I've been looking at maybe going to a plastic antweight comp near me and was wondering what yall recommend for a weapon, I've been thinking about a Lifter or a Horizontal but wondering what yall think
What Do you Recommend for a Starter Plastic Antweight?
Bot BuildingIve competed a long time, but am no ME. I made what I thought would be a tank of a plastic ant: 0.5" tall frame, solid, many walls, probably 0.625" x-y thick outside rim of frame, in PETG. It was absolutely demolished by a horizontal plastic spinner...I was really shocked.
Ive been toying with the idea of a shuffling plastic crusher. Do you say it couldnt work because the piercing material is roughly the same hardness? I would have thought the force, being concentrated to a point, would push right through pla top plates. Maybe not thicker frame portions, sure.
Just my experience. I should have said those have been the bots that are the hardest for new builders, not that they don't work.
A crusher would have to be great at control to have the aim for the center of top panels. It probably wouldn't even break much internals, just expose the battery and get a knockout that way.
Palmbeachbots.com
Of those two options, the lifter will be simpler. People, are right in saying that building a spinner at this scale isn't hugely complex, but what they're overlooking or at least minimising is the difficulty of handling it safely and the quality of life difficulties that can present. Driving a lifter around on the floor or on a table is absolutely fine, you can practice as much as you like to the point of having full-on practice fights at home. You can hand the controls off to just about anyone and things will be fine. None of this can be said for any kind of spinner.
Pla+ drums tend to be one of the most durable weapons and it's easy to direct drive them off something like the repeat 2822
A lifter.
what are you good at?
lifters require you to have extra aim and reaction time to do the lifts, and more importantly, know when to lower the lifter
horizontal weapons require less aiming because the danger zone is huge, but since the force is directed sideways, your robot will be throw across the arena just as much as your opponent, you need to be able to handle that sudden change in position and orientation quickly
vertical weapons have a narrow danger zone more of the force is delivered into your opponent, while you stay pretty still because some of the force from a hit is pushing you down, you have to aim better
Personally I've always favored wide weapons instead of narrow because I know I'm not a top dog when it comes to certain video games, I'd rather shotgun in shooters and operating a radar in flight sims is really difficult for me.
Turnabot! Their kits are really effective, super fast, and a ton of fun. Plus you don’t need a test cage. This means you can build and test on your kitchen floor. If this is your first robot, this is going to be important.
I have built all 4 of their designs. The supplexor dominates in a control fight.
Try a minibot who’s only purpose is to saw the underbelly of a bot
A simple direct mounted spinner will be easiest to set up, maintain, and drive. Just make sure you have a test box
Weapons make your bot weaker. Focus on being a fast tank wedge/fork bot.
Think about it: simple wedge/fork bots are so effective that Battlebots, NHRL, and other big events ban them by mandating active weapons. Little events don't have this restriction, so don't hamstring yourself.
But for a lot of people, weapons also make the robot more fun. Fun is good.
People recommend against weapons for your first bot because it's hard to design for the energy involved, but with plastic you can mount the weapon right on your motor (if it's supported with an extra bearing on the other side of the weapon) and it's not too hard to design. There are a few weapons that don't work for plastic ants like large-radius horizontals, hammer saws, crushers, otherwise go for it.
Control bots are surprisingly effective for plastic ants because a well made plastic ant just won't take much damage from a plastic weapon. If your local competition arena has a pit or a ledge then focus your design around that.