Personal Projects
Combat Robot
Let the bot battle begin!
BattleBots was one of my favorite shows when I was young, so no one was surprised when I became a mechanical engineer and decided to build my own combat robot. This is my first robot, named Cheesecake for its white middle section, and it's been an exciting learning experience. I even won first place at my second tournament!
One of my latest challenges is how to store the most kinetic energy in my spinning weapon. There is a weight limit for the entire robot, but there is no limit on the angular velocity or tip speed of the weapon: this means that, in theory, the best way to store more energy is simply to make the weapon spin faster by using a weapon motor with a higher KV: a motor in a "higher gear" you might say.
The key limitation now is current draw: my battery can only be so big and heavy, and if my weapon motor draws too much current, the robot will run out of power before the end of the fight. Through testing, I've discovered that most of the load on the motor (which draws a lot of current) comes from the air resistance of the weapon bar itself. Thus, my current task is to determine how to reduce the air resistance of my weapons.
My first tournament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNBomqs9JYU
A more recent tournament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFbMgoOWIMc
My robot: https://www.robotcombatevents.com/groups/1387/resources/4148
The key limitation now is current draw: my battery can only be so big and heavy, and if my weapon motor draws too much current, the robot will run out of power before the end of the fight. Through testing, I've discovered that most of the load on the motor (which draws a lot of current) comes from the air resistance of the weapon bar itself. Thus, my current task is to determine how to reduce the air resistance of my weapons.
My first tournament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNBomqs9JYU
A more recent tournament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFbMgoOWIMc
My robot: https://www.robotcombatevents.com/groups/1387/resources/4148