personizzle

Longtime fan of the sport and Mechanical Engineering student here. I've always wanted to participate in this.

It seems as though as the technology of the sport has improved, the resources required to not get absolutely obliterated by machines like yours have gone up tenfold. I remember reading technical breakdowns of the robots competing in the early days, and there were a lot of things like salvaged drill motors, wheelchair pieces, scrap metal repurposed into frames, cheapo salvaged SLA batteries, and so on being molded into some very successful robots. Nowadays, it seems like the increased popularity has lead to most everyone using advanced alloys, CNC machining, and incredibly pricey motors, often purpose-built for the sport. I saw a quote from the builder of Tombstone that he averages $1000 on repairs per match! Don't get me wrong, I love how high tech these machines have gotten, and it makes the engineer in me want to dive right in even more. But the requirements seem to have gone from something which didn't scare 11-year-old me in the slightest (I built a driving frame back then from polycarb, old junky wheelchair motors, SLA batteries, and a Vantec, which looked a lot like the one in your profile segment), to something that I couldn't even begin to afford as a college student working two jobs. My question is, how can someone without many resources break into the sport? Are many teams successful in receiving sponsorship, and if so, how do you go about this? If not, what are some tips on building competitive full-scale combat robots while staying on the cheap? Right now, I'm feeling as though I have the skill and knowledge to do this, but nowhere near the resources/funds.

How would one go about breaking into the sport of robot combat? It seems that the resources required to build the big robots (and even the small ones), and not get absolutely wrecked, have gone through the roof in the time since the Comedy Central series aired. I remember things like scrapped wheelchair motors and batteries being pretty standard, nowadays, it seems everyone has CNC machining, high performance alloys, top of the line motors, and so on. Is there still a way to do this on the cheap? I'm quite familiar with the tech and skills involved, but don't feel like I have anywhere near the funds or manufacturing resources to do this, not to mention living on the wrong side of the country.

Related, how does a Battlebots team go about getting sponsored? I've been reasonably successful at soliciting donations for FRC, but there, you're reliant almost entirely on the "inspire students" angle, which is less viable for a broke recent college grad and a couple buddies trying to do it solo to take. It seems as though a lot of sponsorship is in the vein of "You're a proven builder, so we'll donate product X for you to showcase in your presumably awesome robot," which circles back to question one -- how do you get there to begin with without many resources?

Rob from the Lucky team is working with the Megabot crew now.

Follow-up: How do you calculate the size of bearings/shafts you'll need to take these forces? The extreme shock forces involved in these hits seem hard to predict.

Doubt they can answer, since Bronco and Minotaur are on a collision course in the bracket. The smart money says we'll see what happens in a few weeks!