4am I departed for the early morning drive to Norwalk, CT for the National Havoc Robot League (NHRL) March event. This event I was traveling relatively light; only myself and one beetleweight (3lb) robot, Silent X (SX). You can read about the changes to SX in my previous blog post!
I got a pit spot near the League LBT team (from China!) thanks to Elaine. A few boxes later and the pit is all setup! Just in time for the opening of safety at 7am. Unsurprisingly, SX passed but I did experience an issue with the Neutron ESC not arming on the first powerup that was solved with a power cycle. I’ll have to monitor that situation closely.
Official photos! I was able to temporarily satiate my disappointment with USPS using tape and paint. Ironically, my parts would be delivered later that afternoon -_____________-.
Lots of people gathering for the safety meeting!
Silent X’s first fight would be against a drum spinner named Karl. It was a multibot for March which included a small wedge nuisance bot. I did a poor job of scouting because I was helping other teams get their bots passed through safety but since SX doesn’t have any strategy components, I figured it didn’t matter who I fought. The plan was always to spin up and engage head on to maximize engagement and stress test the bot. I assumed with the multibot, the sum of Karl was closer to 4lbs as allowed in the NHRL ruleset.
The match started with a decisive hit! I cranked the blade to full by the time Karl made his way over and the hit launched both bots to opposite sides of the arena. Full match video here.
The hit pulled Karl’s left bulkhead apart which released their drum to the ground and jammed their left drive side making their weapon inoperable and drive severely hampered. Their drum had the pulley mid-way and was connected with bolts and pins which I was told had sheared from the hit. I was impressed by the damage but also how stable the bot was from the recoil. Not bad for the bot’s first ever hit!
But SX did not escape unscathed; over time I began to notice the blade spinup and impacts feeling a bit “mushy” at which I noticed a little tuft of something poking out the wire passthrough. Immediately I knew something had moved and I should save what few spinups I had left for a function check at end of match (which I barely passed). The match went to a JD which Silent X was declared the winner.
Back in the pits, the situation was worse than I was hoping. The first thing I noticed was the darkened winds on the top surface which indicates exceeding happy temperature. The cause was apparent after realizing the stator was twisted around its mount.
The recoil from the first hit was enough to break the patch of retaining compound connecting the stator to the stator mount. Each subsequent spinup and hit was probably twisting the stator back and forth, causing the strands to sever against the wire passthrough which drove up the phase resistance. That explains the decreasing performance throughout the match with the number of spinup attempts.
Yes you read that correctly, a patch. I intentionally used significantly less 648 than usual for the intention of easing the removal of the stator later. Which to some definition was successful but definitely sooner than I obviously wanted.
I was pretty quick to decide this was the end of the day for SX. While technically fixable, I did not feel confident in the repair for the allotted time window. And there was the questionability of the burnt winds. I felt it would not represent the components and features I wanted to test and elected to save the bot for a future event.
The rest of the day I spent doing things I normally didn’t have time to do including visiting other pits and be social, help more teams with their bots, watch fights from the stands, and chat with fans and disrupt tour groups. I even spent some time on the desk chatting about bots and fights with with the announcers Luke, Lindsey, and Kyle!
And with the help of Elaine and her bot Sparkle, we determined that Ninjatek Armadillo TPU is not suitable for combat robotics.
So what did we conclude from the tests? Honestly, not much. I would have accepted grudge matches of entered the freestyle tournament if the motor was working. The evening after the event, I went ahead and registered SX for the April event. If I somehow am not able to get any robots into the lottery, then I may travel or send the bot with someone to test; it should be no problem being competition compliant as it is a very standard 3.00 lbs!
Jamison Go 