[Proposal] Combat Robot Build Night (BattleBots)

[Connor Coffman]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking about starting a night to work on combat robots in the style of the show BattleBots at HeatSync. Would people be interested in that? I know Eric Ose had mentioned in a previous post that he thought Monday would be a good night to do this.  Would the first and third monday of the month work?

A while back, I talked with some people on the forum about starting a team at HeatSync for BattleBots but after researching it more, I think starting small would be a good approach. Building heavy weight bots (like the show) is pretty much out of the question at the moment because of cost and how dangerous they are. 

 

According to the builder of Tombstone, the runner up in the 2015 BattleBot competition,  the average bot costs about 10k and he won't even test run his bot outside an arena with the weapon mounted. He recommends starting small at 1lb, 3lb, or 15lb. People get pretty creative even in the 1lb class and there is still quite a bit of action. This 1lb bot is pretty cool and the design is impressive: Awesome 1lb bot. I'm thinking we could even start with all the bots just being acrylic to keep cost down, encourage more participants, and increase the amount of destruction.

 

The biggest hurdle with this night is safety. At the first meeting we can establish the rules. EX: All weapons must be covered and moving weapons must be locked in place when inside the lab.

As for fighting them, I think we will need to see what people want to make first and discuss that later. With the weight classes under 15lbs there isn't as much danger. Goggles and a basic plastic barrier with a top is sufficient. Once you go over that weight, things get pretty serious though. Here is a link of a brief clip showing what happens when shortcuts are taken: TRY_THIS_AT_HOME_KIDS. At this match they were running mid-weight bots in an arena fit for light weights. The part that went flying supposedly weighed about 25lbs and just smashed through their thin shield. The leagues in other states (and countries) have plenty information on what is need for each weight bracket to make sure people go home without being impaled. 

There doesn't seem to be an active combat leagues in town at the moment. The closest is an event put on once in a while by Xerocraft in Tuscon. I would be happy to organize and manage a league in the event we get enough people and bots together. 

 

When it comes time to actually build an arena I think a joint venture with other hacker/maker spaces in town is a good idea if we make it big. I have a friend at Chandler Tech Shop who is very interested and I know Local Motors likes projects like this as well. Local Motors also has better means to build, and house an arena.  The details of this can be discussed later.

 *TL:DR SUMMARY*

• Are people interested in coming to a night to work on robots like the ones on battle bots?

• Can we meet two mondays a month? (first and third)

• Making them lightweight will make them easier to manage (The big bots are about 10k and very dangerous)

• Lets not maim each other in the process of building them (safety)

• The details of fighting will be discussed at a later time

• How the arena will be built will be discussed at a later time

• Who's down?

[Connor Coffman]

There are even files to print a decent 1lb bot on thingiverse for people who want to participate but don't have the time or expertise to design their own. The guy posted a video of it competing on the page.
3D Printed Bot

[Connor Coffman]

That Awesome Bot is not actually 1lb. It's bigger than I thought. It is a 12lb bot. It looked much smaller in the pictures. My bad. EIther way, that guy posts some cool bots on his page and has tips on how he fabricates things.
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[Nate Plamondon]

Some of our Young Makers are also getting into robot combat. bcc'ing them on this post.

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Nate Plamondon

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[Tiny Clinkenbeard]

I would be interested in helping out. I don't have robotics exp but I can weld and am willing to learn

[Connor C.]

Cool, we are gettig interest on twitter as well. I'll make a prototype this week with some parts I have for a demo and finalize the dates and time.

On Monday, October 5, 2015, Tiny Clinkenbeard <dark.as...@gmail.com> wrote:

I would be interested in helping out. I don't have robotics exp but I can weld and am willing to learn

[Larry Campbell]

I think its a brilliant idea....

On Monday, October 5, 2015 at 7:20:15 PM UTC-7, Connor Coffman wrote:

Cool, we are gettig interest on twitter as well. I'll make a prototype this week with some parts I have for a demo and finalize the dates and time.


On Monday, October 5, 2015, Tiny Clinkenbeard <dark.as...@gmail.com> wrote:

I would be interested in helping out. I don't have robotics exp but I can weld and am willing to learn

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[Philip Haasnoot]

I would LOVE to participate

[eric...@gmail.com]

This is cool!

On Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 9:34:49 AM UTC-7, Philip Haasnoot wrote:

I would LOVE to participate

[eric...@gmail.com]

Connor we didn't vote on this as a proposal at the last HYH because doing cool things doesn't require a proposal.
Please advise if there is anything the community needs to do to help realize this. If a purchase of some tool or supplies is desired with lab funds that can be proposed.

Eric Ose
Robot Ambassador

[machinist]

don't forget about Sparklecon's combat robots at the end of January

[Connor C.]

Hey Guys, sorry I haven't responded. I got a job at Chandler Tech Shop and been busy. There are some people interested there as well. I'm hopefully starting a bot this week to get things started. My schedule is very weird right now so I'm not sure when I will be able to start doing the meet ups. My goal right now is to get one done so we have something to at least look at for the first meeting. 

Oh cool, what is sparklecon?

On Sunday, November 22, 2015, machinist <christophe...@gmail.com> wrote:

don't forget about Sparklecon's combat robots at the end of January

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[Tiny Clinkenbeard]

Is anyone interested in a being in battlebots? They are accepting submissions for engineered drawings and visual renderings now. I can share the email I recieved from them or forward it to individuals if you want me to

[Philip Haasnoot]

Can you forward the E-mail to me? I'm curious to see what the requirements are. Dug this old design out from High School.... oh the memories from FIRST. 

[Tiny Clinkenbeard]

Email sent!