To Build or Not To Build - That is the Question!

[maddox]

The main thing about hardox is that it comes only in sheets. But its about the same price as normal stainless. But has twice the strength and can be worked with common tools like an anglegrinder and an arc welder.

So, for the money/strength its the best buy. But it takes a lot of creativity to work with the weight. Its still the weight of steel.

Now, the machine in the picture looks good. Would be a pity not to use it.

Hi Glen,

To see how cheaply it can be done I built a simple robot last spring out of 2 9.6 volt drills (Argos, christmas special, £10 each) and used the drill batteries and rechargers. Total cost was about £75, not including radio gear. Armour was 28 mm wood, held in place by 6 mm roofing bolts. I did fights with spinners at the Cambridge event (including Dragonstrike and Vortex) and at the end of the 2 day event it was still working. Hardwood makes great armour.
It is possible to make a robot that can stand up to competition for relatively modest amounts of money.

Hi,

I second everything people have said.
You dont need to spend a lot of money to have a LOT of fun.

Best thing to do is get yourself to a current live event, and have a look for yourself.

JOhn
http://www.RoamingRobots.co.ukwww.RoamingRobots.co.uk

[anukhet]

True, I entered into this by chance and with a bit of luck, with no money and even less technical knowledge - in fact after 2 years I still dont have much technical knowledge and as for money - now look where I am (even I dont know how)........LOL
I found my way in this by using other skills, being full of ideas, asking lots of questions, asking for lots of help and getting it wrong too (but Im not afraid to admit to that) - even now some of my ideas defy the laws of physics.
I know that I will never be able to afford to build my own robot and even if I could I wouldnt know where to start anyway . I just got myself involved. Perhaps offering yourself up as team slave should someone need help for an event because HWs aint the kind of thing that can be lugged around by one person.
Like Jonno said, it is fun - come to an event and see

Hi John, i have done exactly the same. I spent £32 on 2 12v drill and still have the batteries ands chargers in the shed. The drill motor for the weapon was from an old drill where the speedo was broken.

Outside of Robot Wars i have been to Brighton twice and folkestone a couple of years ago. Folkestone was a great weekend with the highlight getting Major Tom into the final facing Thz.

It is certainly something that i would like to do again.

if you are worried about your nice robot getting duffed, build an old scrap one too.. Ive built nothing but utter rubbish for years, and always made it to the next round.. dont worry about spinners,, theres lots of talk, but geoffs scorpion got stopped by a stuffed pig..and my Killercarrot has been up against fluffy, disco inferno, scorpion and that exterminator2 disc, and its taken some knocks, but always driven away from it.. the only bits that get bent are the cheap bits, steel chassis bits, and panels.

Having seen your nasty spinny rolling pin I think people should be more worried about what you are going to do to them.

[robotic_ants]

I agree with most if not all of the people€™s comments on this thread already and have been through the same situation. Take a look at my profile when I built the first Conundrum because it was only MDF, Thin scrap ali, gold motor drum drive and some cheep drill motors drive built on my back garden using a work mate, drill and saw. I thought it would be trashed against any spinner but the actual damage received has been only cosmetic against the likes of Vortex and others. I guess the main damage it has taken in its lifetime was when it landed on one of the drum supports after coming off the arena flipper. Nevertheless, it has generally always continued to run right until the end of a battle.

Chris - ^_^

Gentlemen, If I may add my two pennies here as the owner of a reasonably efficient feather spinner.
Glen, Im pleased to see your enthusiasm and interest remains strong after all this time, I have seen your machine and believe me you have a potentially very good robot there.
There is a lot of very good advice been posted above especially with regard to armour and batteries.
To try to allay some of your fears with regard to the damage from machines like ours, contrary to what you may believe we are not in the business of cutting apart any new machine that we come across just because we can. That is no fun for anyone.
There are 2 or 3 new teams that are starting to come to events with machines that are (with no disrespect whatsoever to those machines and their builders) not as well armoured as yours.
We have fought all of them in whiteboards and not once have we done anything but light cosmetic damage to any of them. When you drive a machine like Evilution in a whiteboard you have the responsibility to keep it under control and not to do gratuitous damage, for example we run our weapon at 1/2 speed during all whiteboards, will avoid any machine completely if asked in advance and will always stop an attack immediately if the other team says they have had enough.
So dont worry Glen, you wont get your machine trashed by us in any whiteboard.

(Enter it into a competition fight however.... We will treat it exactly the same as any other machine... As long as it still moves, it is a threat to our machine, and considered a valid target that will be dealt with until it is no longer a threat, or it surrenders! :wink

I see from your profile that you are in Kent, there is an event in Colechester on 15th & 16th April.. Do try to get there if you can, you will be more than welcome.

Geoff.

Glen, depending on what your robot is made out of/what its weapon has, you could fight it in the new cadet class category thats been mentioned (dunno if thats running yet as I havent been to any events). That way your bot is likely to last longer hence youd get a better return for your money so to speak

Jamie

[ewan]

Fingers crossed for the cadet class as it has loads of potential for less destructive and more creative machines. Go for it Glen, if I can do it, chances are you can do it better :wink: