Phase one
This is my entry for robot wars, as the name suggests this robot is only the first of many and will be used as a test bed for the electronic and gas powered systems I will need for the next (Heavy-weight) robot.
It will also allow me to develop methods of constructing a chassis from aluminium on a smaller scale before tackling the big one.
THE BASIC IDEA
Introduction
Like many people who are fans of robot wars I watched the first series and thought to myself, I could build one of those. Now after the second series I have formed a team with my Brother and the machine is under construction.
The following pages are going to detail the process of construction.
The Design Concept
The first thing to do was make a decision on the weight category. It would be great to build a heavy weight and slug it out with the house robots with, but the cost of building a truly damaging heavy-weight would be astronomical (for me at least).This means that PHASE 1 will be a middle-weight robot.
Having an all-in weight of just 100Lbs places a limit on the amount of weight that is available for the weapon. Because the chassis and drive train have to be robust and reliable, the shell strong and resilient to withstand the punishment I think they will get, this leaves little weight for weapons like axes or clubs.
I considered a pneumatic spike but experiments showed it was not likely to cause enough damage to incapacitate the opposition. It was apparent that even the shape of the robot would have to serve as a weapon and this led to the adoption of the familiar wedge shape for the robot.
Having decided on the shape a suitable chassis had to be designed, from the outset I favoured a fully welded space frame made of box section aluminium. This gives good strength and light weight and because the tube is square fastening the shell and internal systems to the chassis is simple.
Please visit the construction diary to see the latest progress
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