Stomp Bot 2
Stomp Bot 2 was a minor set of upgrades to Stomp_Bot_1 that led to a much more polished overall product. As with the first iteration, it features a die-cast guitar pedal enclosure as a chassis, with beefy 20mm_Gearmotors and 2.75 inch Botkits_Wheels.
Improvements over Stomp-Bot 1:
- LED holder (now it would meet safety requirements at all events)
- Bent wedge corners to deflect horizontal spinners
- Power switch attached with fasteners
The wedge was designed in Fusion 360 out of flat plates (I wouldn't learn how to use the sheet metal tool until 2020), which were then flattened into a single piece to be printed as a template. This was traced out on (probably) 1/8 in steel, and cut with an angle grinder. The first pair of wedges were bent by hand with a vise, but the last one was bent using a sheet metal brake at my university.
Three Stomp-Bot 2s were built, in order to potentially compete with all three as one beetleweight. They all had slightly different weights, mostly owing to the slight differences in how the wedges were cut.
Weights
- Navy - 443g
- Pink - 451g
- Teal - 437g (Plastic Hubs instead of metal)
This robot competed at MN Combat Robotics 2021, an event held in Eagan Minnesota in August 2021.
Fights
Crixus (Drum Spinner)
Crixus is a pretty scary drum spinner, which really packs a punch. I got in some good pushes, they got in some good hits (even roofing stomp at one point!!), but eventually, one of my wheels went out (maybe due to a wire disconnecting), and things weren't looking too good. However, they tried to push me towards the pit, I somehow spun on one wheel, and when they hit me, they flung themselves backwards into the pit, which led to Stomp's first win of the day.
One and Done (Vertical Spinner)
I let them get up to speed, then rammed face first into their weapon, and their weapon mount shattered, leading to a quick win on Stomp's part.
Lil Twisty (Drum Spinner)
Lil Twisty was up next, and this was a back and forth fight. They got some good grinds in, I got some good pins in, but it all came crashing down when Stomp was flung onto the pit door right as it was opened. Kinda funny that this happened with Twisty, as it was the other bot from the team that made Crixus, which Stomp did the same thing to earlier in the day.
Pushy Girl (Wedge)
Pushy Girl was an invertible tracked wedge, which would be an interesting challenge for Stomp, as it hadn't faced another pure wedge before. However, Stomp was lower due to it's two wheeled design (the third point of contact is the wedge face, letting it scrape the floor), and it won every frontal engagement. However, they were still in it, especially as I kept driving really close to the pit! Eventually, they made a mistake and got stuck in the pit, leading to another win for Stomp.
Jolly Rat (Wedge)
Jolly Rat was a wedgebot that had some wheel issues going in, but that didn't stop them. Stomp got some good pushes, then got stuck under the wall, and had to be unstuck. Afterwards, I managed to get some good pushes in, before one of my motors stopped, they propped me up on their wedge, and the match had to be called for another unstick. They pinned me near the end, my other motor started back up, and I managed to push them over, then got stuck on their wheel. Another unstick was not needed, as there was less than 10 seconds left. Stomp managed to win the favor of the judges, and went on to the next fight.
Theseus (Horizontal Spinner)
Theseus is scary, like very scary. Their weapon packs a serious punch, and Stomp got thrown around a bunch. Eventually, their weapon got stuck in the arena walls, and an unstick was called. Afterwords, Theseus almost fell into the pit, but their weapon flung them out, launched itself off of Stomp, off the wall, and almost into the pit (but not quite!) then got stuck on Stomp, which was now seriously lacking wheel due to all the chunks being taken out. This led to another unstick, but at this point, one of my wheels was not turning, and the one that was had no wheel left to touch the ground. The timer ran out, and Theseus won a very deserved victory.
Captain Generic (Drum Spinner) (Grudge/Exhibition/Execution)
Captain Generic is a beetleweight, which means it is 3 times as heavy as Stomp. I was curious, and curiosity killed the stomp. Stomp got roofed pretty quickly, then roofed again, as the cast aluminum chassis pulled apart, and pulled the power switch out of the battery, cutting power to the whole bot.
This killed the idea that I could maybe enter all three Stomp Bot 2 versions as a single 3lb bot.
Good Things
- It managed to last almost a full 3 minutes against a terrifying horizontal spinner
- It managed to get some serious wins
- The wedge corners seemed to do their job
Flaws
- The motors seemed to be less reliable
- Wedges were not manufactured with any sort of consistency, and needed to be bent more accurately