This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/battlebots by /u/peeaches on 2025-02-04 22:36:16+00:00.
- TL:DR -
I built a 1lb Plastic Antweight bot and it ended up being way better than I had expected, taking first place at my first two events, going 10-0 with 7 knockouts! Fight videos included below the backstory :)
-UNNECESSARY BACKSTORY- (you can skip this part if you’re also add and avoid long walls of text)
A few years ago, I got really into watching Battlebots. Watched everything that was on Discovery and got caught up just in time to catch the last season as it aired. Along the way, I got my then-girlfriend (now wife) into it as well! Pleasant surprise, as I’m used to keeping my nerdy hobbies/interests to myself, haha.
Anyways, after the last season, I started collecting some of the Hexbug Battlebot toys of my favorite bots. Played around with them with my wife a few times, and found myself wanting… more. Started dabbling a little bit into modding them to make them better while waiting for a new season of BB, and then a new season never came.
Thought, you know what? screw it, instead of waiting around to watch other people battle robots, and instead of modifying these little toys just to play around at home, why don’t I actually try to make my own robot and participate in the sport that I love to watch?
So, I did.
I’d done some minor RC stuff when I was younger, but pretty much all plug-and-play things.
I started off knowing virtually nothing about how to build a battlebot. Bought some cheap rc parts from a local hobby store, some wheels, an airplane esc, an airplane motor, some cheap n20s from amazon, and a malenki nano.
Did some quick and dirty cad and printed some stuff out mostly just to test if i could wire things up correctly and get something that actually moved around and spun a weapon - and it worked!!! (Thanks to the malenki for being pretty dummy proof in wiring and setup)
Started doing some more general reading about building combat robots and quickly realized that most of the components I had bought were… sub par, to say the lest. Started watching youtube videos of Plant battles, found the local robot combat discord (absolute wealth of information there!) and spent more time on this subreddit just learning.
Started deciding on what I wanted to put in my bot first this time before randomly buying components on amazon (rookie mistake, I know). Decided I wanted to go 3S for battery, which meant I could no longer use my malenki nano - but I could use the HV malenki nano. So I bought one of those, and a 380mah 3s battery with high discharge rate that was recommended by local group.
For motors, was deciding between some turnabot N10s, or repeat robotics brushed drive motors. Ended up going with the Repeat brushed, as I was worried about possible gearbox breakages and they seemed reputable.
For weapon motor, it seemed like 2822s were kind of the go-to in antweight so I picked up a few of those and a cheap 20a bl-heli speed controller for it, basically just whatever was typically included in bot kits i assumed was vetted and reliable enough.
Then got a fingertech power switch, and a lipo charger from amazon.
Now that I had everything I needed, I started drawing up some stuff in CAD.
I started with the weapon first.
I had modified my hexbug minotaur with a new drum that I had designed for it closer to the original, and liked the way it looked so I wanted to go for something similar in my robot. Drum bots were always my favorite, and I figured for a plastic, 3d-printed weapon, were probably the least-likely type to break apart on impact like a thinner weapon might.
Drew up my weapon, then dropped in the cad models for all the components I had bought, and started drawing the frame and body around everything.
I got my first prototype built, and it worked! I was using 0-rings for tires though (figured they’re rubber, and rubber is grippy, right?) - wrong, lol.
I had posted my bot and others had commented on the o-ring tires as well.
Thought about going with lego tires, but couldn’t find any in the specific size I wanted and didn’t feel like redoing all my work to accommodate a different size wheel, so… guess I’d be making my own.
First Attempt at Casting Wheels
Learned how to cast wheels after watching some youtube videos and got some silicone mold making mix, drew up some hubs and molds, and made my own!
They came out pretty good and worked a lot better than the O-rings did.
Bot Progress! At this point my robot was pretty much finalized, all I wanted to do now was test it.
I set up a small test area in my garage and started testing it out against a bot built out of previous iterations of parts and weighed down to be roughly 1lb in weight.
Quickly discovered that the mounting for the idle-end of my drum was far from sufficient, and would often only last one or two hits before completely deforming the drum or bending the bolts used for idle-end deadshaft.
Went through like three or four different design attempts on idle-end mounting before settling on one that seemed reliable and would hold up to abuse.
Throughout this process, the width of my bot also reduced pretty dramatically.
In my original prototype design, my weapon drum was 120mm wide, but after a few iterations and needing to redistribute weight, ended up cutting 1/3rd of the width and ending up with an 80mm wide weapon. Made me a little sad since I had been excited for a super-wide-drum-bot, but it was still pretty big and the bot felt really balanced in driving and I was much more confident that the parts that needed to be strong were strong enough, and wasn’t making too many sacrifices.
Felt confident that I was more or less finished with my bot, and just in time to sign up for my first event!
My finalized bots, ready to go!
-BACKSTORY OVER, MORE INTERESTING STUFF BELOW-
First event time!
I was really nervous leading up to this event since it was my first time, and I had no idea how my little bot would hold up in actual battle against other bots. Made as many spare parts as I could in the few days before the event, and basically just hoped for the best.
-First Fight - Qualifier Rd 1-
My first fight (ever) was against Jackalope - a plastic ant design from Team Malice (shoutout to Team Malice for offering so many designs for free to anyone who wants to give them a try!)
Fight Video - Pablo Escobot Vs Jackalope
I was honestly pretty shocked at the outcome of this one. I had been so nervous about fighting control bots, forks and wedges to bully me around, but luckily (for me) their forks weren’t quite low enough to get under my drum or something, and the fight was over in a flash. The builder of Jackalope later told me that some of their wiring had come loose and it cut power to the bot, but was thankful for it lest I do more damage. (You can see why during our eventual rematch at my second event)
Good way to start the day though! With a quick knockout under my belt, I was feeling a little better about my bot and (slightly) less nervous
-Second Fight - Qualifier Rd 2-
My second fight was against “Toadal Chaos”, an undercutter bot from the same team as Cheddar Luck Next Time that seemed pretty solid. Their weapons were intimidating and I was pretty nervous. Switched to my wedge for horizontals and hoped for the best!
Fight Video - Pablo Escobot Vs Toadal Chaos
This was probably the most destructive fight of the day for me. I was honestly not expecting my drum to be able to be able to do… any of that. Our first exchange snapped their horizontal bar and the remainder of the fight was basically just chasing them around and trying to disable them to pick up the full points. Ended up knocking their whole weapon assembly off, and then somehow managed a roof-shot in which their battery fell out!
(side note. I was unaware at the time of the conduct required for exposed battery scenarios and did not immediately power down my robot. Another builder at the event respectfully approached me after this fight and politely relayed the proper etiquitte for it. He was very understanding since it was my first event, and I was grateful that he told me so kindly and respectfully.)
-Third Fight - Qualifier Rd3-
Third Fight was against Josh - a vertical spinner based around the JCR Hubmotor.
This fight also made me nervous (I bet you’re seeing a pattern here) because that motor seemed super solid and the bot looked like a good design. My saving grace here was that the vertical spinner disk had some weak points that made it prone to snapping.
Fight Video - Pablo Escobot Vs Josh
-Fourth Fight - Qualifier Rd 4-
My last qualifier fight was against “Cheddar Luck Next Time”, another undercutter horizontal spinner.
I had watched some videos of this bot on youtube prior to the event to see what I’d be up against, and it seemed like this bot could really dish out some solid damage and had won at previous events. Switched to the wedge again and after the confidence in my drum had grown, figured I’d ju…
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