Battle Bots

[Aaron]

The world science fiction convention, in Denver this August is having a "critter crunch".
Robot wars.

Is anybody interested in forming a team?

My main idea for a 2 pound bot would be a walking spinner.
The idea is to have the outside of the bot spin, and have two or three balanced weights.
As it spins up, the weights move out, gaining even more angular momentum.

Then, walk towards the oponent. The surface will be unfinished wood.
Hence I'm thinking about some sort of 3-legged construct with little spiked feet
to hold into the wood.

I have never done a walking mechanism, and could use help designing one.
It seems like a simple one would be 6-legs. At any one time, one half is a solid tripod,
the other 3 legs are moving toward the next position. and repeat.

For the Denvention 3 competition, see

http://www.denvention.org/events/crittercrunch.php

[Matt Grommes]

My wife and I would love to join a team like this but we're both going to be out of town the week of the competition. If we can still help though, I'll volunteer both of us.

[Aaron]

Good to hear.

Upon farther reading of the rules, If I interpret them correctly, There might only be
a 4-inch border around the ring, and you must be 51% in the ring to win.

For a first time entry, a simple pusher might be prudent.

The main advantage of a pusher might be to build wheels of nails
instead of rubber to take advantage of the wooden battle arena.
Hi-torque drive, not high-speed.

I'm just assuming that none of the competitors read this site!
If we get serious, we may have to move design discussions off-line.

[Pharaoh]

Hmm. I used to watch Battlebots a lot, and legs were definitely a bad idea. the Wheels made of nails is a good idea but something like a turtle is best I think. and the rotating spinner has been proved as the best weapon, tho a spike on an arm like a scorpion is also good. weight is a factor though. being that there's such "light weight" limits I would suggest a flipper/lifter bot, likely co2 powered, either that or some kind of rambot. oh and since flamethrowers are legal hehehe :)