Team Phyte Antweight Builds & Event Reports

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James Williams
Posts: 94
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 5:07 pm

Re: Team Phyte Antweight Builds & Event Reports

Post by James Williams »

Don't worry Kyro, I'm no stranger to wiring things the wrong way. :-? I've researched it on some rc forums & it seems I've got it right. Of course if someone reading this knows otherwise they're welcome to tell me (hint hint). :D
James Williams
Posts: 94
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 5:07 pm

Re: Team Phyte Antweight Builds & Event Reports

Post by James Williams »

I spent today at Botfest 2, an event I wasn't sure I was even going to attend, since I've still got a couple of things to sort out for Burgess Hill next week, but I am sure glad I did. I decided to give Rented a break this time & instead brought my Shakey flipper appropriately named "What Are We Doing With Our Lives" (leave suggestions down below).

The day started off with "fixing" Please Shut Up's flipper panel by sticking googly eyes over the damage (thanks to Sevalent for that). The event started atrociously, with 4 losses between my three bots, mostly due to stupid driving mistakes. But then something happened & I somehow managed to win almost every single fight since. I haven't seen any official results yet but off the top of my head I'm guessing You Break It, You Bought It & What R We Doing picked up 3/4 wins each & PSU got 6 wins in a row.

PSU qualified for the finals where it racked up more wins against Ant Kev & a much anticipated rematch against For Fox Sake putting me in the grand final against Bodacious. Unlike other events Botfest had a best of 3 format for the grand final. The first fight was a draw, the second fight went to PSU, the third fight went to Bodacious & in the fourth fight, I blew it & drove myself off. To be honest though, if it went to the judges I think Bodacious would have won anyway so congrats to a worthy winner.

Overall I am very happy with Please Shut Up's performance. I always thought PSU was a good bot that was getting let down by silly little things & I'm glad it finally got it's chance to shine.
https://ibb.co/Snc0T7w
James Williams
Posts: 94
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 5:07 pm

Re: Team Phyte Antweight Builds & Event Reports

Post by James Williams »

AWS58 was great, thanks again to Chris, Ali & everyone for hosting. My performance was pretty much the same as last time, Rented made it to round 7 & the others fell pretty early. I did have one weird issue where one of my bots somehow had a battery failure & a wire came loose at the same time, just before a match (it was definitely fine after the last match). A HUGE thank you to Shakey for diagnosing & fixing the issue, even if we still had to forfeit the match. Oh & I was co-winner of the second 3 minute rumble, so yay.

Going forward I'm hoping to up my game regarding actually building bots. Now that I have a new NanoTwo LT (that Shakey guy sure is helpful) to try out I have an esc small enough to try more creative ideas. One such idea is to have an overhead spinner but with a very long chain instead of a bar & I already have a name in mind (Epic Flail). I also have a couple Brewster Blades that I'll be using at some point.
James Williams
Posts: 94
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 5:07 pm

Re: Team Phyte Antweight Builds & Event Reports

Post by James Williams »

I've been to a number of events since my last update so here's a quick rundown of how things have been going lately;

Please Shut Up has been through spinner hell lately. At Showdown, Botfest 3 & AWS59 it has found itself against spinners in the early rounds & although PSU is still (somehow) undefeated against them, the damage has started to build up & it may well be time to retire it soon. On the plus side it has had a pretty strong showing over the last 2 events. It only lost 1 fight against Kev Baxter at Botfest but didn't get enough points to proceed & was on a nice little run at AWS59 until it ran into its arch rival For Fox Sake as well as Kev Baxter (spot the incoming trend).

You Break It You Bought It had only 1 appearance over the summer at AWS59 where it managed to beat Super Nintendo Chalmers, only to drive itself into the pit against one of the bloody Lego bots...

Rented continues to be the star of the team, finishing int the top 16 at Showdown, 3rd at Botfest & 7th at AWS59. It had a bit of a scare at Showdown during one of the whiteboard fights, when Wu Ben cut through both axe mounts in 1 hit & sent the axe flying followed by a beatdown from Error 3XE, but nothing glue couldn't fix. At Botfest it also lost only 1 fight in the group stages against Kev Baxter & made it to the semi finals where it lost to... Kev Baxter. Rented did at least beat Kev in the 3rd place playoff. Rented also did great at AWS59, scoring a win over the mighty Valkyrie as well as cracking the shell of Eyesorasaurus (Eyesorasaurus did make it easier by flailing it's weapon though). Oh, guess who beat it?

The Little Sytes made their debut, which was more me testing them than anything. I've found that they outwedge pretty much everything brilliantly but lack pushing power, so I'm hoping to upgrade the internals at some point. They also lack strong armour, so I made a massive wedge attachment to fit onto one of them if needed.

I'm hoping to get 2 more bots built for the next AWS & have even signed them up as motivation. More on them to come...
James Williams
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Re: Team Phyte Antweight Builds & Event Reports

Post by James Williams »

Well, I only managed to finish 1 of the 2 in time for Saturday, but nevermind, introducing Epic Flail!!!

Image

Epic Flail has a very simple design philosophy: Big motor, big rubber band that will stretch out upon spin up, & 2 big metal teeth on each end. The plan is that instead of delivering a single big hit the weapon will repeatedly swipe at opponents, impeding their driving & scoring points with the judges.

Upon testing I've found the flails do have enough force to easily swat away an empty tub of grapes, but don't quite stretch out as far as I'd hoped, so I'll try & find a longer, thinner band. If the flails let me down I still have a big wedge similar to the one on Rented. I've also had to hold the lid on with electrical tape due to weight concerns.

I'm hoping it manages at least 1 win, but to be honest I suspect it's success will depend more upon how good a job I do with the acetate on the day than anything. PS. It can self right... sometimes.
MySolderIsOlder
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Re: Team Phyte Antweight Builds & Event Reports

Post by MySolderIsOlder »

Outstanding! The antweight world definitely needs more flails. Who knows - if the Gods of Antlog are smiling we might even
get some flail on flail action on Saturday...
Stuart (Tony's dad)
James Williams
Posts: 94
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 5:07 pm

Re: Team Phyte Antweight Builds & Event Reports

Post by James Williams »

Thanks! Part of the reason I came up with the design in the first place was there were no motorized flail bots in any weight category at the time. A flail vs flail fight would definitely be interesting, but it'll be very unlikely we get drawn against each other. Assuming it doesn't get destroyed in the main tourney I will be throwing it into the glow in the dark rumble though so you're welcome to face me there.
James Williams
Posts: 94
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 5:07 pm

Re: Team Phyte Antweight Builds & Event Reports

Post by James Williams »

Even though AWS60 was on paper my poorest performance all year it was still a pretty memorable event. Instead of writing out big dull paragraphs I'll just make some bullet points & keep it somewhat briefer:

1) The Little Sytes definitely need internal upgrades. Currently they can only run on 1s due to the speed controllers they use. They managed to pick up 1 win thanks to an opponent's suicide dive, but were easily overpowered in the subsequent fights.

2) Epic Flail had to have it's weapon rebuilt the night before after it caught on the chassis & broke itself during a test. The new flail, made from a cocktail stick, fixed this problem but wasn't balanced properly so it occasionally tangled up on itself.

3) I was one of the few fortunate enough to fight antweight original Pants 1v1 with Rented! Since this was in the losers bracket & Pants lost (sorry about the wheel) I may very well be the last ever opponent for the antweights that fought on Robot Wars Extreme and at AWS1 (excluding AWS regular Combatant which has evolved & drastically changed over the years) which is rather flattering.

4) Rented managed to get through the tournament unscathed, despite fighting Dimitri 4 & Kwyjebo, 2 strong verts, but I entered it into a whiteboard against, amongst others, Test Robot Please Ignore. During the bout, Test managed to get a hit on Rented which damaged the lid, the back & the Nanotwo. This particular model of Nanotwo has a receiver built into it which damaged it in such a way that it won't drive anymore. Since the receiver is no longer in production, this means I now have to replace both the drive ESC & the receiver. Since Nuts & Bots don't have any Nanotwo's in stock, Rented is out of commission until I can replace it. Dang. I also plan to put some kind of metal plate on the back to prevent it from happening again, but it looks like I may have to retire Rented soon.

5) I am a far better tech checker, judge & arena sweeper than I am commentator.
James Williams
Posts: 94
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 5:07 pm

Re: Team Phyte Antweight Builds & Event Reports

Post by James Williams »

Over the Christmas break I built a new ant, my 1st proper spinner. Introducing Fragile!

Image
Image

Fragile is a face spinner/thwackbot designed to drive up on top of wedges, then to hit the top panels of bots (or whatever's on top, such as grabber arms, axes etc) when the drive is slammed into reverse. It's also one of the few thwackbots that is capable of reversing without swinging the body over, which is necessary to stop the spinner blade from hitting the floor when changing direction.

It does already have a few issues; once I'd finished the electrics I weighed the circuit along with the weapon bar & wheels & found the lot weighed 135g, leaving less than 15g for the chassis. The chassis is therefore a yoghurt pot with a 1.5mm poly lid, which will be extremely vulnerable to big spinners, especially verts. I'm hoping the big wheels, weapon bar & scrunchiness of the pot will protect it somewhat, but I've named if Fragile for a reason. The pot also isn't quite the shape I originally intended, I wanted a pentagonal shape to utilise the space permitted by the cube better, as well as to stop it getting stuck on the base but with a grand total of 0.2g left to play with I think I'll have to make do. Speaking of the cube I need to move the wheels back a little so it can fit inside properly. I might be able to get away with adding nuts between the motor mounts & lid with a sticky pad to hold the motor still.
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Ocracoke
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Re: Team Phyte Antweight Builds & Event Reports

Post by Ocracoke »

Looks very good! Reminds me of Raphael from the MW class a little. Hopefully will get a chance to fight it with my vertical spinner at AntFreeze. :P
Team Kaizen

AW: Amai, Ikari, Lafiel, Osu, Ramu
BW: Shu!, The Honey Badger
FW: Azriel
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