Anyone interested in winning Robotica?

[Power Wagon]

I've been watching the Robotica episodes all week on TLC, and that looks like an absolute BLAST!!!



Is anyone out there interested in building a 'bot to compete? I have worked out the perfect design. It's an absolutely unstoppable robot that would kick butt on those geeky things they've been showing.



In order to get accepted on the show, you have to have some qualifications, and they'd prefer someone on the team to have engineering or robotics or radio control experience.



I'm sure the idea of a team of people who are assembled by conferencing and collaborating over the internet would be a pretty good story for them. TLC is accepting applications at present for future shows... Anyone up to it? BTW, since I'm a poor guy you'd have to foot much of the bill... but it would not be all that expensive.



Oh, yeah... the name? "Battering Ram"...



The last competition was in California, was filmed over 4 days, in March. I'm sure the competition will get tougher as things go on, but even some of the ones built by experienced (built battle bots several times and competed before) would be no match for brute force...

 

[Dieselnerd]

Power Wagon, where did you find a Cummins small enough to fit inside one of those little robots?

 

[Power Wagon]

HAHAHAHAH!!!!!



Can't use the Cummins, but we can use the BATTERY out of a Ram... .









Oh, come on, you boticidal maniacs... doesn't anyone wanna get on TV and trash the competition? We can even put a TDR sticker on it. I've got some treading over ford and treading over GM stickers... .



Even better, let's challenge the ford-diesel.com and the duraclick site to build bots and just TRY to beat the rammers...



Mark

 

[EMDDIESEL]

I watch those shows too and i would love to do something like that. Maybe Dodge would sponsor you?

 

[Power Wagon]

Not a chance on the sponsorship...



You can find the rules and other information at :



www.thetlcrobotchallenge.com



This would cost roughly $1200 to $2000 to build, plus a few day's stay in california for the show.



Plan a vacation around it... Something. . This looks like too much fun to miss out on

 

[Power Wagon]

Originally posted by EMDDIESEL

I watch those shows too and i would love to do something like that. Maybe Dodge would sponsor you?

Are you really interested? A track type machine hasn't been run on the show, and would definitely be superior to many of the entries. It could even have a suspension that could be raised to clear obstacles. By using some good controls and learning to drive the darn thing, it could WAY outperform the machines that were on the show. It wasn't even anywhere near the baddest machine that won, though.



Instead, a guy with a bot that looked like a radio flyer on infatable wheels won... He beat the competition with cool thinking and strategy, not brute force.

 

[Bumble]

I competed in Robot Wars in 1997 out in California. That was a similar competition. Got 3rd place out of 12 in my robot's weight class. You'd be surprised how quickly weight adds up on these things, what with batteries, motors, geartrains... then theres also the needed armour to protest everything vital. One way that was used to save weight was to use composite materials as armour, instead of metal plates.

I'd love to build another robot, if the competition were held a little closer (I'm on the east coast).

A few tips:

1. The robot should be able to operate either right side up or upside down, in case it gets flipped over.

2. Install cooling fans on top of the motor speed controllers.

3. Install an easily accessable kill switch in case the robot goes loony.

4. Speed isn't as important as pushing power. If your robot can push the competitor's robot around the arena, you'll win.

5. KISS!!! Don't waste time on fancy weapons that can (WILL) break at the wrong time. My robot had cutting saws at one end and a battering ram on the other. Guess which got used by far the most? The battering ram!

6. Use a multi-frequency PCM radio controller. You don't want your robot to be taken controll of by someone else using a similar controller!

7. Once your robot has been built... drop it from 4 feet above the ground. If it survives the fall without damage, and can be driven away, it can survive most anything in the competition.

8. Money may not win the match, but it WILL help. My robot cost around $2000 to build and another $1000 to ship to Ca and back. But, there were people out there that had spent over $30,000 on their robot (different weight class) and the crowd loved their robot because, quite frankly, it looked real good.

9. An M. E. on your team would be a big bonus. If you can find one around you, use him/her/whatever.

 

[Power Wagon]

The Robotica competition is less about fighting each other (although that is part of it) and more about building a bot that can manage everthing from 30 tin cans full of sand, bricks, concrete blocks, sloping wet metal grates, slick moguls, a guillotine, and finally, speeding through a figure 8. In 2 of the 3 challenges, there is no contact with another bot possible, and final rounds after the challenges is ONLY about combat. They put you on an elevated platform with rails around it and 60 seconds after you start combat, the rails drop. The first to leave the platform loses.



I find it more interesting and more challenging that just battle to death in a square designed to kill your bot.

 

[dmurdock]

suggestion

I never built one, but helped design one in school... one tip i have for ya if you decide to use tracks and there are "agility" tests involved is to add a single rubber wheel at the front of the unit (in between the tracks) which can be lowered and steered... ie: when it's lowered it's like those ww2 german motorcycle-halftracks, when raised, it's like a tank (you can still use the tracks to steer, so it can be pretty simple)



edit; above didn't sound clear to me. . what i mean is a freely pivoting wheel which can be lowered, not a steerable wheel (i guess a steerable wheel would be preferred, but it would probably break at an inopportune time)