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Messages - RFS
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321
« on: May 09, 2014, 10:19:18 PM »
You are a saint, Massimo. I consulted with another user because I was afraid they might be a bit too far-out for the tournament. Good luck AI'ing the middleweight, I am so sorry. 
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« on: May 09, 2014, 09:46:03 PM »
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« on: May 09, 2014, 09:10:06 PM »
I would have to agree with you on that one. :3
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« on: May 09, 2014, 08:54:13 PM »
jonzu why do you go offline when i ask the hard questions 
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« on: May 09, 2014, 08:51:32 PM »
wait, flared or unflared
THIS IS IMPORTANT
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« on: May 09, 2014, 08:50:15 PM »
I like honesty in someone. Good job. 
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« on: May 09, 2014, 08:36:49 PM »
how many bad dragon toys does jonzu own
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« on: May 09, 2014, 02:49:11 PM »
I guess in a sense it's kind of bittersweet, a lot of things that have happened in the RA2 community are now entering double digits in terms of age. Some of them, like the release of the game itself, are a bit more jovial than some of the other more somber events such as remembering the passing of a very important member of the community. I'd like to toss my hat into the ring as well now. Ten years ago to this very day I had the bright idea to start a project named RFSHQ. Originally, I had opened my website on February 12th, 2004 however the very first comedy article (if you can even call it that) went online on May 9th, 2004. I have a lot of mixed feelings about the website, its original focus, and the direction I tried taking it. I think for a period of time I took it too seriously and that ended up being its downfall. I like telling jokes and I like writing things, but trying to make something out of it served to be a bad idea. A lot of derogatory things were said about the website, its community, and its webmaster and I will pretty much agree with all of them. The content wasn't that bad, however. I am now a part of an independent group called Twilight Foundry, a collaborative effort I participated with prior to RFSHQ, and one that I am pleased to work with again now that the dust has settled. Last month my pet project was carrying over all of RFSHQ's archival content (the stuff I had, at least) to Twilight Foundry's new WIP website. Since today is the 10th anniversary of the start of RFSHQ I feel it's appropriate to share the link to this new archive with you all in the event that you'd like to either A) celebrate mediocrity or B) read old terrible articles for nostalgia's sake. RFSHQ "lives on" here: http://twilightfoundry.com/archives/rfshq/Below are some suggested reading if you're overwhelmed by the amount of stuff listed. The original 05/09/2004 article: http://twilightfoundry.com/2004/05/bayou-billy/"In Case of Emergency": http://twilightfoundry.com/2005/04/in-case-of-emergency/"I Beta Test Games in the Year Ruhy": http://twilightfoundry.com/2005/11/i-beta-test-games-in-the-year-ruhy/"The White Overnite Challenge": http://twilightfoundry.com/2006/04/white-overnite-challenge/"Energizing Energy Drinks, Pt. 1": http://twilightfoundry.com/2007/05/energizing-energy-drinks-part-1/"REVIEW: Austin Powers: Oh, Behave!": http://twilightfoundry.com/2007/09/austin-powers-oh-behave-review/NOTE: I am seemingly "over-represented" in the archives here for two main reasons. First, I understandably would have backups of my own work. Second, RFSHQ's backups were lost due to a website defacement years ago and one of my personal hard drives dying on me so a lot of work by other writers has been inadvertently lost. I am still in the process of locating and uploading work by other staff members. As of this post there are 101 articles attributed to RFSHQ on the website. I anticipate maybe 110-120 if I can get the rest.
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« on: May 08, 2014, 07:42:56 PM »
I can't believe it's been 10 years, really. I remember when goose originally broke the news to the community.  A tribute does not have to be extravagant. A few years ago when someone very close to me passed away I closed down the homepage of GatorAIDS with a landing page that had a picture of him, his name and lifetime, and a short message of farewell. I've consistently taken down the front page of my own personal website each year on the anniversary of his passing. The same could be done for Lu-Tze. :)
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« on: May 08, 2014, 10:45:42 AM »
Word. When your entire robot costs as much as just the fancy weapon motor of your opponent and you still win and burn their motor out in the process that's a pretty cool feeling.
331
« on: May 07, 2014, 04:52:10 PM »
I would join however I am currently at work and my lunch is about to end. I wouldn't be able to commit to the game which is kind of the point. With that said, I play that particular version of the game online with my partner and some friends pretty often and we always enjoy running the furry deck. :P
333
« on: May 01, 2014, 06:21:23 PM »
Yep, they picked and chose matches from Robogames '11 and made it into a single elim bracket. The bronze medalist that year (Breaker Box) didn't even get any screen time.
I found it a bit odd that Smentowski's robot both A) did not get that much air time and B) didn't get that far in the "tournament". I figured Breaker Box was old enough of a bot that it would have been well beyond the "break in" point of its design.
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« on: May 01, 2014, 12:45:48 PM »
The second half of this question is "...from spare/scrap parts?"
I ask because I am trying to find something to do to keep my spirits up and that will let me tinker with things. About a decade ago I started an open-class robot combat league in my school district and it was mildly successful. I'd like to try and do the same where I work since I feel like some kind of basic "I made this from crap in the garage and things from Goodwill" robot event might be fun to try.
The goal here is that I am not going to drop ~$60 on a single motor or anything wacky like that and I don't expect my colleagues to either. I'd like to take some parts from a boom box or a remote controlled car and use those to build a bot. I'd also like to keep it simple so that I don't scare off any colleagues who might not know as much about robotics as me and the rest of us who've been doing this for a while.
So, back to the original question. I understand "how" to put together a basic spinning weapon with a robot, even one made from salvaged toy parts, but the one thing that has consistently killed me has been how to actually assemble it, specifically what the spinning mass gets mounted to. I am no good at building a free spinning axle mount or putting a gearbox together. I could probably pick one out of an appliance, but what's the best way to actually mount a spinning mass to the axle?
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« on: April 30, 2014, 07:59:45 PM »
the big limiting factor isn't robot quantity, its inconsistency in quality of fights. for every good fight, you go through many more lame fights
Proper commentary and good editing can make anything look good. BattleBots' first season (with Voltarc and Biohazard, a horribly boring fight) didn't quite have the formula down but by the time the show was in its fifth season they were able to at least make some of the less-appealing fights watchable by means of filling some of the dead air with technical info about the hazards or the team's other robots. Fights were also sometimes glazed over with the "BattleBots Update" segment that showed highlights from a few matches here and there. I think BattleBots had a pretty good idea with the "TV rounds" which helped largely weed out the more boring fights. When a wedge got through to the TV rounds it was usually because it had a great driver or was otherwise noteworthy (Voltarc, The Big B, etc). Robot Wars also did well with the flashiness of the house robots and the arena itself. If there were two wedges you weren't bored because you were hoping one of them would end up on the BBQ pit. :P One method that should be avoided at all costs, however, is cutting the fight itself down. Science Channel was guilty of this big time when they did their RoboGames coverage; their commentary was kinda crappy and they took 3 minute fights and whittled them down to well under a minute. Yeah, the fights in question were boring, but that's a kind of underhanded thing to do. (I also read on these forums that they allegedly used their footage to construct a tournament bracket that did not exist?)
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« on: April 30, 2014, 01:21:32 PM »
At the risk of sounding like a total asshole I see what appears to be a VDD and an SOB. The fire/battery damage is neat and all though. Gloomy's design is pretty refreshing, it's been a while since the "dustpan" look was en vogue in the sport.
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« on: April 30, 2014, 11:45:03 AM »
There would also be th fact that you would have so little entries and also a huge lack in diversity of weapons.
This. The very nature of the sport ensured that the variety of effective robots would gradually narrow down due to its aspect of pseudo natural selection. (Also you can have a team with more than one robot in a weight class, Robot Action League and Scrap Daddy did that in BattleBots.)
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« on: April 30, 2014, 12:30:33 AM »
It also last competed in like 2003 so you'd probably have to spend monies to bring it up to date.
I bet one of my robots from 2003 could still tough it out in the arena today. :P
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« on: April 30, 2014, 12:25:47 AM »
I'll chime in I suppose. I built a total of two completed beetleweights (Kill Switch, Earth-Quake) and began work on quite a few others that were never completed for whatever reason. This was over a decade ago and I picked almost all of my parts from scrap, so your mileage may vary. First, definitely look into a gearmotor, it's just easier than building (or finding) a gearbox for an existing motor. It can be done, but for the sake of convenience gearmotors are good. The motor you linked in your OP is similar to one that I used in a personal non-combat project and it's capable of putting out quite a bit of oomph but it's also kinda heavy and also requires its own gearing which of course is burning up even more weight. Once you're able to find out the stats of a motor (current, etc) you can calculate what size battery you need. It would be wise to buy two batteries; the first one you keep in the bot, the second one you swap out after a fight so you can charge the first, repeat as needed. I unfortunately am very out of the loop when it comes to specific robot combat parts so I cannot recommend a speed controller (ESC) or a radio to you, sadly, however you'll probably want to get a 3 or 4 channel radio because the first two channels will be devoted to your drive system most likely. Regarding pneumatics: Pneumatics are a tricky thing to work with and for such a small weight class I would definitely consider getting a servo motor. A servo is essentially a motor with limited range that has ridiculous torque. You generally see servos used in remote controlled airplanes to adjust the wing flaps and all of that (they need to be strong to go against the wind and stay there). I used servo motors in my antweight and UK antweight successfully for lifting and clamping applications. The torque of a servo motor is really only applicable for lifting weapons in the 3 pound class and lighter which makes them a perfect fit (plus the gearing is done for you and it's usually very easy to mount things onto the motor outputs). My first official combat robot that wasn't an open class creation was a servo lifter. Pneumatics are not impossible on a small bot, but they have their own challenges. BattleBots alumni Brett Dawson (Mobious) and Alex Rose (Toro) put together a pretty solid guide on understanding the parts of a pneumatic system as it applies to combat robots. If you are dead-set on using pneumatics in your design I would definitely give this a read and take a look at the interactive graphics they have: http://www.teamdavinci.com/understanding_pneumatics.htm (When I was learning pneumatics for a design I ultimately never finished this guide was EXTREMELY helpful).
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« on: April 27, 2014, 04:48:10 PM »
Cant wait to read them! Let me know if you need a consultant on any of the writings.
I might need to get some insight on Robot Wars moments since you're pretty well versed in that. Also, I still have the article you sent me. Are you cool with me migrating it to the TwilightFoundry.com site?
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