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Overview
Overview
A lot of people go into combat robotics thinking that the electronics are the hardest part of the design; this could not be further from the truth! Most teams use prefabricated electronic components that would be typically found in hobbyist drones and similar scale radio models. Moreover, it is almost guaranteed that suppliers such as Repeat Robotics, Just Cuz, or Fingertech have all the parts you need.
Nonetheless, the important skill is sourcing electronics to fit your mechanical needs. This entails a general process of:
Picking motors for your intended weapon
Picking a battery that can supply current to the motors for the allotted 3 minutes
Picking ESCs (electronic speed controllers or motors) to control your motors
Learn more about motors below:
And learn more about batteries below:
ESCs
ESCs
Now you have the current values you need for all your motors. Now, you have to find electronic speed controllers (ESCs) for all of them. Most ESCs come in denominations of five, i.e. 20, 25, 30, 35 amps. You can undershoot the current ratings of your ESCs to save weight and space, but you really shouldn't do that; you risk starting a fire. There are ways to get away with it, but for the sake of our leadership's receding hairlines, we won't be doing this.
Personally, I am a firm believer that stall current <= rated current is an A-OK philosophy when choosing your ESCs, some like to substantially overshoot their stall current. This may be because their weapon powertrain has little to no play, and a lot of power gets transferred back into the motor. This backflow of current can damage your electronics.
Most ESCs have a rated "burst current" which will be somewhere between 150% and 200% of the rated continuous current. This should, in theory, account for situations like this. At Gila's first tournament in Monroe, WA, I spoke to the builders of heavyweights Big Dill and Viper Claw; both told me the same thing:
"Your electronics only have to work for 3 minutes."
Sometimes your electronics can get a little toasty. They don't have to if you don't want them to, but an educated risk enables you to straddle the line of reason.
Radios
Radios
We use prefabricated radio controllers that are typically used for drones, planes, and hobby-scale R/C vehicles. Learn more below:
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