The Combat Zone

Articles from this Column

TIPS FROM THE PITS: Getting Connected

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August 2013, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
The “magic smoke” from burned out motors and electronic speed controllers (ESCs) is inevitable in combat robotics, and getting those parts replaced quickly can make the difference between working your way through the brackets to the finals and an ignominious forfeit and early exit.

Custom Foam Wheels for Combat Robotics

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April 2019, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
Foam wheels offer lots of advantages for combat bots.

How Design Revisions Can Make Your Combat Bot More Competitive

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April 2019, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Design revisions are an integral part of the engineering process.

Vortex — The Shell Spinner Adventure

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February 2019, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
A bunch of trials and struggles building a first bot eventually pays off.

The Bot of Theseus Or “The Sparadox”

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February 2019, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
There are two different schools of thought when it comes to dealing with damage to your bots during competitions.

I Build BattleBots

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February 2019, Page 42 [Digital Edition ]
Girls can be engineers and robot builders too!

BUILD REPORT: Grater Good

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January 2019, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
Starting simple with a first robot build for competing.

Safe(r) Beetleweight Testing: Building a Test Enclosure is Easier than I Thought

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November 2018, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Safety first when testing your combat bots ... no matter what size!

Designing 3D Printed Bodies for Insect Class Combat Robots

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November 2018, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
Winning tips for 3D printing combat robots in the Insect class.

Can a little girl really build fighting robots?

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September 2018, Page 18 [Digital Edition ]
April is 11 years old and has been designing and building heavyweight fighting robots for two years.

When a Community Comes Together

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September 2018, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
The birth of Bugglebots in the U.K.

Fachan: A Dangerous Fairyweight — Part 2: Getting the Parts

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September 2018, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Designing a Fairyweight version of my Beetleweight and Antweight combat robot kits.

Fachan: A Dangerous Fairyweight — Part 1: Design

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July 2018, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Designing a Fairyweight version of my Beetleweight and Antweight combat robot kits.

Motor City Massacre Spring 2018

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July 2018, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Results of the Michigan Combat Robot Organization's first event was Motor City Massacre Spring 2018.

Meet RoboBears: A Collegiate Team Entering the World of Combat Robotics

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July 2018, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
UC Berkeley provides a new platform for students interested in robotics.

Atrocious: The $200 Hobbyweight Part 3: Life, Death, and Rebirth

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March 2018, Page 18 [Digital Edition ]
The final fate of the Hobbyweight, Atrocious.

Extinguisher Takes On Florida’s Best at the Orlando Maker Faire

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March 2018, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
Extinguisher Takes On Florida’s Best at the Orlando Maker Faire.

I Survived!

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March 2018, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
What really happened at the SCRC Kilobots’ 2017 Canadian National Championship.

PCT SWORD Fights

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March 2018, Page 25 [Digital Edition ]
Results of the third ever SWORD (Student Wildcats of Robotic Design) Fights event held at the Pennsylvania College of Technology.

SPARC Getting Started Guide

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February 2018, Page 16 [Digital Edition ]
This guide will help you get started into combat robotics and find your way inside the arena.

Boomzilla

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January 2018, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Without access to a CNC mill or a 3D printer, could we really pull off a three pound pneumatic flipper bot in only three weeks?

GlitterBomb: The Greatest Robot We’ve Never Fought

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January 2018, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
It’s Series 2 of the UK’s Robot Wars and Team GlitterBomb has been asked to evolve their robot and bring something new or improved.

Auckland University Robotics Association Holds Inaugural Competition

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January 2018, Page 23 [Digital Edition ]
Report from the AURA inaugural Beetleweight competition.

More than Fun and Games: Serious Lessons from a Work Party

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January 2018, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
When robots are involved in company parties, there’s a lot more than socializing going on.

House of Robotic Destruction Gets Colossal

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November 2017, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Results from the classic robot battle, “House of Robotic Destruction” (HORD) that the Ohio Robotics Club put on at this year’s ColossalCon.

Bot on a Budget — Finding the Balance Between Quality and Cost

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October 2017, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Prepping for our next iteration of our Beetleweight, Phantom.

InsaniTi: When Overkill is Just Enough — Part 3

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October 2017, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
The design and build process of my Beetleweight, InsaniTi.

InsaniTi: When Overkill is Just Enough — Part 2

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September 2017, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
The design and build process of my Beetleweight, InsaniTi.

Robot Battles 63 at MomoCon

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September 2017, Page 37 [Digital Edition ]
The results are in for this year’s MoMoCon Robot Battles tournament.

InsaniTi: When Overkill is Just Enough — Part 1

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August 2017, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
The design and build process of my Beetleweight, InsaniTi.

Atrocious: The $200 Hobbyweight — Part 2

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August 2017, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
Taking on a challenge presented by Kyle Singer to build a 12 lb Hobbyweight robot.

Warwick Robotics STL Travels to Colorado

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August 2017, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
I knew with the lack of events in the Midwest, someday I would have to travel for a robotics tournament.

A 3 lb Full-Body Spinner

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August 2017, Page 25 [Digital Edition ]
After looking at several designs and weapons, I chose to design a full-body “shell” spinner.

RoboGames 2017: The Rise of Whiplash

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July 2017, Page 17 [Digital Edition ]
With the level of competition in the heavyweight combat class getting tougher, it was time to think outside the box on robot design.

The Conversion of a Robot Skeptic: My First RoboGames

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July 2017, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
There’s a lot more to the hobby of building and fighting combat robots than you might realize.

Choosing a Battery Charger

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July 2017, Page 16 [Digital Edition ]
See how to determine the correct charger for your particular size/type of battery.

Robot Wars, Girls, and Glitter

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June 2017, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
When a nine year old girl designs your combat bot for Robot Wars.

Motorama 2017

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June 2017, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
Get the results of NERC’s 2017 combat event.

Applying for BattleBots

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May 2017, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
Tips for getting your team/robot picked for the popular TV show.

New Year’s Resolution — Part 3

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May 2017, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Description of the design and build of the new steel wedge for Isotelus Rex and how it fared at the Motorama 2017 event.

Atrocious: The $200 Hobbyweight — Part 1

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May 2017, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Taking on a challenge presented by Kyle Singer to build a 12 lb Hobbyweight robot.

Kinetic Combat Art: Building for Beauty

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May 2017, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Making a mini Beta (the 250 pound hammer robot built by Jon Reid, which appeared in season 2 of BattleBots) of my own.

Why Visit Canada ...

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May 2017, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
Competing with Kilobots at their Canadian National Championship.

The Glass Cannon: The Tale of a Newbie’s First Venture into Combat

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April 2017, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
Most bot builders remember their first foray into the sport of robot combat; many with varying degrees of success, but all with some degree of nostalgia and just a little bit of embarrassment.

New Year’s Resolution — Part 2

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April 2017, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
After putting my 12 lb (Hobbyweight) combat bot, Isotelus Rex on a weight loss program to get better results at competitions, it was time to build the new lighter chassis and drivetrain.

New Year’s Resolution — Part 1

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March 2017, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
Putting my 12 lb (Hobbyweight) combat bot, Isotelus Rex on a weight loss program to get better results at competitions.

C. B. Radio: Garage Door Parts in a Garage Bot

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March 2017, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
Repurposing garage door gears to build a combat bot.

From Nothing to Robot in Two and a Half Weeks

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March 2017, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
Here’s how I “threw” a robot together in under three weeks to make a competition

My First Antweight — A Dark and Dirty Disco

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February 2017, Page 18 [Digital Edition ]
Follow the build of the Antweight bot, A Dark and Dirty Disco that started just one month before it was supposed to compete.

An Interview with Ed McCarron

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February 2017, Page 21 [Digital Edition ]
Get to know Ed McCarron from the NERC a little bit better.

Pennsylvania College of Technology SWORD Fights

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February 2017, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
The Pennsylvania College of Technology hosts its first ever SWORD event.

Robot Battles 61 at the Geek Media Expo

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February 2017, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Last year’s event marked the fifth official Robot Battles event held in Music City, featuring the return of Kelly Lockhart as MC, and a much larger arena than in previous years.

Builder Tip: Going to Events

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January 2017, Page 44 [Digital Edition ]
Avoid showing up to your next competition with a handful of items you didn’t bring.

NERC’s Battle on the Parkway: 10 Years of Fighting in Philly

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January 2017, Page 45 [Digital Edition ]
Find out the winners and losers at this 10th anniversary NERC competition.

The Art of the Bot

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January 2017, Page 42 [Digital Edition ]
To robot fans and builders who still have some shred of non-metallic awareness, there is another form of art in our sport.

Low Money 220

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December 2016, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Don’t be afraid to start big in combat robotics! I built this heavyweight using mostly simple tools in my small shop.

Robot Battles 60 at Dragon Con

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December 2016, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
This robot fighting competition continues to grow in size each year, and this time was no exception.

Witch Doctor’s Secret Recipe Revealed!

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November 2016, Page 18 [Digital Edition ]
The secret concoction that brewed up such a vicious and successful BattleBots machine is revealed in this Q&A.

Florida BattleBots Storm Kennedy Space Center

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November 2016, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
Gearheads intersect with rocket nerds to discuss common issues in both camps.

The Evolution of Algos

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November 2016, Page 21 [Digital Edition ]
Now that the very successful one pound Algos robot has retired from combat, get the nitty-gritty details on the design.

Creating the HORD Arena

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October 2016, Page 21 [Digital Edition ]
Details on what it took to construct a new arena for a robot event held at ColossalCon.

The Five Dimensions of Judd’s Law

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October 2016, Page 18 [Digital Edition ]
Details on the Five Dimensions of Judd’s Law written for robot combat event organizers.

Seattle Bot Bash 2016

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September 2016, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Results from Western Allied Robotics (WAR) Seattle Bot Battles 14.

Memoirs of a Traveling Bothead

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September 2016, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
There’s something very special about the giant venue/large robot competitions like BattleBots™ and RoboGames.

Wiring Up a D2

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September 2016, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
Learn how to wire together a D2 combat robot kit.

Denise: A Quick and Easy Fairyweight

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August 2016, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
Building a 150 gram robot for competition.

Thirty Pound Under Cutter “Glasgow Kiss” Post-Event Analysis and Improvements

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August 2016, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
The lifecycle of a combat robot is a never ending process of refinement and innovation.

Motorama 2016 — Teeth and Consequences

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August 2016, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Results from the 2016 SCRC Motorama 2016 combat robot tournament.

THE FUTURE IS BRUSHLESS Using Open Source Drone Firmware for Robot Drivetrains

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August 2016, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
A critical decision in combat robot design is the choice of drivetrain in your battling bot. Here’s why to consider going brushless.

FingerTech Viper Kit

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August 2016, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
The Viper kit from FingerTech Robotics is probably the most beginner friendly way of getting into the combat robot hobby.

Thirty Pound Under Cutter “Glasgow Kiss:” The Design

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February 2016, Page 18 [Digital Edition ]
This three-part series will cover the initial design, build, and post event analysis for future design changes of Team Rolling Thunder’s latest creation — Glasgow Kiss.

Higher Voltages: The iCharger 1010B+

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February 2016, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
For several years now, the voltage limit on most budget hobby RC electronics has been 6S LiPo (22.2V), and that’s been fine in combat -- certainly up to the 12 lb Hobbyweights.

Dragon Con Robot Battles and Robot Micro Battles 2015

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February 2016, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
The action for 2015 started with a special exhibition match between Trey Roski and Greg Munson, the founders of BattleBots.

Small Bot Masters — Charles Guan

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February 2016, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
Charles Guan — One of “The Chosen” — the happy and exalted few selected to bring a robot to the new BattleBots that was televised last year.

BUILD REPORT: Building High Inertia Weapons with Novel Materials

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December 2015, Page 14 [Digital Edition ]
My 12 lb Hobbyweight, Isotelus Rex lost to Attrition in the finals at this year’s Motorama.

Dear Santa: All I Want for Christmas is a Heavy Weight Bot

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December 2015, Page 17 [Digital Edition ]
Ho, ho, hold on a minute, there. People don’t just GET a combat bot. You have to BUILD it, if you want to have any respect among builders.

PARTS IS PARTS: Screws - Keeping It Together

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December 2015, Page 19 [Digital Edition ]
Picking the right screw or bolt can be an important decision you make early in your build. There are several elements to consider when selecting your hardware for a robot.

Tips from the Pros

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November 2015, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
We asked some of the BattleBots' top builders what advice and tips they would give to aspiring bot builders. Here are their answers.

BUILD REPORT BaneBots P60 Repair and a Brushless Upgrade

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November 2015, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
My 12 lb Hobbyweight, Isotelus Rex lost to Attrition in the finals at this year’s Motorama.

PARTS IS PARTS: Product Beta Test: RageBridge 2 from Equals Zero Designs

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November 2015, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
After a very successful first generation, the RageBridge ESC (electronic speed controller) was redesigned to take advantage of some of the knowledge that stemmed from the first generation, in addition to the integration of some very useful features.

Big Power, Little Package: Brushless Motor Drive

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November 2015, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Brushless motors are quickly becoming the standard motor for weapon drive in combat robotics.

PROFILE: He Caught It, and I Don’t Want to Cure It: Robot Fever

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November 2015, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
The most recent season of BattleBots™ has been a real inspiration to many. My son, Dylan, is one of those.

BattleBots™ Gets Tombstoned

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November 2015, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
When entering the BattleBox, if you see the steely eyed gaze and confident smile of Ray Billings staring back at you, you know you're in trouble.

Parts is Parts: More Musings on the Hobbyking CAR-45A and HK-SENS-35A Brushless Reversible Speed Con

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October 2015, Page 18 [Digital Edition ]
In last month’s SERVO, I modified a HobbyKing CAR-45A and tested it to see if it was suitable for use as a weapon ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) for 3 lb Beetleweights.

German Robots Speak A Universal Language: “Love Of Destruction”

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October 2015, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
Robot combat doesn’t just happen in central California where the two most well known events — RoboGames and BattleBots™ — deal out mega doses of mechanical destruction.

EVENT REPORT: Bot Bash Recap

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October 2015, Page 23 [Digital Edition ]
The eighth annual Bot Blast at the Columbia Mall in Bloomsburg, PA was the largest event in the Blast's history, as robot combat enthusiasts from across the nation converged on the small rural Pennsylvania town for a day of friendly competition, camaraderie, and fun.

BUILD REPORT Alternate Building Material: Wooden Robots

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October 2015, Page 16 [Digital Edition ]
Wood you like to know how I built my newest hockey bot? STICK around and I’ll explain the whole thing to you.

BUILD REPORT: A New Weapon for Spanky

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September 2015, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
There are risks inherent in designing a robot to accommodate a modular weapon setup.

Parts is Parts: HobbyKing CAR-45A Brushless Reversible Speed Controller

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September 2015, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
I have been using HobbyKing ([url=http://www.hobbyking.com]http://www.hobbyking.com[/url]) brushless speed controllers in my combat robots since 2007, when I used one in Surgical Strike to take first place in the 12 lb weight class at RoboGames.

BUILD REPORT: Viper Fighter Mark-2a

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September 2015, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
After back to back crushing defeats by Pretzel Robotics' Vile Ant and Low Blow, it became clear I needed a better Antweight robot.

BUILD REPORT: Splatter: The Evolution of a Combat Robot

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September 2015, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
For nearly my whole life, I have been involved in the world of combat robots.

EVENT REPORT: Clash of the Bots 2015

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September 2015, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
Carolina Combat Robots ([url=http://www.carolinacombat.com]http://www.carolinacombat.com[/url]) and the Schiele Museum in Gastonia, NC ([url=http://www.schiele]http://www.schiele[/url] museum.org) held their sixth Clash of the Bots event on June 6, 2015.

Back to Do Battle

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August 2015, Page 16 [Digital Edition ]
If you’re reading this magazine, you’ve probably spent hours watching BattleBots episodes full of mayhem and destruction.

Building Better Bots: The Weak Link

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August 2015, Page 18 [Digital Edition ]
In building any robotic system, every part of the system must be tuned to provide the maximum possible reliability and performance.

BUILD REPORT: The Build of Ash and Its First Event

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August 2015, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
Ash was intended initially to be an improved version of the UK Beetleweight, RPM, although somewhere through the design process, my friend (the infinitely better than myself, Harry Hills) suggested I go for a four wheel drive vertical spinner.

EVENT REPORT: Freeside Robot Street Fight 2015

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August 2015, Page 23 [Digital Edition ]
Afew years ago, the original Insect arena used for DragonCon Robot Micro Battles was retired and a new arena was built.

Small Bot Masters

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July 2015, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
The places I fight bots have four weight classes: 30, 12, 3, and 1 pound. I am especially fond of the 1 lb.

BUILD REPORT Renewing Old Iron

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July 2015, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Ibuilt my first robot back in 2001. It was an Antweight (one pound) robot called 3-letter-word. After I finished the Ant, I decided to start on a simpler project and built my heavyweight (220 pound) robot named 4-letter-word.

BUILD REPORT Battle Hardening the Inside of Your Bot

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July 2015, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
With robot combat, often the first things you’ll think about are the big parts — typically, the armor, weapon, and drive system.

BattleBots is Back. Now What Do I Do?

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July 2015, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
This article is meant to help ease you into the sport with some tips, clues, and warnings.

Building Better Bots: The Power of the Watt Meter

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July 2015, Page 23 [Digital Edition ]
So, you’ve mastered the calipers (even if you can’t quite seem to keep it turned off), figured out how to use the voltage and continuity dials on the digital multimeter, and are pretty sure you have the scale figured out (except for that awkward triple beam balance thing).

Skill Building — Drive Better

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June 2015, Page 19 [Digital Edition ]
Robot combat is a sport with extreme design diversity. You’ll see spinners, flippers, axes, crushers, pushers, and a range of other things constantly pushing the limits of what’s safe and what’s legal to run at an event.

Quality Versus Quantity — Or, Why One Axle is Sometimes Better Than Two

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June 2015, Page 21 [Digital Edition ]
The drums on my Saifu kits have worked pretty well, but when they lose it’s usually been the same problem: bent axles.

Opinion: Why Combat Robots?

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May 2015, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
For a third of my life, I've been a competitor and champion in the world of combat robotics.

PRODUCT REVIEW: FingerTech Robotics’ Viper Kit with Lifter Add-on

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May 2015, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
FingerTech Robotics has offered a "Viper" robot kit for quite a few years, but for a long time it was not really a great starter combat bot if you wanted something that would be competitive. It worked well enough, but without some extensive modifications it was difficult to turn it into a competitive combat robot.

EVENT REPORT: Motorama 2015 — Ice, Snow, and Beetles ... Lots of Beetles

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May 2015, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Winter was doing its best again to make life tougher on the East coast, but fortunately it did not have the same effect at Motorama (organized by NERC; [url=http://www.nerc.us]http://www.nerc.us[/url]) as it had last year when only two-thirds of the competitors made it.

The Influence of Combat Robot Kits

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May 2015, Page 16 [Digital Edition ]
If you go to any robot combat event, you are bound to see at least one robot that comes from a kit.

Small Bot Masters — Dale Heatherington

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May 2015, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
The pits at a DragonCon Robot Battles are full up with builder’s cruft and last-minute assembly frenzy.

A Brave New World

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May 2015, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
This particular article chronicles my first leap into an all-custom competitive Beetleweight robot: El Destructo.

SPARC: Reigniting Robot Combat?

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April 2015, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
In April 2003, I was eight years old when I attended my first robot combat event as a driver.

EVENT REPORT: masSACre Dethrones 15 Pound Powerhouse, OverLoad

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April 2015, Page 25 [Digital Edition ]
The NTMA Training Centers Robotics League (TCRL) kicked off 2015 with a bang.

Small Bot Masters — Mike Jeffries

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April 2015, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
Imet Mike Jeffries in 2011. This new guy shows up at DragonCon with some serious hardware: a sweet 1 lb and a 12 lb that looked like it could stop a bullet.

EVENT REPORT: The Evolution of Slim Pickens

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March 2015, Page 25 [Digital Edition ]
In the February issue of SERVO Magazine, I talked about my first event and the creation of my first robot, Slim Pickens. This article will talk about how Slim Pickens has changed over the years, and what I’ve learned along the way.

PARTS IS PARTS: Product Review: AndyMark 7075 Aluminum Sprockets

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March 2015, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
AndyMark ([url=http://www.andymark.com]http://www.andymark.com[/url]) primarily focuses on providing components for the US FIRST Robotics Competition.

A Veteran Builder Experiments with Brushless Drives

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March 2015, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
Hal Rucker has lots of experience building combat bots using brushed motors. Over his 13 years in the sport, he’s built two super heavyweights, two heavyweights, and two lightweights.

Testing a Theory ...

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March 2015, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
It was just after Motorama 2014 that I bought a weapon disc that had been designed for use on the lethal 30 lb vertical spinner, Shaka.

The eBay Antweight Motor

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February 2015, Page 18 [Digital Edition ]
Gear motors from eBay are often appealing because of their price point, but lack a lot of detailed specifications.

PARTS IS PARTS: Today’s Beetle

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February 2015, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
Every few years, the Combat Zone surveys the builder community to help keep current with the state-of-the-art in destructive bot technology.

EVENT REPORT: My First Event: A Personal Narrative

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February 2015, Page 21 [Digital Edition ]
Whenever I go to events, I love to chat with the other builders about their experiences.

EVENT REPORT: Franklin Institute 2014

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January 2015, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
Coverage of the Franklin Institute 2014 event.

BUILD REPORT: Slade

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January 2015, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
Slade - A 3D printed SL-anted bl-ADE robot.

BUILD REPORT: Nyx v2 Part 3: Weapons

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January 2015, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
With the base of the machine done and working as desired, it was time to start on the weapon modules.

BUILD REPORT: Nyx v2 Part 2: Platform

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December 2014, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
With the design portion of the build completed, the next big step in the build is to fabricate the major structural components and build the drive platform.

BUILD REPORT: Scary! Scary! SCARY!

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December 2014, Page 25 [Digital Edition ]
I have employed pretty much the same design for three pound robots since around 2002.

PRODUCT REVIEW: Team Tiki Gearmotors Beta Tested

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December 2014, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
When Micah from Team Tiki fame was searching for someone going to an upcoming event to test out his new gearmotors, I knew I had the perfect storm.

PRODUCT REVIEW: FingerTech Robotics TinyESC v2.4

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November 2014, Page 39 [Digital Edition ]
TinyESC speed controllers have typically been the ESC (electronic speed controller) of choice for the drives of many Ant and Beetleweight combat robots.

Buzz Dawson: Rockets to Robots

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November 2014, Page 40 [Digital Edition ]
In September, the world of combat robotics lost a founding member, Brett "Buzz" Dawson. Buzz was an integral part of the creation of our sport, as well as one of our media rock stars. The SERVO family is greatly saddened by his loss, and wanted to share some of our favorite stories.

BUILD REPORT: Using Actobotics in Combat Robots

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November 2014, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
Recently, I had the opportunity to try out some of the new Actobotics products from ServoCity.com.

BUILD REPORT: Nyx v2 Part 1: Design

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November 2014, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Nyx was originally built in early 2012 and first competed at Motorama in February of that same year.

EVENT REPORT: Putting on the Bots

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November 2014, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
For me, DragonCon is not a huge science fiction convention filled with panels, viewings, exhibits, parades, games, and elaborate cosplay that combine to contribute an enormous burden to the already crowded streets of Labor Day Atlanta and an equally weighty contribution to the bank accounts of the five main participating hotels.

EVENT REPORT: DragonCon Robot Micro Battles 2014

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November 2014, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Robot Battles 50 took place over Labor Day weekend during DragonCon in Atlanta, GA.

EVENT REPORT: DragonCon Robot Battles 2014

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November 2014, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
On Monday, the 12 and 30 pound machines competed in a Sumo style competition for Robot Battles 50.

PRODUCT REVIEW: Chaos Hubs

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November 2014, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
The 1.5" and 2" wide Colson wheels have been popular in the 30 lb+ weight classes in combat robotics for many years, but builders often had to make their own hubs to mate the large bore of the Colsons with the standard 1/2" keyed shafts that come on drive gearmotors like Banebots P60s.

EVENT REPORT: Clash of the Bots 2014

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October 2014, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
Clash of the Bots 2014 took place in Gastonia, NC at the Schiele Museum on July 19th. This was the fifth Clash of the Bots event and the eighth overall event put on by Carolina Combat Robots.

EVENT REPORT: Bot Blast

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October 2014, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Three weight classes, 35 robots, and one 10x10 arena took center stage at Bot Blast 2014 at the Columbia Mall in Bloomsburg, PA on Saturday, July 13.

BUILD REPORT: The Weta Equation

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October 2014, Page 18 [Digital Edition ]
Weta, god of ugly things — my 3 lb Beetle weight — has always had a different beater bar than the kit bots for which it was the prototype.

BUILD REPORT: Bleuhh Cheese

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September 2014, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
My first attempt at a Fairyweight combat robot had been a failure when I built it to meet an imaginary 250 g weight limit, rather than the actual 150 g limit.

Robot Battles Turns 24!

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September 2014, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Robot Battles™ is the second oldest robotic combat competition in the world, and is a direct descendant of the oldest event — the Critter Crunch every year at MileHiCon in Denver, CO.

EVENT REPORT: Pennbots Downtown Dogfight 2014

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August 2014, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
Back in March of this year, 22 robots gathered at Harrisburg University in Harrisburg, PA to participate in Pennbots' annual Downtown Dogfight competition.

BUILD REPORT: A Wider Bite

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August 2014, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Afew months ago, I was making a batch of drums for my Saifu Ant kits when I received an order for a wider drum for a customer who was building his own chassis.

BUILD REPORT: Printing Cheese

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July 2014, Page 41 [Digital Edition ]
The 3D printing phenomenon had more or less passed me by. I had learned to use one at the TechShop in Raleigh, NC, but that wonderful resource closed days after my course and I never got a chance to use their machines.

BUILD REPORT: Crop Circle

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July 2014, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
It’s probably a sign someone has been doing this too long when — upon sifting through ye olde junk box and coming across two needle bearings, a shaft, a piece of mild steel, and a brushless motor — the only thing that comes to mind is combining the steel with the shaft, inserting it into the bearings, hooking up the brushless, and wondering what’s got the cat so worked up.

EVENT REPORT: I was a Team’s Toadie

By

July 2014, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
The event was streamed live at [url=http://www.twitch.tv/robotrevo]http://www.twitch.tv/robotrevo[/url]. (You can go back and watch all the fights, as well as all the in-between stuff.)

BUILD REPORT: Dolos: A Trip into the Used Bot Lot

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July 2014, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Dolos began its existence in 2008 under the name Test Bot 4.5 SP1, and was originally built by Charles Guan.

BUILD REPORT: Team Toad Validates the Lifting Wedge at the STEM Tech Olympiad 2014

By

July 2014, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
Ever since Peter Abrahamson described the sport of robot combat as Rochambeau (spinner, flipper, wedge), the challenge has been to build a robot that could do two things well.

Getting Started: Before You Build Your First Bot

By

July 2014, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Maybe you’ve seen video on the Internet, event reports here in SERVO, actually been to an event, or remember when robot combat was on TV.

The Evolution of Attitude

By

May 2014, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
My venture into the three pound Beetleweight class began in 2009 when I was in the eighth grade.

BUILD REPORT: Isotelus Rex — Part 4: The Sprint to the Finish Line

By

May 2014, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
In Part 3 of this series, I had received most of the parts and started work on the chassis. Is this part, I will put together the drive motors, complete the rest of the parts, and assemble the bot. I was on a tight deadline as there was only four weeks to go before the bot’s first event ...

BUILD REPORT: Spanky Part 2: Modular Weapon Systems

By

May 2014, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
With the drive platform done and almost eight pounds to spare, there was a lot of room for the weapon systems.

BUILD REPORT: Spanky Part 1: A Combat Robot Platform

By

April 2014, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Spanky is the newest robotic member of Near Chaos Robotics. Spanky was designed with two events in mind: DragonCon Robot Battles — an open platform Sumo style event; and the Sportsman class at Motorama — an event with a full arena.

Pushing Power: How Strong is Strong Enough?

By

April 2014, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
This month, we address the other variable: torque. In terms of robot combat, torque is our fancy word for pushing power.

BUILD REPORT: New Builders, Beware!

By

April 2014, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Here are some tips to avoid some common pitfalls at your first competition.

BUILDING TIPS: Balancing a Weapon Bar

By

April 2014, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
A simple guide for balancing weapon bars.

2014 STEM Tech Olympiad

By

March 2014, Page 37 [Digital Edition ]
We are thrilled to announce the 2014 STEM Tech Olympiad! The event will take place at the Miami Beach Convention Center in South Florida on May 4-6.

PRODUCT REVIEW: Making Tracks

By

March 2014, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
Pololu produces an interesting set of components that allow you to have caterpillar type tracks on your small 250 g to 1 lb combat bots.

EVENT REPORT: Thunderdome

By

March 2014, Page 40 [Digital Edition ]
Thunderdome is a new event to South Florida aiming to give builders a venue to compete multiple times a year. Spectators can learn from competitors and come back with a robot of their own.

BUILD REPORT: Isotelus Rex — Part 3

By

March 2014, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, I showed how I designed my new 12 lb combat robot, and then revised the design so that it would meet the weight restrictions.

Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew Part 2: Designing an Asymmetric Weapon

By

March 2014, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Last month, we discussed the design and performance compromises that accompany the use of an asymmetric weapon. If you decide that this design is right for your robot, the next step is to start concocting your weapon.

Old School Lathes

By

March 2014, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
This is not your typical product review. I’m not going to tell you about a brand new product, a cutting edge piece of technology, or a product that will revolutionize the way we all work. I’m not even reviewing a single product. Instead, I am going to look at the subject of old lathes and why you should buy one.

EVENT REPORT: The Adventures of Scary and Angry Bot

By

January 2014, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Last month, I did a brief report about how my two sons and I built their first "real" combat robots — "Angry Bot" and "Scary." This month, I want to discuss how they did in their matches. You may be a bit surprised by the result.

PARTS IS PARTS: Product Review: FingerTech Robotics tinyMixer

By

January 2014, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
FingerTech Robotics has recently developed and produced a new channel mixer for use on robots in all weight classes.

THEN AND NOW: A Decade Later with Alexander Rose

By

January 2014, Page 44 [Digital Edition ]
This is the next installment in our series of articles about famous figures from a decade ago. 2002 ended the popular Comedy Central series, BattleBots™.

EVENT REPORT: Franklin 2013 — Fall Fun in Philly

By

January 2014, Page 39 [Digital Edition ]
The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia (www2.fi.edu) hosted its 7th annual robotic combat event on September 21, 2013. The Institute provides the venue arena and N.E.R.C. ([url=http://www.nerc.us]http://www.nerc.us[/url]) organizes the event.

SPECIAL REPORT: Bot Builder’s Buyer’s Guide

By

December 2013, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
Just in time for Christmas shopping, regular contributor Mike Jeffries has assembled a buyer's guide of three vital components for small sized bots.

Building Builders

By

December 2013, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
This article is a mini build report from my perspective of getting the bots and boys ready for their first event with their own "real" combots at Battle at Maker Faire, which took place on October 5th at the Orlando Mini Maker Faire.

EVENT REPORT: DragonCon Robot Battles 2013

By

November 2013, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Robot Battles 47 took place over Labor Day weekend during DragonCon in Atlanta, GA. At DragonCon, Robot Battles consists of two independent events.

EVENT REPORT: DragonCon Robot Micro Battles 2013

By

November 2013, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
Here’s how the smaller bots fared at Robot Battles this year. Thirteen Antweights and 15 Beetleweights competed in the Micro Battles event. Both classes had a diverse selection of machines competing for the win.

THEN AND NOW: Carlo Bertocchini

By

November 2013, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
When it comes to the glory days of televised robot combat, few competitors can beat Carlo Bertocchini's record.

SPECIAL REPORT: Judge Dave’s Guide to Winning

By

November 2013, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
These words of wisdom are direct from robot master Dave Calkins. Ignore them at your peril.

BUILD REPORT: The Quest for a Dif ferent Kind of Flipper: Building the Beast

By

October 2013, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
In a recent issue of SERVO, I wrote about scaling up my successful six pound Mantisweight class flipper Threecoil into a 30 pound Sportsman class robot.

National Robotics League Begins Their 6th Year of Combat Competition

By

October 2013, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
The National Robotics League (NRL) 2013 Championships held in Indianapolis this last May, featured 48 robots built by nearly 200 students from 25 schools across the US.

EVENT REPORT: Robot HORDs Return to The Gate

By

October 2013, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
Eleven teams brought a total of five 150 gram Fleaweights, 11 one pound Antweights, and six three pound Beetleweights to compete in three brutal double elimination tournaments.

Robot Combat Gets Savage at HORD 2013

By

October 2013, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Young up and comer, 12 year old Chad Savage from Edinburg Twp., OH took third place in the Ant class at the 2013 HORD (House of Robotic Destruction) tournament held in Brunswick, OH.

THEN and NOW: A Decade Later With Richard Stuplich

By

September 2013, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
Richard Stuplich first came to the public’s attention in the final two seasons of BattleBots. His super heavyweight, New Cruelty, was eight wheels and 220 pounds of rock solid battering ram.

BUILD REPORT: Tanto

By

September 2013, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
For the last 16 years, I have been building and competing in robot combat. You name it, I’ve probably built it — from walkers to brick bots to full power flippers to hydraulic crushers in almost all weight divisions.

PRODUCT REVIEW: Botbitz 30A ESCs

By

September 2013, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
The Banebots BB-12-45 was for many years the most commonly used speed controller in the 12 lb Hobbyweight class of combat robot.

Orangutan Drives Fleaweight

By

September 2013, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
One of the challenges when designing a Fleaweight (150 g) robot is finding lightweight components that allow you to squeeze the most out of the limited weight allowance.

BUILDER’S TIPS: You Can’t Take It With You: What Tools To Bring

By

August 2013, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
I won't be talking about tools that are particularly specialized. If your machine needs any specific equipment for basic maintenance and repairs, those take priority. The following sections will cover tools that are almost universally useful in the pits during an event.

EVENT REPORT: Robots Battle at the County Fair

By

August 2013, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
The Miami-Dade County Fair & Expo brings thrilling rides and mouth-watering food to South Florida each year.

PRODUCT REVIEW: Snap Hubs

By

August 2013, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Kitbots and FingerTech Robotics have joined forces to develop a new range of hubs for smaller bots.

PRODUCT REVIEW: HobbyKing HK4B6 Charger

By

July 2013, Page 39 [Digital Edition ]
It is convenient to have all four batteries on one charger, and it takes up less space in the pits. It’s also a little cheaper than having four separate chargers, but it could also mean that if it fails you may lose all four at once.

RESOURCE REVIEW: MFG.com

By

July 2013, Page 40 [Digital Edition ]
What MFG.com does is provide a location for users to post quote requests for custom fabrication. Once you've posted a quote request, shops from your specified search region (US, North America, Global, or specific national and international locations) will then be able to see your quote request and bid on it.

BUILD REPORT: The Quest for a Dif ferent Kind of Flipper: Making the Machine

By

July 2013, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
This month, I will discuss the fabrication of some of the parts that made up the flipper assembly in Threecoil.

EVENT REPORT: RoboGames 2013

By

July 2013, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
RoboGames — the largest robotic event in the world (according to Guinness World Records!) — returned to the San Mateo, CA Exposition Center April 19th through 21st.

Then and Now: A Decade Later With Jim Smentowski

By

July 2013, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
Jim Smentowski is the builder of one of the legendary bots in our sport: Nightmare.

EVENT REPORT: FIRST Orlando Regionals

By

June 2013, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
A New Set of Heroes Emerges

BUILD REPORT: The Quest for a Different Kind of Flipper

By

June 2013, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Improving the Trigger.

Then and Now: A Decade Later With Brian Nave

By

June 2013, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
Last month, the Combat Zone started a new series about the “big names” of our sport during the glory years of television coverage. Now, 10 years after the demise of that major coverage, we tracked down some of the most famous names from that era to gain their perspective after robot combat underwent a drastic change in direction.

TIPS FROM THE PITS: Speeding Up a Motor Change

By

June 2013, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
Half the battle in combat robotics is having your bot repaired completely in time for the next fight. This is the first of a series of short articles detailing some ways to make that just a little bit easier.

EVENT REPORT: Motorama 2013

By

May 2013, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Just this February, the Northeast Robotics Club ([url=http://www.nerc.us]http://www.nerc.us[/url]) hosted the 11th annual combat event at the 2013 Motorama motorsports extravaganza and custom car show ([url=http://www.motorama]http://www.motorama[/url] events.com) in Harrisburg, PA.

BUILD REPORT: The Quest for a Different Kind of Flipper: Inspiration and Early Attempts

By

May 2013, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
I have been building fighting robots for several years, and starting in 2009 I managed to build a 12 pound robot named Scurrie that won several competitions in a row. After some time, I was also successful with a 30 pound shell spinner named Tetanus.

Then and Now — A Decade Later With Christian Carlberg

May 2013, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Last year, the Combat Zone published a series of articles covering the history of the sport by recovering the undocumented, nearly lost information about each of our sport’s major events — past and present. Now, 10 years after the demise of major television coverage, we tracked down some of the most famous names from that era to gain their perspective on what some see as “the glory days” of the sport. Our first victim is competitor and host of “The Builder’s Corner” from the BattleBots™ series.

BUILD REPORT: Mini Bot Hockey Bots — Part 3

By

April 2013, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
In Part 2 of this series, I discussed how I made the chassis and drive train. In this part, I will show you how I wired the bots and set up the transmitter and receiver.

Is This the Future of Combat Robotics?

By

April 2013, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
There have been whisperings and rumors of a revolutionary new drive system for over a year now, but details have been hard to come by until our photographer got a picture at a recent late night test session in a barn in rural Pennsylvania. Our contact (who wished to remain anonymous) could give us only a few details of what she called “hoverbots.”

PARTS IS PARTS: Product Review: FingerTech Robotics Power Switch

By

April 2013, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
For as long as I can remember, there hasn’t been a power switch designed for the 150 g to 3 lb combat robot classes that is readily available.

EVENT REPORT: GCRS 11 — Robots, Birthday Cake, and Off-Road Trucks!

By

April 2013, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
GCRS 11 continues its series of events hosted by Jim Smentowski, owner of The Robot Marketplace. The events give Florida Insectweight robot builders a chance to get together for a day of robot battles with some new competitors, as well as to continue some long-fought rivalries!

BUILD REPORT: Mini Bot Hockey Bots — Part 2

By

March 2013, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
In Part 1 of this series, I covered the design of a new mini bot.

PARTS IS PARTS: Product Review: OrangeRx T-SIX 2.4 GHz Transmitter

By

March 2013, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
The OrangeRx range of 2.4 GHz spread spectrum DSM2 receivers (available from HobbyKing) has proved to be very useful in combat robotics over the last couple of years as they provide a cheaper alternative to the Spektrum receivers required by the popular DX6e and DX6i transmitters.

Building a Large Scrolling Display — Part 2

By

March 2013, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Buoyed up by my success in getting one panel to work, I decided to add a second panel to increase the impact of the display and to make it a little easier to read.

PARTS IS PARTS: Prototype Testing: FingerTech Robotics Mini-Spark

By

February 2013, Page 41 [Digital Edition ]
In the 150 g weight class, there are only a few options for drive systems.

Building a Large Scrolling Display

By

February 2013, Page 43 [Digital Edition ]
Ioften attend shows where I’m either demonstrating combat robots and bot hockey, or as a sponsor providing prizes of Kitbots products. In order to inform the public about the event or the products, I have several banners to hang up on the walls, plus I also hand out business cards and information sheets when I have the time. It would be useful, however, to have a more eye-catching and informative way of passing on the information.

BUILD REPORT: Keres: 150 g Fighting Robot

By

February 2013, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Keres was built to test some prototype Mini-Spark gearboxes from FingerTech Robotics.

BUILD REPORT: Mini Bot Hockey Bots — Part 1

By

February 2013, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
Playing bot hockey is great fun, and it’s a big hit with the crowds at events. I have my own full team of 15 lb class bots.

EVENT REPORT: PennBots — The Second Annual Battle at Yellow Breeches

By

February 2013, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
PennBots — the Robot Club of Pennsylvania — hosted their Second Annual Fall Fling on November 17, 2012 at the Yellow Breeches Middle School in Boiling Springs, PA.

PARTS IS PARTS: Product Beta Test: RageBridge from Equals Zero Designs

By

February 2013, Page 39 [Digital Edition ]
Iwas lucky enough to get a chance recently to test the new RageBridge dual channel brushed DC motor controller from Equals Zero Designs (e0designs.com).

EVENT REPORT: Seattle Bot Brawl

By

January 2013, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
October in Seattle brought cool temperatures, wind, and rain outside. However, inside the Seattle Center Armory, the competition was heating up at the 2012 Seattle Bot Brawl.

Mecha-Mayhem Moves to Cleveland

By

January 2013, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
The fall of 2012 posed a challenge for the members and supporters of the Chicago Robotic Combat Association (CRCA).

Happy New Year from the Combat Zone

By

December 2012, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Grit your teeth, readers. It's what you've come to expect in December issues of magazines — the dreaded year-end retrospective.

Building the Atlanta Insect Arena

By

December 2012, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
Every year at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA, they host two robot combat events. On Sunday, it’s Robot Micro Battles, with one and three pound robots facing off.

The History of Robot Combat: Robot Combat in Brazil

By

December 2012, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
In recent years, robot combat has expanded to have a large international following. Countries all over the world have adapted the sport in unique ways.

BUILD REPORT: Finding a Happy Balance

By

December 2012, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Today's Beetles and Ants have drums and beater bars that can spin in excess of 20,000 rpm.

BUILD REPORT: Algos: Who Needs MOI When You’ve Got Angular Velocity?

By

November 2012, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
After competing for a year with a two-wheel drive wedge named Kobalos, I decided to retire that robot and move on to something with an active weapon.

PARTS IS PARTS: MicroLux Miter/ Cut-off Saw Review

November 2012, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
REVIEW: MicroLux Miter/Cut-Off Saw

BotBlast Turns Five

By

November 2012, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
Top fighting robot enthusiasts converged on Columbia Mall in Bloomsburg, PA, on Saturday, July 21, 2012 to celebrate the fifth anniversary of BotBlast.

BUILD REPORT: Testing the Prototype: Klazo — My 1 lb Drumbot From Kitbots.com

By

October 2012, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Irecently built and tested one of the prototype 1 lb drumbot kits from Kitbots.com as part of the development process, prior to the kit moving to production.

Clash of the Bots 3

By

October 2012, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Motorama Carolina Combat Robotics hosted its third Clash of the Bots on July 14 at the Schiele Museum of Natural History.

The History of Robot Combat: Robot Battles at Dragon*Con

By

October 2012, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
Robot Battles at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA is one of the oldest robot combat events.

BUILD REPORT: Siafu: An Army of Ants — Part 4

By

September 2012, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
In this final part of my Army of Ants series, I will describe how I made the drum for Siafu and completed the rest of the bot build.

PEOPLE OF BOTS: Meet the Robot Riot Teams

By

August 2012, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
The first annual Robot Riot attracted 38 robots to Miami Beach from Puerto Rico, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Competitors ranged from 13-60 years of age, including five teams that fought their first robot at this event.

PEOPLE OF BOTS: PAGE 76 Did Jim Smentowski Pass the Torch?

By

August 2012, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
The SFL Robot Riot is an open Insect class fighting robot event conducted in conjunction with the STEM Tech Olympiad 2012 at the Miami Convention Center.

BUILD REPORT: Siafu: An Army of Ants — Part 3

By

August 2012, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
In this part, I will show how the parts were manufactured, provide a list of the other parts used, and how they went together to make a drivable chassis.

Bring Back the Pogs

By

August 2012, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
I've been involved in combat robotics for a number of years as both a competitor and an event organizer. One of the things I really enjoy about the sport is the variety of mementos created by the innovative minds of robot enthusiasts.

PEOPLE OF BOTS: Puerto Rican Pride at the South Florida Robot Riot

By

August 2012, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Puerto Rican pride was in the house at the South Florida (SFL) Robot Riot as students in grades 7-12 from the Central Visual Arts School in San Juan, Puerto Rico made their presence known through both their music and fighting robot skills.

BUILD REPORT: Horses for Courses

By

July 2012, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Combat robotics is — in many ways — a game of Rock-Paper- Scissors. If everything else is equal, a brick will beat a spinner; a flipper will beat a brick; and a spinner will beat a flipper.

BUILD REPORT: Siafu: an Army of Ants — Part 2

By

July 2012, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
In Part 2, I will detail the design of the drive motor mounts, the hubs and wheels, the drum and its mountings, and the design of the front wedge profile.

The History of Robot Combat: RoboGames

By

July 2012, Page 45 [Digital Edition ]
After the ending of BattleBots in 2003, a void was left in the world of robot combat competitions.

EVENT REPORT: Gulf Coast Robot Sports Completes its 10th Event

By

June 2012, Page 42 [Digital Edition ]
January 2012 marked the 10th South Florida Insectweight combat event from Gulf Coast Robot Sports (GCRS).

BUILD REPORT: Siafu and the Army of Ants — Part 1

By

June 2012, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
I decided my first serious Ant would be a drum bot.

EVENT REPORT: Happy 10th Birthday for Motorama – Motorama 2012

By

June 2012, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
This February 17th–19th, the Northeast Robotics Club ([url=http://www.nerc.us]http://www.nerc.us[/url]) hosted the 10th annual combat event at the Motorama Motorsports Extravaganza and Custom Car Show in Harrisburg, PA.

INTERVIEW: Tool City Robobots Leverages Combat for Learning

By

June 2012, Page 45 [Digital Edition ]
For the past six years, middle and high school students from across Crawford County, PA have been building ever-increasing powerful 15 pound combat robots to compete in the annual Tool City Robobots competition hosted by the Crawford County School District and National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA) of North West Pennsylvania.

The History of Robot Combat: Rise of the Insects — Part 2

By

June 2012, Page 48 [Digital Edition ]
Beetleweights, although a few years younger than their Antweight counterparts, have risen to major prominence in the robot combat world. Weighing in at three pounds they have long been popular with new and veteran builders alike.

A Decade of Robot Fighting

By

June 2012, Page 49 [Digital Edition ]
The box is locked, the lights are on ... it’s robot fighting time!

EVENT REPORT: Havoc at Harrisburg University — The 2nd Annual Downtown Dogfight

By

June 2012, Page 37 [Digital Edition ]
Robotic enthusiasts with brainy and brawny bots converged on Harrisburg University in March to compete in multiple events at the 2nd Annual Downtown Dogfight.

Product Review: Spektrum DX5e 2.4 GHz Transmitter

By

May 2012, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
The 2.4 GHz spread spectrum transmitters and receivers have transformed the R/C market.

TGIF at Motorama

By

May 2012, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
President’s Day weekend in Harrisburg, PA means only one thing: Motorama!

PARTS IS PARTS: Product Review

By

May 2012, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Product Review: Turnigy Simplex 1 - 4 Cell LiPo/ LiFe AC/DC Charger.

The History of Robot Combat: The Rise of the Insects — Part 1

By

April 2012, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
For most of robot combat’s history, the mantra was “the bigger, the better." However, in the years immediately following the cancelling of BattleBots, the spirit of the sport changed to become even more grassroots and inclusive to new builders. Enter the Insect weight classes.

BUILD REPORT: Nyx, Sportsman, and Dragon*Con 30 lb Bot — Part 2

By

April 2012, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
With a fresh pile of parts and Motorama just over a month away, I got a quick jump on assembling Nyx.

BUILD REPORT: Shaka v.3 — Part 1:

By

March 2012, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Design Goals and Methodology

PARTS IS PARTS: Making Wheels Round

By

March 2012, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
There are a decent number of ready to use wheels available today for robots of all sizes, and one of the most popular for small robots is the Lite Flite foam wheel. They’re cheap, tough, and come in a wide range of sizes.

The History of Robot Combat: Life After BattleBots

By

March 2012, Page 39 [Digital Edition ]
After the cancellation of Comedy Central’s BattleBots in late 2002, many in the building world felt lost.

BUILD REPORT: Nyx, Sportsman, and Dragon*Con 30 lb Bot — Part 1

By

March 2012, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
During the summer, I built a second Antweight for my teammate to drive, and we took all but Moros, my 30 lb bar spinner, to Dragon*Con Robot Battles.

BUILD REPORT: Antweight

By

March 2012, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Motor City Massacre

EVENT REPORT: PennBots – The Battle at Yellow Breeches

By

February 2012, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
PennBots — the Robot Club of Pennsylvania — hosted their Fall Fling on November 19, 2011 at the Yellow Breeches Middle School in Boiling Springs, PA.

The History of Robot Combat: BattleBots

By

February 2012, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
For years, robot combat in the United States was a niche sport reserved for relatively small groups of builders. In this installment, we examine the transformation of the sport into a nationwide phenomenon.

EVENT REPORT: “Beware the Hobby that Eats” (Benjamin Franklin): Franklin Institute 2011

By

February 2012, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA (www2.fi.edu) was host to the Northeast Robotics Club’s ([url=http://www.nerc.us]http://www.nerc.us[/url]) 5th Autumn Event last year on October 15th.

MANUFACTURING: Shop Review: Westar Mfg. – The Team Whyachi Bot Shop

By

January 2012, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
I often get asked where I get my machining done, and unless I’ve done it myself, my answer is always teamwhyachi.com.

BUILD REPORT: Rollin’ With the Punches

By

January 2012, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
Win or lose, the best combat robots always put on a show. That means no drive system failures unless your robot is in pieces. Bigger bots can achieve this through redundancy: four motors, four speed controllers, etc.

PARTS IS PARTS: HobbyKing R610 and R410 2.4 GHz Receivers

By

January 2012, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Ifound out recently that there are very few DSM2 receivers with programmable failsafes available when I decided to replace the Spektrum BR6000 receivers I had been using with a DSM2.

EVENT REPORT: Mecha-Mayhem The Rumble in Rosemont

By

January 2012, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Fighting robot enthusiasts from Miami to Michigan and their 47 insect class fighting robots journeyed to the Chicago suburb of Rosement, IL to do battle in the 5th Annual Mecha-Mayhem fighting robot competition

The History of Robot Combat: From Humble Beginnings to Multinational Sensation

By

January 2012, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Long before the glitz and glamour of Comedy Central’s BattleBots™ brought mass appeal to the sport, robot combat had much humbler beginnings.

PRETZEL ROBOTICS — ROOKIE POWERHOUSE

By

December 2011, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
September 2010. An unknown father-son robot team arrives unannounced and unexpected at their first competition (HORD 2010) with their new Antweight robot, Low Blow.

DRILL BABY, DRILL. OR, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

By

December 2011, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
For about a decade or more, it has been possible to get cheap cordless drills from Harbor Freight ([url=http://www.harborfreight.com]http://www.harborfreight.com[/url]).

EVENT REPORT: ORC Storms “The Gate”

By

December 2011, Page 37 [Digital Edition ]
2011 was a difficult year for the Ohio Robotics Club (ORC).

PARTS IS PARTS: Kitbots Nutstrip

By

December 2011, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Nutstrip is a product Kitbots uses in several of their kits to allow easy assembly and reduce machining costs on the chassis components.

MANUFACTURING: Designing for Waterjet

By

December 2011, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
When designing a robot, often the focus is on the weapon system or how much power you can cram into the drive system.

BUILD REPORT: Rebuilding Apollyon, Again

By

November 2011, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Since the last build report was written, Apollyon has competed at Motorama. Apollyon took terminal damage there while achieving a 3-2 record, and yet again needed a complete rebuild.

PARTS IS PARTS: Fine-Tuning a Brushless Electronic Speed Controller

By

November 2011, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
My 12 lb Hobbyweight bar spinner Surgical Strike had a problem at the last couple of events...

FEATURE: So, You Want to Cut Metal on Your Table Saw?

By

November 2011, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Like many bot builders, I started out as a woodworker. So, I have a shop full of woodworking tools and, now, a serious bot building jones.

End Of The Alkalines

By

October 2011, Page 41 [Digital Edition ]
Iwrote an article about programming cheap 2.4 GHz HK-T6A transmitters that appeared in the January’11 issue of SERVO. In that, I commented on how it’s probably a good idea to convert from the standard AA alkaline batteries to rechargeable batteries.

EVENT REPORT: Clash of the Bots 2 by Pete Smith

By

October 2011, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
The Schiele Museum ([url=http://www.schielemuseum.org]http://www.schielemuseum.org[/url]) in Gastonia, NC held their second “Clash of the Bots” open day on Saturday, July 23rd.

EVENT REPORT: BOTBLAST Rocks Columbia Mall

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October 2011, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
The Columbia Mall in Bloomsburg, PA, hosted the fourth annual BotBlast competition on July 16th.

BUILD REPORT: Trilobite — a Tough Beetleweight Brick/Wedge

By

October 2011, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Ihave long held the opinion that a good wedge/brick is the best type of bot for most beginners in the sport.

BUILD REPORT: A Team Building Exercise

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October 2011, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
My Kitbots bot hockey team “Team Scotch Pies” had competed in one event and taken part in a couple of demonstrations, but the bots were retasked for a summer camp and were less than ideal.

PARTS IS PARTS: Fingertech ‘Silver Spark’ Gearmotor Review

By

October 2011, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
Fingertech Robotics’ first line of Insect-sized gearmotors — the Gold Sparks — were originally released in 2009 as a drop-in replacement for the commonly used Banebots 16 mm models.

PARTS IS PARTS: Susie’s Saga Continues – The Beginner’s Guide to Motors

By

October 2011, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
In the last issue of SERVO, we introduced you to Susie — a young girl trying to begin a career in combat robotics.

EVENT REPORT: 2011 NRL National Championships

By

September 2011, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
It was may 21, 2011. In an airplane hanger at the edge of the Indianapolis International Airport, I could hear crashes, clanks, and the hum of tools being used.

BUILD REPORT: The Great Outdoors: Combat Robots vs. Mother Nature

By

September 2011, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Robots fight. We all know this, and it is why we read this section of the magazine. However, where, and when

PARTS IS PARTS: Gear Terminology Meshes With Little Susie by Morgan Berry

By

September 2011, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
Every builder — even the most seasoned veterans — have experienced more than one “Oh no, what have I gotten myself into?” moment when working on a bot.

EVENT REPORT: National Robotics League Championship

By

August 2011, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Twenty-nine robots built by 91 students from 14 schools battled for national recognition in two days of intense competition at the National Tooling and Machining Association’s (NTMA) 2011 National Robotics League (NRL) Championships held May 21-22 at Vincennes University’s Aviation Technology Center in Indianapolis, IN.

EVENT REPORT: Mid-American Melee

By

August 2011, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
The Mid-American Melee — the first event hosted by the student chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) at Washington University in St. Louis — was a smashing success.

BUILD REPORT: Building a Better Beatle Beater Bar — Part 2

By

August 2011, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
This month, I will show how to create the axle, drive pulley, and flanges.

BUILD REPORT: Another Brick in the Wall — Building Rudy

By

August 2011, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
In mid 2009, I built the most recent version of my Ant brick, Gilbert.

EVENT REPORT: Lunabotics Competition

By

August 2011, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Lunabotics is a NASA sponsored competition for college students to design a robot that could be used for lunar mining.

Dust in the Wheels

By

August 2011, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
With apologies to the band, Kansas: Dust in the wheels ... All they see is dust in the wheels.

In Front of the Cameras at RoboGames

By

August 2011, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
This year, we competed at RoboGames with our heavyweight, Gruff.

MANUFACTURING: The Roboticist’s Guide to Plastic

By

July 2011, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Plastic has become an integral part of our society. It holds our food, is found in our automobiles, and is even on and in our bodies. It also makes a great building material for robotics.

BUILD REPORT: Building a Better Beatle Beater Bar – Part 1

By

July 2011, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
A higher rotational speed gives a bigger hit but it also reduces the bite.

EVENT REPORT: Robot Rumble

By

July 2011, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
The Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC held its fourth annual “Robot Rumble” on Saturday April 16, 2011.

BUILD REPORT: Moros — A 30 lb Angled Bar Spinner

By

June 2011, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Moros is the third generation of my angled bar spinners. Ruiner was the original, and was built for RoboGames 2006 where it finished with a 1-2 record after having the antenna removed in the second match, which resulted in a forfeit in the third match.

POTPOURRI 3.0

By

June 2011, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
This month's theme: Kids Building Combat Bots Become Better Kids.

The Reality of TV

By

June 2011, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
An Opinion Piece by Pete Smith

EVENT REPORT: Motorama 2011

By

May 2011, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
Each February, the Northeast Robotics Club ([url=http://www.nerc.us]http://www.nerc.us[/url]) hosts their biggest competition of the year as part of the Motorama motorsports extravaganza and custom car show ([url=http://www.motoramaevents.com]http://www.motoramaevents.com[/url]) in Harrisburg, PA.

BUILD REPORT: Kobalos — Antweight Wedge/Rammer

By

May 2011, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Kobalos is a miniaturization of my 12 lb robot, Apollyon. The basic idea was to build something that would be as close to indestructible as possible.

PARTS IS PARTS: Holmes Hobby TorqueMaster BR-XL

By

May 2011, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
When designing the latest versions of my 12 lb wedge and 30 lb bar spinner, I decided to look for an alternative to my relatively large and heavy Victor 883 speed controllers.

BUILD REPORT: Apollyon 2

By

April 2011, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
Concept to Creation.

VIDEO REVIEW: Bots High

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April 2011, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
Joey Daoud, a BotsIQ veteran and film school graduate, has produced a documentary about the sport. SERVO was given the opportunity to do a pre-release screening. We enlisted a journalist of similar age and background to review this interesting video.

So You Want to Fight Robots?

By

April 2011, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Turning Your Destructive Instincts into a Socially Acceptable Hobby

EVENT REPORT: 2011 Chattanooga Robot Battles

By

April 2011, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
The 2011 Chattanooga Robot Battles event was held on Saturday, January 22nd at the Chattacon Sci-Fi convention in Chattanooga, TN.

BUILD REPORT: Building Combat Arenas: A Guide to Staying Safe

By

March 2011, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Combat robots are dangerous; we can all agree about that.

RioBotz Combot Tutorial Summarized: Brushless DC Motors

By

March 2011, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
Original Text by Professor Marco Antonio Meggiolaro; Summarized by Kevin M. Berry

MANUFACTURING: Hobbyweight Weapon Blade and Hub

By

March 2011, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Hobbyweight Weapon Blade and Hub

PARTS IS PARTS: Mtroniks Viper

By

March 2011, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Mtroniks Viper

MANUFACTURING: Closed Loop Lifter Solutions

By

February 2011, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
Ihave worked with embedded microcontrollers for many years. So, when I began building combat robots in 2001, I was tempted to automate something.

Potpourri

By

February 2011, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Lithium-Ion vs. Lithium-Polymer

PARTS IS PARTS: DeWalt Drill Motor Mounting Solution

By

February 2011, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
The 18 volt DeWalt drill is used by many robots in the 30 pound and up category.

Affordable 2.4 GHz

By

January 2011, Page 23 [Digital Edition ]
The principal radio frequency for many years in USA combat robotics was 75 MHz PCM.

RioBotz Combot Tutorial Summarized – DC Motors

By

January 2011, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Editor’s note: Professor Marco Antonio Meggiolaro, of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has translated his popular book, the RioBotz Combot Tutorial, into English.

Hello Bradley – Why Gambling Doesn’t Pay

By

January 2011, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Editor’s note: One thing the general public might not know about combat bot-ka-teers is they have a terrific sense of humor. The nature of the sport also makes them very “accountable.” In this episode of “Kids, please don’t gamble,” Bradley learns an important life lesson!

PARTS IS PARTS: Identifying Unknown Brushed DC Motors

By

January 2011, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
This month’s column is blatantly stolen (Editor’s note: “researched,” not stolen!) from Professor Marco Antonio Meggiolaro’s popular book, the RioBotz Combot Tutorial.

The Safe Use of Lithium Polymer or Lithium-Ion Batteries in a Combat Robot

By

January 2011, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
I recently got back from COMBOTS 5 where I was the arena wrangler. Basically, my job was to provide safety and also train several new wranglers in the procedures used in running an event. A wrangler’s job is not an easy one.

EVENT REPORT: Full Metal Carnage 2 Pushes Robot Combat Over the Edge

By

January 2011, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
The Queensland Robotics Sports Club teamed up with The Edge to present two full days of remote controlled carnage on November 27th and 28th.

EVENT REPORT: Franklin Institute 2010 – Rise of the Melty Brains!

By

December 2010, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
The Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia and NERC ([url=http://www.nerc.us]http://www.nerc.us[/url]) presented their fourth annual robot event on Saturday, October 9, ‘10.

MANUFACTURING: Calculating Bolt Torques

By

December 2010, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
Sparks fly as the two robots smash into each other again. Sweat drips down your forehead as you prepare for another charge across the arena.

PARTS IS PARTS: Fingertech Tiny ESC v2 Review

By

December 2010, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Just a few weeks back, Fingertech Robotics released the upgraded version of their popular TinyESC single channel speed controller. I was one of the first to have a chance to try out this new piece of hardware in the arena, and my experience so far has been nothing but positive.

Potpourri

By

December 2010, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
That’s right, botheads, I used the word “potpourri” in an article title! Just like a fighting machine, I have a soft vulnerable inside also. Get over it, okay?

MANUFACTURING: RioBotz Combot Tutorial Summarized – Tooth Design

By

November 2010, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
Original Text by Professor Marco Antonio Meggiolaro; Summarized by Kevin M. Berry

EVENT REPORT: Clash of the Bots — Schiele Museum 2010

By

November 2010, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
Walk in the front door of the Schiele Museum ([url=http://www.schielemuseum.org]http://www.schielemuseum.org[/url]) in Gastonia, NC and the first thing you see is a full size replica of the skeleton of a T-Rex!

PARTS IS PARTS: TAIG Tools Desktop CNC Mills

By

November 2010, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
On the ever interesting Robot Fighting League forum, I ran across this spontaneous product review. It meets my criteria for this column, which is “builder tested.” I am a firm believer that all product reviews should be after they’ve been “in the box."

COMBAT ZONE’S GREATEST HITS

By

October 2010, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Pete Smith, of KitBots fame, sent in this one from the recent “Clash of the Bots” event. Pure Dead Brilliant, whose blade was featured in the August ‘10 edition of Combat Zone, took a bit of a beating at the “hands” of MH2.

PARTS IS PARTS: O-Ring Wheels for Ants

By

October 2010, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
Antweight (<1lb) combat robots use a variety of different drive motors and finding small, light, and robust wheels for them can be a problem.

BUILD REPORT: Zergling

By

October 2010, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Back in February, I decided that I was going to build drums for the PA Bot Blast, Horizontals for Franklin, and VDs for Moto.

Life Cycle of a Fighting Robot

By

October 2010, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Apollyon started as a concept for a simple but somewhat unique 12 lb wedge bot. The original design started as a sketch in a notebook during class. Later, it moved into 3D in the CAD program Rhinoceros.

EVENT REPORT: PA Bot Blast 2010

By

October 2010, Page 41 [Digital Edition ]
July 17, 2010 fighting robots in four weight classes invaded the Columbia Mall in Bloomsburg, PA for the third annual PA Bot Blast.

MANUFACTURING: Composites – Part 2

By

October 2010, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
In this month’s article, I will cover a very basic lay-up process, the tools you need, and the safety precautions to take.

EVENT REPORT: Robotic HORD Returns to Cuyahoga Valley Career Center

By

October 2010, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
The Ohio Robotics Club (ORC) — a member of the Robot Fighting League (RFL) hosted the House of Robotic Destruction (HORD) Spring 2010 at Cuyahoga Valley Career Center (CVCC) back in May of this year.

MANUFACTURING: Creating Composite Combat Bots

By

September 2010, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
The world of plastics and composites is considered a space age science, yet the industry started in the 1930s. Over the years, the composite industry has evolved and so has the amount of information.

PARTS IS PARTS: Let’s Roll — Wheels for Combat Robots

By

September 2010, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
It does not matter how powerful your robot is, if you cannot transfer that power to the floor. Wheels are the single most important part of your robot because without them doing their job properly, the effectiveness of every other capability is reduced.

Combat Zone’s Greatest Hits

By

September 2010, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
Dalton O’Conner of Team Massacre Robotics sent in this one. The bot is Sonic the Hedgehog from the 12 lb class.

BUILD REPORT: Bigger Better Beetle Blade

By

August 2010, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
The first blade I had created for our 3 lb beetleweight, Pure Dead Brilliant, had been done in a big hurry to meet weight for its first competition.

PARTS IS PARTS: Bantam E-Station BC8HP Charger Review

By

August 2010, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
The BC8HP charger is an update to Bantam’s already popular BC8 model. In short, Bantam has kept all the good features, increased the power rating, and improved the ergonomics.

MANUFACTURING: Modifying NPC Drive Motors for Combat

By

August 2010, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
National Power Chair (or NPC) has been in business for many years, rebuilding and selling electric wheelchair motors and parts to individuals and wheelchair repair facilities throughout the country.

Combat Zone’s Greatest Hits

By

August 2010, Page 38 [Digital Edition ]
Ray Billings sent in this great selection of damage shots. All of these are results of fights against his HW Last Rites.

EVENT REPORT: Power Play! Robot Rumble 2010

By

July 2010, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
The Museum of Life and Science, in Durham, NC, hosts this one day event each spring. Last year, three local teams got together to put on a “show and tell” about combat robotics as part of the museum’s much bigger robotthemed event.

BUILD REPORT: A Reintroduction to Wedges

By

July 2010, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
In mid 2007, I began the construction of Gilbert — MH Robotics’ first antweight.

RioBotz ComBot Tutorial Summarized: HammerBots

By

July 2010, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Professor Marco Antonio Meggiolaro, of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has translated his popular book — the RioBotz Combot Tutorial — into English.

COMBAT ZONE’s Greatest Hits

By

July 2010, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
This month, once again, only one builder submitted to Greatest Hits. Come on, bot fighters! There are tons of events going on, and gourmet damage abounds!

MANUFACTURING: Tentacle Calculator Rehosted by Killerbotics

By

June 2010, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
The combat robotics community was deeply saddened by the passing of Steve Judd last year. Steve was an icon in the sport, and left behind a lasting legacy in many areas.

Combat Zone’s Greatest Hits

By

June 2010, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
This month, only one builder submitted to Greatest Hits. Going by the mystery handle “kkeerroo,” this Australian fighter highlights his bot — “Vendetta” — competing at RoboWars 7 in a semi-final fight against a spinner call Bender.

PARTS IS PARTS: Data Points: Fine-Tune Your Bot’s Performance

By

June 2010, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Knowing exactly how well your bot performs in a particular configuration would be very useful ... like, exactly how fast is the blade turning? What current is the weapon motor drawing at start-up and at cruise? How much does the battery voltage sag at full power?

EVENT REPORT: 2010 Central Illinois Bot Brawl

By

June 2010, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
On March 6, 2010 robots invaded Peoria, IL as the Central Illinois Robotics Club (CIRC) hosted their annual Bot Brawl event. This year’s event was the club’s largest yet with eight separate competitions, as well as Mech Warfare demonstrations.

Open Melt — Generous Sharing or a Threat to Society as We Know it?

By

June 2010, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
The author — in a blatant attempt to up his word count and thus his income — summarizes material he’s already sold to SERVO once ...

Dual-Dif ferential RPM Sensing or a Melty Brain/Translational Drift Robot

By

June 2010, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
While there are many ways to tell your Melty bot’s microcontroller how fast it’s spinning, an on-board accelerometer is a particularly compact solution that can be built right onto the control board.

PARTS IS PARTS: Kitbots Rolls Out B-16 Gearmotor Mounts

By

May 2010, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Ihave a pretty solid policy that this column only promotes parts that are thoroughly “combat tested” by the fighting community. This month, I’m bending that policy.

Combat Zone’s Greatest Hits

By

May 2010, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
Last month’s debut of this new feature generated a lot of buzz — or should we say crash!

MANUFACTURING: DIY CNC for CAD/CAM

By

May 2010, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
For those unfamiliar with CNC routers, I am building a three axis machine, meaning it can move in three different directions: backwards and forwards (the Y axis); side to side (the X axis); and up and down (the Z axis).

RioBotz Combot Tutorial: LaunchBots

By

May 2010, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
Original Text by Professor Marco Antonio Meggiolaro, Summarized by Kevin Berry

Motorama 2010

By

May 2010, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
February 19-21, 84 killer robots gathered in Harrisburg, PA to delight hundreds of motor sports fans with their metal crushing mayhem in the North East Robotic Club’s (NERC) Robot Conflict 2010.

Combat Zone’s Greatest Hits

By

April 2010, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
This month, CZ is experimenting with a new feature. We all know that creating bots is a fulfilling mental exercise, building them is satisfying craftsmanship, and going to events is great for bonding with your buds. But let’s face it — it’s about the destruction!

Crossfire — From Broken Robot to Breaking Robots

By

April 2010, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
A veteran of televised robotic combat, the heavyweight robot “Edgehog” was still on frontline service when it entered the 2008 UK live event season.

Keeping Your Stuff Together

By

April 2010, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Since screws were invented over 2,000 years ago, mankind has struggled to keep them from coming undone. In the past 100 years, many advances have been made, yet screws still loosen and no single solution works universally.

FingerTech Robotics’ Spark Motor Series

By

April 2010, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
FingerTech Robotics ([url=http://www.fingertechrobotics.com]http://www.fingertechrobotics.com[/url]) has a new line of motors.

How Not to Die. I Mean, Build a Test Box

By

April 2010, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
You’ve just finished putting the finishing touches on your new insect class combat robot. You’ve spent the last three hours tirelessly wiring, soldering, grinding, tapping, cutting, and wrenching on your bot.

Hot Stuff Heats Up ComBots Cup!

By

March 2010, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
In my opinion, the only thing more fun to watch than two robots fighting it out in a bulletproof arena is watching two robots with a lot of animation battle it out.

Pattern Routing of Plastic Parts

By

March 2010, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
The easy way to do these parts is to have them watercut by a company like Team Whyachi ([url=http://www.teamwhyachi.com]http://www.teamwhyachi.com[/url]), but if you need parts quickly and your time is cheap, then with a little careful design you can route the same parts using just a router and a pattern.

Pattern Routing of Plastic Parts

By

March 2010, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
The easy way to do these parts is to have them watercut by a company like Team Whyachi ([url=http://www.teamwhyachi.com]http://www.teamwhyachi.com[/url]), but if you need parts quickly and your time is cheap, then with a little careful design you can route the same parts using just a router and a pattern.

The ComBots Cup 2009

By

March 2010, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Over the weekend of December 19-20, 2009, the ComBots Cup event was held in San Mateo, CA where combat robots ranging from one pound up to 220 pounds competed for honor and glory.

Lipo Puffometer

By

March 2010, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
Lithium polymer batteries are increasingly popular in robots. In combat bots, they are often abused to the point of failure with expensive and dangerous results.

Outside the Box

By

March 2010, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
Project Zoidberg was conceived when a motor delivery for one of our other robots arrived at my teammate’s house, containing a surprising ‘extra’ component. The sender had accidentally packed a pair of Team Delta18V Dewalt ‘power drive’ gear motors. These powerful, drill-based units looked too nice to send back, so a deal was arranged.

3pd

By

February 2010, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
3pd has competed in: Robot Club & Grill (RCG)-301; Motorama 2003; RCG-303; RCG-304; RCG-305; 12 Lbs of Pain; Robot Assault 2003; House of NERC 2003; Motorama 2004; Pound of Pain 7; Robot Assault 2004; House of NERC 04; Motorama 2005; Robotic Revolution — New Orleans; House of NERC 05; 2005 RFL Nationals; and Motorama 2006.

Hobby Guide to Metal Lathe Work: Part 1

By

February 2010, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
First and foremost is lathe safety. You are working around very fast rotational parts with high torque. Please be aware of your surroundings, and remove all jewelry, long sleeves, and anything hanging that could stand a chance to get caught up in rotational parts.

Hole Drilling Redux

By

February 2010, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
Back in the November ‘09 issue, I ended the Hole Drilling story with a reference to sharpening drills. I have now purchased a Drill Doctor 750 sharpener and the results are surprising and worth sharing.

Mayhem in Miami

By

February 2010, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
At Mayhem in Miami, it wasn’t without a bang that Fluffy earned the name Flamin’ Fluffy, and made the South Florida robotics event be true to its name.

Modular Design In Combat Robotics

By

November 2009, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
In combat robotics, modular design can be a safe approach to dealing with both damage and changing circumstances in the arena.

Hole Drilling How-To

By

November 2009, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
In this short fact sheet, we’ll cover the most important terms and techniques for trouble-free hole drilling. Hang this up by your drill press for a quick go-to guide.

Increasing The Speed And Power Of A Combat Robot

By

November 2009, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
I wrote an article for the November ‘06 issue of SERVO describing how to convert a cheap cordless drill into a drive motor for a smaller robot.

RoboCore Winter Challenge 2009

By

November 2009, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
The fifth edition of the RoboCore Winter Challenge 2009 ([url=http://www.robocore.net]http://www.robocore.net[/url]) took place on July 25-26, in the city of Amparo (Sao Paulo state, Brazil), with about 80 robots and 230 builders.

Gutter Monkey

By

November 2009, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
Gutter Monkey has competed in: Seattle Bot Battles 4, Robothon Robot Combat 2006, Seattle Bot Battle 5, NW Hobby Show 2, RoboGames 2007, Robothon Robot Combat 2007, Robothon Robot Combat 2008, Dos Ratas Muertos, NW Model Hobby Expo 2009, and Seattle Bot Battle 7.

Shaka

By

October 2009, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
In late 2007, I began the design and construction of my first combat robot over three pounds: a 30 pound featherweight.

RioBotz Combot Tutorial summarized - Materials: Part 2

By

October 2009, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
Last month, SERVO summarized the first part of Chapter 3 — “Materials” — focusing on commonly used metals in combat bot building. This month, we switch focus to non-metals.

Coloring Titanium

By

October 2009, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
A curiosity about titanium is that its surface can be colored without paints or pigments; just using Coke (or Pepsi) in a technique called electrolysis or anodizing.

Thoughts of a New EO

By

October 2009, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
So, you’ve been building robots for a while and now you want to put on an event. Sounds easy enough, in theory.

Professor Chaos

By

October 2009, Page 36 [Digital Edition ]
Professor Chaos has competed in: RoboGames 2008 and RoboGames 2009.

Your Robot Assignment Is Due

By

September 2009, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
You never really think of robot building and school work as similar, but you may be surprised. Consider this: Homework is given and the due date is established; a competition task is given and the competition date is listed. You the builder are like the student; wanting to do well but a victim to the evils of circumstance.

RioBotz Combat Tutorial: Materials

By

September 2009, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Original Text by Professor Marco Antonio Meggiolaro; Summarized by Kevin M. Berry

Bay Area Robot Flights

By

September 2009, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
MetroCon is an Anime Convention that is held annually in Tampa, FL. This was the seventh annual year that MetroCon has been held, and it is the largest Anime Festival in the state of Florida.

The Big B

By

September 2009, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
The Big B has competed in: BattleBots 4.0, BattleBots 5.0, Steel Conflict 2, RoboGames 2005, February Fun Fest, RoboGames 2006, ComBots Cup II, RoboGames 2007, ComBots Cup III, RoboGames 2008, ComBots Texas Cup, and RoboGames 2009.

Wheels For Drills

By

September 2009, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
Iwrote an article for the November ‘06 issue of SERVO that outlined how to convert the motors and gearboxes from cheap cordless drills for use as the drivetrain in smaller combat robots.

Top Tips For Taps: Part 2

By

August 2009, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
In Part 1 (SERVO May ‘09) of this guide, we examined the theory of cutting threads and the different types of taps. This month, it’s time to get practical and learn some tricks and techniques for tapping!

Mr. Self Destruct

By

August 2009, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
Mr. Self Destruct is a complete overhaul of my first large combat robot: a 60 lb angled bar spinner that fought at RoboGames in 2006.

Mounting Weapons: Blades and Pullys

By

August 2009, Page 25 [Digital Edition ]
Alot of builders dream of creating a bot with an active weapon but are put off by the apparent complexity. How do you attach a blade to the axle?

Ohio Robot Club Holds 9th HORD Event

By

August 2009, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
Thirty insect weight robots clashed at the 9th House of Robotic Destruction (HORD) hosted by the Ohio Robotics Club (ORC) — a member of the Robot Fighting League (RFL) — and Cuyahoga Valley Career Center (CVCC) in Cleveland, OH in May.

Today’s Beetle – Tomorrow’s Champion?

July 2009, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
Choosing the “value” options lowers the cost quite a bit, with the Value Beetle costing about half the Ultimate.

RioBotz Combot Tutorial - Part 2

By

July 2009, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
The iNDi 16x4 Pro Charge has both 110V AC and 12V DC inlets so that you can use it both indoors with the lincord provided or outdoors with the separate 12V leads.

Original Sin

By

July 2009, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Original Sin has competed in the following events: RoboGames 2006, 2007, & 2008, ComBots Cup I & II, and Combots Texas Cup.

BattleBots Returns!

By

July 2009, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
During April 21-26, about 64 bots brought their owners to Vellejo, CA for the much anticipated return of BattleBots to the public stage.

Ideas Festival, Australia

By

July 2009, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
The Ideas Festival is a government sponsered "future thinking" event held in Brisbane, Australia every three years.

A Color To Dye For

By

July 2009, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
UHMW (Ultra High Molecular Weight) polyethylene is an increasingly popular plastic for use in robotics in general, and combat robotics in particular.

RioBotz Combot Tutorial

By

June 2009, Page 25 [Digital Edition ]
SERVO Magazine, as a service to the building community, is summarizing the tutorial in a series of articles beginning with part of Chapter 2, “Design Fundamentals.”

Banebots P60 1:16 Gearbox Review

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June 2009, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
My P60 gearboxes have arrived and so far, they look very promising. The overall machining quality is vastly improved when compared to the Chinese produced versions.

The Intro Ant

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June 2009, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
Thanks to Travis Schmidt, Dan Wiseman, Donald Sung, and Dennis Beck who provided information for this article.

Black Death

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June 2009, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
Black Death has competed in: Motorama 2007, Motorama 2008, Motorama 2009.

DragonCon to MegaCon

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May 2009, Page 25 [Digital Edition ]
RobotBattle, long a staple at Atlanta's Dragon*Con, recently held an event at Orlando's MegaCon.

Gulf Coast Robot Sports

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May 2009, Page 25 [Digital Edition ]
Hobby Marketplace, in Bradenton, on the Gulf Coast of Florida was the venue for a small but entusiastic crowd of bot fighters.

Ultimate Ant

May 2009, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Due to circumstances beyond my control (plus a bit of laziness), I’ve been out of building insects for about four years.

Top Tips for Taps

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May 2009, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
In this two part series, you will learn all the theory and practical tips you need to cut perfect threads and make stronger parts for frames, weapons, and general winningness!

Cheap Power

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May 2009, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Power packs can be expensive, but if you build your robot from cordless drills you have two battery packs complete with chargers left over. Use them to power your bot.

Custom Colson Wheel Hubs

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April 2009, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
It is very important to make sure your motors are mounted as firmly as your wheels are.

2009 Chattanooga Robot Battles

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April 2009, Page 25 [Digital Edition ]
The 2009 Chattanooga Robot Battles were held on Saturday, January 24th at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn.

Upheaval

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April 2009, Page 29 [Digital Edition ]
Upheaval has competed in: Franklin, Institute Robot Weekend, Motorama 2008, Franklin Institute Robot Conflict, Motorama 2007, and House of NERC 2006.

T6 - Evolution of a Full Body Spinner

April 2009, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
The most distinctive and defining feature of a ring spinner is also the biggest challenge to get to work effectively: how to support the ring so that it would spin freely, and transmit power to get it spinning?

Flipper Calculators Turn “Cut and Try” (nearly) into Science

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March 2009, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
Irecently ran across a couple of very well written websites that show how to design pneumatic flippers.

Cheap Speed

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March 2009, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
You can control your robot with a simple relay H-bridge that gives you just three settings: off, full forward, and full reverse. These controls — sometimes called “bang bang” for the way they drive your machine — are cheap and easy to make.

Attaching Wheels to Your Robot’s Drill Motors

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March 2009, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Here, I will show you a simple way to make press fit hubs to mount Colson wheels to your drills.

Ziggy

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March 2009, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
Ziggy has competed at RoboGames 2008, RoboGames 2007, RoboGames 2006, Battle Beach 4, Game Developers Conference 2006, February Fun Fest 2006, ComBots Cup I, RoboGames 2005, and MMER.

Robotic Competition, Southern Style

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March 2009, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
There have been many articles and books written over the years trying to untangle the murky pre-history of robotic combat in the United States.

Building a Better Battery System

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February 2009, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
My 12 pound combat robot Scurrie was designed to use two battery packs that werre physically and electrically separate from each other.

Creative Armor: Sandwiching with Shock Mounts

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February 2009, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
When building a combat robot, one of the first problems you encounter is how to protect it.

Screwdrivers: Straight Up

February 2009, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
This month, we are reviewing two cordless screwdrivers from Bosch.

Halloween Robot Terrior

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February 2009, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
long! As soon as the doors are unlocked at 10:00 AM, the evil known as the Halloween Robot Terror and Bot Costume contest will be unleashed on the world … BWUHAHAHAH !!!!

Roaming Robots UK Winter Tour Final - 2008

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February 2009, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
The competition that began in Portsmouth and moved north to Nottingham finished back on the south coast in Maidstone in front of capacity audiences, with 1,200 people attending two shows.

Tourinho

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February 2009, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Tourinho has competed at RoboGames 2007, Winter Challenge 3 ENECA - Recife, 7 ENECA - Recife, and Winter Challenge 4 ENECA - Recife.

Roaming Robots Winter Tour

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January 2009, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
The Roaming Robots winter tour made a late but exuberant start in Portsmouth. As usual, there were three weekend events over October and November, and three cities with each well advertised event attracting a paying crowd for two or three shows.

Combat Texas Cup At Maker Faire Austin

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January 2009, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Saturday October 18, 2008, 10:30 am and a 10 year old boy leans over the railing near the pits. “When does the fighting start?” he yells down to me. “Noon,” I shout back, “but you’ll probably want to get here a little earlier because the good seats should go fast.”

Devils Plunger

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January 2009, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Devil’s Plunger has competed at Steel Conflict 2, Steel Conflict 4, Triangle Series Nationals, RobOlympics 2004, Southwest Division Championships, NPC Charity Open, 2004 RFL Nationals, WBX Premier, RoboGames 2005, Battle Beach 3, Robotic Revolution, 2005 RFL Nationals, RoboGames 2006, Game Developers Conference, and the 2005 February Fun Fest.

A123 Battery Packs

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January 2009, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
Batteries are one of — if not the most — important parts of a combat robot. They are what run the robots and bring them to life.

Laying Out Your Work Area

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December 2008, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
When it comes to entering combat or otherwise known robotics the easiest thing a builder can do to help themselves get prepared is to work out their layout.

2.4 GHz Radio Fail-safes

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December 2008, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
Robotic combat is a dangerous sport in its very nature, and if participating, one must accept the safety risks that are all too often present in the sport.

Robothon Robot Combat 2008

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December 2008, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
It was the fifth Robothon event for Western Allied Robotics at the heavily trafficked Seattle Center’s Center House. Large crowds circulating throughout the day were entertained by three and 12 pound fighting robots.

Micro Drive

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December 2008, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Micro Drive has competed at Marin Ant Wars 5, RoboGames 2006, SRJC Day Under The Oaks 2006, Marin Ant Wars VI, Halloween Robot Terror 2006, Smackdown in Sactown III, RoboGames 2007, SRJC Day Under The Oaks 2007, RoboGames 2008, and SRJC Day Under The Oaks 2008.

Cloud of Suspicion

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December 2008, Page 20 [Digital Edition ]
The wedge is one of the oldest and most successful types of combat robots. The effectiveness of a simple ramp with good drive power has yet to be matched by any other robot design.

Robot Battles 2008

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November 2008, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
What’s the second longestrunning robotic combat competition ever? It’s neither BattleBots nor Robot Wars.

Even More Things to Consider When Building a Fighting Robot

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November 2008, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
In previous issues of SERVO, I’ve talked about weapon and drive systems in robot combat. There are a lot of important things to consider that don’t fit under either of those umbrellas but still merit consideration when building your bot.

Chain Length Calculator and Chain Path Visualizer

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November 2008, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
An endless source of information on bot building is the RFL forum on Delphi Forums ([url=http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1598]http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1598[/url]).

30 Pound Combat Robot - Mitch

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November 2008, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Frequently at events, I am inundated with questions on how to get started in combat robotics. I’m always honored by the requests, and enjoy the enthusiasm that potentially new builders bring to the sport.

A Brief History of WAR

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November 2008, Page 35 [Digital Edition ]
WAR has much of what you expect — flying shrapnel, destruction, winners and losers, but unlike real war, Western Allied Robotics competitions are always good natured fun.

Limblifter

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November 2008, Page 34 [Digital Edition ]
Limblifter has competed at Kilobots X, WBX-IV, Kilobots XI, and WBX-3.

Combat Robot Drive Systems

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October 2008, Page 24 [Digital Edition ]
There are many ways to move your robot around the arena floor. From the simplistic two wheel drive robot to the precision crafted complexity of a true walking robot, there are always different methods of movement to consider.

Savage - Part 1

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October 2008, Page 22 [Digital Edition ]
When building a robot for someone else, I always listen to their design brief, put together a concept, and build to that design.

Electronize Speed Controllers

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October 2008, Page 31 [Digital Edition ]
When first venturing into combat robot building, I, like most, began with RC car speed controllers. It quickly became apparent that even the most highly rated controllers were not robust enough to handle the power demands of the 30 lb class.

Building Battery Packs Fit for Combat

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October 2008, Page 27 [Digital Edition ]
In the early days of combat robotics, builders were often forced to assemble their own battery packs if they wanted something robust that would tolerate conditions filled with shock, vibration, heavy G-loads, and constant flexing all while operating at very high temperatures.

Roaming Robots Goes to Qatar

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October 2008, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
John Findlay — head honcho of the United Kingdom’s Roaming Robots — was commissioned to do a show in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar. He graciously provided details and photos to Combat Zone for this article.

K2

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October 2008, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
K2 has competed at RoboGames 2007 and 2008.

Terminal Blocks Made to Order

September 2008, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
Read the robot forums and everyone agrees: Crimp-on ring terminals and terminal posts are the most reliable means of making high current connections. The problem is there are a limited number of suitable commercial products and they are often the wrong size and shape, or made of brittle materials.

Surgical Strike

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September 2008, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
Surgical Strike has competed in: Motorama 2006, Pre-Nationals Last Chance Qualifier 2006, Motorama 2007, Carolina Combat 2007, RoboGames 2007, Franklin Institute Robot Conflict 2007, Wreck-The-Halls 2007, Motorama 2008, and CCR Memorial Day Qualifier.

Get Flippen

September 2008, Page 26 [Digital Edition ]
Due to the weight limitations in the smaller, insect-sized robots, it is often hard to come across designs other than the powerful brushless motor spinners or plain ol’ wedge robots. Frustrated by this, I set out to build a unique ant weight robot (1 lb) that would also be competitive with the current generation of combatants.

My RoboGames Experience

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September 2008, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
Ihave gone to RoboGames for quite a few years now and each year we have a wonderful time. It is awesome to see all the different types of robots and technology that come together in one place. There are many different events that go on throughout the weekend: soccer bots, Sumo bots, walking humanoids, robots that dance, art bots, hockey bots and, of course, combat robots.

Free Strength

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September 2008, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
Fighting robots need to be strong. They also have to fit within a weight limit. This leads to a trade-off between building something capable of taking the forces we impose upon them and the amount of weight we have available for structures.

Touro

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August 2008, Page 33 [Digital Edition ]
Touro has competed in RoboGames 2006, RoboGames 2007, and 7 ENECA-Recife. Touro debuted in RoboGames 2006 achieving third place. Afterwards, it won Brazil’s III Winter Challenge and VI Robocore ENECA – both in 2006. In 2007, Touro won a RoboGames gold medal and kept both Brazilian competition titles.

Mall of America Rotunda Rumble

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August 2008, Page 30 [Digital Edition ]
In the post-televised robotic combat era, it’s good to see the sport can still draw a standing room only crowd. Such was the case at the Rotunda Rumble held at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, MN, where there were at times four floors of spectators cheering for more.

Power Switches

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August 2008, Page 32 [Digital Edition ]
The power switch is one of the most overlooked yet critical parts of a combat robot. Paraphrasing the Robot Fighting League rule set, all robots must have an easily accessible power switch that can be used to turn on and off the robot safely, quickly, and easily.

Combat Robot: $1.25 a Pound

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August 2008, Page 28 [Digital Edition ]
For many builders, combat robotics is about pushing the engineering envelope. You know, how many extra volts can we hammer through the system before it flames out?

Robot Combat Event Safety Primer

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May 2006, Page 44 [Digital Edition ]
Rule #1 — Don’t do anything stupid or dangerous.