Anybody here into making robots?

[Entropia]

Anybody here into making robots?

Anybody here into robot wars?

 

[Nicool003]

I am into robots. I've been looking for a good one I can make from scratch but I never got to choosing one. I found tons and tons. Out of about 100,000 I think I saw 10 that I liked

 

[sceeth0]

I've been interested in building robots for a while, but I don't have the money to get started. After I make a couple more drop offs for the mafia though, I'll be set. I'll probably start with simple designs related to the insect-types that popularize muscle wire and program them with picbasic. Hopefully I'll be able to sell some of them at a small profit to enable me to build more advanced robots in the future.

I'm only marginally interested by robot wars. I'd probably enjoy it more if the most creative forms of attack weren't (I've been told) against the rules.

 

[Nicool003]

Sceeth0! good to see you!

I would not like robot wars as much as building a robot and having one around but it does look fun.

 

[Raavin]

Have thought about it before, but just recently I had a brianwave about a new type of robot I want to develop. Here's the idea.

Basically I want to design a small cube which can grip and roll around another identical cube. The cubes would sit on a special base which is powered. The power would route through the touching faces of the cubes and allow a signal to be transmitted. Each cube would have it's own digital signature which would be dynamically allocated. The rolling mechanism would be powered by Nitinol muscle wire which contracts when electricity is applied, and controlled by a simple(?) circuit on board each cube. The cubes would be controlled by an external computer.

What I need to do.

1. Design the cube and mechanism first. This could be tested without the computer controls

2. Design the simple circuit which controls the mechanism. By simple I mean a dumb circuit of IC based relays which can be digitally conrolled. Probably not so simple.

3. Software, firstly to manually coordinate the movement of the cubes, then design algirithms to calculate movements to go from a starting configuration to a finishing configuration.

That's the idea anyway. Anyone interested in helping.

Raavin

 

[Nicool003]

I would have actually built a robot by now. I am in Science Olympiad has anyone heard of it? Not all schools are in it. Anyways in the state competition there is a robot event. You have to be able to have the robot pick up pool balls and drop them into a hole. (it was not on a pool table) There are no sides to the table that you are on and you can't fall off (obviously) I got a gold medal in astronomy and placed 4th in a very hard event (fossils. do you know how MANY there are?! you have to identify them in less than 2 minutes that includes their geological time period by the way.) My school had 3 teams and that is 45 people overall. However only 18 including 3 alternates can go to states. I am an alternate

But I was so close to building a robot!

 

[Baikonur]

I'm very much interested, but here you can't even watch it let alone attend to it. (well you can watch it if you own cable, but I don't:()

 

[J-Man]

I've built a few robots. Mostly of the lego persuasion. One of my buddies has about $3000 worth of legos including 3 microcontrollers. I've taken one design and reduced it to a dozen simple logic chips. Then I decided to just use one PAL, so much easier. It doesn't do much other than not get stuck. Eventually I hope to build one that can easily find it's way back to a recharging station, but we hardly ever get the legos out anymore.

I watch Robot Wars, Battle Bots, etc. occasionally, but I lost interest after the first couple of seasons.

 

[Nicool003]

I lost interest in the show too but if I was the one who had actually made the robot and was controlling it I think I would have a much different opinion!

 

[Entropia]

I am attempting in making a battle bot. Does anybody have any advice?

I know virtually nothingness about building robots and electronics.

(but to give you a brief background about my limited know-how, my father used to sit me down and teach me how to build home made radios, and other little projects with those little "electronic kits for kids" things. but that was a decade and a half ago and i havnt applied any of that ever since!)

 

[J-Man]

Originally posted by Entropia
I am attempting in making a battle bot. Does anybody have any advice?

I would suggest buying a remote control at a hobby shop, like for a radio-controlled car type thing. And use (large) rechargeable batteries, they will probably drain very quickly, especially if you are attempting a bot like on one of the TV shows, steel, powered weapons, etc. Use wheels, don't bother trying to make something that walks, balancing legs is a pain. Keep it low to the ground. And if you actually wish to destroy it in battle after all your work, a self righting mechanism is good in case it gets knocked over.
I like to keep my wheels straight, no steering mechinism to break. To turn just power the motors on the left one way and the motors on the right the opposite way; this method works better if the wheels are positioned so that the front and back are closer together and the sides farther apart. Also, the wheels should be secured on both sides, i.e. the axle goes through both ends of the wheels with supports on the axle on each side.

 

[jimi_hendrix_12]

I am building a robot right now.I used some remote conrol car engines for weapons and driving,an old sour cream container for the frame and i also used nail and screws for weapons.Some of you may be thinking "an engine for a weapon?'.Yes i did use an engine i attached a screw onto the part that spins yhe wheel eand used it as a drill.As for the nails i just put them on the frame so that they are sticking out and if I crash into another bot it will poke it with the nails.I got most of the insperation from the show "Battle Bots" and from seing my cousins bot
Good Luck

 

[russ_watters]

It would be really mean to use the old sour cream as the weapon...

 

[Danger]

It would be really mean to use the old sour cream as the weapon...

I'd probably enjoy it more if the most creative forms of attack weren't (I've been told) against the rules.

I've never seen the show (haven't even seen it listed in the TV schedule), but would like to. I've been toying with a design, but the odds are that most of my weapons would be illegal. So, where can one find the rules? I didn't know that there were any.

 

[jimi_hendrix_12]

I am into robots. I've been looking for a good one I can make from scratch but I never got to choosing one. I found tons and tons. Out of about 100,000 I think I saw 10 that I liked

where did you look for plans?