Near Chaos Robotics

Motorama 2012 Wrap-up

2012-02-22T14:28:00.000-05:00

Quick update for now, video will appear at http://www.youtube.com/user/mikencr.

Motor City Massacre: 1-2, still working but probably getting a complete redesign/rebuild. Julie wants something more destructive, so this robot is likely to be retired.

Kobalos: 6-2, placed second. Looking pretty rough but still running. I'm also intending to build a new 1lb robot.

Moros: 0-2, two self induced knockouts. Was still working, then I did a demo with a printer and managed to eject my motor controllers. Gearbox seems a bit stiff too, so I'll be doing a bit of a teardown and some rewiring.

Nyx: 2-2, performed pretty well. One loss was due to the drive motor wires unsoldering themselves, the other was my opponent balancing me on the wall. Overall, it did great and will be getting a few upgrades before Dragon*Con

Apollyon: 4-0, 12lb champion. It worked perfectly all weekend.

I also snagged the "Best Driver" award.

Ready for Motorama 2012

2012-02-03T15:42:00.000-05:00

The robots are all tested and ready to go. Nyx needs a torque limiter for the flipper, so for now it'll have the dual disks and ramming spike.

Nyx is done

2012-02-01T22:47:00.002-05:00

Nyx has been completed. A detailed instructable can be found at http://www.instructables.com/id/30lb-Fighting-Robot/

Motorama Fleet as of 1/23

2012-01-23T00:05:00.000-05:00

Only a bit left to do. Nyx still has top armor and a few alternate weapons to be handled, but otherwise is ready to go. Both ants, Apollyon and Moros are all ready and waiting for Moto.

Nyx is effectively done.

2012-01-21T18:07:00.000-05:00

It LIVES!

Just needs top armor and the extra weapons, and maybe a bit of tweaking on the weapon so it doesn't shoot sparks everywhere when I reverse it quickly.

Nyx status update part 2

2012-01-19T23:37:00.000-05:00

Another day, another good deal of work done on Nyx. It's almost mechanically done, just a few small details and the top armor to go. Weight's going to be close, but it shouldn't be too hard to get it under 30lbs even with a touch of paint.

Nyx status update

2012-01-18T18:59:00.000-05:00

Most of the chassis has been assembled, using Nutstrip and standoffs for most of the connection points meant things flew together. I had to do a bit of drilling because the stock holes on the weapon sprocket weren't in agreement with the drawing, but that didn't eat much time. The weapon area's moving smoothly and it won't be too long until the mechanical assembly is complete. I'm expecting to have Nyx driving by the end of the month, if not a fair bit sooner.

Motorama 2012 Status Update

2012-01-16T17:23:00.000-05:00

The chassis for my new NERC Sportsman/Robot Battles 30 arrived today. It came in looking about perfect and should be ready to go with plenty of time to spare.

Making Wheels Round

2012-01-10T22:20:00.000-05:00

I've started throwing my lite flite wheels on a lathe after noticing that many of them are fairly badly out of round by the time they're able to be installed on a shaft. An added side bonus is more options for wheel diameter and width, as well as much more consistent driving performance.

There's still a visible indent in the wheel after taking a decent amount of material off of the tread.

After taking even more material the tread surface is uniform and concentric to the shaft.

Image showing the depth of cut to get a uniform tread. Wheels are standard 1.75" lite flites.

Side-by-side of the old and new wheels.

All four turned wheels for Motor City Massacre.

These wheels are for Kobalos, and were the same part number. You can see the newer wheels are much thinner and barely reach both sides of the plastic hub.

I also take a file to both edges of the wheels to smooth out the corners, however it seemed unsafe to try to file a wheel down while it was spinning in the lathe while taking a picture and I didn't feel like tracking down a tripod.

Motorama 2012 Progress

2012-01-04T17:10:00.002-05:00

Near Chaos Robotics has all 4 registered bots for Motorama ready to go. We're taking Kobalos, Motor City Massacre, Apollyon and Moros to Harrisburg, PA in February. We're also attempting to complete another 30lb robot for the Sportsman class that will go by Nyx.

Nyx is designed for high mobility and modular weapon systems. The majority of the chassis components are being waterjet cut by Westar Mfg.

The first attachment is a dual hinged flipping arm powered by an 18v dewalt in low gear. We're also working on several other attachment options including a rotary grinding disk and a traditional plow style weapon.

Beginners guide to robot combat

2012-01-04T14:27:00.000-05:00

Check out the beginners guide to robot combat. The guide contains many useful links as well as a lot of information on techniques and systems used in robot combat.

Introduction

2012-01-04T14:21:00.000-05:00

Near Chaos Robotics has been involved in robotics since 2001. Near Chaos Robotics concentrates on combat robots, but several members have been members of USFirst Team 675.

Near Chaos Robotics is sponsored by:

Pelican Products, manufacturers of cases that meet U.S. military, NATO, IEC, and ATA standards for waterproofing, stacking, impact and durability. Check them out.

Holmes Hobbies, Maker of the BR-XL speed controller and many other fine products. I've put the BR-XL through a lot of abuse and they've put up with everything short of extreme trauma.

Near Chaos Robotics would also like to thank Fingertech Robotics for their exemplary service and customer support.