| January
10, 2003
We at Robot Rivals are proud to announce our newest sponsor,
SMC Corporation
of America. SMC is a manufacturer of pneumatic components
that have a wide variety of uses, especially in a robot. We are
looking forward to articulated appendages and launching mechanisms
and a bunch of other things that we haven't even dreamt up yet
based around their superior products.
We also have Alloy
Frame Systems on board with their extruded aluminum framing
material. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, "Self, I
thought extruded aluminum framing was mainly for building stands,
tables, and the like." Well let me tell you from personal
experience, the extruded aluminum that we got from Alloy
Frame Systems cut our build time in half with double the strength
of the previous robot. It stood up the robots bashing into each
other and the shocks of doing wheelies and landing hard on the
front casters. And the best part is that it is inexpensive, lightweight,
and strong. You can't go wrong with a combination like that!
All of our drive motors are courtesy of NPC
Robotics. These motors are the defacto standard with modern
combat and non combat robots for the home builder. These motors
are powerful, the have tons of torque, and are backed by the 20+
year reputation of NPC. I have used NPC motors in several of my
own robots and if you have seen Moebius compete then you can attest
to how much power they can deliver :-D
Now, having all of these motors will do you no good if you can't
get current to them. For that we turned to the best in the biz,
Robotic Power
Solutions, the makers of the famous Battlepack. These are
NiCad packs that are lightweight, durable, and can source an incredible
amount of current and are much more efficient than standard lead
acid type batteries.
Controlling the robots is accomplished using the Innovation
First ISAAC 16 system. This is the best purpose built robot
control system on the market for the home builder. It is based
upon the Parallax
Basic Stamp but adds much more functionality and versatility
along with two way radio commication between the user and the
robot (that means the robot can talk back via on board sensors).
These control systems are so good that they are the only controller
allowed in US
FIRST competition.
Be sure to watch Robot Rivals starting in the Spring to see what
all of these components can do for your own robot. |
