Combat Robotics: Doc Ock
This summer, I participated in a five week course in which I worked with a team to design and fabricate what is commonly known as a Battle Bot. These bots would be placed in a battle arena to fight against other bots at the end of the course.
One of the first functional cardboard prototypes of Doc Ock.
A lot of our time was initially spent coming up with possible designs and prototypes with the constraints we were under (time, money, as well as resources available). The name and theme for "Doc Ock" came from the Spiderman villain, with the claw style weapon reminiscent of his mechanical tentacles.
Our original design actually had two claws instead of one, with a singular servo attached to a rod between the two to move them up and down. When moving from cardboard to metal, however, we realized it would simply be too heavy.
Showing off Doc Ock's claw movement.
Our final design was much more compact, with one claw with two servos attached to either side. Although we had to pivot, this change offered us much more weapon mobility.
Overall we had difficulties with general movement of the bot, but we were able to capture some moments when it moved smoothly. Placing the motors and wheels inside the bot proved to make movement harder, especially with the weight of the claw on top.
During the final fight, we had time between fights to fix up our bots. We attempted to mount our wheels to the outside of the bot, with an extra wheel in the front for stability. Although it still had trouble moving, this proved to be a more successful method.
Overall, this was a very unique and fun experience that offered a lot insight into my fabrication abilities. I look forward to using the skills learned in future projects!
