Myself and a few friends have wanted to make a robot for robot wars since the original series back in the 90s. since the reboot of the series and the abundance of cheap easy to use parts and electronics it could actually happen! with your help of course because like all things if you are going to build it, you might as well make it look good and do something different. Even with the subsequent axing of Robot Wars again, we have not been deterred we will make the robot so that it falls under FRA (Fighting robots Association) guidelines. One way or another we will get this robot into an arena and watch it get smashed to bits, with onlookers thinking "I wonder why they thought that was a good idea"
After a few brain storming sessions the idea of a sphere robot, I was not sold on the idea as he could see more issues than solutions, but after a few drawings and 3d mock ups there was the very much needed eureka moment where we looked at the models and thought "it. just . might work."
so if you had a look at the image you will have seen images a few things might have stood out to you, but if not let me explain the design.
The sphere has two semi spheres which will be connected to internal wheels which are in turn ran using small motors (type of motor is dependant on weight, RPM and torque needed) at the bottom of the sphere is a counterweight (we may just use the engine mounted low down to do this) which helps keep the robot upright. on this are the battery which help keep them stable and keeps the center of gravity low to aid the stability of the bot.
The weapon system is a circular saw style system where we have a ring bracket which is mounted off center so that the blades extrude out the front, back and top but is safely stored at the bottom so that it does not cut up the floor or interfere with the drive of the bot.
Now like most weapon systems if its worth doing, its worth over doing, so if you have looked at the 3d models you may have noticed the big blob of an engine in the middle of the bot, no awards to anyone who guesses what that is for. For anyone who is confused let me explain, that is a lawnmower engine which will run the weapon system. we wanted to do this mainly for style points rather than any practical reason. that being said there are many pros to using an petrol engine over an electric one, the cons are nonetheless apparent. Mainly weight, having to deal with exhausts and robustness i.e how well can it handle being knocked about.
As you may have noticed we are not making this to be the best most deadly robot to ever grace the wars, we want to do this because its different and hard. there are problems we will need to over come but nothing of note was ever discovered by taking the easiest option!
You never know we might take the competitions by storm and make it all the way!
We have also been doing Vlogs on youtube (We also have a kickstarter going but it looks like it won't reach the target but we are cracking on anyway), more for our own record but I had thought we should share here as well so here it is for anyone who cares, and if you have any advice let us know!
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