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What Wieght robotics should WA host
Soz bots (450g)
7%
 7%  [ 1 ]
kilo bots (1kg)
7%
 7%  [ 1 ]
bullant (2kg)
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
hobby wieght (6kg)
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
feather wieght (12kg)
61%
 61%  [ 8 ]
other
23%
 23%  [ 3 ]
Total Votes : 13

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Windhammer



Joined: 19 Jun 2004
Posts: 338
Location: Roleystone WA


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Western Australia

ok i was thinking that Western Australia should start small by have "Soz bots" comps or "kilo bots" but thats just what i think.

the main reason i think we should start small is that there easyer to build well sometimes.

Post Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:57 pm 
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Glen
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Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 9481
Location: Where you least expect


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ah dont fall into that trap.

i can tell you from personal experience (twice now..) that the featherweights are just as cheap as the small bots, more impressive and are easier to build and work on.

the controllers, the sozbots things cost a couple of hundred bucks, and the micro switch controllers can be used in the feathers as well. so the controllers are about the same cost.

the radio is the same cost.

the drive well your looking at $12 each for cordless screwdrivers compared to $17 for drills.

and really they are so small and fiddly, they take a lot longer to assemble because of the general small size.

take it from the other 3 states, go the feathers Wink

Post Thu Jul 01, 2004 7:26 pm 
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Windhammer



Joined: 19 Jun 2004
Posts: 338
Location: Roleystone WA


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ok lets look at this closely.

feather wieght: 3-5 channel radio $ 150-$450
2-4 1xu drill motors $40-$80
sheet metal $10-$300
mounts- $5 approx
speed controler$100-$300
wheel $0-10
blades $10 approx
frame $unknown
build time 1 week -1 year
Batterys $20-$100
areana -$1000-10000

Tools - lathe (sometimes)
drill
welder
soldering iron
screw driver
hack saw or band saw
metal snips
ect ......

Sozbot: 2-3 channel radio $40-$140
drive motors from tandy $20 (with mounts)
whells $0-$10
speed controller $0-$300 (none needed on mine)
metal,plastic or carbon fiber $0-$30
frame $unknown
blades $10 approx
build time 1 day-4 weeks
areana $25-$1000 (i use a smooth coffe table)
Batterys $8 ni-cad (of ebay)

Tools - Glue gun
Drill (sometimes)
Duct tape
matal snips

I think it looks cheaper for sozbots

And check out some of these soz bots http://ns2.sftp.com/_private/RRnet/ar03/DarkMicro44_vs_ShortBus_Camera1_High.rm


Last edited by Windhammer on Sun Jul 04, 2004 11:36 am; edited 4 times in total

Post Thu Jul 01, 2004 7:55 pm 
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chrisjon65
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Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Posts: 754
Location: blaxland


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windhammer ....i would advise you curb the attitude a bit because i guarantee your vote will be the only one on the poll ........and by the way your the only one from WA on the forum so enjoy the vote
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Post Thu Jul 01, 2004 8:59 pm 
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Windhammer



Joined: 19 Jun 2004
Posts: 338
Location: Roleystone WA


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am i seriosely the only WA member signed up geezz i am a loner

Last edited by Windhammer on Sun Jul 04, 2004 11:25 am; edited 1 time in total

Post Thu Jul 01, 2004 10:07 pm 
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Spockie-Tech
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Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia


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play nice guys...

actually, the arena is a very good point.. I'm sure Jeff/Nick/Chris can now tell you how hard it is to make a *single-wall*-3mm lexan arena, the 6mm two-wall half-steel/half lexan arena at sidetracked cost around $5000 to build..

If you start off with antweights, you can buy a $90 Futaba Attack 2 ch Radio with a couple of servos that you can modify into drive motors, dont need a speed controller, big batteries, a high current charger, and build a 5-foot square arena with 1mm lexan, and build the bot with hand tools and hot-glue on your kitchen table.

Sure, it wont have the excitement of a robot that weights 25 times as much crashing into each other, but it might be enough to get a few young kids involved, and you can always grow from there..

The bottom line is that the bots have to be built first, before the arena's catch up.. (no one is going to spend thousands building an arena if there arent any bots), so by starting rolling a smaller snowball than usual, it will take longer to grow, but keep pushing and it will..

Post Fri Jul 02, 2004 12:55 am 
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bones



Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Posts: 11
Location: Western Australia


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Your not the only WA person. But I don't know about starting small I'm more looking at heavy weight or super heavy weight.
I think there is too much of this lego robot light weights out there.
Will any of you guys from over East jump on a plane costing $500+ to come over here to battle with kilo bot or soz bot. I know I wouldn't go over there to do that. With something substatial I would.
I've allready started a robot (not for wars) lathe turns up in a few days.
Tracks are designed. All the pnuematic muscles are ready to go. etc.
The next one will be for the wars.
Has everyone seen the new movie coming out IROBOT.
Should be alright.
By for now.

Post Sun Jul 04, 2004 1:51 am 
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DumHed
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 29 Jun 2004
Posts: 1219
Location: Sydney


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I think a big part of the robot fighting effect is having something large enough to really do some nasty damage, and make the accompanying sounds, sparks, and general carnage.

Also, why look at the whole thing as a list of costs?

My robot was built amost all out of bits I scrounged for free. A bit of imagination and ingenuity goes a long way when it comes to building something cheap.

My radio set (Hitec 2 channel, with receiver and servos) cost $30 in a sale.
Apart from that I spent about $40 in parts, half of which was a set of saw blades, and another 1/4 to a 1/3 was microswitches.

I rigged up a system to control the weapon and the main motors semi individually from the 2 channel controller.

It's very hard to beat the red wheels / XU1 drill combo for motive power, and you also get batteries with it.
After this weekend it also looks like the XU1's speed controller is quite usable too with a linkage to a servo, and a changeover switch or microswitches to do the forward / reverse.

I used some framework from a work bench to make my chassis, and the armour was made from the casings of some unused rack cases.

I only used normal hand tools to build it too (an XU1 drill mainly!)
I didn't have access to a lathe, or anything very specialised so I chose a design based on what would go together with the least hassle.

If I had the time I would have gone on a brief scrap metal / wrecking yard mission too, because you can find some excellent stuff for very small dollars in such places.

Car radiator and heater fan motors are pretty good for weapons, and windscreen wiper motors usually have quite a nice gear reduction and nice easy mounting brackets.

Robots don't have to cost much to build, but if no lateral thinking is applied it will always end up being pretty expensive.
One thing to avoid too is forcing yourself to stick too rigidly to a design.
Play with bits and pieces you can get for free to begin with and work it out from there.
If you design your bot around the available materials it'll be simple and cheap - but if you design it and then have to buy specific parts it'll cost a packet.
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Post Sun Jul 04, 2004 10:52 pm 
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Waddy the phoenix



Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 971
Location: sydney


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that is very true but having your ideas and implementing em is very rewarding too
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Post Mon Jul 05, 2004 11:33 pm 
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DumHed
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 29 Jun 2004
Posts: 1219
Location: Sydney


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yes it is, but having ideas, and then working out how to creatively make them a reality using otherwise useless or unwanted materials is even more rewarding in my opinion.

There's nothing like finding some obscure and unrelated item that can be worked into a design to perform as well as or better than something that's difficult and expensive to make from scratch.

This is the approach I use for pretty much everything, and it works.
I can tell you that the owner of an extremely modified WRX (has spent nearly $60k on it) was not overly impressed that my car outran him around eastern creek raceway the other week for a total cost, including the car, of about $8k.
I've scrounged parts from all sorts of different models, and have ended up with a whole lot of cheap parts making more power, and being a better car to drive than many workshop built cars costing ten times as much.
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Post Mon Jul 05, 2004 11:41 pm 
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Windhammer



Joined: 19 Jun 2004
Posts: 338
Location: Roleystone WA


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Very good point but i dont think western Aust should go to feathers strait away maybe hobby wieghts?

Post Tue Jul 06, 2004 9:52 am 
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DumHed
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Joined: 29 Jun 2004
Posts: 1219
Location: Sydney


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well since the rest of the country seems to be going for the featherweights it makes some sense to start with that so you can compete interstate if you want.

There's no reason why bigger means more difficult, or more expensive.
Often it just gives a wider choice of materials, drive systems, controls, and armour - so it ends up being easier to build.
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Post Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:50 am 
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robo robbo



Joined: 01 Jul 2004
Posts: 29
Location: Perth, Western Australia


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Just a friendly reminder.

I am from WA too!


quote:


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Post Tue Jul 06, 2004 9:18 pm 
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PaulKelly



Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 1
Location: Fremantle


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OK, Who's serious

I'm a bit interested in this. I have a workshop and some electronics skills. Does anyone else have the tooling and skills to actually build a bot? Keen to talk if you do...

PK

Post Thu Jul 08, 2004 4:03 pm 
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Windhammer



Joined: 19 Jun 2004
Posts: 338
Location: Roleystone WA


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ok i haveno tools at home but there a metal work room at school with basic stuff

Post Thu Jul 08, 2004 5:35 pm 
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