MichaelG92's Build Diaries

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MichaelG92
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 8:10 am
Location: Surrey

Re: MichaelG92's Build Diaries

Post by MichaelG92 »

Only just had time to type this up after Sheffield, but Saturday was my first AWS and I thought I did quite well! After burning out ArmamAnt!'s ESC whilst putting it together I only entered MicroNewton, who did surprisingly well in her first event! After two quick wins against Percussive Maintenance 2 and Tyrant, and then being gifted a win after Torquelift drove into the pit I was suddenly 3-0 and into the quarter finals of the winners bracket thanks to the small field size! Sadly my run ended there when I was beaten by eventual champions Yetus and Treatus, haha yeah man Chad, and then I was thrown out of the arena in my next fight against George's Valkyrie, which I had been dreading fighting all day. But I'm pleased that the armour stood up well to Valkyrie, and I'm really chuffed to finish in the top 12 in my first AWS.

After a bit of thought, I've decided to drop out of the Antweight Open in two weeks to give me more time to finish ArmamAnt! and take part in AWS60 instead. But the immediate future is to get my parts ready for Bristol Bot Builders' next Bodgebots event on 3rd Nov.
Michael - Team MG Robotics

Fledgling Surrey based roboteering team

Antweights:

MicroNewton - flipper
ArmamAnt! - pusher
GFB - flipper (under construction)
Fight or Flight - flipper (under construction)
MichaelG92
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 8:10 am
Location: Surrey

Re: MichaelG92's Build Diaries

Post by MichaelG92 »

MicroNewton got a quick run out at Bristol Bot Builders' event last Sunday, taking part in the 2v2s with Dave Weston's Stewie. And we did very well, finishing third. Sadly I suffered the same electrical fault in the two fights we lost that lead to MicroNewton stopping dead in its tracks both times. I've since cleaned out the switch, hopefully that'll stop a repeat in future. As for the Bodgebots event, my robot lost 2 out of 2 fights so not the best tournament for me. But I already have a good idea for the next one in April...

ArmamAnt!'s electronics have now been sorted, thanks to Dave who kindly did the soldering in Bristol after my previous attempt resulted in a burnt out speed controller, which has now been replaced. I now just need to put it all together, which I'll do when the screws I've ordered arrive. ArmamAnt! should finally be ready for AWS60.

My next build will be on two similar looking flippers which I CADed up in only a couple of weeks. The white and blue one will be called Fight or Flight, whilst the yellow and red one (actually now only red as the 3d printers I used don't offer yellow) will be called GFB (Generic Flipper Bot). I'm only building GFB to give me something to practice against at home, so it probably won't be used at competitions but never say never.

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I've got a couple of weeks to build them both over Christmas, so both should be ready to fight in 2020. AWS60 will be my last event of 2019.
Michael - Team MG Robotics

Fledgling Surrey based roboteering team

Antweights:

MicroNewton - flipper
ArmamAnt! - pusher
GFB - flipper (under construction)
Fight or Flight - flipper (under construction)
MichaelG92
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 8:10 am
Location: Surrey

Re: MichaelG92's Build Diaries

Post by MichaelG92 »

After two months in development hell, due to issues such as a burnt out speed controller, waiting for the correct type of screws to arrive and actually having time to work on it, I'm delighted to say that ArmamAnt! has finally been assembled and is up and running.

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All that remains is to wait for the stickers to arrive to liven up the admittedly dull exterior. Here's a video of it up and running:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B497lsJHKN6 ... 3yzwo4lu70
Michael - Team MG Robotics

Fledgling Surrey based roboteering team

Antweights:

MicroNewton - flipper
ArmamAnt! - pusher
GFB - flipper (under construction)
Fight or Flight - flipper (under construction)
User avatar
Kyro
Posts: 412
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2019 12:36 am

Re: MichaelG92's Build Diaries

Post by Kyro »

looks good... nice clean looking bot...

sometimes the "dull" look works best i think...
Team Rocket
Trappist 1(4wd grab 'n' lift)
Ton 618 (4wd expanding bot)
Io(4wd flipper)
MichaelG92
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 8:10 am
Location: Surrey

Re: MichaelG92's Build Diaries

Post by MichaelG92 »

Added the finally touches to ArmamAnt! this morning, it's stickers and newly printed top panel. As the name suggests, it's a tribute to the legend that is JP and I love how it looks with the stickers now!

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MicroNewton and ArmamAnt! are ready to go for tomorrow, I'm really excited! Look forward to seeing you all there.

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Michael - Team MG Robotics

Fledgling Surrey based roboteering team

Antweights:

MicroNewton - flipper
ArmamAnt! - pusher
GFB - flipper (under construction)
Fight or Flight - flipper (under construction)
MichaelG92
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 8:10 am
Location: Surrey

Re: MichaelG92's Build Diaries

Post by MichaelG92 »

The aftermath of a brutal AWS 60 for me:

MicroNewton lost both fights to Poptart and Virus, and Kwejibo. The second fight was particularly disappointing; I so nearly had it and flipped it a few times but I ultimately died after one too many hits, but remarkably the electronics are working fine now. As for the chassis, well...see below.

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A lot of work and acetone needed to repair it.

ArmamAnt! did better in it's first competition, getting a bye in the first round before losing to Esper and Dark Matter 6. But I saw positives in both fights in that it was able to get under other robots nicely, and the armament (sorry, armour) held up well to spinners. Unfortunately Dark Matter 6 caught the switch and destroyed it, completely rendering it dead and unable to do any whiteboard fights. Thankfully a new switch only costs 30p!

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So plans over Christmas; fix these two, finish working on my two new flippers and finally start designing a spinner!

See you all in 2020!
Michael - Team MG Robotics

Fledgling Surrey based roboteering team

Antweights:

MicroNewton - flipper
ArmamAnt! - pusher
GFB - flipper (under construction)
Fight or Flight - flipper (under construction)
MichaelG92
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 8:10 am
Location: Surrey

Re: MichaelG92's Build Diaries

Post by MichaelG92 »

MicroNewton's chassis has been glued back together and ArmamAnt! has had a new switch installed.

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After a few months of inactivity, the team is ready for it's first event of 2020 on Sunday. No new robots this time but I have quite a lot of new designs in the pipeline. I've been CADing constantly since December and I have designed about 10 new robots, no joke. But I can't afford to build them all at once so it'll be spread out over a few years. Watch this space...
Michael - Team MG Robotics

Fledgling Surrey based roboteering team

Antweights:

MicroNewton - flipper
ArmamAnt! - pusher
GFB - flipper (under construction)
Fight or Flight - flipper (under construction)
MichaelG92
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 8:10 am
Location: Surrey

Re: MichaelG92's Build Diaries

Post by MichaelG92 »

So, AWS 61...slight improvement on the last AWS; I actually won a fight this time and ended up with one less totalled bot than before.

MicroNewton and ArmamAnt! both got first round byes, which meant my first fight of the day wasn't until halfway through the day. MicroNewton's first fight was against the nasty looking drum spinner Recycler, but I thought I did very well against it and was on top until I lost connection from the transmitter and conked out. A recharged battery solved that problem. The next fight was against the wrong trousers, and this fight was so quick I still haven't fully processed what happened but I managed to get behind him and flip it out of the arena; my first ever OOTA! Sadly came unstuck against Sion's Veorra, who had a lower front and was able to push me out.

ArmamAnt! fared less well. Having started well against Sev's new pushbot SPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED, he managed to get a good push and I was stuck on the arena wall. The next fight was against Morgan's nasty Wu Ben, who in his previous fight had one hit killed Plank Of Wood. I thought I had a good chance of stopping him with my wedge; turned out my wedge was too low, but his spinner was the perfect height for shearing off the screws holding on my top panel, which came off after two hits. Another big hit and all the electronics came flying out and, well, see below...

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I've decided to retire this version of ArmamAnt!, but I should be able to salvage most of the internals. Which is just as well as I've been working on a upgraded version to be called ArmamAnt 2; That's Come Down With Snow On It!:

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This newer version irons out some of the flaws of version 1, such as having the switch on the bottom, more room for the wheels, and a disc on the front to give me some bite that felt lacking on the previous version.

So with ArmamAnt! written off and MicroNewton looking a bit knackered, it looks like it's time to work on some new robots. Which I may have plenty of time to work on if the coronavirus forces us all to stay indoors...
Michael - Team MG Robotics

Fledgling Surrey based roboteering team

Antweights:

MicroNewton - flipper
ArmamAnt! - pusher
GFB - flipper (under construction)
Fight or Flight - flipper (under construction)
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