www.robowars.org

RoboWars Australia Forum Index -> General Chatter

Cool forum! Hello from Ipswich


Post new topic   Reply to topic
  Author    Thread
miles&Jules
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 3973
Location: ipswich QLD


 Reply with quote  
Cool forum! Hello from Ipswich

Hi Guys
This is my first post on the forum...just joined.

We only discovered this robo combat subculture a month or so ago. When i found an old magaizine in a second hand shop called -ultimate real robots. There was 5 different copies for 50C each (im sure you guys know the mag- from late 90's early 2000's). I did like the "how to" sections in there for building robots. Then it talked about the fighting robots from Robot Wars in the uk. So we tracked down and watched all of 6th season and several of the special eps on the particular robots. and caught some battle bots to.

So we have been gathering as much info as possible. Then discovering that there was indead a robo wars here in Oz. And Clubs! With some impressive looking fights on youtube. So very excited about visiting the Metal Carnage show coming in Brisbane this month.

Im fasicinated at the idea of building a walker using the theo Jansen walking mechanisum design. The added weight allocation for competition would be a benifit for both the walking mechanism as well as a heavier weapon. (even though the manuverability is not as fast as wheels) I was thinking of a weapon that came off the top like a tank turret so you could move it towards an oponnant.(maybe a vertical spinner on the end)

Has any entries (walkers) taken this (theo janson style )path in the aussie competitions? All the ones Ive seen online are wheel powered.

Also epic work on the tutorials for this forum!..They are great, especially cause they talk about local suppliers like bunnings. That "hacking drills" is a classic and very handy.

Our background is puppet animation ,film and makup effects. So not really an engineering background, but we are hands on and we do make intricate baljoint mechanisums for inside our puppets.

Thanks
Miles

Miles and Jules
www.wombokforest .com.au

Post Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:46 am 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
marto
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 5459
Location: Brisbane, QLD


 Reply with quote  

No walkers in Australia. As far as combat goes walkers are generally too fragile and heavy. Theo's stuff is also pretty cool and but I am not sure if it would solve these problems. And within the current rules motion which runs off a cam is generally not considered "walking".

Did you guys come along to the workshop at the Edge?
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

Post Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:52 pm 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail MSN Messenger
Philip
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 18 Jun 2004
Posts: 3842
Location: Queensland near Brisbane


 Reply with quote  

Hello and welcome.

Is this the walker to which you refer? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AiA4yiK4xE I like it.
_________________
So even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and our river systems

Post Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:49 am 
 View user's profile Send private message
Daniel
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 2729
Location: Gold Coast


 Reply with quote  

If it was my event I would allow a robot like that to be a walker just because its cool. But if you have to write rules it is hard to tell the differance between a Theo Jenson walking mechanism and a walking mechanism that was used on robots like Drillzilla or Son of Whyachi. No one would complain if you got the weight bonus but a lot of people complained when Son of Whyachi turned up to Battlebots.
The problem is the legs follow a set path and no matter what you do to the motor, slowing it down or reversing it, they continue on that path. One degree of freedom. Same as the robots people don't like.
But Theo Jenson legs are just creepy and make you think of spiders. Drillzilla just looks like a box.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPe07IdiFZE

Post Tue Jun 08, 2010 8:12 am 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
marto
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 5459
Location: Brisbane, QLD


 Reply with quote  

Walkers are a bit irrelevant in the current competition due to the reasons I said above and because of the difficulty of making a design which isn't one DOF.

Never the less I still think it would be cool and no one in our QLD comp would have any problems with the weight bonus. Well unless you started winning every fight. Maybe the rules should be to do more with the capability of the walking mechanism. Eg. It must be able to walk over a certain sized obstacle or something so that we might actually see some cool walking robots.
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

Post Tue Jun 08, 2010 8:22 am 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail MSN Messenger
miles&Jules
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 3973
Location: ipswich QLD


 Reply with quote  

Hi Guys
Hi Marto, we havent been to anything yet(thats cool that you guys run workshops though, And I followed that tutorial to make a lego version with rc servos car boged into it).
Wow, so to make it into the "walkers" catagory, we are not supposed to have any motors at all? It would have to be something like air cylinder driven? Yeah I guess it would need some kind of terrain test so you could see how the legs perform. Especially if there were more walking entries.

We have started on a prototype "Jansen" out of ply wood. So We have prooved that we can make it work. But we need to do a few more prototypes to fix all the short cuts we did on the first one. But its fun to problem solve. And those legs look cool.

Hi Philip, yeah that was one of the videos that inspired me. (its one of the only remote controlled jansen style ones that ive found. A combat fighter would need to be way lower though.

This one looks great and "industrial" , just needs rc gear and a weapon!(and be lower)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCPlczI3k-c

Thanks
Miles

Post Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:10 pm 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
marto
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 5459
Location: Brisbane, QLD


 Reply with quote  


quote:
3.1.2. Non-wheeled: non-wheeled robots have no rolling elements in contact with
the floor and no continuous rolling or cam operated motion in contact with the floor, either directly or via a linkage. Motion is “continuous” if continuous operation of the drive motor(s) produces continuous motion of the robot. Linear-actuated legs and novel non-wheeled drive systems may qualify for this bonus. [Contact this event with questions on weight bonuses to see if your robot may qualify.]



Basically Theo describes it himself as a reinvention of the wheel in one of his videos. We could probably classify it as a "novel non-wheeled drive system" to make it suitable for the weight bonus under the rules as it is not a trivial mechanism.
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

Post Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:17 pm 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail MSN Messenger
marto
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 5459
Location: Brisbane, QLD


 Reply with quote  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDDXv8imskQ

This sort of simple mechanism is what this rule is trying to avoid.

I assume drillzilla used something like this just so it could get the 50% weight bonus.
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

Post Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:22 pm 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail MSN Messenger
miles&Jules
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 3973
Location: ipswich QLD


 Reply with quote  

Hi Marto, Yeah I can see from that link what the rules are avoiding. Just watched drillziller ,and it was fast, its kind of easy to see how it could be so fast now using this kind of mechanism. I like Anarchy's movement from robot wars 6th season. But its hammer was pretty ineffective because its steering was slower than the opponent.Its flip was good though.
Thanks
Miles

Post Tue Jun 08, 2010 5:48 pm 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
  Display posts from previous:      

Forum Jump:
Jump to:  

Post new topic   Reply to topic
Page 1 of 1


Forum Rules:
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

 

Last Thread | Next Thread  >
Powered by phpBB: © 2001 phpBB Group
millenniumFalcon Template By Vereor.