Mr. Fluppet.

I too am starting out on the path to enlightenment/non-destructive-carnage, and Ive got a handful of ideas Im considering. Like you Ive considered all the weapons and sizes and Ive come to a few conclusions.

1. Weight. Im building a feather for the pure and simple reason that I cant afford to build a heavy. I couldnt even afford one speed controller never mind two, and a mixer, and the 2MAh batteries, not to mention £100 PER MOTOR etc etc... Im not building a lightweight because theres so few of them and you never see events with a lightweight class. Middles are basically smaller heavies with most of the same problems, and Im just uninspired by ants.

2. Weapon. Pneumatics would be nice and Im not ruling them out for the future. Hydraulics - ditto but harder to implement, more dangerous etc etc. Axes/hammers - ineffective without pneumatics or money (as you said). Spinners - Im not after wholesale destruction (of me or others) so theyre out. That leaves me two options. 1. An electric lifter/flipper. This is relatively cheap to make, should be easily able to lift a feather (another problem with a heavyweight is the extra power needed for this kind of thing) and can be used as a srimech if well done. THis is probably what Ill go for. 2. An electric crusher/gripper. Sounds unlikely but its a possibility Im considering. It wouldnt do as much damage as hydraulics etc and therefore should be allowed in the low-damage competitions. Im not going for a rambot as I already have my motors and Ill be woefully underpowered and too slow to push around the featherweight equivalent of Storm II (they should do an ant called Storm in a Teacup ) etc.

3. Shape. Build around the weapon is the advice I heard. I have a few ideas buit its going to basically sit on a rectangle of box-section steel and the frame can be whatever shape works, with a few rules (to let the weapon do its stuff etc). For control Im having the wheel span nice and wide, and probably a castor at the front, but with (hopefully) and adjustable zero ground clearance at the front and maybe skirts around the sides and back. I like the idea of a plough shape, but itll basically be a funny shaped box. It wont be invertible (I plan to use Dominics motor mounts and wheels eventually and Id have to make it very thin to be invertibe on the same wheels) but it will have a srimech of sorts.

My most likely point of failure is going to be the electronics which Im designing and building for myself. Its a full speed only speed controller, but with two stick control (one up down, one left right) and spin on the spot capability. At the end of the day tho, itll be driven by microswitches and relays and Im designing it in such a way that if the electronics fail I can take em out and JUST drive with Microswitches and relays, and only lose the on-the-spot part.

Basically Im keeping it as simple as I can on the assumption that at some point it will fall apart and break something, and I dont want that to mean a rebuild, or buying something else pricy to replace it. It should also be able to take a short flight and land on concrete and be ok, but Ill test that at some point no doubt. (another testing issue with a heavy - how do you throw it to test it? Unless you live near a big flipper)

Ill stop there as my rambling is refusing to come to a sensible end point.

-- Kev

EDIT : that all sounds like Im saying dont build a heavy which Im not. Im just saying Im building a feather for these reasons, and heres my thoughts on a first bot. You never know, my feather may go overweight and become a lightweight yet.