Intro

Starting the build log here after about a year of planning, procrastinating and general scheduling issues.

So I decided to chase the childhood dream of building a fighting robot at the age of 25. After chatting to a few people at Extreme Robots events, I'm so excited to get going. I'm pretty much an engineering novice, so I'm learning as I go. I figured my first attempt would be terrible, so I decided to base it on a toaster. That way if it goes horribly wrong, it would be more amusing than tragic.

Now, I know this is a terrible idea. The toaster is too small and very flimsy. The further I plan, the more complicated it seems to be and sometimes I wish I could just build a normal wedge bot. However, many of my friends who know of this project think it's hilarious and are now expecting the toaster to be a thing, so I can't give up on it now!

Parts

As a starting point I have 2x 18V drills from the majestic middle isle of the local Aldi, a Flysky FS-T4B transmitter and receiver, Sabertooth dual motor speed controller and all the other general bits listed in the Robot Wars Haynes manual (minus the weapon parts). Also, not to forget the Tesco own-brand four slice toaster, the star of the show.

Plans/Issues

As things stand, I'm working on the following issues/objectives:


  • Weapon-wise, I have an industrial metal dustpan that I'm planning on using as a scoop. I also have a scooter motor for an axe (mostly so I can say it is the best thing since sliced bread, I'm doing this for the puns really), but I'm not sure if I should walk before I can run and focus on just building something that runs and pushes for 3 mins. However, adding the bulkheads for an axe mechanism would make more much needed space inside the robot, as I could mount the motors under/through the bulkheads.




  • Battery issues at the moment are that I'm rather nervous around Li-Po batteries as a first time builder. No doubt I will take the leap eventually, but testing with the drill batteries first seems like a good plan.




  • Toaster is too small and obviously not suited to robot combat. Any suggestions to help reinforce/expand this would be appreciated.




  • I cheaped out on the transmitter I bought, not sure if it is suitable. May buy another of the more commonly recommended ones at a later date.



So that's where I'm at! Building starts today, just trying to get the wiring and motors working on a piece of MDF before I actually attempt to build a working robot. Any feedback/assistance/encouragement would be appreciated!