Build Your Own Combat Robot

Final Words
Chapter 14: Real-Life Robots: Lessons from Veteran Builders 315
Despite his appearance, Chew Toy is well engineered. Making a robot from available,
inexpensive parts does not mean the design is poor. In designing Chew Toy,
attention was paid to the overall layout, to the center of gravity, and to giving the
robot the ability to right itself from any orientation. The latter feature was a major
design challenge. Paying heed to how the parts fit together, the location of the center
of gravity, and the envelope of the robot in order for it to roll properly and right itself
was an intricate problem.
We took care not to repeat the mistakes of others. No blob with wheels that had
everything encased in a box for us! We wanted the components to fit together intelligently
for maximum utilization. The design allows its separate parts to perform
a secondary function, such as the axle being an internal support for the
batteries and the motors adding additional support to the robot’s overall structure.
This result came from playing around with all the parts, trying different configurations,
and finding the best way to fit it all together.
Conceptually, we focused on three things: good overall design for maximum
offensive and defensive capabilities, ease of driving for effective movement in the
arena, and the crowd-pleasing effect of Chew Toy. The overall design is solid. It
overcomes the majority of ways robots lose in combat. Most robots don’t lose as a
result of bad armor; instead, they lose because they are flipped over, something internal
or external breaks on impact, or they become hung up on something due to
insufficient ground clearance.
Chew Toy’s electronics are well cushioned against impact damage within the
ammo box that has additional welded steel. Chew Toy’s arm can be used to right it
should it be flipped, and its weapons should prove effective in combat. Although an
opponent could strike the exposed wheels, they are large and provide in excess of an
inch of ground clearance, which is enough to drive over grass with no difficulty.
When in action, Chew Toy is hard to stop—it is still fully mobile and has a chance to
break free even if it runs over a wedge or a lifter gets underneath. Its weapons are designed
to rip chunks off other robots and drive over the debris without slowing. In
the initial drive tests, grass and lawn hazards posed no problems.
Two items are very important in robotic combat: driving ability and pleasing
the crowd. Battles have been lost due to poor control of a robot’s movement in the
arena. For this reason, you should test drive your robot as much as possible before
competing and discover early how to compensate for odd quirks.
Pleasing the crowd is also important; if two robots are tied in a match, the vote
of the crowd decides who wins. A robot with a good design, cool weapons that are
entertaining to see in action, and the ability to show its abilities best are the ultimate
objectives for pleasing a crowd. Some of the weapons that get the most
cheers don’t really do much real damage, but they impress the crowd, which is
part of what this sport is all about.