Battlebots
Welcome to the Battlebot section of the Robot Workshop. Normally we are dedicated to the restoration and preservation of robots but all the recent interest in combat robots got us excited! Read about our latest creation “crash test dummy” which competed in the Battlebots event on Treasure Island May 22-28, 2001. There was a quick shot of CTD in the first episode testing the new arena hammers and it’s battle was first shown on 7-24-2001. It has also shown again during the reruns of the series and I expect it will be shown again. Just watch for reruns of Season 3.0 in San Francisco against the BattleRat.
“Crash” brought a lot of new features to the Battlebot sport and was somewhat of a controversial robot. In it’s original form the robot had front/rear airbags which were used as an offensive/defensive weapon as well as an upright device. After all, what respectable crash test dummy would not bring it’s own crash protection?? The airbags were modified to stay inflated after deployment so they would not flop around loose and get tangled. They were meant to push away other bots, flip us upright, and provide a pillow in case the hammers started beating on us. (I wish I had seen the hammer attack the inflated bag! That would have been funny.) We had multiple safety interlocks on the airbags to prevent any accidental deployment. Before fighting we had to pull them off and replace the front/rear panels with lexan. Ultimately the powers that be thought it would be an entanglement device. Go figure?? It’s too bad since they looked so cool when deployed and went perfectly with the robots theme. Before shipping the robot back we re-installed two airbags and video taped them going off. They worked exactly as planned (what a blast). I regret not asking if it would have been OK to pop them outside in the containment area just for the pleasure of the the folks in the pits. After all of our testing the airbags are a lot less scary than some of the other devices that were able to compete in the event.
For future events I am converting the airbags to inflate/deflate with a CO/2 based system.
Update: According to the new rules I should be able to use the airbag itself as long as I use high pressure air or a CO2 based system to inflate the bags. I will be doing testing so I can put them back on CTD for the next event. I also had a chance to calibrate the controller on CTD and now it is considerably faster than it was during the battle on TV. Look for the improved speed and other enhancements for future battles. We plan on being back for Season 5.0 with both robots.
Any ideas that can help will be appreciated. “Crash” wants his protection back!
Team Members TI 2001 event:
Robert L. Doerr (Driver/builder)
Dennis DeDonatis (builder)
Sarah DeDonatis
Gene OldField
Bob Wind
Chris Carr
Crash Test Dummy
Special thanks:
Jack A. Doerr (Construction)
Tom Bee (Welding)
Mike Zainea (Welding)
Martin (Custom Axles)
Sara Flowers (T-Shirt design)
I would like to give everyone involved in the project a HUGE thanks for all the efforts!
Crash Test Dummy Battlebot
Crash Test Dummy – Robot Specifications:
- Two 10″ main drive wheels powered by two 1hp Bosch DC motors.
- Chain gear reduction system (Number 35 chains & sprockets)
- Pillow blocks for support of main axle 5/8″ and reduction axle 1/2″.
- Enough power to squeal the tires.
- Two castors for balance (would run without)
- Two 12v 17ah Gel-Cell batteries
- Vantec controller RDFR38E
- Futaba 8UAPS PCM Radio w/HITEC Spectra Module (On correct 75Mhz surface frequency)
- Season 3.0 – Airtronics VG600 6 channel FM Radio (On correct 75Mhz surface frequency)
- Lights wired up to power and indicators on relay boards to show robot health.
Look for “crash test junior” next season! (In progress……)
Crash Test Junior frame
Crash Test Junior (in progress)
Crash Test Junior (fitting panels)
Crash Test Junior – Robot Specifications:
- Two 8″ main drive wheels powered by two Bosch DC motors (EV Warrior).
- Chain gear reduction system (Number 35 chains & sprockets)
- Pillow blocks for support of main axle 5/8″.
- Two castors for balance (would run without)
- Two 12v 11ah Gel-Cell batteries
- uMOB controller driving two OSMC controllers (see OSMC yahoo group for details)
- Futaba 8UAPS PCM Radio w/HITEC Spectra Module (On correct 75Mhz surface frequency)
- Lights wired up with voice module.
Crash Test Junior
For the events we had some custom shirts and target stickers printed:
Crash Test T-shirt (front)
Crash Test T-shirt (back)
Crash Test Dummy target sticker
Some misc pictures of the Battlebots event:
Crash Test Dummy with Crewbot
- Crash Test Dummy charging before event.