GETTING STARTED IN COMBAT ROBOTICS

Demystifying Combat Robotics.

First, congratulations!  You’re interested in combat robots.  It’s a great sport, it’s not as expensive as golf, it helps teach engineering and design, and you get to see a lot of exciting destruction.  We love it!

But if you’re new, you may be wondering how to even get started?  If you don’t know where to look, it can be hard to find the basics in one place.  Not to worry!  We’re here with a basic, step-by-step, evolutionary plan that will start you with the basics but grow your knowledge and skill at every step.

So here you go:   ItGresa’s step-by-step plan for how to get started in combat robotics.

Level 1.  Build a Kit.

Level 2:  Get Good at Driving.

Level 3:  Attend an Event.

Level 4:  Weaponize your bot.

Level 5:  Learn how to Design.

Not everyone will agree with our philosophy and approach. And that’s fine; use our recommendations as a guide for you to figure out what you want to do.

If you’re just getting started in combat robotics, it can be confusing. There’s a lot to learn:

• What are the major parts and systems that make the robot work?
• How do you drive the robot?
• Connecting and controlling the bot.
• Robot power.
• Assembling the robot.

and much more. As we said, it can be daunting.  When we were first getting started, we hadn’t discovered various groups and resource sites, so I remember looking around at lots of different things, trying to figure it all out.

Kits worked well for us to jump-start our knowledge.  We’re big fans of kits as a way to get started.  You’ll learn quickly how everything fits together, how the electronics work, what are the basic building blocks, and more.  Beginning with a kit makes the entry point much easier, and helps avoid frustration while you’re learning.

Not everyone agrees.  There’s definitely a school of thought in the community that says that you’re better off and will learn more if you design your bot from scratch.  What we found is that there are so many things that need to be figured out, it’s easy to get disheartened or just stuck.  Starting with a kit made everything so much easier and more apparent.  Once we had built our first Viper, we could even talk intelligently on some of the various social media groups and not get shamed for being newbies.

Here are some key recommendations when picking your kit:

WEIGHT CLASS:  We recommend Antweights to get started.  Antweight robots in the US are one pound.  They’re not so small that it’s hard to figure out how to get the bot to work (and still meet the weight limit).  They’re not so large that the weapons are extremely dangerous.  You don’t have to worry about significant power draws with antweights, etc.  Antweights are a great starting point and one of the most common classes of combat bots.

(Wait, what’s a weight class?  The most common are fairyweight: 150g; antweight: 1 lb; and beetleweight: 3 lb.)

VENDOR:  We’re fans of the Fingertech Viper.  These are probably the most common antweight bot,  they’re highly customizable, they’re rugged, and Fingertech is the most often recommended vendor by far.  There’s a reason that we’re a Fingertech vendor!  We’ve had great luck with these bots at meets.  You can find the Viper kit here.

WHAT’S NEEDED:  Every bot needs a few things:

The bot kit itself.  This is a base Viper bot kit.

A transmitter/receiver to control it.  Find those here:

Even though the base Viper comes set up for 9V batteries, we recommend Lithium Polymer (LiPo) batteries because they are more powerful and, well… more convenient.  This means that you also need a charger.  We recommend the 60W or the 50W.  The 50W also requires a power supply and we carry a charging harness for more versatility when it comes to connector types.

We offer the Viper kit, the 60W charger, the transmitter and receiver, and the lipoly battery as a single bundle so you don’t have to fool around buying pieces one by one.  Just git ‘r done, as we say in Georgia, and get the bundle.  It generally has everything you need to get started and it’s all compatible.

If you follow our plan, you’ll most likely end up with what’s called a wedge:  a bot that is angled on one side and flat on the other.   The angle is made to get up under your opponent and either carry them around or flip them over.

Many folks in the robotics community don’t like wedges.  It’s true, wedges don’t produce the dramatic show that weaponized bots do.  But people dislike wedges for another reason:  they can be very successful.  The right kind of wedge can use its pushing power to successfully maneuver other bots into the pit, or to keep pressing the attack until the weaponized bot fails.

If you’re getting started with combat robots, it’s critical to learn to drive and to practice driving.  The controls will be unfamiliar, often even if you are used to RC planes and cars, since the drive is different.

We can’t tell you how many matches we’ve seen won by endurance and good driving.  Often people think that high energy weapons are unbeatable– nothing could be further from the truth.  Weapons can cause a bot to be fragile, as the energy from the weapon gets transferred to the bot itself, instead of the opponent.

So take your wedge and practice.  Set up a course.  Drive the bot forward and backward.  Make lots of turns.  Get to a point where the controls are comfortable in your hand and you can drive your bot without overcontrolling.

Be patient.  Don’t jump into weaponizing right away.  Skill at driving will win many more matches in the long run, and an excellent driver in combination with a powerful weapon can become and unbeatable combo.

Another exercise that’s valuable at this point is to play robot hockey with your new bot.  Find something rectangular that weighs about a pound, mark a target on the ground, and practice pushing or knocking the object into the target with your bot.  A spare Viper chassis works great for that, but you ay not want to spend the money just for a target.  You can just as easily use a block of wood.

The next step of getting started in combat robotics is to attend an event.  You’ve learned what makes a combat robot tick, you’ve gotten good enough to win by advancing your driving skills, and you’re ready to take everything to the next level by attending and competing.

It’s a great experience!   The other builders are almost always helpful.  Not only can you learn a lot of tips, but you know enough at this point to maximize your learning because you’ve got a good set of knowledge already to be able to connect what you learn.