[size=2][font=verdana, sans-serif]Hi All,
I am a total newbie to this and am committed to building a 5.44 Kg combat robot.
Basic design: It will be a four wheeler, with the 2 front wheels driving. Two motors with skid turning. Weapon is spinning wheel (vertical). Metal chassis with HCPE overlay. 6 channel R/C. Hopefully everything within the weight limit. Matches last 5 minutes.
So here goes:
**Motors
**
Can someone maybe suggest a suitable pair of 12 volt motors (I presume that 24 volts would be overkill for this weight class?). I need lightness and power because although I could have my robot be slow and strong, the organisers showed us videos of robots that practically flew across the ring so I guess they want to see violent action!I would prefer to have the motors with a right angle drive, by which I mean that I cannot mount the motors in line with the drive shaft because I do not have space enough for this. Well I could but I would need to cut away more of my chassis and it will weaken the structure.
**Wheels **
Motors apart, I would also need wheels; my design calls for a wedge shape which I want to achieve through using different front and rear wheels, so; 2 Large wheels at the back (12 cm diameter, solid rubber) and for the driving wheels at the front, 10 cm diameter wheels, also solid rubber. Not sure how these will attach to the motor shaft though!I was advised to use a material which has some slippage (or a pulley for the same reason, i.e. that in a stand off between two robots the motors do not burn out), so not sure about the wheels being rubber. Still I would prefer not to be pushed around the ring by everyone due to lack of grip!
ESC
Should I buy the ESC as a match for the motors (i.e. buy them together) or can any ESC be used?
Skid Steering
I do not understand how this works and my friends who are into R/C helicopters and planes have no idea either especially since the receiver does not feed into a servo (like with a plane or instance) but directly into the ESC. Can someone please explain how this effect is achieved and how many channels it will take up on my R/C? Do I need two ESCs? How do I wire it all together?
**Making it “Flippable” **
The idea is that the robot can be flipped by any other robot in the ring and will carry on driving even upside down. To do this I was thinking of using an Arduino Nano (for lightness) plus an accelerometer to sense the robot has been flipped. So far so good. But how do I then translate this to the ESC in such a way that “front” on the R/C remains “front”. if this works my robot will be very effective and there will be no confusion if I get flipped. Any ideas anyone?
Solenoids?
Has anyone out there used solenoids to make a robot hop away (sideways/backwards) etc if cornered or being pushed into a pit or whatever? All the ones I could find although light enough have a very short travel (typically 2 cm at most). I need 4 cm (if at front where wheels are 5 cm radius) and if at back 5 cm (maybe more because they would be at an angle, so even with an extension to their rod, its still not going to give me enough of a jump). I want to be able to HOP away… probably doable with 4 solenoids on a 5.44 Kg robot
Battery
We were advised to use LIPO. Does anyone have an idea as to what size of pack I would need for a 6 minute match (with some spare capacity for when i want to over boost the voltage?). Ideally it would power the motors and receiver plus arduino (its low consumption), plus (wishful thinking) the solenoids; although I could have separate 2 x 9 volt (so 18 volt) batteries for those to be sure I don’t drain the main one, especially as I won’t be hopping all the time!
Sorry if I overwhelmed people with my questions! Any suggestions by anyone on any of the above (not necessarily all) would be gratefully accepted, especially if (but not only) coming from people who have fought in this class before! It would be really great if people would ideally also point me to a specific model from the range available here (or elsewhere for that matter)!
Thanks all!
John[/font][/size]
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