Author Topic: Twilight Foundry Robotics II  (Read 15172 times)

Offline Reier

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Re: Twilight Foundry Robotics II
« Reply #40 on: September 24, 2017, 01:48:32 PM »
good to hear about the bots but really sorry about harvey. glad you got out yourself.
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Offline toAst

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Re: Twilight Foundry Robotics II
« Reply #41 on: September 28, 2017, 04:46:14 AM »
noo :facepalm: i am so sorry dude i hope everything works out
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Offline RFS

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Re: Twilight Foundry Robotics II
« Reply #42 on: October 01, 2017, 05:43:43 PM »
We're doing alright. :) Though a minor update, the parts I recovered from The Phoenix ended up getting wet again during a recent rain storm and the battery sat in water until it turned into a brown sludge which got all over everything and ruined the digital scale we use to weigh our robots with. Hilariously, and surprisingly, Phoenix's drive and weapon motors once again cheated death and didn't get ruined. Sooo... I've got another battery in the mail. Thankfully in the year of our Lord 2017, NiMH batteries are dirt cheap.

In other news I've been making progress on clearing out debris and cleaning/testing old robot parts. This weekend I dug up all of the parts to an old robot built by my friend Jason in 2005. He's no longer a part of Twilight Foundry since he's moved away and I guess he just forgot he had parts at the workshop so he left it behind. I took some time to take it all apart and clean it up and after a little bit of TLC it came back to life. Formerly named "Hamsterball of Doom", I present to you: Global Domination



One look at this robot and you kind of understand what the concept is. It has no weapon and it rolls around by the power of the little module inside of it. I'm not sure if there's some mechanical problems or what but the module doesn't seem to want to move freely inside the ball. I'm thinking I might need a slightly larger ball and may need to carve some of the rubber down on the wheels so it sits in there better. The current ball has some indentations inside of it that the center module gets stuck on so once I get that fixed hopefully this robot will be easier to control.

I don't anticipate winning any fights with it, as this was designed as a proof of concept 12 years ago. I'm thinking about bringing it to DARC Robot Rebellion 1.4 in December and entering it in my friend's honor so his bot can finally see the inside of an arena. Plus, this all just ties back into how I feel salvaging crap after the hurricane. These things were almost lost forever so I feel like these old machines deserve to see the light of day again. That said, it should be a good crowd pleaser and I'm looking forward to getting it restored to 100% for the event.
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Offline botomatic1000

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Re: Twilight Foundry Robotics II
« Reply #43 on: October 11, 2017, 01:22:09 PM »
Is that Super Turbo Baby Puncher in a Hamster Ball? reminds me of Team Pyramids old bot "The Phaoroahs Hamster Ball Of Death" or something like that.
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Offline RFS

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Re: Twilight Foundry Robotics II
« Reply #44 on: October 12, 2017, 05:12:13 PM »
Is that Super Turbo Baby Puncher in a Hamster Ball? reminds me of Team Pyramids old bot "The Phaoroahs Hamster Ball Of Death" or something like that.

The original Super Turbo Baby Puncher has a busted gearbox and has been retired. The little module inside the ball of Global Domination is something totally different (and we were planning on modifying another one for use to rebuild STBP but that ended up never happening). Global Domination runs using a "skateboard" variant of the Fly Wheels RC toy, which I've come to find out were actually quite limited in release and are very hard to find today... meaning replacement parts are going to be difficult to obtain. A 3-pound rebuild of STBP has been on deck for a while as "S.T.B.P." because I'm not 15 years old anymore and lolsorandom names like "Super Turbo Baby Puncher" aren't the pinnacle of comedy to me anymore.  :dumb)

I'm really only pursuing Global Domination as an antweight in honor of the friend who built it. He drew up the plans in 2005 for a local event that sadly never came to be so the robot has been sitting in the workshop collecting dust for the past 12 years. The module doesn't run very well and there's still some work that needs to be done on it, though I'm concerned that it's going to end up being over one pound. I lost my digital scale in the storm so I can't weigh it to see where it's at currently. :(
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Offline RFS

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Re: Twilight Foundry Robotics II
« Reply #45 on: October 13, 2017, 10:07:50 PM »
Small update. Been doing some nominal work and cleaning of parts on Global Domination. In the meantime I submitted an official request for weight bonus consideration for the robot to Dallas Area Robot Combat. DARC uses the current SPARC ruleset which offers a 50% weight bonus for "non-wheeled" robots. In my request I sent in photos and a description of the robot and pointed out that it "includes wheels" but the wheels are not ultimately the end point of its locomotion system and thus this would technically classify it as "non-wheeled". The main distinction for something that's non-wheeled but not a walker outright is that its method of movement includes some kind of circular motion or force that aren't ground-touching wheels, in this case the wheels on the inner "module" robot satisfy this definition.

Well, I got word back this afternoon and Global Domination has officially been awarded a 50% weight bonus!  :bigsmile: So I've got a full extra half pound to work with now. This is really going to help out a ton as I finish up the robot because I had some concerns that as it stands we'd be weighing in at approximately 1.25 pounds in the robot's current state.

I really hope the robot wins at least one fight. My plans are to retire it after the event in December and return the robot to its original builder inside of a nice display case and it would be really neat to send it home with a little "WINNER" medallion in said case. Otherwise I might just compete with it until it wins a fight and then retire it, assuming it doesn't get totally destroyed.

Also, Global Domination is the FIRST robot in the history of DARC (and I believe it's predecessor SWARC from a decade ago) to be awarded a weight bonus!  :gawe:
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Offline RFS

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Re: Twilight Foundry Robotics II
« Reply #46 on: December 08, 2017, 10:46:36 PM »
This will probably be my final update on my robots for quite some time. Twilight Foundry Robotics has disbanded, and we've withdrawn our entries from DARC 1.4 happening next weekend. This arguably leaves only me as the sole member of the team, and I do not possess the skills or talent needed to bring an idea from concept to fruition with an end result whose quality I would be satisfied with.

The short of it is that nobody who was left on the team really gets along with each other that well anymore, and as such no progress can feasibly be made. (That and the fact that there has been no change since the hurricane and we still do not have a proper place to work on our projects.)

A lot of people have come and gone since the team formed in 2001, but what it ultimately came down to was just simple personal chemistry. Coming back from retirement to build Kill Switch 5 earlier this year was nothing short of an act of God, and even though we managed to build and compete with two more robots afterward the environment and atmosphere under which these robots were created was not one that I would personally consider "positive". The paradigm had shifted and the air in the workshop was stale with disagreement and contempt. That and alcohol. Lots of ****ing alcohol.

I acknowledge that sometimes it's better to just let things go. I am very saddened this is how my team's legacy ends for now, but that's just how life is sometimes. I am humbled and honored to have been able to design and build robots and compete with them with as many wonderful people as I have in the sixteen years it's been since my friends and I formed Twilight Foundry Robotics. We've built over two dozen different robots, been to 12 robot combat events, and won one championship. We've built bots that have been showcased in curriculum buzz reels for things ranging from LEGO Mindstorms to colleges. We've designed mobile props for web shows and light-up costume pieces for convention cosplays. It has been a hell of a ride, and I truly hope someday the Foundry can come back because I know there's so much more for us to create and do.

Thank you all for having been supportive of our endeavors for all these years.
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Offline Mouldy

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Re: Twilight Foundry Robotics II
« Reply #47 on: December 09, 2017, 05:35:43 PM »
Shame to hear, chap.

That's a damned impressive run though, you should be extremely proud of what you've been able to do.


Offline kill343gs

Re: Twilight Foundry Robotics II
« Reply #48 on: December 16, 2017, 09:06:49 PM »
I'm sorry to hear that man. Always enjoyed what you guys had going on, and I've been following for a long time. If nothing else, you proved time and time again that you don't need a fat bank account and a degree in engineering to have fun in this sport.


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