Al's Robotics....

Well as everyone wants more info and updates about this robot wars project I have put together this "diary" type web page so you can check out the latest news on Full Metal Monkey and the team.

Start date, well around Christmas 2002 I think.
THE BIG SPEND
Yep you got it, the bosch 750 motors and some drive components total cost of this lot was around £270, but then if you want to win you need some decent motors don't you.

March / April 2002

Anyway speed on time to march / April because not a lot happened during that time, apart from the odd team discussion which normally meant getting ideas about weapons and the shape of the robot together and of course arguing about things, we're not too bad as a team though. But we did make some hubs for the kart wheels, so kind of an important component made. If your wondering about which type of kart wheels we are using (back or front) then it's the back ones, we chose these mainly because their bigger, so they will give more traction and hopefully give us that edge over the opponent.

April 14 2002, THE SPEED CONTROLLERS!!!!!

As I (Al) will be solely responsible in the building of these I will probably get the blame if they go wrong. I decided to go well over the top with the specifications of the speed controllers so they can handle a total stall on the motor and still be OK afterwards, remembering that these bosch 750 can draw up to 200 Amps when stalled. So to play it safe I went for 500 Amp continuous then just Incase the MOSFETs get hot, well heat to 100 degrees C they will still be able to handle 300 Amps continuous, which I hope will never happen. In each speed controller there will be one H-Bridge with 20 MOSFETs on, 5 on each leg of the bridge. So I chose the MOSFET that I wanted to use it has 100 Amp current handling at 40 V max, but to play things safe before I buy 100 of them I brought 4 to test with as I don't want to waste over £100 on MOSFETs that I'm not going to use. Anyway today saw the testing of the test H-Bridge running a bosch motor at 24 V with no problems what so ever, then I tested it with a load on (the load being my dad with a pair of pliers with a rag rapped around the shaft trying desperately to stall the motor, which he couldn't, all he could do was slow it down) bottom MOSFETs on the bridge warmed slightly owing to the fact that the motor running had dropped the voltage in the circuit and they were not receiving the right voltage on the gates so didn't turn on fully, no problem though, so looks like I'll be off to buy 100 of them setting me back about £150. All I have to do now is find someone who makes heat sink strips that can be cut to the sizes I want.

May 15 2002, the PCB construction begins and press release starts.

I've just finished the designs for all the PCB's (printed circuit boards) that will be used in the dual speed controllers, all of which worked first time. I've made loads of the H bridge controllers boards just need to make more of the 3 other boards that go to make up the speed controllers as I've designed them to be modular so there easy to replace if I need to.

This week also saw the release of this project in the Sussex newspapers so we are hoping that we can get some sponsors interested in the robot to help us out for the next wars, see the bottom of this page for what we most need but if you think you've got something we could use please do e-mail me.

Regards,

Al............

January 9th 5005, Ooo look at the time!!

My God has it really been this long since i last updated these pages! well as you can probably guess there has not been a lot happening with this project for a while (that's an understatement). it seems that Robot Wars is no longer going to be shown on TV, Mentorn the producers did not get another contract from the BBC for a new series so sold out to Channel 5, needless to say that killed Robot Wars altogether. looking on the bright side of things there are loads of local competitions happening now. I have personally run a few of these (see the events page). keep an eye on that events page for future events.

Regards,

Al............

FULL METAL MONKEY

Heat sinks for the T0220 type transistor / MOSFET cases, preferably in strips that can be cut to the required size.

MOSFET's, the ones we need are the IRF1104, or maybe something similar.

Sealed Lead acid batteries, the gel type.

Aluminium plate.

Electric motors for our weapons, from cars, trucks, wheelchairs etc.

And most importantly the hydraulics, we need to get rams, valves, hose, pumps etc.

If you think you can help with supplying us with any of these components then do please e-mail me.

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