Hi my name is Linda Abraham and I am an ITD teacher of year 9 boys. I have introduced the students to the Robowars Australia website. We will be designing and modelling our conceptual robots on the CAD program inventor professional in Graphics class. Currently we are in the process of researching our design ideas. As a result, would you be able to answer the students design questions as part of their research? It would be great if you could each answer a students set of questions?
My students and I eagerly look forward to hearing from you!
Regards,
Linda

Student 1
1. What is better to use, a bigger, slower, tougher and stronger hitting robot or a smaller, faster, not as tough and quicker hitting robot?

2. What weapons are more affective and why?

3. What materials are stronger but not as heavy and why?

4. What are better, tracks from a tank, 6 smallish wheels or four big wheels and why?

5. What is better to use, more defensive than attack or more attack than defensive and why?

Student 2
1. What is the better design choice? : slow moving, armoured and heavy hitting? Or a quicker, light weight and faster attacking design?

2. When designing a robot what do you take into consideration?

3. When creating a robot would you choose defensive or offensive?

4. What types of materials would be best suited as armour?

5. In your past experience what types of robots succeed over others and what are the designs that don’t succeed and why?

Student 3
1. Which movement types were the most effective and why?

2. Which weapons were the most effective/most successful? Why?

3. What were the most common designs?

4. What design features are the most important?

5. Which designs were the least successful in the competition?

Student 4
1. What type of weapon did your most successful robot have?

2. What let you down in your most unsuccessful robot?

3. Was an offensive robot more likely to win? Or a defensive one?

4. Was a heavier robot harder or easier to steer?

5. What is your preference in weapon choices?

student 5
1. Is a defensive robot more effective than an offensive robot?

2. Do more mobile robots survive longer?

3. Are longer ranged weapons more effective then short range weapons?

4. Are sharp or blunt weapons better?

5. Is flipping the opponent effective?

Student 6
1 in your opinion what is the best material to make your robot out of?

2 what would be the best weapons?

3 what would be the most unique designs you have seen?

4 what was your best robot and what was it like?

5 what did you use to power your best robot?

Student 7
1. What material is the best to build your robot out of and why?

2. What weaponry is the most effective and why?

3. Is an offensive or a defensive robot more effective and why?

4. Describe the most unique robot you have seen?

5. Do Heavy robots perform better than lighter robots and why/why not?

Student 8
1. What is the best material to use on a robot?

2. How do you choose to approach another robot?

3. Where would be the best place to attack another robot?

4. Did your robot make it in to the finals? If so, what was the best tactic?

5. What was the weakest material used on a robot?

Student 9
1. Is it smarter to use more defence or offence on the robot?

2. Are hammering robots effective?


3. Are wheels better than tracks and why?

4. What is generally the best sort of attack, hammering, drilling, sawing, or flipping opponents?

5. What generally won, a car that focused on attack or defence?

Student 10
1. What is more useful in a tournament, speed and manoeuvrability, heavier and armoured with heavier weapons or a mixture of the two and why?

2. Is it a good idea to have the electrical components (wiring etc.) covered by armour?

3. What are the most useful types of weaponry for competing in a tournament and why?

4. What types of designs are more likely to win and why?

5. Is it better to have wheels or tracks on your robot and why?

Student 11
1. What were the main flaws that allowed for vulnerabilities in the robots?

2. What seemed to be the most effective weapon used?

3. How heavily armoured are most robots, and what materials are generally used?

4. What is the most important facet to a robot for success?

5. What were the best options for power (battery, pneumatic, elastic etc.) for the weapons?

Student 12
Q1. What is the best weapon to use and why?

Q2. What is the best material to use for the body and why?

Q3. What is better a heavier or lighter Robot?

Q4. Whichever is better(Heavier or lighter) our does that help attack and defence?

Q5. What is better to use legs/ wheels or tracks?

Student 13
Q1. What is a good material to build a chassis out of?

Q2. Is a heavier battery better than a light battery? and why

Q3. Is a ranged weapon worth making?

Q4. Is it better to have a better offence than defence or a better defence than offence?

Q5. Is it better to have a heavy melee weapon or a light melee weapon?

Student 14
Question 1: What design worked best and why? (E.g. A robot that flips others, Saws other robots)

Question 2: What weight class was your robot and why?

Question 3: How did your robots move and why? (E.g. Walked, Rolled)

Question 4: How far has your robot has gotten in a tournament?

Question 5: How did you robot defeat other robots? (Saw, Hammer)

Student 15
What type of aspects of your robot did you have to think about before designing?

What types of parts are to be included on your robot are important for your robot to be successful?

What is the best weapon type that is most successful for an attack type robot e.g. blunt damage, piercing damage?

What are some of the best materials to use when designing your robot?

Where is the best place for the placement of the wheels, inside or outside?

Hi Linda,

Sounds like a great project! I got involved in Robowars in yr 9 myself, so certainly the right age group.

I'll answer Student 3, no reason - just to avoid doubling up.

Student 3
1. Which movement types were the most effective and why?

Wheels are by far the most effective form of locomotion for combat robots, however not all wheels are created equal. The best wheels are those that are high in traction and durable (avoid air filled tires). However, a wheel that can 'break traction' is also useful in protecting drive motors and gearboxes from being damaged. A common wheel used in Australian robots is the 'red wheel' from bunnings - about 10cm in diameter and has a medium traction, long lasting tread.

2. Which weapons were the most effective/most successful? Why?

There is no most effective weapon, but rather it is more like a game of scissors paper rock - one weapon design may be very effective against some types, but very vulnerable against others. A good example is vertical spinners, these machines are devastating against many types such as ramming robots, lifters and some wedges - however can often be totally destroyed by horizontal spinning designs, as in a vertical design it's harder to fully support the disk. Often the most effective weapon is simply one that is extremely reliable and well controlled. A simple wedge, if well driven, can often be most effective.

3. What were the most common designs?

Many builders will start with a wedge design - because the weight limit for featherweight robots is 13.6kg, a robot with an active weapon such as a spinning disk must 'spend' weight on that weapon, where as a wedge can spend that weight on thicker armour or more powerful and bigger drive motors.

4. What design features are the most important?

A standard robot fight goes for 3 minutes - in that time you need to either destroy or incapacitate your opponent to take the win - or it will go to a judges decision. The best engineered combat robot will stop if a single wire breaks free, therefor the most important design feature, by far, is rock solid reliability. There are many methods of achieving this, from introducing shock absorbing components to 'air armour' which is simply large gaps around vunerable parts - so if there was serious damage to the chassis there is less likely wires or electronics will get broken.

The second most important design feature is center of balance - a well driven combat robot is critical, if the wheels are at the front of the robot, with weight in the rear - it will tend to want to 'spin out' and be very hard to control. Wheels just rear or the center of gravity work best, or you can have more - but that costs more weight.

5. Which designs were the least successful in the competition?

Many innovative, complicated designs have been born and died in the combat arena - any design that cannot survive being damaged and still run is a non starter. Designs with complex linkages and exposed fragile parts never do well, I tried to make a forklift once... it didnt work very well.
_________________
( •_•)

( •_•)>⌐■-■

(⌐■_■)

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

I picked Student 14 randomly

Student 14
Question 1: What design worked best and why? (E.g. A robot that flips others, Saws other robots)

My best performing robot is a drum robot - a vertical drum with teeth spinning upwards when viewed from the front. Weapons with high kinetic energy are devastating when you have the skills and patience to deliver them effectively to the target, but can be difficult to manage due to gyroscopic effects and low reliability. I find that it pays off overall and some fights can be over with one big hit.


Question 2: What weight class was your robot and why?

I build and maintain robots from several weight classes. Their advantages and disadvantages as I see them are as follows:

UK Antweight class (150g) -
PRO
- Potentially the cheapest to build
- Fastest to build
- 3D printed parts are effective at this scale
- Physics don't scale down from heavier classes the way you would expect
CON
- Physics don't scale down from heavier classes the way you would expect
- Very fiddly to build and maintain, its analogous to watch making
- Not particularly exciting to watch or fight with compared to bigger classes

Beetleweight class 1.36kg
PRO
- Cheap to build
- Relatively uncharted waters means competing robots haven't evolved to their peak 'arms race' state yet, more fun to experiment, adapt, improve designs
- Physics work fairly well
CON
- Still a bit fiddly
- Low interest in this weight class

Featherweight (full KE) 13.6kg
PRO
- Biggest impacts and maximum destruction, crowd pleasing
- Less restricted in terms of space and weight
- Intense competition
CON
- Intense competition
- Most expensive to build
- Good designs usually require outsourcing some of the work (laser cutting, water jetting, etc)

Featherweight Sportsman class 13.6kg
(no large wedges, no high KE weapons)
PRO
- All the fun of normal feathers without fear of complete destruction on the first match!
- Encourages novel and more mechanical designs
CON
- Not as exciting
- Still fairly expensive to build


Question 3: How did your robots move and why? (E.g. Walked, Rolled)
All my robots roll on wheels, walking robots are very expensive, complex and difficult to make, let alone making them robust enough to fight with. Walking robots are subject to a weight limit bonus to encourage their use, however this is seldom adopted. Broadly, walking is a very 'biological' concept that doesnt apply as well to a mechanical environment, much as we might wish it to.

Question 4: How far has your robot has gotten in a tournament?
I have won a National tournament with a Beetleweight class robot (Hammerhead) and come 2nd at a local tournament with a Featherweight Sportsman robot (Das Boot). I also have a Featherweight (full KE) robot named Catastrophe that placed 4th outright at a National tournament.

Question 5: How did you robot defeat other robots? (Saw, Hammer)
In cases where two robots with similar weapons came together (ie. a vertical spinner vs my drum spinner) it would usually be a series of big hits until someone broke something. If that wasn't an immediate KO then if I could survive to the end of the match I could sometimes win on points (damage, control , style, aggression). Where I went up against a wedge, hammer or lifter/flipper bot the tactic would be to try to get around behind their weapon to deliver a KO hit or cause some damage, or flip the opponent.
_________________
<Patrician|Away> what does your robot do, sam
<bovril> it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls

quote:

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Originally posted by labra23:
Hi my name is Linda Abraham and I am an ITD teacher of year 9 boys. I have introduced the students to the Robowars Australia website. We will be designing and modelling our conceptual robots on the CAD program inventor professional in Graphics class. Currently we are in the process of researching our design ideas. As a result, would you be able to answer the students design questions as part of their research? It would be great if you could each answer a students set of questions?
My students and I eagerly look forward to hearing from you!
Regards,
Linda

---

quote:

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Student 1
1. What is better to use, a bigger, slower, tougher and stronger hitting robot or a smaller, faster, not as tough and quicker hitting robot?

2. What weapons are more affective and why?

3. What materials are stronger but not as heavy and why?

4. What are better, tracks from a tank, 6 smallish wheels or four big wheels and why?

5. What is better to use, more defensive than attack or more attack than defensive and why?

---

quote:

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Student 2
1. What is the better design choice? : slow moving, armoured and heavy hitting? Or a quicker, light weight and faster attacking design?

2. When designing a robot what do you take into consideration?

3. When creating a robot would you choose defensive or offensive?

4. What types of materials would be best suited as armour?

5. In your past experience what types of robots succeed over others and what are the designs that don’t succeed and why?

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quote:

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Student 3
1. Which movement types were the most effective and why?

2. Which weapons were the most effective/most successful? Why?

3. What were the most common designs?

4. What design features are the most important?

5. Which designs were the least successful in the competition?

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quote:

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Student 4
1. What type of weapon did your most successful robot have?

2. What let you down in your most unsuccessful robot?

3. Was an offensive robot more likely to win? Or a defensive one?

4. Was a heavier robot harder or easier to steer?

5. What is your preference in weapon choices?

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quote:

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student 5
1. Is a defensive robot more effective than an offensive robot?

2. Do more mobile robots survive longer?

3. Are longer ranged weapons more effective then short range weapons?

4. Are sharp or blunt weapons better?

5. Is flipping the opponent effective?

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Student 11
5. What were the best options for power (battery, pneumatic, elastic etc.) for the weapons?

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Student 12
Q5. What is better to use legs/ wheels or tracks?

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Student 14

Question 2: What weight class was your robot and why?

Question 3: How did your robots move and why? (E.g. Walked, Rolled)

Question 4: How far has your robot has gotten in a tournament?

Question 5: How did you robot defeat other robots? (Saw, Hammer)

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Student 15
What type of aspects of your robot did you have to think about before designing?

Where is the best place for the placement of the wheels, inside or outside?

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Hi Linda,

What a great initiative; way cooler than most anything I got to do in school! I like student four's questions the best, so here goes:

1. What type of weapon did your most successful robot have?

My most successful robot is Scissorhands, which has a horizontal spinning blade called an 'undercutter'.



It gets the name because the blade spins just above floor level and no other bots can avoid or get under it. The downside to this design and every other spinning weapon is Newton's 3rd law "To every action there is always opposed and equal reaction". That means bots with spinning weapons are often their own worst enemies and have to be built tough to survive the recoil of hitting an opponent.

As an added bonus, I included a blade height adjustment so that if an opponent has a vulnerability above ground level, I can jack up the blade and take advantage of it. In this recent match against Cavitation http://www.nswrfc.org/Nick/Cavitation_VS_Scissorhands.mp4 I knew that if I could raise my weapon and reach over Cavitation's disk, I could hit its exposed pulley and disable the weapon, giving me an easy win. The lesson here is to add a little versatility to your designs to make them better and to keep everyone else guessing.

2. What let you down in your most unsuccessful robot?

My least successful robot was a thwackbot design. The general design itself was not an issue, the problem was my choice of parts and suppliers. For the steel hammer, I tried to machine the part myself and have it hardened by a local Sydney company. As it turned out, the company had no idea on how to harden and temper the steel so that it was tough enough to take impact shocks and the part soon shattered, even though it was almost 2 cm thick and should have lasted for years. After that mistake, I used a different company with a proven track record and the problems almost disappeared.

The other problem was that I used some very new gearboxes that virtually nobody else had ever tried. The gearboxes had major manufacturing faults and the gears quickly stripped, leaving them completely useless.

What you can learn from this is that having a clever design for something isn't always enough. You need to use reliable suppliers with a proven track record or at least get samples to evaluate. You also need to know something about materials science; sometimes picking the right material is just as important as a smart design.

3. Was an offensive robot more likely to win? Or a defensive one?

For the last three years, a simple defensive bot has won the national championships so I reluctantly have to say that defensive designs are generally more effective. There are several reasons for this:

* Offensive designs are often their own worst enemies, while a defensive bot just has to do one thing perfectly.

* Defensive designs like wedges and bricks are very simple and have fewer parts to break. They are simpler to maintain and cheaper to build, so they tend to fail less and are quicker to repair. Half the success of a robot campaign is being able to keep your bot going with minimum expense and effort, so keeping things simple is a huge advantage.

4. Was a heavier robot harder or easier to steer?

The actual weight does not make a huge difference. There are several factors to making a bot easier to drive:

* Keep as much of the bot's weight over the wheels as possible to increase traction; this is particularly important for two wheeled designs, less so with four or more wheels as long as all wheels are driven.

* Wheels need to be selected for their grip on the floor, which includes their durometer (measure of hardness), their contact patch (a wider & larger diameter wheel is usually better) and the material; polyurethane and rubber are usually the best choices.

5. What is your preference in weapon choices?

I personally like spinning weapons, even if they are ultimately not the most effective. This is mostly because they are the loudest, showiest options and combat bots are all about having fun. It is also more of an engineering challenge to design and I like designing and building as much as the actual competing.
_________________
Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

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Student 2
1. What is the better design choice? : slow moving, armoured and heavy hitting? Or a quicker, light weight and faster attacking design?

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2. When designing a robot what do you take into consideration?

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3. When creating a robot would you choose defensive or offensive?

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4. What types of materials would be best suited as armour?

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5. In your past experience what types of robots succeed over others and what are the designs that don’t succeed and why?

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I'm a mechanical draftsman who uses Inventor and I've applied to go to uni next year to be a graphics teacher. I feel like I must answer every question

Student 1:
1- That depends on how good your reflexes are. If your good at computer games go for a faster design.
2- Any weapon can be effective. But flywheels with one or two teeth do the most damage
3- I prefer wear plate steel. It is heavy, but extremely hard.
4- 4 big wheel. Extra ground clearance and less complex. Reliability is most important
5- Defensive robots have won the past 3 national championships. But they are boring.

Student 2:
1- That depends on how good your reflexes are. If your good at computer games go for a faster design.
2- I design around the weapon. Also keep the centre of gravity over the wheels
3- I try to aim for 50% of both
4- Wear plate steel. Use thin plates but make it angled to defflect attacks
5- Spinners beat lifters, wedges beat spinners and lifters beat wedges. I haven't seen an axe win

Student 3:
1- Wheels. Make it simple and reliable.
2- Flywheel spinners to the most amount of damage
3- Wedges and bricks. They are the easiest to build.
4- A simple drive under the centre of gravity. It's most important to be able to move.
5- Axes never seem to win

Student 4:
1- No weapon. It was just a wedge that pushed other robots.
2- Unreliable drive. The motors broke as soon as the robot moved.
3- Offensive. Even with no weapon an aggressive drive will win
4- Harder. The extra weight is hard to move
5- I love axes. Most robots have poor top armour

Student 5:
1-
2- yes, as long as they have a good driver
3- No, it is difficult to hit a moving target. Wait until they are close
4- Blunt weapons cause more internal shock to the target
5- Yes. Extremely.

Student 6:
1- Steel. It is heavy but strong and easy to work with
2- I don't know if there is a best. But I do prefer axes.
3- I like overhead saws.
4- My best was a wedge. A bulldozer blade at the front and big wheels at the back
5- Electric scooter motors

Student 8:
1- Steel
2- Go hard straight into them.
3- Try to get into their sides. Get one wheel off the ground first.
4- Yes. Just charge their weapon and hope they break themselves.
5- Perspex.

Student 9:
1-
2- Yes and no. Most robot have poor top armour, but it's difficult to hit a moving target
3- Wheels are better. Much more reliable,
4- Flipping. The other robot can't get control if their wheels arn't on the ground.
5- attack. Aggression always wins.

Student 10:
1- Try to get a mixture.
2- Yes. Most robot lose because a wire falls out.
3- Any weapon can win. Reliability and simplicity is most important.
4- Wedges. They are simple. Less parts to fail.
5- Wheels. They are simple and reliable.

Student 11-
1- Loose wires and batteries.
2- Flywheel spinners.
3- Some use thick steel and some use wood.
4- Reliable drive. Being able to always move is important
5- Battery. It is simple and light.

Student 12:
1- Flywheel spinners do the most damage
2- I prefer steel. It is strong, cheap and easy to work with.
3-
4-
5- wheels. Simple robots are the best

Student 13-
1- Sheel
2- Heavier battery can put out more power. More power means bigger hits.
3- No. It's too hard to hit a moving target.
4- Try to get an even amount of both
5- Heavy. More power.

Student 14:
1- Wedges and flippers work well
2- Feather weight. That's where there are more fights.
3- Wheels. They are the simplest and most reliable.
4- Top 8. I never have good luck.
5- Most of my wins are just by pushing other robots. No weapons.

Student 15:
1- I always start with the weapon.
2- Reliable drive and electronics.
3- Heavy impacts. Try to dislodge a wire.
4- Steel. Cheap and easy to work with
5- I prefer outside. I use them as armour and make them easy to replace.

Daniel you missed 7....
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

I'm good at drawing but I never said I was good at counting.
The questions seem the same. Just cut and paste.

Student 1
1. What is better to use, a bigger, slower, tougher and stronger hitting robot or a smaller, faster, not as tough and quicker hitting robot? Faster and tough is better. You always want to be a bit faster at some point.

2. What weapons are more affective and why? Wedges are the most effective weapon because they remove you opponents control. You can incorporate a wedge into another weapon type.

3. What materials are stronger but not as heavy and why? Titanium 6al4v or wear plate like Hardox 450.

4. What are better, tracks from a tank, 6 smallish wheels or four big wheels and why? Wheels are better than tracks for a smooth floor. The size of the wheel should be determined by the overall design of the robot.

5. What is better to use, more defensive than attack or more attack than defensive and why? Always attack. Scoring is based on aggression which is defined as moving towards your opponent.

Student 2
1. What is the better design choice? : slow moving, armoured and heavy hitting? Or a quicker, light weight and faster attacking design? Faster and tough is better. You always want to be a bit faster at some point.

2. When designing a robot what do you take into consideration? I start with the weapon and design around getting the weapon at your opponent. I also try to get about 60% of the weight in front of my wheels if using a two wheeled design.

3. When creating a robot would you choose defensive or offensive? Offensive

4. What types of materials would be best suited as armour? Titanium 6al4v or wear plate like Hardox 450.

5. In your past experience what types of robots succeed over others and what are the designs that don’t succeed and why? Fast powerful wedges are the most successful as most fights come down to pushing matches at some stage.

Student 3
1. Which movement types were the most effective and why? Wheels. They are light and simple devices.

2. Which weapons were the most effective/most successful? Why? Fast powerful wedges are the most successful as most fights come down to pushing matches at some stage.

3. What were the most common designs? Designs vary from year to year.

4. What design features are the most important? The most important design feature is how to get your weapon at your opponent.

5. Which designs were the least successful in the competition? Slow weak drives with little ground clearance.

Student 4
1. What type of weapon did your most successful robot have? A lifter.

2. What let you down in your most unsuccessful robot? Poor ground clearance.

3. Was an offensive robot more likely to win? Or a defensive one? Offensive.

4. Was a heavier robot harder or easier to steer? The robots are about the same weight. Make them easy to steer and then practice driving.

5. What is your preference in weapon choices? A wedge that includes a lifter.

student 5
1. Is a defensive robot more effective than an offensive robot? Go offensive.

2. Do more mobile robots survive longer? Yes

3. Are longer ranged weapons more effective then short range weapons? No. Most fighting in done at short range.

4. Are sharp or blunt weapons better? Each weapon can be effective depending on the design of your opponent.

5. Is flipping the opponent effective? Yes.

Student 6
1 in your opinion what is the best material to make your robot out of? Titanium 6al4v or wear plate like Hardox 450.

2 what would be the best weapons? Wedges.

3 what would be the most unique designs you have seen? A full body spinner with a doll on top and covered in the doll's dress.

4 what was your best robot and what was it like? A lifter. It was wedge shaped.

5 what did you use to power your best robot? Gear motors to two wheels and an electric lifter.

Student 7
1. What material is the best to build your robot out of and why? Titanium 6al4v or wear plate like Hardox 450.

2. What weaponry is the most effective and why? Wedges as you can lift your opponent's drives off the floor.

3. Is an offensive or a defensive robot more effective and why? Offensive. It is combat.

4. Describe the most unique robot you have seen? A full body spinner with a doll on top and covered in the doll's dress.

5. Do Heavy robots perform better than lighter robots and why/why not? Most robots use all of their weight allowance. Performance is more about design than weight.

Student 8
1. What is the best material to use on a robot? Titanium 6al4v or wear plate like Hardox 450.

2. How do you choose to approach another robot? Quickly

3. Where would be the best place to attack another robot? Take it straight on. They are going to turn their weapon at you so there is no point trying to get behind them.

4. Did your robot make it in to the finals? If so, what was the best tactic? Yes. Aggressive driving.

5. What was the weakest material used on a robot? Soft aluminium.

Student 9
1. Is it smarter to use more defence or offence on the robot? Offensive.

2. Are hammering robots effective? No, but they are cool.


3. Are wheels better than tracks and why? Tracks are heavy and prone to failure.

4. What is generally the best sort of attack, hammering, drilling, sawing, or flipping opponents? Flipping.

5. What generally won, a car that focused on attack or defence? Attack.

Student 10
1. What is more useful in a tournament, speed and manoeuvrability, heavier and armoured with heavier weapons or a mixture of the two and why? The mixture. You want to be faster than your opponent and also survive contact.

2. Is it a good idea to have the electrical components (wiring etc.) covered by armour? Yes

3. What are the most useful types of weaponry for competing in a tournament and why? Wedges give you control of the fight.

4. What types of designs are more likely to win and why? Wedges give you control of the fight.

5. Is it better to have wheels or tracks on your robot and why? Tracks are heavy and prone to failure.

Student 11
1. What were the main flaws that allowed for vulnerabilities in the robots? Poorly attached wheels.

2. What seemed to be the most effective weapon used? Wedges.

3. How heavily armoured are most robots, and what materials are generally used? Most are heavily armoured. Titanium 6al4v or wear plate like Hardox 450.

4. What is the most important facet to a robot for success? Driving practice.

5. What were the best options for power (battery, pneumatic, elastic etc.) for the weapons? The type that most excites you at the moment.

Student 12
Q1. What is the best weapon to use and why? Wedges give you control of the fight.

Q2. What is the best material to use for the body and why? Titanium 6al4v or wear plate like Hardox 450.

Q3. What is better a heavier or lighter Robot? Use your weight allowance.

Q4. Whichever is better(Heavier or lighter) our does that help attack and defence? Heavier is better as long as the weight is used effectively.

Q5. What is better to use legs/ wheels or tracks? Wheels.

Student 13
Q1. What is a good material to build a chassis out of? The chassis is less important in some designs. For example, the strength of the robot might come from a monocoque shell.

Q2. Is a heavier battery better than a light battery? and why The battery capacity should be little more than what is needed for one fight. Otherwise you waste weight and money.

Q3. Is a ranged weapon worth making? No.

Q4. Is it better to have a better offence than defence or a better defence than offence? Offense is better.

Q5. Is it better to have a heavy melee weapon or a light melee weapon? The weapon weight should be in balance with the rest of the robot.

Student 14
Question 1: What design worked best and why? (E.g. A robot that flips others, Saws other robots) A wedge shaped lifter because it controls the opposing robot.

Question 2: What weight class was your robot and why? Ant 150 grams. It is cheap.

Question 3: How did your robots move and why? (E.g. Walked, Rolled) Wheeled with gear motors. Wheels are lightweight with less failure points than legs.

Question 4: How far has your robot has gotten in a tournament? The best I have done is winning the Nationals in 2013.

Question 5: How did you robot defeat other robots? (Saw, Hammer) Lifter.

Student 15
What type of aspects of your robot did you have to think about before designing? I wanted something that would interest me and be reliable.

What types of parts are to be included on your robot are important for your robot to be successful? Reliability and ease of maintenance.

What is the best weapon type that is most successful for an attack type robot e.g. blunt damage, piercing damage? Strong drive that let you push the opposing robot around the arena.

What are some of the best materials to use when designing your robot? Titanium 6al4v or wear plate like Hardox 450.

Where is the best place for the placement of the wheels, inside or outside? Inside.
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So even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and our river systems

Hi and a hugh thankyou to all the wonderful people who took the time to respond to my students! They were completely silent for the first part of the lesson while they read your answers to their questions. (This has never happened before in any school, in any classroom where 15 x 14 year old boys are expected to read quietly for 20 minutes!) We then analysised your data using venn diagrams to tease out the ideas and suggestions. There was some very active and thoughtful discussion about design and engineering. Thankyou all soooo much, it was great. Thanks again.
Regards, Linda Abraham.

Here are the kids grateful responses:

Student 4
Thank you Nick for liking my questions and answering them. You have helped me alot in my designing. Also thank you to everyone elso who answered my questions.

Student 2
I would just like to thank maddox, Valen and Phillip for sharing their experience and knowledge with me, to help me better understand what makes a robot win. From Student 2

Student 15
Thank you for all the Roboteers that have kindly answered the questions we provided. Without the help of your answers it would be hard to know what design is best and get some idea on what our robot needs to be successful.
Sencerely, Student 15

Student 13
Hi i'm studant 13 and i would thank both Philip and Daniel for there time and effort for awnsering my Qustions.

Student 1
Thankyou to the forums who gave up there time to answer my qeustions and give me some very helpfull infomation about what type of designs to use.
Thanks again. From student 1

Student 3
Thanks to everyone for your info it will be extremely useful for my design work and has already giving tons of ideas for improving my designs.

Student 9:
I would like to say thank you for all of your help. I really appreciate it as it will save alot of time on research. Your answers have made big changes to my design for the better.

Student 10
I would like to say thank for all of your help answering my questions as it has helped me change my designs to be better and I have taken all answers into consideration. Once again thank you.

Student 8
I would like to say thank you for the answers. student 8

I hope we can get to see what they come up with ;->
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

Its good to know our feedback was useful; I would be happy to answer more questions if any students have them.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

You are all very welcome. Please post a link to your designs when you are ready.
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So even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and our river systems

Of course we will post our final designs! Thankyou all again for your generous donation of time and knowledge. The boys are really excited and it's thanks to your input.
Regards,
Linda.