Posts

RoboDojo event write-up

 I promised a full event report, so here it is! Upon arriving at Dojo, we unpacked our stuff and got the robot set up in its heaviest configuration. This weighed at 1.496 kg, a whole 4g underweight! Good start! Before the final fight list was drawn, Baby Dead Bod was forced to drop out of the competition due to a broken weapon motor, meaning we wouldn't have to fight it for once!  Exposure's first fight was against Boom Zoom, a well-driven and aggressive lifter. As it was my first time fighting with the new version, I was nervous about fighting such a well-controlled robot. At the start of the fight, I span up and spent some time trying to get a good angle and also avoid being pinned or flipped over. I managed to hit his forks, inverting him, and after he self-righted I got round the back and pushed him into the wall, which caused him to be launched over the divider wall! I wasn't expecting anything like that to happen! (Thanks to Thomas Yau for sending us this footage earl
Post a Comment
Read more

RoboDojo 02/11/24

Image
 What? Somehow we ended up getting second place with the new version of Exposure! I will post the event write up later this week...
Post a Comment
Read more

Exposure 2.0 completed!

Image
 All metal has arrived and parts printed, and we just about got in weight (more on that later)! The first important parts to do were: printing the chassis, weapon uprights and front armour. Then, after quite a steep learning curve, we assembled our 1806 conversion drive without much difficulty. We had our first go at casting polyurethane wheels, and they came out really well and feel really grippy. We then had to wait a little for our new metal parts to arrive, and I decided to re-print the wedge with more walls. However, we finally ran out of green TPU! This meant we had to use the black TPU that we had difficulty printing, but after a few setting changes it went perfectly. Once the metal had arrived, it was time for a test weigh in. This unfortunately weighed in as 1.595kg with the heaviest setup (4 forks). Even with just two forks, it was around 55g overweight. This led to us completely redoing the wiring, trying to cut out as much unnecessary wire as possible. I reprinted the weapo
Post a Comment
Read more

Exposure 2.0

Image
This post will document our progress on the second major version of Exposure. Main Upgrades: Custom 1806 conversion drive 3D printed chassis 4s battery Cast polyurethane wheels Double supported weapon motor Invertibility 'horns' Threaded inserts and bolts Less range of motion on the forks  The first thing to do was design the new parts. After a lot of CAD work, this is what it looks like: The anti-horizontal setup has changed to be a single piece TPU wedge with much thicker walls and a shallower angle. The old 22mm brushed motors have been swapped out for 2500kv 1806 brushless motors connected to 19:1 planetary gearboxes. These are powered by BBB AM32 drive ESCs. The new, longer forks have a slotted hole in front of the pivot hole to limit how far they can move up and down. All fasteners on the robot have changed from woodscrews to M4 bolts with threaded inserts, and the wheelguards are held on by M5 bolts and T-nuts reverse mounted in the chassis. The weapon system is very sim
Post a Comment
Read more

Ferry Fair 2024

 We had a trip out to Ferry Fair recently. It was great seeing all of the display robots and having a chance to fight with my dad's antweight! Here is some footage taken at the event.
Post a Comment
Read more

RoboDojo 27/07/24

Image
 We took all three of our robots to York for our second RoboDojo event.  Exposure Exposure's first fight was against Percussive Maintenance XL. As the fight started, I got a good hit and flipped him over, however the belt once again snapped. This left me to be bullied around the arena for the rest of the match and the judges decision obviously went to PMXL. We rejoined the belt for hopefully the last time, and waited for the second fight. The second fight was a rematch against Little Grey Fergie. The fight started with me getting a good hit, then another, the another! The belt stayed on for the entire fight! I did have a bit of a scare when one of my wheel guard screws came loose and high-centred me, but I just managed to wiggle free and give a few more big hits before my opponent tapped out. The third fight was another rematch against Chucky, and like last time, I was bullied around the arena and pitted. However I was very happy that the robot managed to self right on the weapon,
Post a Comment
Read more

BBB x LHG Summer Showdown

Image
 Here is the full event video, I will write the timestamps for each fight. BBB x LHG Summer Showdown 2024- All Fights - Bristol Bot Builders Beetleweight Combat Robots The venue for this event was lovely, however the constant rain was a bit annoying, especially when it dripped off the marquees down the back of my neck! We arrived at the venue and went into the tech check with the heaviest setup we could run, and passed safety with no issues.  Fight 1: (06:46) My first fight was against Om Nom and Carbon Copy. I was happy with this match up as I would be the only spinner against a grabber (?) and a cluster bot. The fight began and I quickly engaged with one of the halves of Carbon Copy, using my full weight to push it into the wall and slice some material off the front wedge. I then reversed to give myself a bit of a run up and hit the cluster again, this time ripping the wedge off and slamming it into the ceiling. Whilst this was happening, Om Nom had somehow gotten stuck with mouth op
Post a Comment
Read more