Quote Originally Posted by terrorhurtz
Of course I would take issue with his assertion that you must have a stiff chassis and Lexan would suitable only for a rambot...
John, sorry if I wasn't clear about this assertion. It was in the context of minimum weight design. You can make great robots with a Lexan chassis, Terrorhurtz is a good example of that.

However if you replace a Lexan plate with an aluminum one with 1/3 of the thickness you'll end up with the same stiffness and still save 22% in weight. A great robot with Lexan structure will be even better if the structure is replaced by aluminum. The numbers are even better for magnesium alloys.

High stiffness is important to make sure that the impact energy from your weapon will be effectively transmitted to the opponent. Otherwise most of the energy will be spent flexing your own chassis during the impact (section 6.6 of the tutorial).

I'm sure you know that, Terrorhurtz's axe mechanism is all-metal, its high stiffness surely helps to deliver powerful blows!

Cheers,

Marco