As part of the process of building a new robot I usually design it on the computer first. This helps me to get everything in the right place and usually saves me a lot of time when it comes to actual building time.
Here’s the initial computer (CAD) drawing
A quick update in time for AWS34 in Reading in a couple of days.
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Pinky was born so that my daughter could drive her own robot. It’ll be similar to Kitty, but with a flipper if weight allows. here’s the price list. Continue reading
This was our try at a featherweight, it had two 30A motor controllers, four drill motor wheels, a subframe of 2mm steel box-section and a body of 12mm HDPE.
It had an enjoyable outing at the 2008 Easter Robot Rumble, but repairing a featherweight is a lot more expensive and time consuming than for a antweight, so it still sits in the shed, awaiting an upgrade. Continue reading
This solution was to solve a triple problem: the rules require an on/off switch, secondly, how can one charge the battery in a sealed case without continually opening and closing the case. Lastly, this charge-switch needs to be impossible to plug in the wrong way round and impossible to short the battery.
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I was asked to provide a price list for Dynamite. As I had just rebuilt it from scratch I thought I’d describe the process, with prices. Continue reading
When I switched to Lithium Polymer batteries I had to deal with the increased voltage, as I had previously been running at 4.8 volts (four NiMh cells) and the receiver and servos were not rated for the higher voltage, and may have been damaged by it, although robots have run at higher voltages before. Continue reading
This documents how I dealt with the problem of transferring circular to linear motion wih a sliderail.
Electra’s slide rail looks like this Continue reading
This page is about the Spektrum remote control system, and how to apply it to robots: in my case, antweight robots, although I’m sure most of this applies to other weight categories. Continue reading
These instructions show you how I attach a Lego wheel like this to a motor like this (We call these motors Sanyo copies, because are all similar to the first ones of this type that we saw which were made by Sanyo). Warning: before you go any further, I use a lathe to make the part, so if you don’t have a lathe it’s going to be very difficult to replicate my technique. Many roboteers just glue their wheels on. Continue reading
