You've watched the 2016 reboot of and now you want to get involved. Brilliant! But before we continue, we have to get you to read a disclaimer,
Everything written in this blog is intended as for information only and we give absolutely no warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy of the content. Building and competing with robotics of any kind is dangerous by it's very nature so please take all appropriate precautions before starting.
We intend to update this blog over the next few weeks and months covering various topics which will hopefully help you in your quest to get into the arena.
Everything written in this blog is intended as for information only and we give absolutely no warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy of the content. Building and competing with robotics of any kind is dangerous by it's very nature so please take all appropriate precautions before starting.
We intend to update this blog over the next few weeks and months covering various topics which will hopefully help you in your quest to get into the arena.
Where to begin
When robot wars stopped on TV, the hardcore group of builders retired to the Fighting Robot Association Forum. The FRA was an organisation set up by the roboteers to ensure that everything was done safely and to act as a governing body for the sport. The forum is a huge mass of information with build diaries on various machines through to Q&A threads on various topics from which motors to use to setting up pneumatics.
We would recommend putting in your bookmarks and giving it a read when you have a chance.
www.fightingrobots.co.uk/forum
We would recommend putting in your bookmarks and giving it a read when you have a chance.
www.fightingrobots.co.uk/forum
Rules and weight categories
As with any competition there are a set of rules you have to abide by to take part. The FRA developed a series of rules which have been updated over the years as new technology such as lithium polymer batteries became available. These can be found on the FRA website. The rules used in the 2016 robot wars reboot were essentially the FRA rule set with a few changes or additions. These can be found on the Robot Wars website here.
Ideally print out a copy of these rules and have them beside you. If you are starting out with no knowledge, many of the topics and sections won't make sense but we will hopefully be able to break through the entry barrier with this blog.
There are several weight categories covered under the rules. These come from the original days of robot wars and are as follows
• Antweight: 0 to 150 grams
• Beetleweight: 150 grams to 1.5kgs [3.3lbs]
• Featherweight: 1kg to 13.6 kgs [30lbs]
• Lightweight: 12kgs to 27.5kgs [60lbs]
• Middleweight: 27.5kgs to 55kgs [120lbs]
• Heavyweight: 55kgs to 100kgs [220lbs]
The robots in the recent Robot Wars reboot were built to 110kg. This allowed some older machines to come out of retirement and make additions to make them competitive again. We would expect that this will be the same weight allowance for series 2.
The main weight classes in the UK are the Antweight, Featherweight and Heavyweight classes. There are a number of reasons for this but essentially you should look to select one of these classes to build in otherwise you won't have any opponents!
Now this is an important point to consider, how would you move a 110kg machine around and be able to work on it safely? This is well above the safe manual handling limits you would find in any workplace. Many roboteers use hydraulic lift trollies along with team mates to allow them to move their robots around. We remove the disc from PP3D when working on it which brings the weight down by 31kg. Still a heavy beast at 79kg but more manageable. This is the prime reason that the featherweights are so popular as the majority of people can lift one (13.6kg) unaided and work on it easily on a work bench.
That considered and you still want to enter the show. Brilliant! Onwards to design your fighting robot.
Ideally print out a copy of these rules and have them beside you. If you are starting out with no knowledge, many of the topics and sections won't make sense but we will hopefully be able to break through the entry barrier with this blog.
There are several weight categories covered under the rules. These come from the original days of robot wars and are as follows
• Antweight: 0 to 150 grams
• Beetleweight: 150 grams to 1.5kgs [3.3lbs]
• Featherweight: 1kg to 13.6 kgs [30lbs]
• Lightweight: 12kgs to 27.5kgs [60lbs]
• Middleweight: 27.5kgs to 55kgs [120lbs]
• Heavyweight: 55kgs to 100kgs [220lbs]
The robots in the recent Robot Wars reboot were built to 110kg. This allowed some older machines to come out of retirement and make additions to make them competitive again. We would expect that this will be the same weight allowance for series 2.
The main weight classes in the UK are the Antweight, Featherweight and Heavyweight classes. There are a number of reasons for this but essentially you should look to select one of these classes to build in otherwise you won't have any opponents!
Now this is an important point to consider, how would you move a 110kg machine around and be able to work on it safely? This is well above the safe manual handling limits you would find in any workplace. Many roboteers use hydraulic lift trollies along with team mates to allow them to move their robots around. We remove the disc from PP3D when working on it which brings the weight down by 31kg. Still a heavy beast at 79kg but more manageable. This is the prime reason that the featherweights are so popular as the majority of people can lift one (13.6kg) unaided and work on it easily on a work bench.
That considered and you still want to enter the show. Brilliant! Onwards to design your fighting robot.
Design
There are many different ways to design a combat robot. The majority of robots start out as a very quick sketch on paper with pencil or the back of a bar napkin with crayon. PP3D was born from our team captain Gary laying the disc on the floor of his steading and putting a few parts around it. Thus the idea of a ground skimming spinner was born!
Always design the robot around the weapon. Don't build a box and then slap a weapon on the outside as it won't be effective nor entertaining and lets face it, if you want to get on Robot Wars, you need to be entertaining!
The important thing to ask yourself at this point is, is my planned weapon allowed in the rules? Many a roboteer has had the question, why don't you put a [gun, taser, plasma cutter, laser, water cannon etc] on the robot? The simple answer is, if it was allowed then we would have done it already!
Your standard weapon types are, lifters, flippers, spinning discs or bars, axes, crushers or drums.
So you have an idea and now we need to turn that into something usable. We would always recommend taking the time to plan out the machine as you will spend more time and money correcting mistakes down the line if you jump straight into cutting metal.
There are various methods you can use to design a machine. Here we will cover just a few.
Always design the robot around the weapon. Don't build a box and then slap a weapon on the outside as it won't be effective nor entertaining and lets face it, if you want to get on Robot Wars, you need to be entertaining!
The important thing to ask yourself at this point is, is my planned weapon allowed in the rules? Many a roboteer has had the question, why don't you put a [gun, taser, plasma cutter, laser, water cannon etc] on the robot? The simple answer is, if it was allowed then we would have done it already!
Your standard weapon types are, lifters, flippers, spinning discs or bars, axes, crushers or drums.
So you have an idea and now we need to turn that into something usable. We would always recommend taking the time to plan out the machine as you will spend more time and money correcting mistakes down the line if you jump straight into cutting metal.
There are various methods you can use to design a machine. Here we will cover just a few.
CAD - Computer aided design
CAD (computer aided design) is the main go to method for a lot of teams (including us!). Thankfully the days of having to invest thousands for a single CAD package license are gone and there are a number of free options available including Sketchup from Google and Fusion 360 from Autodesk.
There are large online communities only too happy to help you with any issues you have along with dozens of tutorials to get you started. It can seem very daunting at first but all CAD packages work off a similar method. They start by getting you to select a 2D plane onto which you draw out a 2D profile. This is then extruded into the third dimension. You now have a solid object. From here you can repeat the same process to build on your single part or carry out other operations such as material removal or model a helix or holes. With a bit of time getting the basics right, after a day or two you should be ready to model your robot!
Once you have a number of parts such a motors, wheels and body panels modelled you create an assembly where you bring all these parts together.
There are large online communities only too happy to help you with any issues you have along with dozens of tutorials to get you started. It can seem very daunting at first but all CAD packages work off a similar method. They start by getting you to select a 2D plane onto which you draw out a 2D profile. This is then extruded into the third dimension. You now have a solid object. From here you can repeat the same process to build on your single part or carry out other operations such as material removal or model a helix or holes. With a bit of time getting the basics right, after a day or two you should be ready to model your robot!
Once you have a number of parts such a motors, wheels and body panels modelled you create an assembly where you bring all these parts together.
CAD - CarDboard Aided Design
This method has been used for years and is a solid go to for those occasions when sitting down and trying to model your organic curves or complex panels would just take a little bit too long. It's also a great method for getting kids involved.
Essentially you model each part of the robot as accurately as you can using cardboard replicas and bring them together to form the final robot. Very easy and quick to drop and replace parts and if all goes wrong throw it in the recycling bin and start again!
Essentially you model each part of the robot as accurately as you can using cardboard replicas and bring them together to form the final robot. Very easy and quick to drop and replace parts and if all goes wrong throw it in the recycling bin and start again!
Hopefully this has been a useful intro into how to get started. There are of course dozens of other topics to cover which we hope to brush onto in due course. If you like this then please subscribe to our various channels below to keep updated with the latest team developments and blog updates.
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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/583580427/pp3d-upgrades-for-series-2-of-robot-wars
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