Dragon*Con 2012 is next weekend, and with that comes Dragon*Con Robot Battles, one of my favorite events each year.

In the 12 and 30lb class, there is no arena. Combat occurs on a 16x12ft platform with a sumo style format. Spinning weapons are limited to 20ft per second and there's a generic "bad idea" rule to cover dangerous things not specified in the rules.

In the 1 and 3lb class, it's full combat in an arena I've spent the last half dozen weekends helping build. The combat area is just short of 8x8ft with a single pushout and a centrally mounted hazard.

Last year, I brought Apollyon, Kobalos, and Motor City Massacre. Apollyon went undefeated in the 12lb class. This year, Apollyon is the only returning bot. New (to Dragon*Con) bots are Nyx(Feather), Algos and Klazo. (US Ants) I've also been working with a friend of mine on his first robot, which is yet to be named. The weapon on it is a front hinged servo powered flipper.

Here's a shot of this years robot fleet:

Left to right, top to bottom-
Nyx, Apollyon
Algos, Klazo, Unnamed

Upcoming Projects

Once the final details are addressed on Algos, the next major builds are planned to be a 150g and 3lb bot. While speaking with FingerTech Robotics about motor controllers that were capable of running a 3lb bot we realized that one of the more popular 3lb drive motors, the BXX series with KW motors, should be able to be run on one of the FingerTech TinyESC's.

Here's a test video from FingerTech with a TinyESC running a B62 motor on a 4s Lipo to stall several times without any controller issues:

Clash of the Bots 3

We're back from Clash of the Bots 3 with a bunch of still functional robots. Both new 1lb robots went 2-2 and have some room for design tweaks, but overall I'm very happy with their performance.

I've put together a YouTube playlist of all 34 matches I recorded and it is located at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF0ED34A7653A93CB&feature=view_all

In addition, I teamed up with MH Robotics and Team Ice to win the Robot Hockey tournament with Apollyon.

Both Algos and Klazo are going to get a few upgrades for Dragon*Con. Klazo is getting a better balanced drum. This will either be taking the current one and modifying it or outright making a new one. Algos is getting new central support rails after taking a few nasty hits at CotB3 and the cheap e-clip grooved steel shafts for the weapon motor are being replaced by O1 tool steel. As expected, the e-clip grooves provided a stress concentration point and were the location of every shaft failure. In addition, I am adding an outboard bearing to the shaft so it will be not only stronger, but in double shear. This should drastically increase reliability.

Introducing Algos

Algos is the second of two new 1lb robots. Algos has a high rpm (15,000 theoretical) 2" diameter single tooth disk. Drive system uses two 11:1 silver spark gearmotors with TinyESC's for motor control.

Introducing Klazo

Klazo is the newest antweight for Near Chaos Robotics. Klazo is a prototype for an upcoming Kitbots kit that uses the motor-in-drum weapon system and durable plastic chassis components.

Antweight Test Arena

I started on a test arena for the smaller robots quite a while back. Initially, it was an open platform with pushouts for Kobalos and Motor City Massacre, however with both new ants having high velocity spinning weapons, something a bit more substantial was in order. After some material scrounging and the purchase of enough lexan to allow for reasonable visibility, and a great deal of TIG welding, the new safety cage is done and installed.

The arena separates into two halves, both of which have casters mounted on one side for easy transport. The combat area is roughly 48x48x21 inches.

New armor for Nyx and two ants in progress

Nyx has new 1/16" titanium top armor. Switching from 1/8" aluminum to 1/16" titanium saves some weight while allowing better coverage and results in a reasonable strength increase.

I have also started on two robots for Clash of the Bots 3 at the Scheile Museum near Charlotte, NC. Klazo is a prototype kitbots drumbot kit and Algos is a titanium framed vertical spinner with a high rpm single tooth disk.