This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Messages - MR. BONESTRIPPER
Pages: [1]
1
« on: July 26, 2014, 12:24:08 AM »
Exactly. Flippers have done fine without a gap that allows OOTAs.
2
« on: July 25, 2014, 12:31:27 AM »
According to Rob Knight, the "out of pocket" cost for the initial build of Mortis was only 300 pounds. The rest came from numerous sponsorship and Cambridge University. The outrageous sums of money quoted on robot wars is the estimated total value of Mortis's components. I assume the biggest contributor to this was all the titanium and exotic aerospace composites used in the armor.
To get back on topic, if robot combat was back on TV, I'd prefer a battlebots-type arena to the robot wars one. The gap between the arena rails and the wall gave flippers a disproportionate advantage. Pits, killsaws and the like are fine though, because they make wedge fights much more exciting.
3
« on: July 24, 2014, 12:16:12 AM »
If you're building a Mortis replica you also have to build that ridiculous remote dock that the driver wore, otherwise all you have is a glorified Suicidal Tendencies with nicer tracks. 
I've got no plans at the moment to re-create Rob Knight's ridiculous "hands-free" transmitter thing, but give me a few months notice and I can grow a pretty accurate "replica" of Arthur Chilcott's beard. 
4
« on: July 24, 2014, 12:12:12 AM »
Why does it have to be the exact same thing? No one's going to notice if it isn't.
[/quote]
I wasn't talking about attachment chain manufactured by Renold specifically. What I have found is that the vast majority of attachment chain is used in industrial applications and that most manufacturers only sell wholesale. Renold is one of the few manufacturers to actually offer retail sales, but they are prohibitively expensive.
I have found some very nice (and affordable!) tracks made by a hobby robotics company company called Lynxmotion. They are plastic, but everything is professionally machined (the tracks themselves and the sprockets/idlers) and build quality looks very high. They look to be the perfect size for a Mantis (6lb) or Hobbyweight (12lb) robot, so I will have to build for a different weight class. Like all tracked robots, I will have problems with spinners, but the track drive assembly will be fully armored (like Mortis).
As far as competition goes, I am shooting for Motorama in February. I have a couple things holding up my build progress at the moment so I doubt I will have anything ready in time for Franklin. All of my robot parts are still at my parents' place (they will be shipped next week), and I will not have access to the Cornell University machine shop until the fall semester starts in late August.
If you see my general build thread, I already own all the parts I need to finish the re-build of Nom-Nom (my ant) and two new beetles, so those will get first priority build-wise. "Micro-Mortis" is slated to compete sometime after Moto, probably next year's bot blast, since I'm close by geographically.
5
« on: July 23, 2014, 02:22:32 PM »
Some good news: I found the main manufacturer of the sort of attachment roller chain I would need to replicate Mortis's drive system
The bad news: The manufacturer (Renold Chain, I think) was, yep, you guessed it, one of Mortis' main sponsors back in the early robot wars days, and is completely unaffordable outside of that sort of sponsorship deal or a VERY lucky surplus find.
6
« on: July 23, 2014, 12:49:17 PM »
I've was following the recent BotBlast event, and it seems the number of mantisweight entrants has increased compared to last year. I would be interested in building a mantis class robot, but I'm a bit concerned about the lack of interest relative to other more popular (ant, beetle, feather) weight classes.
I know that the mantis class has been around a while. I remember seeing them fight at the now-defunct BattleBeach event in Florida (back in '06). Does anyone know if this weight class is getting more support these days? The closest events to me are BotBlast, Moto, and Franklin.
7
« on: July 19, 2014, 11:11:49 PM »
I've read through a lot of the Robot Wars-relayed topics. No one seems to mention Sump-Thing, even in the "most dissaointing" thread (lol). Despite not having much success, Sump-Thing is probably my favorite Robot Wars competitor. I'm a big fan of tourque-reaction hammer weapons (think overkill from battlebots), and I also think the team captain, Richard (Mr.) Dig was one of the best robot wars "personalities". I also think it's amazing that it was constructed almost entirely from scrap. Amount remember this robot?
8
« on: July 19, 2014, 11:00:03 PM »
Anyone play magic? I've been playing since the release of the worldwake expansion about 4-5 years ago. If you play, what formats do you play, what do you think of the new M15 expansion?
9
« on: July 19, 2014, 10:56:09 PM »
Eating meat is the #1 cause of climate change, so I became a vegan. Anyways, I think humanity is completely ****ed in the next couple decades, but at least I will be able to be super smug and tell everyone "I told you so" when everything goes to sh**.
10
« on: July 18, 2014, 03:14:07 PM »
I don't know, Mortis has always been one of my favorites. Why track? Because of the coolness factor. I like winning as much as the next guy, but if everyone always built 100% to win, all robots would be heavily-armored wedges, brushless bar spinners (or in the case of the UK, high pressure flippers), also, there would be no Mechadon! I've already got the parts for a really nasty #30 axe weapon, so I figure, if I fan get the tracks built, why not?
11
« on: July 18, 2014, 01:08:16 PM »
I REALLY want to send this to Ray Scully on facebook.
12
« on: July 18, 2014, 11:22:25 AM »
Thanks for the link. I was actually looking for a source of conveyor belting.
Ultimately, I'll still probably go with attachment chain for the drive of this robot (I may use conveyor belting in another project). I've seen several combat robots that have run it to decent success, and it has a strong following in the RC tank combat community.
For traction, I will attach (via. machine screws or rivets) pieces of sorbothane rubber to each link for traction. This will be a sportsman (no spinners, high KE weapons), so I am not terribly worried about the disadvantages of using tracks.
I will use conveyor belting if I cannot find an affordable source of attachment chain.
13
« on: July 17, 2014, 10:17:02 PM »
I've seen a lot of replicas of robots from Robot Wars and battlebots in the RA2 threads. I've built and competed with insect weight class (1 and 3 pound) robots before, but I would like to enter a 30lb sportsman eventually. Mortis is my favorite combat robot, and it's design, if shrunk down to 30lbs, would be compliant with the sportsman rules.
I've been thinking of building a "mini-mortis" (don't know what I'd actually call it), using it's original series 1 design as a guide. My primary challenge is finding a source for conveyor belt chain (What Mortis' tank treads are made of). I have found them available, but they are stupid expensive. I need to find a surplus source.
14
« on: July 17, 2014, 09:29:06 PM »
Here's some old footage of my retired wedge Manbearpig. I competed with Manbearpig between 2008 and 2012. I sometimes entered it with joke names like "GOP Front-Runner" and "Bi-Winning".
15
« on: July 17, 2014, 09:01:48 PM »
I have tried to find one for a while, but to my knowledge none survive. It got destroyed in the first fight of the antweight class at DragonCon microbattles 2010. If you want to see something very similar, look up the antweight "Complete Ripoff" from the old SozBots competitions. I basically copied the design.
16
« on: July 17, 2014, 06:37:16 PM »
Someone uploaded the pay-per-view Battlebots Vegas special to Youtube and I almost lost it during the Abbatoir/Ricon fight. On the same topic, is there any footage of the original Mr. Bonestripper around?
17
« on: July 17, 2014, 06:16:18 PM »
I've been taking a break from combat robots since moving across the country for grad school, but I'm getting all my robot stuff shipped up here, so I will be able to get some builds started fairly soon. My goal is to compete in Moto '2015
Here's what I've got planned:
Antweight (1lb, American):
"Nom-Nom 2.0" : a compete control/uberclocker style lifter/grabber. The lifting arm will be driven by a HXT12kg metal gear servo (the ones fingertech sells). The clamp mechanism will be a HS85mg mini servo driving a clamping arm via. a 4-bar linkage.
Drive will be 2 x 22:1 silver sparks driving 1:375" banebots "green" wheels
I competed with the original nom-nom back at DragonCon microbattles in 2010. It also had a lifter/clamper weapon, but unfortunately, never got to use it. My first match was against Jamison Go's "DDT", a horizontal disk spinner. 30 seconds into the fight, Nom-Nom "grenaded" and got sprayed across the arena. They had to get a broom to sweep up all the pieces. This re-build will hopefully be more durable.
I've got all the parts, so I should be able to start building as soon as I get all my robot stuff shipped up here.
Beetleweight:
The Claw: a 3lb lifter/grabber
When I designed The Claw about a year ago, servo city was having a sale. I needed the lifter to be able to hoist 3 pounds on the end of a 6 inch arm, so I went with the HS-7980TH titanium gear servo, which puts out 500 oz/in when it is run off of a 6V external BEC. I mounted a sprocket to the servo horn, so I could run the arm off of a chain reduction. The reduction is 1:1, so I am not gaining any torque, but the chain reduction will isolate the $170 servo from impacts on the arm. I REALLY don't want to break a $170 servo. The "clamping" claw will be driven by one of fingertech servos, using a 4-bar linkage mechanism, like in Nom-nom.
I've got all the parts for this one too, with the exception of the external BEC I'm going to run the servos off of.
"Everything Burrito" : Have you seen Dumb Post Motorama Idea?, basically like that.
All of my robot stuff is in my Dad's basement back in Georgia (I moved from Georgia to upstate New York for grad school). He should be shipping it out soon. I need to talk to the people who run the engineering machine shop, so see when I can get clearance to use the tools. I may have to wait until the beginning of the academic year (sometime in August) to actually get access to the machine shop, but that depends what schedules the engineering school faculty during the summer.
For larger weight classes, I ultimately want to build a 30lb sportsman "replica" of the Robot Wars robot Mortis, but I have not been able to find any conveyor belt chain (the stuff that Mortis' tank treads are made of) that wasn't absurdly expensive. I'll have to keep an eye out for it on surplus.
Pages: [1]
|
Show Posts