Ant Arena:

The other states have ant arenas, its about time we did too. Sooo, press a button, receive arena



This is a half size arena base, In the full version those internal supports will be moved to the centre. even without any glue the base is quite rigid.



This is the inside of the pit. its a full sized version 200 x 200mm and 105mm deep. There are double doors actuated by a pair of huge servos I found.



This is the base with the floor on. In the final version the pit will be in a corner; I placed the prototype pit in the centre for ease of access.

The arena walls will be 3mm polycarb with aluminium angle on all the edges to keep it rigid. I still have some of the LED strip that is used in the feather arena so there will be plenty of light for filming.

Let me know if you see any problems or have ideas for improvements.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Nice one nick- Its like a model castle layout 😎 Damn that laser its turning out to be usefull💪
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Miles Blow - Julie Pitts
www.mulesfilm.com.au
www.wombokforest.com.au

-Pickasso- Vivid Sportsman champion 2015

Soooo - really need a laser cutter now!!!

Thats fantastic!

What are your thoughts for the trapdoor mechanism?

The easiest way to do a trapdoor is with hinges. I want to keep the base as thin as possible so there are double doors, which keeps the pit only 100mm deep (it has a 200 x 200 opening). Hinged doors are super easy to actuate with servos and I already have a humongus pair of Hobbyking servos to try out. https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigytm-s8166m-high-torque-servo-33kg-0-21sec-154g.html

Some of the guys don't like the idea of an extra seam in the floor to get trapped in, so I am also looking at a single door and a scissor lift mechanism to move it. That is far more difficult and there could be jamming problems if everything doesn't fit perfectly.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Looking at the specs of that servo is says 33kg torque. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Last time I looked torque is measured in N.m. My best guess is they mean it will lift a 33kg mass on the end of a 1m arm (around 300 N.m) but that seems infeasible. Any ideas what the true torque rating of those servos is? I'm interested in them for lifters.

For an arena with a few moving parts, I would have thought low pressure( under 120psi) would be a reasonable way of having lots of things moving. Pneumatic Solenoids, gauges, regulators and cylinders are all available for real cheap from Aliexpress, it's about $5 for a decent sized pancake pneumatic cylinder. You could even have a longer stroke pneumatic cylinder with a flow restrictor and have hammers

quote:

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Originally posted by chunkulator:
Looking at the specs of that servo is says 33kg torque. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Last time I looked torque is measured in N.m. My best guess is they mean it will lift a 33kg mass on the end of a 1m arm (around 300 N.m) but that seems infeasible. Any ideas what the true torque rating of those servos is? I'm interested in them for lifters.

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I might need to come say hi, borrow some parts i sold you and throw something together.

A ant comp would be cool
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

Using servos (that I already have) is much easier and more compact than inventing a pneumatic system. The arena already needs power for lighting, so making the doors electric makes sense.

@ Andrew: sure, drop by and grab some bits.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Update:

The pit doors are attached and fit very snugly; If anyone's ant gets caught in those cracks, you are doing something wrong!



I am really warming up to Glen's suggestion of covering the floor with stainless steel. It means the trapdoor joints will be even thinner, the floor and base can be held together with tabs & slots and all the screw holes for the trapdoor will be covered. Not to mention the extra durability. As long as its painted with something grippy, it will be the best possible arena floor we could wish for. Gold star for Glen .

I found a better quality giant servo; this Hitec unit has no jitter compared to the Turnigy and is much smooth and faster operating. I will try both of them out and pick a winner



The pit needs a couple of modifications; the servo openings should be larger and the base has to be removable for servicing. I will also add tabs & slots to keep it precisely positioned under the floor. Down the track I want to add some flashing red LEDs inside the pit for extra drama. I have a 5/24V switching PSU to power the LEDs and servos so the complete electrical system can be prototyped as well.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Here are the plywood parts for the full sized arena, ready for laser cutting:



There are many more tabs & slots to keep everything aligned - it should fit together faster than an Ikea bookshelf
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

The final version of the pit is finished:



Its a little larger for clearance around the doors, there are tabs to align it with the arena floor and there are mounting holes for twenty red & yellow LEDs. Once the inside is painted red and the LEDs are flashing it will definitely look like a pit into robot hell - I might try printing & laminating a picture of the Futurama robot devil on the floor of the pit just for laughs.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

count me in! keen to get back into some local ant-age.
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That's great news Angus! We haven't gotten as far as discussing dates but the arena will be good to go in less than a month. Sounds like an episode of Maker's Muse to me
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

the design , print and testing will definitely be documented
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