This (admittedly late build diary) is for Babróg, my third beetleweight design, and is modeled directly after my featherweight robot Barróg Doom. Similar to the Léim’s, the name once again is somewhat of a bilingual pun, where it sounds like a baby version of the larger robot Barróg (it works even better in Irish, where the world for baby is “babóg”). Despite how similar both bots look in general shape and weaponry, the end build turned out to be on the polar opposite of Barróg Doom’s design philosophy; while Doom used mostly air to protect its key parts, Babróg is a densely packed brick of a bot by comparison, mostly due to the sheer difficulty in fitting everything in that I wanted to the bot while keeping within weight (both bots have the same 10mm HDPE outer armour!).


The finished robot, in its standard configuration.


The horizontal config, with no forks and a static grabber arm for better stability.

The drive is the same as Léim Thart: two cheap 22mm gearboxes paired with an 1806 2300kv brushless motor and KingKong 12A ESC’s, but this time with a drive inspired by Saw Loser, with custom moulded 3D printed wheels, held onto the drive shaft with a square nut/grub screw combo, and using HTD3 belts to drive the front wheels. The lifter is driven by a Robostar 53kg/cm servo, with a 7:11 ratio (14T to 22T) using HTD5 (HTD3 belts kept slipping). The bot also uses a UBEC Duo which provides 5V to the receiver, and 12V to the servo in place of the direct 4S Turnigy Graphene 0.5Ah battery which powers the drive. The grab and lift mech is similar to the FW Mantis, using a cam with a slotted hole for the travel of the grabbing arms and lifter forks. The bot has two main configs, a vertical setup with three 3mm Hardox forks, and a horizontal setup reusing the cursed 2mm grade 5 titanium wedge from Léim Thart and a static thicker plastic lifter. There are a few more unique quirks with the bot, but for now I’m going to link the build log on my team’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TeamBarrog/...09893694045251

For now, enjoy a few select photos from the build, with more on the FB post, which should be public to all:


One of the earliest versions of the CAD. This build would allow me to use moulding for the forks and wheels for the first time.


The internals, one of the tightest wiring jobs I've had to do yet!


A look at everything inside, mainly the lifter setup, as well as the drive and ESC's.


The link mount, probably one of my favourite bits of wiring on the robot in general.


The fork mounts, similar to the Barróg's, they can be adjusted height wise to be flush with the ground no matter what.