Hey Liam,

Good to see youre getting into featherweights - are you basing the design on any of your vapours at all?

Firstly, you may be hard pushed to find an upcoming UK Robotic Games event - they havent run since July 2006; 2007 unfortunately didnt go ahead due to lack of funding and there hasnt been any news on the event front for 2008 but since were now over halfway through the year I dont see any major UKRG events running this year. I dont blame the UKRG crew though as I can imagine securing enough funding each year to run their events without making a loss must be a tough challenge. Ive also just noticed their website is no longer up so its possible that the project has had to end due to unsustainability or perhaps the crew have moved on to other things. If this is the case, I applaud their efforts over the two years that it ran as it was at a time when I hadnt yet gotten into full-on featherweights so it gave me an opportunity to have some fun with my Rexs Challenge bot.
Of course, there are plenty of other events running over the country throughout the year for you to run your robot at

Motors: theyre fine for running a light robot but I personally feel, if just using two in a featherweight, they are an underpowered means of drive especially if your robot is weighing in at the full 13.6kg. But thats just my opinion on them; I would instead opt for a cheap pair of £10ea drill motors. They can then have cheap blue wheels from Robochallenge screwed directly onto the threaded shaft of the drill motor.

As for speed controllers, I dont know if the 5A one would work for the 919 geared motors, but if you opt for drill motors then its a definite no-no. At the very least Id go for the 10A one (its only £2 more expensive) or spend a bit more and get a pair of Electronize 15A controllers, or spend a little more again and go for a Sabretooth 25A or Scorpion XL. Whichever route you take, it wont be cheap so youre best spending that little bit more the first time and get something that will do the job and can be used in other robots rather than buying a slighty underpowered one then having to fork out more money when it breaks or you need higher specifications.

For batteries, if youre wanting to run on 12V, a simple Nimh pack of roughly 3700mAh will see you through a couple of battles before needing recharged.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12v-NiMH-3700mAh-Rechargeable-Battery-Vapextech_W0QQitemZ220237656430QQihZ012QQcategoryZ 34063QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemhttp://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12v-NiMH-3700m...ech_W0QQitemZ2 20237656430QQihZ012QQcategoryZ34063QQtcZphotoQQcmd ZViewItem

Get two packs, link them in parallel to get 7400mAh and that would probably last you an entire event. It all depends on what you can afford and how much weight youll have. But with a 2WD passive robot I dont see you being anywhere near 13.6kg, maybe 8-10kg max assuming you have Hardox armour

Best of luck Liam!