The Road to Motorama 2020

Today my Motorama Robot Conflict 2020 registration was approved! Builder’s DB signup in, paperwork signed and submitted, and payment received.

Here’s what I’m working on!

The High Level Plan

• First Strike v2: Improved weapon engagement, smaller, better driving
• Z Offset +2.0000: New skeleton (Not PETG!), reinforced lifter joint+arm,
• Pwny Botstation v1
  • A “simple” custom controller closer to a console gamepad built specifically for combat robotics
  • Uses a Flysky Tanaris module (to make safety compliance simpler) for downstream control
  • An ESP8266 based telemetry flight recorder
  • A display
  • RGB LEDs?
• BotDriverBoard: A custom PCB designed to replace the existing dual brushed ESC carrier that I’ve been using so far. Highlights:
  • WIFI Telemetry
  • Custom channel mixing
  • Enough current to handle Ant+Beetles
  • Room for future growth
  • Low low BOM (< $15 CAD)
  • RGB LEDs?

Strategy

• Rapid prototyping
• Expect failutre:
  • Pad timelines (especially shipping!)
  • Test early in isolation
• BDB can be cut, using the existing generic controllers (In fact, BDB v3 was cut just 10 days before BotBrawl #10!)
• Pwny Botstation can be cut entirely, using the FlySky i6x that I’m currently using (Idea was on hold until after BotBrawl #10)

A Gantt for the Ant (and Beetle)

gantt
dateFormat  YYY-MM-DD
title The Gantt to Motorama

section First Strike v2
Chassis v3            :active,  crit,  fs1, 2019-11-16, 10d
Weapon  A           :   crit, fs2, after fs1, 10d
Chassis v4              :  crit, fs3, after bdb404, 14d
Weapon B? : fs4, after fs3, 10d
LEDs : fs4, after fs3, 7d
Drive Test+Refine : crit, fs4, after fs3, 14d
Chassis v5? : 10d
Armor Fab. : crit, 10d
Stand : 3d
Spares? : 10d
Motorama!               :         motorama, 2020-02-14, 3d

section Z Offset +2.0000
Chassis v2            :active,  crit,  zo1, 2019-11-16, 14d
Lifter v2           :   crit, zo2, after zo1, 10d
Chassis v3              :  crit, zo3, after bdb404, 14d
LEDs : fs4, after fs3, 7d
Drive Test+Refine : crit, fs4, after fs3, 14d
Armor Fab. : crit, 21d
Stand : 3d
Spares? : 10d
Motorama!               :         motorama, 2020-02-14, 3d


section Pwny Botstation
Concept           :done,    nc1, 2019-11-12, 2019-11-15
HW Prototype : active, nc2, after nc1, 14d
SW Prototype : active,        nc3, after nc1, 14d
Refine : 21d
Pretty Version : 21d
Order Spare Parts? : 35d

section BotDriverBoard
v4 Design            :done,    bdb401, 2019-11-08,2019-11-11
v4 Manufacture               :active,  crit, bdb402, after bdb401, 12d
v4 PCB Ships               :       crit,  bdb403, after bdb402, 10d
v4 Test               :        crit,  bdb404, after bdb403, 5d
v4.1 Design            :done,    bdb411, 2019-11-11,2019-11-12
v4.1 Manufacture               :active,  bdb412, after bdb411, 21d
v4.1 PCB Ships               :         bdb413, after bdb412, 10d
Test 4.1               :         bdb414, after bdb413, 14d
v5 Design? : 7d
v5 Manufacture? : 21d
v5 Ship? : 10d
v5 Test? : 7d