team hectic

[Hogi]

hi all. here is my first independent robot project all finished. i was trying to make a walker using 2 old modified servos, a planet 5 reciever and a 6 volt battery pack but the mechanisms i had built for the walking basicly broke loose of the tight fitting screws that were making them step rather than spin. they then flailed around for a few seconds before both the mechanisms expelled the hdpe legs i had cut across my bedroom. after the walking disaster... or rather the disaster that refused to step let alone walk i dug out the 2WD roller exterior i made a couple of months back and this is the result.

[Hogi]

hey guys, just planning some pre AWS upgrades and finishing touches to a few of my robots. i just wanted to know if my proposed designs for upgrades would come within the expansion rule.

thunder strike:

for this robot i intend to put a longer piece of acetate on the front of it that extends beyond 4 inches ( probably 5 inches ) but have the acetate held back by the crusher to fit in the cube. the acetate would deploy to full extention when the crusher is lifted.

transit ant:

i would like to make some sort of deployable ramp thing that begins tucked underneath the robot and deploys when the robot reverses. the purpose of this is for it to dramaticly decrease ground clearence allowing it to slot under opposition and gain control of the battle.

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Both are fine as long as they can remain in place before activate.

[Hogi]

so here's team hectic's completed line up for the forthcoming AWS...

Hogi: the original and so far the best, from an exterior view it looks pretty unchanged but inside it has been outfitted with strategically placed weights ( coins ) the result is a perfect combination between speed, power, agility and grip.

Ant2D2: changes to this robot include slightly lower ground clearence, removal of the big heavy servo casing and a few grams of weight shedded off.

Thunder strike: this robot has been unsuccessful over the last couple of events due to poor grip on the arena floor, well no longer. the problem is fixed and i'm hoping it'll provide a good display.

Language timmothy cluster: for those of you who have never watched it, the name language timmothy comes from an eighties sitcom called sorry. the cluster consists of transit ant who is a very fast, powerful but light pusher and a hexbug which will... walk around a bit... fall over... my only fear is that transit ant may be a little difficult to maneuver at full speed in the big arena. transit ant underwent a partial rebuild after a successful but somewhat disapointing performance against my cousin's robots. it was given a smaller chasis and the wheels have been weighted to produce better grip. the scoop was made less steep.

Fleadom fighter: the newest member of the team and team hectic's first fleaweight robot. armoured in 1mm HDPE with a frontal ramp dipped to stop opponents from escaping, this robot beat two antweights in a testing/practise fight. unlike it's antweight counterparts, fleadom fighter has the ability to self right by driving at full speed into the arena wall. it weighs only 66 grams.

[AntRoboteer]

Sounds like an awesome team! Still loving all of your robots! Good luck at the AWS - I'm sure you will go very far indeed.

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Good work dude

[Hogi]

thanks guys! i'm really looking forward to the AWS! can't wait! oh well, still have to wait 13 days 18 hours, 39 minutes and 11 seconds not that i'm counting of course.
can't wait to see what robots you guys have built this time.

[Hogi]

well, after a very successful AWS becoming fleaweight champion and 2nd ranking antweight, it's time to start prepairations of my team for antweight open.

my to do list:

-repair hogi after quite a few nasty beatings at the AWS.

-completely rebuild transit ant after a rather pitiful performance.

-find a permanent tyre solution for thunder strike.

lose weight from thunder strike after it came in a bit heavy at the AWS.

[Hogi]

decided to rebuild transit ant today because the original chasis got pretty much completely destroyed at anttweight open and all the makeshift repairs were starting to disintegrate. i wanted to redo it anyway as it was basically a lighter, less effective clone robot of hogi. so, i got to work...

i went for inner mounted wheels this time. ( fed up of getting the tyres shredded by spinnerd ). that worked out quite well. i also made my own motor mounts which is a first for me as i usually buy the pololu ones. as for the wheels, this model is going to run a pair of wide plastic hubs that Peter very kindly gave me at antweight open with rubber bands as tyres. here are some pictures, please excuse the abominable quality

[AntRoboteer]

I really wouldn't use rubber bands if I were you! You may remember the first time I competed with my original robots; they used rubber band tyres and it was like driving on an ice rink out there! I had no grip whatsoever!

I would recommend you go down to your local Poundland or similar and pick up some sticky rubber gloves. The ones I get are yellow, 2 pairs (or 4 gloves) for a pound. With each glove, I could cover about 15 of those wheels which is great value. They are very sticky and grippy and I cannot recommend them enough. Just make sure they are a really cheap brand as they are often stickier than Marigold gloves which I tried with no success.

Good luck with the new Transit Ant; can't se what was wrong with the old one myself! If you can make something that good or even better again, you'll have the competition in the bag, or at least any fights concerning me!