaged, weakened" wheel at KOB UK, I'm running these until they break. My current drive system then is still powerful, cheap, relatively lightweight, and very easy to replace, which is a dream for me after issues at earlier events.
  • Thanks to how many different weapon types I've fought, I feel that I'm finally able to safely determine what configuration I can use for which weapon. Those are:
    • HDPE Wedgelets: Verts
    • Steel Wedge: Drums, Wedges, Axes, etc.
    • Hardox Wedge: Horizontals

Drums are probably still the largest guess for me, but I may have plans for them in the future, and hey, at least I can still do decently against verts, which to me is the greatest success of Barróg.

  • Despite beating Forge Master's forks, I do think that having metal hinged forks would be sensible for Barróg Doom, possibly jutting out from underneath the front and with some downforce on them.
  • After some conversations from other builders, I'm fairly certain the HDPE chopping boards I've been using have actually been LDPE, or at the very least a recycled, weaker version of HDPE. While this should be bad, the shattering nature of the boards may have left me in a better position against some of the verts than proper HDPE would. I'm definitely debating whether I should switch for Barróg Doom or stay with what I have already.
  • It was nice to finally have my weapon validated in its effectiveness! Practice and small improvements would be needed to avoid all the self-destruction the machine inflicts upon itself, but hey, small steps. Still switching to the new lifter setup however.
  • One reason the green front may have broken is because the lifter bracket spacers weren't being used, which meant that almost all of the forces exerted by the linac were going to the chopping board instead of the lifter spines. Some spacers or a modified lifter bracket could go some way to avert this, which I may use for Robo Riots Dublin which should be happening this coming June.


Robodojo was great fun, and I learned a lot that should be very useful for the coming build. An Irish competition to replace Mechatrons for 2019 was announced a few days ago, and I intend to have Barróg Doom up and running for the show, though I'll probably bring the original Barróg regardless. Cheers to everyone who was at Robodojo, I hope to be back in the UK soon!