‽ Robotics

Post by **The_Angry_Goat** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 7:45 pm

Welcome To the Angry Goat Robotics Showcase, home of "that dude who makes 4WD boxes with a lot of different geometric shapes"

scrolling through this showcase will show you the evolution of design that happens when you make a serious attempt to get good at this sort of thing, he says, massively patting his own ego.

no but seriously if you draw a lot you get better at it lol. also use Sketch up, not TinkerCAD. you'll thank me for it later.

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since I found out about fantasy combat robotics, I keep having ideas for combat robots that I then design, and may use in future tourneys. I have a lot to plop here all at once (IDK why I didnt start one of these threads earlier), so I'll make a post per weight class to start.

Superheavyweights:

Category 05

Speed: 13
Weapon: 3
Torque: 1
Traction: 4
Armor: 9

3 wheeled melty-brain spinner. capable of translational movement thanks to a skid plate activated by rotating the opposite direction. many ideas <del>stolen</del> inspired by this guy's adventures with a 30 lb melty brain. what looks like 1 giant wedge on the arm is actually 8 evenly spaced independently hinged wedges, to help me sweep away opponents that get too close to the center.

wimpy looking skid plate:

The Cat in the Hat

Speed: 3
Weapon: 8
Torque: 1
Traction: 1
Armor: 5 (+1 to Thing 2)

If one robot's good, 3 is better, right? The Cat in the Hat is a kiwi drive shell spinner (like Glass Cannon), assisted by Thing 1, a drum with a plow, and Thing 2, a drum with a hinged wedge.

I even numbered them in case I forget:

Post by **The_Angry_Goat** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:01 pm

Heavyweights

Morthwyl

Speed: 4
Weapon: 12
Torque: 2
Traction: 5
Armor: 7

Same robot as the one I entered in Mech Mash (mecanum wheels and all that jazz), but with different stats, and just the one hammer style.
Hammer is about 3'6", reaching 1'6 9/16" from the very front of the wedge. lets me keep scary spinners at bay :P

Flammenwerfer

Speed: 5
Weapon: 1
Torque: 8
Traction: 5
Armor: 11

weirdly enough, both of my heavyweights that arent Chimera were inspired by Alcoholic Stepfather... 4WD ram-bot with a big 'ol wedge, curved around the sides to mitigate danger from long horizontal spinners. The wedge can hold either a flamethrower (game rules permitting), or a horizontal piston, which may be able to flip opponents when they're on the wedge. anti-monstertrucking teeth, spikes in back, hinged wedges on side. Invertable, but the wedge doesnt work too well upside down.

That Kode Guy · Post by **That Kode Guy** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:01 pm

Really nice stuff! Flammenwerfer looks pretty good, but there might be a few problems with the wedge itself.

I'll ask this question first before going on any further. Is the front wedge static or hinged somewhere?

Post by **The_Angry_Goat** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:09 pm

Middleweight and Lightweight (respectively)

Hei

Post by **The_Angry_Goat** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:10 pm

<blockquote class='quote_blockquote'><dl><dt>KodeBreaker</dt><dd>Sep 9 2015, 09:01 PM</dd></dl><div>Really nice stuff! Flammenwerfer looks pretty good, but there might be a few problems with the wedge itself.

I'll ask this question first before going on any further. Is the front wedge static or hinged somewhere?[/quote]Thanks, man :$

as of now, static

That Kode Guy · Post by **That Kode Guy** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 9:21 am

Mkay, then there's two problems I can think of. The first is this.

Your robot has four wheels, and its wedge is static. That means that the wedge is not really flush with the ground, since it'll be resting on all four of its wheels. So it is very unlikely that the wedge would get underneath any hinged wedge, even a side skirt, since hinged wedges are flush with the ground. There are two ways to solve this. You can either get rid two of your wheels, which would make the robot rest on two wheels and the wedge itself, or you can make the entire wedge hinged, where then it would be resting on the hinge, and the ground.

Here's the second problem.

The wedge is really round, and it doesn't appear to me that there is a linear edge on the bottom of the wedge to get under anything. Therefore, even though if you were to correct the mistake above, it would still only be resting on a point or very small edge, and that's where most of the force will be. Any decent wedge who can drive worth a darn will likely be able to dodge that sweet spot and get under your wedge.

Not trying to be a bother, just tossing some tips out there.

Post by **Badnik96** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 10:33 am

Flammenwerfer looks cool, it's just that like Kody said it won't do anything against other wedges. Your two bots in your next post are examples of this as well.

Post by **The_Angry_Goat** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 6:42 pm

<blockquote class='quote_blockquote'><dl><dt>KodeBreaker</dt><dd>Sep 10 2015, 09:21 AM</dd></dl><div>Mkay, then there's two problems I can think of. The first is this.

Your robot has four wheels, and its wedge is static. That means that the wedge is not really flush with the ground, since it'll be resting on all four of its wheels. So it is very unlikely that the wedge would get underneath any hinged wedge, even a side skirt, since hinged wedges are flush with the ground. There are two ways to solve this. You can either get rid two of your wheels, which would make the robot rest on two wheels and the wedge itself, or you can make the entire wedge hinged, where then it would be resting on the hinge, and the ground.

Here's the second problem.

The wedge is really round, and it doesn't appear to me that there is a linear edge on the bottom of the wedge to get under anything. Therefore, even though if you were to correct the mistake above, it would still only be resting on a point or very small edge, and that's where most of the force will be. Any decent wedge who can drive worth a darn will likely be able to dodge that sweet spot and get under your wedge.

Not trying to be a bother, just tossing some tips out there.[/quote]Not being a bother at all. That didnt even occur to me as an issue, tbh... I usually prefer 4+ wheels (for mobility purposes), and had seen this style of wedge do decently in real life... (thanks to Badnik for pointing it out on the other two bots as well).

as for the curved wedge issue; the whole thing is flush to the ground, it's just not in a straight line across the ground. IDK if that makes a difference...

I was planning a near-full redesign of this thing anyways (I got some good ideas while at work), and I'm gonna incorporate your advice as well.

For future reference: dont worry about criticizing me. I'm a newbie, and a lot of my bots are gonna suck because I dont understand how some of this works

. I'd prefer to learn now instead of later

Post by **The_Angry_Goat** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 9:08 pm

on an unrelated note, I made Cuddle Time! look semi-realistic, and not have a face melting color scheme

because posting images in two places is for losers

Post by **The_Angry_Goat** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 2:45 pm

Crazy idea time!

ARC S.P.A.C.E. Program

A spring Catapult flipper. because. Still mostly in Conceptual stages, because I'm not sure how effective it would actually be in a fight. There's an inherent danger in dry-firing a catapult of this style, especially in lifting robots that weight up to 120 lbs (it's a MW as of now), so I was thinking of making some sort of pressure trigger near the back of the spatula part of the catapult, so that once enough of my opponent was on the thing, it would fire automatically.

Very tentative stats are

Speed: 3
Weapon: 12
Torque: 1
Traction: 5
Armor: 9

it's all curvey cuz I was going for an art-deco look, and I wanted it to be shaped oddly. SPACE stands for Super Powerful Ass Catapulting Engine. even if this design doesnt work out, I'll probably save the name for a different ridiculously powerful flipper.

Post by **Badnik96** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 5:40 pm

3 speed with that high ground clearance and no skirts is wedge fodder. Other than that it at least looks decent. Can it right itself?

Post by **The_Angry_Goat** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 7:24 pm

<blockquote class='quote_blockquote'><dl><dt>Badnik96</dt><dd>Sep 12 2015, 05:40 PM</dd></dl><div>3 speed with that high ground clearance and no skirts is wedge fodder. Other than that it at least looks decent. Can it right itself?[/quote]yeah, I'm definitely not done with it quite yet... would you suggest taking power from the weapon to add to the speed? and it should be able to self right.

Unrelated to this topic, I fixed Flammenwerfer because I have way too much time on my hands right now :P . same basic idea, with some upgrades. A big hinged front wedge, with the side hinged wedges far better integrated into the robot. it's 6WD and more compact, and the rear now has a hinged wedge that works inverted. The red wedge teeth on the front wedge are independently hinged as well, to get under opponents even better.

Potential anti-spinner attachments; shock mounted sacrificial side bumpers (cloth filled with foam and pool noodles mounted on flexible wood), and keep-away poles on the rear that also prevent stranding

Post by **The_Angry_Goat** » Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:17 pm

Fixed some of the bots from other posts

Heidrun:
now 2WD, and put some hinged side wedges on it to prevent people getting underneath me

ARC SPACE Program

Put in some steep hinged wedges, as well as some optional lexan shields. the stuff on the top is to protect the springs from hammers, and the lexan on the catapult itself should prevent spinners from catching too many corners.

Post by **The_Angry_Goat** » Thu Sep 17, 2015 1:54 am

I keep having ideas...

The Madman: (LW)

A little 2WD ram-bot. hinged wedges all 'round, although the front wedge can be replaced with a shock-mounted static wedge for those pesky spinners. anti-monster trucking spikes/wheel guards do allow invertable driving, although the wedge isnt useful upside down. thwacking tail for use against those with weaker armor or exposed sides.

proposed stats:

Speed: 9

Weapon: 0

Torque: 7

Traction: 5

Armor: 9

EDIT: fixed the monster trucking spikes

Post by **NFX** » Thu Sep 17, 2015 6:57 am

Very good design there, and a very good set of stats. =) Personally, I'd put the anti-monster-trucking spikes on the top of the front wedge, rather than immediately in front of the wheels. Robots are more likely to launch up and over them, plus I can't help thinking they'd actually compromise invertibility somewhat. If you want, you could take a look at Braveheart in the Ruination: Contagion signups thread to see what I'm talking about.

Aside from that, it looks like a very solid and competitive thwacker design, it look like you're starting to get the hang of things. Keep it up!