SXSW Battlebot
About 5 weeks before South By Southwest (SXSW), the UT robotics department was looking for a team of students to build and compete with a 15-pound battlebot. This was an absurdly quick timeline and challenge to go from nothing to concept to competing, so naturally I said yes. I then got together a team of students and started the crazy 5-week design cycle.
Below is a summary of the project, but more in-depth documentation can be downloaded here.
Skills - Design, Solidworks, DFM, DFA, Material Selection, CNC Milling, Manual Milling, Manual Lathe, Laser Cutting, Assembly
Talking to a lot of mentors
Since we had such a tight timeline, we knew we wouldn’t be able to go through as many prototype and test cycles as we would like. To account for this, we spent a lot of time conducting background research on Battlebots as a competition, types of bots, winning strategies, and talking to a lot of mentors who had experience in the event. We aimed to be as well-equipped with information as possible before starting the brainstorming and design cycle.
Final render of the CAD
After deciding on a battlebot strategy and weapon design we began the design of the robot. Ultimately, we chose the design you see on the left, known as a vertical spinner. All of our CAD work was completed in SOLIDWORKS, and the render was created by a team member using Keyshot.
The PDF linked in the summary provides more detail regarding the overall strategy, specific design choices, material selection, and manufacturing methods.
Some CNC milling
Our robot parts were manufactured using a combination of laser cutting, CNC milling, lathe work, manual milling, and hand tools. Some of the parts were outsourced due to time and tooling constraints, while others were made in-house. One such piece was the 6061-T6 Aluminum backplate which can be seen being set up on the CNC mill.
Stages of assembly
After manufacturing or receiving all of the parts we began the assembly process. This phase also provided an opportunity to double-check the design for assembly that we had completed during the design phase. The design had to be very compact due to weight limitations, so many of the design choices we made had to consider assembly and wiring. Almost everything fit as expected, but a deviation in the baseplate dimensions caused some problems that we had to work around.
Before and after
The culmination of 5 weeks of design, manufacturing, and assembly is depicted in the above image. The results of real-world testing can be seen in the bottom image. It might seem like we sustained very little damage, but this doesn’t show all the replacement parts we went through. Overall the competition went well, we placed 2nd in our group, won the robo-rumble portion, and learned a lot throughout the whole process. Some key problem areas were electronics, the polycarbonate top plate, and the gyroscopic effect induced by the high rotational kinetic energy of the weapon.