Robot Building Advise Page

On this site you can find all the help and advise you'll need to start building your own Robot.


THE BEGINNING

After you have decided which weight class you are going to enter you need to design your Robot.

When design your Robot, draw a sketch (it need not be too detailed), an outline for space planning and sizing is all that is required. Try not to get bogged down in too much detail. Part of your design process should include an analysis of the weight. This can be easily done using a spreadsheet program. Create a list of all the key parts of your robot, and estimate or use the known weight for each item. As you find the actual weights start replacing the estimated values, this will help identify at the earliest opportunity when your robot starts going overweight. This will hopefully allow you to take corrective action in time.

When you design a Robot choose a shape that hasn't been used a lot before. If you choose a shape that is boring like a wedge then there is a chance you wont be picked to enter the Wars. Yes there was Robots in a wedge shape like Cassius but it had a great original weapon which is why it was picked.

If you do think of the best weapon in the world that hasn't been used before don't go and tell people on the chat sites because then they might copy your idea.

Once you have thought of a design you need to contact Robot Wars, and send the £12.95 for the registration so you can actually be on the show.

For motors don't get some cheap rubbish from the scrap yard which is only going to last one round. If you can, go to a hardware shop that sells cordless drill motors, as these will probably be the best for this weight. You can use a petrol engine there aren't a lot of people that know how to use them so it would be better if you usedelectric motors.

If you want to be creative and try to do tank tracks, I, personally, would tell you to avoid them. This is because you need very powerful motors to drive the tracks. The tracks have to slide on the ground sideways to be able to steer so you can not have as good a traction as rubber wheels. There is a second issue with tracks, they are made up with many identical parts which when you sit down to construct can be very time consuming.

THE CHASSIS

The chassis is what holds your Robot together. It has to be strong enough so that is able to withstand shocks from your opponents and also the House Robots.

For the lighter categories it is best to use Plywood and MDF. But for the heavier category it is metal, usually steel, aluminum, and sometimes titanium. Titanium is rarely used as it is so expensive. Lighter categories can use metal, but they rarely use steel as it's unnecessary, and weighs alot.

When building/designing the chassis, make sure there are triangles in it. This is because if it is square or rectangular because it will collapse. So you should make it stable by putting a strut from one corner to another so that it is two triangles then it is stable and wont collapse.

RADIO CONTROL

Unless you are going to build an autonomous robot, you need to get radio equipment.

If you have lot's of money to burn you could buy a PCM. I don't know hardly anything about this, but I don't think you get hardly any interference, but these are very expensive, and if your building a lighter robot it isn't necessary.

BATTERIES

For batteries I will really only suggest one for the lightweights, ni-cad. Ni-cad are fast charging but the bad point about them is they cost £20 each.

The other type which I wouldn't really suggest are sealed lead acid batteries. These batteries don't suffer from leakage if they are hit, and they are cheaper than ni-cad. But lead acid batteries are heavier, take a lot longer to charge, (well over 12 hours) and you don't get the same performance as ni-cad, because ni-cad give out the same amount of current all the time until the power is totally used up. But the lead acid batteries, since they are used from totally charged the current which they give out decreases until they are used up.

SPEED CONTROLERS

Speed controllers are a must have for Robot Wars, as you wouldn't be able to control your robot properly. There are 2 types of speed controllers electronic, and stepped type.

The stepped type controllers have only a few speed choices, and to get the slow speeds, the power goes through a resistor, then to the motor. I wouldn't suggest you getting these as they use up too much power.

Electronic speed controllers don't use up much power, instead they give out a certain amount of power for whatever speed, e.g. for a slow speed the power goes into the speed controller, and the speed controller switches the power on and off, and on and off very quickly so the motor doesn't stop, but is slower.

These type of speed controllers are the best but cost a lot. They can cost for featherweights about £40, and for heavyweights £200 each at least, and remember you will need two for the steering, if you are doing tank type steering, but you will also need spares, and you will need spare motors too, and these tend to be the thing that burns out the most.

THE ARMOUR

The armour which you are going to choose is going to be the only thing between your Robot's insides and the weapon of you opponent. You can use wood but it's not advisable, because although it can insulate your Robot's insides it can catch alight so you should mayby use metal like aluminium, if you are building a light or feather weight or steel if you are building a middle or heavy weight. You could also use other materials like Fibre Glass or Polycarbonate. Fibre glass is used on some of the house robot's and is quite resilient to shock. You could also shape it the way you want. Polycarbonate has been used a lot and it is also bullet proof if it is thick enough and it stands out because it is transparent.