Team Kaizen Build Diary

[Ocracoke]

EXR Bolton 2019 - Jibril and Azriel

The pair went to Extreme Robots Bolton. I must confess, I was a little nervous about going to the new venue but it turned out to be pretty much like Manchester, nice 'n' roomy in the pits. For me, the event was a mixed bag, rather embarrassing in places.

Saturday
I skipped the first FW melee with Azriel as I was helping put together a new entrant called Masbot (I think) with getting wheels on motors and such. Sadly, their speed controller wasn't up to scratch and the robot felt overweight for a Feather. However, I loaned out Azriel for the 2nd Featherweight Melee of the day to them and they did quite well though they weren't quite used to the controls. Took a nibble from Drumblebot bit nothing serious.

I also had to miss the first Middleweight melee with Jibril. It was loaded up, link went in, went forwards a bit and then shut down unexpectedly, right when the robot was being announced into the arena so it had to be pulled out at the last second. Turned out it was the soldering to the removable link shorting everything out.

Got it going again for the second MW melee, in a team with You Little Ripper and Audacious vs Voodoo 2, Backflip and Smash. I don't quite remember how this fight went but at one stage, the Scythe did fire and hit Backflip but was then flipped and rammed into by Smash I seem to recall. This promptly destroyed the bearings for the axe, split the front panel and ruined the Scythe ESC. It needed a rewire (and some exceptionally choice words) to make it go again.

Many thanks to Tom from Backflip for the replacement bearings.

Sunday
Still, both robots were ready for Sunday. EXR has started running warm up fights for the audience with the Feathers so I put Azriel in for this first one. Made the mistake of tangling with Barróg and got upturned. With the axe not capable of self righting the machine, it was out for the count. Azriel then went into the FW melee during the first show of Sunday and promptly "got shreked" and upturned again. This took off the 6mm polycarb wedge on the front but since it isn't a structual piece of the machine, I think I got off lightly compared to some of the others. I distinctly remember the axe head hitting the disc of Get Shrekt just before the hit, so my aim with the weapon must be getting better, right? :P

Jibril... oh boy. I got moved from Team Ripper to Team Eruption as Voodoo 2 had dropped out and Backflip wasn't attending for the Sunday, meaning I was paired with Smash. I tested the robot in the arena before the event started. The drive was working fine, nice and responsive but the axe was still slipping. Tried to jig it back together but without much luck.

For the first melee, Jibril managed to get itself stuck in the arena before the fight started. On the Saturday, I fitted some HDPE forks to the front of the machine with the intention of fitting Kaizen's old wedge on the front but with it on, it lifted the robot off the HDPE blocks fitted at RL Grantham and I wasn't willing to risk it so I left the forks on. This then dropped down into a gap in the arena and got stuck.

With the Scythe not working yet again (the motor had shifted so it wouldn't mesh), the fight was doing "OK" but then a grub screw came out of the drive, meaning I could only turn and was eventually pitted I think. The replacement bearings had twisted as well. I was not a happy bunny.

The next show, I entered Azriel again into the exhibition melee with a few others before the show started. This time, the terminal block connections came out of the axe and the drive, so no power was going to either. Easy enough job to sort but bah.

Azriel then went into the FW melee of the show and this time, it had a really good showing. I could hear Greg mentioning it a few times throughout. Eventually, I was rammed into the corner by Luna-Tic which caused one wheel to seize up for a few moments before I spun Azriel around to get it free. After the fight, Greg came over and said that until the ramming and the subsequent temporary loss of the one drive wheel, I was going to win that fight overall becuase I was ahead on Aggression and Control, so I came 2nd in that Melee. That really brightened my day, given it is a robot made from bits and pieces I had from The Honey Badger and Kaizen and was built in 3 days or so. I should put more time into improving the capability.

It was then Jibril's final run of the day. The Scythe was broken and the new grub screws (donated by Alex) had to be cut down a lot to clear the bolts holding the gear onto the wheel so it was running with half a grub screw. It went into the arena OK but shortly after the fight started, the screw went and it was back to one wheel driving. It lasted better than I was expecting but was then flipped out the arena, snapping another bearing in the process.

Despite breaking in every fight, because I was part of Team Eruption with Jibril, I picked up a team winner trophy, first one ever. To be honest, it felt a bit hollow given all the issues with the robot. I've already settled on rebuilding the Middleweight to sort out these issues once and for all. I've got some potential ideas in mind but I need time off from this robot, it has been nothing but heartache with this one. I am half decided on going to RoboDojo with Azriel, it needs a bit of work doing to it mind.