Update time! Progress has slowed down since I moved across the country for college at the start of the month, but we were still able to get some good work done on the machine. We were finally able to place the hinges for many of the important parts, including the base/lifter hinge, and the linac/lifter hinge, so now we know exactly how much Barróg can lift (over 20kg at the tip, which is enough), as well as how high it can go. It seems a little overboard, but it still has as much power as it needs, will be able to self-right, and just looks over kill, but in a fun way.



the other main goal that was accomplished was the shape of the lifter supports/spines, which I am thrilled with how they've come out. Obviously a lot will be trimmed from the bottom of them, and holes may possibly be drilled into the spines in the future to lose weight, but overall I'm thrilled to see one of the trickiest parts of the build just come alive. Shown here in a picture alongside the plywood test piece.



The trickiest part of making the supports was to get a straight cut along the lifter side of them, so as to bolt the front plate onto them for support. That would usually be simple, but unfortunately our skill saw gave up the ghost a while back, so with no other easy alternative, we finally shelled out on a CNC machine to do the job properly!



...just kidding, instead we bolted a straight sheet of plywood to a T square (now just an F square), and used that as a guide for our jig saw. The cut ended up straight, if a little at an angle.



My target for the completion of this bot is before the end of October, mainly so that I don't have to wait until April to see it in action. I would love to be able to use it at Mechatrons in January, especially as that seems to be the only Irish robot combat event at all, but given that they've only had heavies for the past few events, that seems unlikely. Hopefully, there will be enough feathers eager to go that they'll end up hosting them in the end, but that seems like a long shot.