Team Shakey Build Diary

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minionhunter
Posts: 186
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 5:36 pm

Re: Team Shakey Build Diary

Post by minionhunter »

Kyro wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 2:46 pm just wait for the video :)
OMG Lol! I have to wait for most all my parts from China, I have to wait for aliexpress to verify my credit card to order parts I'll have to wait for from China, I have to wait for Antfreeze 7, I'm already pacing around the house in anticipation, and now the drill bot made a lipo explode and I can't see it right now?! Maybe if I refresh the team panoramic YT page enough times it will upload faster! Lol!

I fear I might get a call from someone on a crank prank time phone warning me not to freeze myself to make the wait go faster. (bonus points if you've seen this episode of South Park).

Seriously as much as I'm chomping at the bit to watch, I'm just grateful he posts the videos and happy I get to see them.
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Shakey
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Re: Team Shakey Build Diary

Post by Shakey »

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Ant Freeze Event Report!

Wedge Wedge Wedge
Wedge Wedge Wedge got off to an immediate bad start after yellow wedge had its receiver fail between testing the day before and the arena. But it still did alright on two Wedges with the brief return of 'Scrat' which got to trundle around the arena for 2 fights. The two Wedges most notable loss was to Unorthodox which definitely gave them some air time. I think it's time for a rebuild of Wedge Wedge Wedge though using some N10's to give myself more weight to adjust the chassis so they are individually more controllable and better pushers.

Ghost Writer
Ghost writer did well at the event managing to mark up some bots very nicely, especially Bens spinner which got the classic exploded sharpie experience! It still greatly amuses me one robot used a 5 min fight delay to apply masking tape to protect from the most fearsome of weapons... The Sharpie.

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Calm Down, It's Only A Drill! (DrillBot)
DrillBot had a great first outing, it's aim was to prove drills weren't a terrible weapon and are in fact viable, I think it succeeded! It didn't manage to get a drill down in every fight but it did still manage it. The first 'victim' had a lot of interior air and while it was able to breeze through the top armour I couldn't get it down onto anything but still managed to pit. The next robot to go under the drill was Nightwish. Nightwish was driven very well and I had a lot of trouble getting a grab but managed to get around the side and bite in, the drill breezed through the lid and into the battery. Smoke signalled the KO! The third robot to get the drill was in the big end melee where James flipper narrowly escaped a bad ending where the drill went through the top but the bots were pushed apart saving the electronics under the hole, and then I got pitted.It also managed a win against Roblox with its drive (As the drill couldn't reach)!

Not all good though as due to self righting issues I had to really crank the travel adjust upwards. However this lead to weight too high up really if I moved the stick fully up causing it to wheely a lot. This made the drive very difficult at times, and the self right was still unreliable. Both are solvable by adjusting the arms.

Still overall a success and drills went from seemingly ineffective to scary weapon over the course of the event! :D

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Nuts And Bots - For all your components and ready built antweights!

Alex Shakespeare - Team Shakey / Nuts And Bots / Team Nuts:
AWS 44, 45, 49, 51 & 55 Winner - Far too many robots!
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peterwaller
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Re: Team Shakey Build Diary

Post by peterwaller »

You got Tarantula as well.
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minionhunter
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Re: Team Shakey Build Diary

Post by minionhunter »

Shakey wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:53 pm Image
Hi Alex,

1. Can you please tell me what the Grey and Blue devices are in the background?

2. What rpm do you usually use for your motors (driving wheel motors)?

3. If you play D&D, based on your experience at Antfreeze 7, do the hit dice and attack for the drillbot seem relatively accurate? (don't worry about it if you don't play D&D)
Congrats on bringing an obscure Erol Otus drawing (from Booty and the Beasts) into waking reality, that's one mean feat!

Thank you! I can't wait to see the video!

PS I'm a chemist and you can tell your opponents that acetone, methanol, ethanol and isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) will remove the sharpie marks. Heck even dichloromethane will do it. I suggest using isopropyl alcohol first, as it will have the best compatibility with 3D printed material and polycarbonate. Just FYI. Maybe you don't want to tell them how to remove the marks. Lol! I thought your bot, as usual, was genius when I saw it in AWS 59 (I think this was the first time I saw it). What a brilliant idea to mark up your opponents! I was in tears laughing.
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Shakey
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Re: Team Shakey Build Diary

Post by Shakey »

minionhunter wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 8:05 pm 1. Can you please tell me what the Grey and Blue devices are in the background?

2. What rpm do you usually use for your motors (driving wheel motors)?

3. If you play D&D, based on your experience at Antfreeze 7, do the hit dice and attack for the drillbot seem relatively accurate? (don't worry about it if you don't play D&D)
Congrats on bringing an obscure Erol Otus drawing (from Booty and the Beasts) into waking reality, that's one mean feat!
1. Those are my chargers. The blue is the 'charge block' which is 4 DC4S chargers hooked up to a power supply. The DC4S are great for events as they kind just fast charge any ant lipo and 4 of them ensures I (and a good deal of people in its radius) have a spare charge port to use. Gets used a lot for bristol events as a communal charger to.

Image

The Grey one is also a charger but is a bit of a special one. It is ancient! from when hobby LiPos were newish, probably clocking 10 years on it by now. It is so old it has no balance ability but more key (And the weird reason I still use it) no safety features. It'll try and charge any Lipo given to it even if it's a bit below the threshold. And more key single cells and the tiny batteries of Wedge Wedge Wedge (The DC4S doesn't like them due to their small capacity of about 80mah). Note though that since it lacks most safety features a bit of common sense is needed for using it.

2. The wheel motor RPM ranges on my bots, bigger wheels tend to have slower motors, and the other way around. Some robots don't really need (Or can use) fast drive. Don't Hug Me I'm Scared for instance has 300 RPM motors on small wheels as it simply has no need to move fast. Other bots have 500's, 700's, 1100's and I have some 1750's tucked away somewhere. The few that use N20's on weapons can also range downwards to 75 or 250 RPM. My recommended rule of thumb to others is start with 500RPM on ~20-25mm wheels for control and ~30-40mm wheels for speed, after that you'll have a better idea of whether you want to speed or slow your bots.

3. Sorry not a player.

I typically recommend IPA for cleaning duties, it's the least likely to damage a bot, readily available and fairly safe to use. Acetone I used to used extensively in 3D printing and it is nasty stuff (Plus really dislikes polycarbonate which is every bit of armour my ants use :P ). Not that I bring them to events, half the fun is seeing bots turning up at events still carrying marks from the last one!
Nuts And Bots - For all your components and ready built antweights!

Alex Shakespeare - Team Shakey / Nuts And Bots / Team Nuts:
AWS 44, 45, 49, 51 & 55 Winner - Far too many robots!
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LimaHotel
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Re: Team Shakey Build Diary

Post by LimaHotel »

IPA? India pale ale? International phonetic alphabet?
A grabber? I CHALLENGE IT WITH JIGGY!
minionhunter
Posts: 186
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Re: Team Shakey Build Diary

Post by minionhunter »

LimaHotel wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 10:38 pm IPA? India pale ale? International phonetic alphabet?
Isopropyl alcohol

He's 100% correct about acetone that will make you sorry you even thought about using it near polycarbonate.
minionhunter
Posts: 186
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 5:36 pm

Re: Team Shakey Build Diary

Post by minionhunter »

Shakey wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 9:54 pm
minionhunter wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 8:05 pm 1. Can you please tell me what the Grey and Blue devices are in the background?

2. What rpm do you usually use for your motors (driving wheel motors)?

3. If you play D&D, based on your experience at Antfreeze 7, do the hit dice and attack for the drillbot seem relatively accurate? (don't worry about it if you don't play D&D)
Congrats on bringing an obscure Erol Otus drawing (from Booty and the Beasts) into waking reality, that's one mean feat!
1. Those are my chargers. The blue is the 'charge block' which is 4 DC4S chargers hooked up to a power supply. The DC4S are great for events as they kind just fast charge any ant lipo and 4 of them ensures I (and a good deal of people in its radius) have a spare charge port to use. Gets used a lot for bristol events as a communal charger to.

Image

The Grey one is also a charger but is a bit of a special one. It is ancient! from when hobby LiPos were newish, probably clocking 10 years on it by now. It is so old it has no balance ability but more key (And the weird reason I still use it) no safety features. It'll try and charge any Lipo given to it even if it's a bit below the threshold. And more key single cells and the tiny batteries of Wedge Wedge Wedge (The DC4S doesn't like them due to their small capacity of about 80mah). Note though that since it lacks most safety features a bit of common sense is needed for using it.

2. The wheel motor RPM ranges on my bots, bigger wheels tend to have slower motors, and the other way around. Some robots don't really need (Or can use) fast drive. Don't Hug Me I'm Scared for instance has 300 RPM motors on small wheels as it simply has no need to move fast. Other bots have 500's, 700's, 1100's and I have some 1750's tucked away somewhere. The few that use N20's on weapons can also range downwards to 75 or 250 RPM. My recommended rule of thumb to others is start with 500RPM on ~20-25mm wheels for control and ~30-40mm wheels for speed, after that you'll have a better idea of whether you want to speed or slow your bots.

3. Sorry not a player.

I typically recommend IPA for cleaning duties, it's the least likely to damage a bot, readily available and fairly safe to use. Acetone I used to used extensively in 3D printing and it is nasty stuff (Plus really dislikes polycarbonate which is every bit of armour my ants use :P ). Not that I bring them to events, half the fun is seeing bots turning up at events still carrying marks from the last one!
Thank you Alex! I'm grateful. I have a couple of follow up questions

1. Is the power supply for the 4, DC4S chargers something special or will it just show up on searches for them? I'm leaning towards duplicating that set up since I'm building for myself and my 4 children. I think we will all have a lot of bots by the end of the year if all goes well.

Also what would you recommend to get now if you needed to charge your tiny batteries in wedge wedge wedge instead of your really old power supply? Would I also assume that you use it to charge your flea and nano bot batteries?

2. Motors - how fast are the motors in wedge wedge wedge and the wheel sizes? Did you change them from when you first built them? If I'm remembering correctly, I think I remember that they looked really hard to control in the first fights I saw you use them. Did you all just get better at driving them with more practice or did you change out the motors?

Also motors. Is there any reason to get N20 motors for ants if the price is relatively similar to N10s? Do the n20s have more power? I'm just trying to figure out if I should invest in both N10 and N20 motors or just go with the N10s if I can buy in bulk. I am also assuming that the speeds/rpm are relatively similar for this question.

Again thank you for your generous help and time. I'm grateful.
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MarkR
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Re: Team Shakey Build Diary

Post by MarkR »

I've not done any real testing, but I suspect the N20s have more power.

If you're using them for a weapon, I'd recommend the more powerful ones.

I could measure the stall-current or static resistance if you like.

N20s are not all created equal, they seem a bit random, most of the ones I have seem to be ~ 12Ω - 16Ω, I think the Pololu High Power are a bit less (=more current)
Robots: Betsie - RaspberryPi controlled flipper bot with gyro stablisation - too clever for her own good?
Stacie - tidy flipper; 4wd driven by hair bands
James Williams
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Re: Team Shakey Build Diary

Post by James Williams »

Regarding N10's vs N20's George did a couple tests with these & wrote about them on his build diary http://www.robotwars101.org/forum/viewt ... &start=110
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