Meet Killer-Wolf

[coolspeedbot]

Seeing as I'll be attending my First AWS this july I thought I show off my ant weight bot Killer-Wolf

The full build log is on the FRA:
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/threads ... bot-builds

[Hogi]

looks great, nice work!

[coolspeedbot]

Thanks, I'm hoping to replace the flipper panel soon just so it protects the parts better.

[coolspeedbot]

Got more polycarb to make spare armour and replace the flipper.





AWS, Killer-Wolf is ready!

[coolspeedbot]

So bit late (2-3 weeks late) but I thought I write up a post AWS 50 report on Killer-Wolf.

I know it was my first AWS and in fact my first ever time competing at any robot event, but I had high expectations of Killer-wolf and he fell so short of them and sadly it did put a downer on my first time (and the 2 hour train journey didn't help).

But after watching the footage from the event along with the advice from Dave, Scott and Joey (If I get names wrong let me know) I could see where I can improve.

1. wheel mountings:
Killer-Wolf suffered drive issues through out the event, Dave spotted the cause before my first fight which was that the mounting for the motors was uneven and the left side needed lowing a little. Sadly I wasn't aware how long it was going to be till my first fight with 'Termite cluster' other wise I would have made the correction.

2. Battery:
Simple one really, Joey noticed I was still using the battery that came with the RobotWars101 kit and told me there was lighter batteries available, and after weighing the battery when I got home I was not happy it was nearly a 1/3 of the weight of the robot. So now I'm looking at lipos and chargers.

3. Power switch:
So during the gladiator fight Killer-wolf suffered a massive hit, by Anticide? I think. The power switch was hit (more like exploded) and killed the robot, Scott said to me after that I should avoid switches if possible and if I do try to embed it more into the robot.

4. Servo mounting and flipper hinge:
The flipper on Killer-wolf seemed weaker then others, part of the problem might be down to the weak servo mounting and possibly the servo itself. The hinge for the flipper, the biggest pain the robot has given me is getting a decent hinge for the flipper thats low weight and easy to remove.

5. Size:
If you was at the hall when I had Killer-wolf tech checked, you might have had a good laugh at my reaction to learning my robot was way smaller then it needed to be, as I thought the robot had to be wheels down in the cube meaning Killer-wolf was smaller then most of the other robots, also I had a harder time fitting all of my electronics inside. Thanks to my CGI animation software I can check the scale of my robots seeing as the programme uses centimetres as it's default unit of measurement.

6. Check the transmitter before fights:
I just found another cause for Killer-wolf's drive issues the trims on my transmitter was not zeroed on the left-right direction, which is why Killer-wolf kept on going to the left a lot when I pushed forward.

7: More practice driving in combat:
I panicked in the fight with 'Termite cluster' when Pete had me pinned near the edge of a pit and (although it might be hard to tell in the video, seeing how close Killer-wolf was to the edge) I drove Killer-wolf forward into the pit.

When it came to making repairs and improvements it soon became clear that the Wolf wasn't going to be able lick it's wounds so easily as I first thought.



so I decided that this Killer-wolf has to be retired so I decided to start work on...

Killer-Wolf 1.5

[joey_picus]

Hiya James/Ben/any of the various names I managed to call you (sorry!), it was good to meet you at Basingstoke I'd definitely recommend a plastic hinge for the flipper, with bolts to retain it, and more rigid mounting of all the components; Gary's website has a lot more information on flipper theory.

It does also look like you've got quite a bit of wiring going on; shortening them will only save you a gram or two at most but it'll save a lot of space and hassle! Looking forward to seeing what Killer-Wolf develops into though, please reduce the weight enough to be able to add the ears on (and next time you're up north you can always drop in for robots and tea!)

[coolspeedbot]

I had concidered shorting the wires but I'm worryed I mess it up plus I don't have a working soldering iron.

As for the hinges I'm looking in to it, I tested VHS cases on the old Killer-wolf shell and it works nice, but I'm worried that they'll brake too easily against a spinner.

As for the ears, sadly it isn't a issue of weight, it's an issue of size, Killer-Wolf 1.5 can't fit in the cube with them on, plus it messes up its ability to self right.

[coolspeedbot]

So I've been working on Killer-Wolf 1.5 and considered using my software to help work out ideas, below is a screenshot of a model of Killer-wolf new size to check if it can still fit the 4inch cube.



And this is an example of me coming up with ideas that would be nice to test out (but I don't have a 3D printer) anyway this is I design for a hinge that can be fitted to Killer-wolf. At the AWS Killer-wolf's flipper used cable ties (last minute solution to the weight problem) while it handled a direct hit by 'slice to meet you' it didn't provide a clean axis and movement to the flipper, I was recommended to use hinges off of old VHS cases, but they looked and felt weak.

[coolspeedbot]

So mix of progress and delays on Killer-Wolf,

Killer-Wolf is currently needing some rewiring as the wires fell off the motors and decided to take the suggestion to shorten the wires to save some space. Hopefully I don't mess it up, I'm rusty with soldering.

I used some polycarb to make the new flipper (more to test the idea then use)

[bot_bandit]

None of the images in this thread will show up for me either on mobile or PC1 I'd love to see this bot though. Is anyone else having the same issue?