Combat Robotics III: Cyclone

Cyclone (in-progress) is the next addition to my individually-built lineup of 1 lb combat robots. It features a full body shield spinner that completely protects any internals, which also extremely useful for inflicting damage that is difficult to dodge. This is not a melty-brain mechanism, but instead features a separate drivetrain while the full body spinner is able to rotate around a steel axis around which the bot is built.

The custom drivetrain: two N20 gear motors of 300 rpm translate rotational motion to a four wheel drive via equal gears along the side of the inner (non-spinning) body. This is essential for maintaining control during competitions to avoid pinning and create space for weapon spin-up time.

The weapon: Cyclone's full body spinner is bolted to a gear the translates rotational motion from the weapon motor--a 1700 kV drone prop brushless motor that also is to be fashioned with a dense 3D printed TPU gear, smaller than the body spinner to create a gear ratio that accommodates a large moment of inertia. This is necessary because of the AR500 steel "teeth" that are to be bolted into the wall of the body spinner. These are what make contact with enemy bots, and are supported by a cylindrical TPU shield that will be filled with aluminum panels. The aluminum panels are what gives the spinner its strength and structure, while the TPU housing serves as a way to hold them together and absorb impact shock. This shield is then bolted to a ring milled out of high-density polyethylene sheet, 0.25" thickness. This ring is what connects the full body spinner to the weapon gear ratio.

Miscellaneous: The bot will also feature a limit switch that activates upon screwing an M2 bolt sufficiently far. That way, space is saved and risks of self-deactivating are mitigated. Drive motors receive signal from a brushed dual motor controller, and the weapon motor is connected with a 30A brushless ESC. Wire harness supports 2-3S LiPo battery power and is completely contained within the inner shell of Cyclone.