Wanted: Featherweight bot

[Ocracoke]

I can see the sense in doing what you are planning but to make a basic rambot in the FW class is reasonably cheap to do. A verrrryyyy basic design, like a wedge rambot like The Honey Badger 2.0 would probably involve the following costs (and this is assuming all new stuff):

- Transmitter: £40
- 2x speed controllers: £80 for the pair (using the TZ85A example - cheaper if you can find someone to do the reprogramming for you but not by much)
- Geared motors - £40
- Batteries + Charger - £60
- Assorted small bits (mixer, wiring, connectors etc) - £30
- Amour/chassis stuff (assuming HDPE as the main constituent here) - £70
= £320 (estimated)

Of course, it is the experience in building it that is priceless. The Honey Badger 2.0 cost me roughly £400 odd to build (and that includes bits from the original Badger) but I've learnt a lot about how to build a effective robot from that which will go into other robots I plan to make next year.

If you buy another person's robot, you inherit the builders methodology for building it, which includes things like wiring and so on and that can be risky if you don't get why they did what they did in that robot.