by Jonathan Spalten
If you’ve been reading the newsletter, you’d know that the 3lbers in BattleBots have been hard at work this past semester working on their 3lb robots and getting them ready for Motorama 2022 in February. These are not the only robots that BattleBots makes and have been working on. We’d like to take this time to give an update on all the other larger robots that the experienced members of BattleBots have been working on this semester.
First is Anarchi. Anarchi is a 30 lb modular combat robot that can be switched between two combat configurations, pictured above. Modular robots present the advantage of being able to change their weapon based on their opponent, and can also enable replacement of the entire weapon system if one is rendered inoperable in combat. The team has spent a great deal of time designing the robot and ensuring the strength of the connection points, and have moved on to manufacturing. The team has made good progress on manufacturing chassis pieces this semester, shown below, and plans to dedicate the majority of the spring semester for weapon system manufacturing. The team is planning to reuse the weapon from Valkyri, an earlier horizontal spinner, to ease manufacturing.
Next up is Bucki. Bucki is a 12 lb pneumatically actuated flipper. Bucki is expecting to make its debut at Motorama 2022. Pneumatics (and flipbots) are both relatively new for BattleBots, so it will be a learning experience to run this robot. Over this semester, they’ve been able to complete the chassis, pictured below. The team plans to hit the ground running next year to get the weapon system and electronics working in time for competition. The team has seen some delays in shipping for parts, which has put them slightly behind.
The next robot is Binari. Binari is a 30 lb horizontal spinner with two independently powered weapons that uses shuffler modules used for locomotion instead of the more typical wheels. Binari’s shuffler modules were designed taking into account our experience with shuffler modules for Apachi. The team has suffered from part delays, but recently received the shuffler module parts, which will enable faster progress on those essential components. The team has begun manufacturing chassis pieces, including the side plates emblazoned with binary.
The penultimate robot is Chonkii. Chonkii is a second iteration of Chonki and is a 30 lb shell spinner with shuffler modules. The chassis and electronics are finalized and the shuffler system appears to be working well. The team is expecting to spend most of the time next semester on putting together the weapon shell. Chonkii will be competing at Motorama 2022.
The last robot is Hocki. Hocki is a 12 lb “melty brain,” a robot that is constantly spinning and moves across the arena by adjusting the relative motion of the two wheels. Hocki will be competing at Motorama 2022. The robot is now fully assembled, but the team has been working on debugging software and hardware to enable it to compete. The team has also been working on a custom “black box sensor” board. The black box sensor uses a gyroscope, accelerometer, and measurements of weapon motor curent to better understand what happens when a robot weapon makes contact with an opponent, which will enable better modeling in the design process.
The robots that aren’t going to Motorama (Anarchi and Binari) were planned to compete at a competition later in the year, but due to rules changes will not be able to compete. BattleBots is still looking for a competition for them to compete in, but the team is overall excited about the new and experimental robots they’ve been working on. We look forward to reporting on how the robots fare in competition at Motorama 2022 and beyond.