I am looking forward to the arena being finished and seeing the first few battles I€™m like most roboteers waiting for the arena to be completed, and then will probably start on a little project myself. I can see this size format taking off, as it can be run almost any ware at little cost this could be the future.
Still just need the polycarb and the basic arenas done. Doing the polycarbs only a couple of hour job. Just going to wait until a few of us have working bots before I get any polycarb, dont want to have to find somewhere to store it and it get all scratched before we even use that arena. Prob next month or so should have some bots done.
Well that's going to be slightly confusing, isn't it? If most people are waiting until the arena is made to make the bot's then... Haha.
Anyway, since I live in Spain, I'll never be able to compete for real, so I'll be hacking on of these apart: http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/IMAGES/1/tumbler0.jpg for the correct radio (skid steer) set. I'll be upping the motors most likely, and 6 or so mm thick wood for amour/chassis.
Wow. What great timing. My dad just brought in two old CD drives, I'll see what motors are inside. :twisted:
They'll probably be brushless or stepper motors so probably not that useful, to fast, too little torque.
Most people will rewind them for use in rc planes and helicopters like this: http://www.bavaria-direct.co.za/index.htm
Got my last exam on Wednesday so hopefully will be able to make a start on some kilobot stuff after then. Need to sort out Kaizer first and service Drumroll but all being well I'll have some part-constructed kilobot with me for the Robots Live Edinburgh event in June. I highly doubt it'll be running then but should be a chassis at least.
@ Jordan: I've taken apart varios disk drives, the motors in them are really nothing special. I could only open one because my dad realised (after I asked him if he was sure) that one of them worked fine, just old as all. The one I opened had 3 motors, one for the tray, one for spinning up the disk, and another which I can't remember what it did, but it was identical to the one powering the tray.
The two identical ones are actually pretty powerful for their size, I'll have to find out howmany volts they're designed to run at, they're a possibility. If not I'll add 'em to the stash of god knows howmany old and new and bodged motors I've collected over the past few years.
Sadly, the motor that drives the actual disk is a stepper motor, as you say. Masses of wires, I would hack apart the bit of circuit board that the wires were attatched to but the bit I need is right in the middle, so, that's a no go.
I have around 60 spare euros hanging around, so I'll go and buy some fresh motors. Old RC model motors are a little simple and... the same now days.
How many volts the motors run at needn't be a barrier, I'm trying to get a kilobot done atm using some 28 volt ex-military motors
I have no reaql idea what to do for weaponry though, I don't trust my 'engineering' with spinners so I may end up with a servo lifter type device on the front, or possibly just some sufficiently evil looking eyes.
Craig said: I am looking forward to the arena being finished and seeing the first few battles I€™m like most roboteers waiting for the arena to be completed...
Me too. I was at Robogames in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago and spent a fair bit of time fighting 3 lb robots in an 8 foot by 8 foot arena. They have some serious 3 lb spinners and battles can be very spectacular. The crowd can get up very close [good plexiglass or whatever] and a fight between 3 pounders is as good as one between bigger classes when you are really close to it.
Here is a video of a couple of 3 lb robots fighting in the 8 x 8 box:
... re=related
Anyone know of any small (2A-5A) RC speed controllers that can be run from a nominal voltage of 3.6V? And that aren't too expensive?
I've made two 3.6V battery packs up from an old 7.2V Nicad pack I had lying around to provide power for a kilobot because a) they weren't really doing anything and b) I've already got chargers for them so it would save me having to buy new gear. The only problem is that most speed controllers have a low-end voltage input of 4.8V minimum. There are some speed controllers on Technobots that run lower than 4.8V (some of the Pololu range) but they're designed for logic input and I don't know if/how they can be modified to take an RC input. If I can't find anything I'm considering resorting to small-scale servo switch units.
As for the kilobot itself, I've postponed the crusher design for now as it was going to be too costly for a first attempt so I've decided to go simple-ish and classic with the design. Recognisable classic actually, in the form of a Cassius II replica (minus active spike). Pretty much settled on drive motors, wheels, battery, weapon power (a bad-ass 20kg/cm servo weighing in at 160g :twisted: ) and chassis shape/materials. Going to make a cardboard cutout and try the parts out for size in that first. If I opt for the servo-switch method, I'm looking at a total cost of £45-£50 which is pretty win for something which, on paper, should be moderately decent. And if it gets smashed up, then it won't have been too much of a costly endeavour (in keeping with the original robot design, the armour will most likely be polycarb)
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