Lego Combat Robots

Overview

In the past few years, I have developed multiple combat robots made entirely out of LEGO. This has been a large engineering challenge as LEGO is plastic, and a combat robot is designed to be as durable as possible. Multiple iterations were required to achieve a powerful robot.

This was mainly just a personal project, with help from my younger brother. He enjoyed the robots very much and still uses the latest one.

Showcase

Version 1:

The first version was designed to be bulky and easy to work on. As a result, the robot had a lot of empty space inside of it, and was bulky to drive. Additionally, the weapon was never prototyped and refined, and as a result, it was not as powerful as I had hoped it to be.

V1 robot specifications:

  • Power Functions control system

  • 2 L motor 1:1 2wd drivetrain

  • 2 T motor spinner (though one of the motors broke)

  • Vertical drum spinner

  • Easily accessible battery holder

  • Guide wheels to keep the drum off the ground

Version 2:

The second version of the robot was designed to address all the shortcomings of the first one; a weak weapon, large size, and a weak construction. Version 2 addressed all of these concerns, but ended up being very hard to work on and the weapon was just an afterthought.

V2 robot specifications:

  • BuWizz control system

  • 2 L motor 4:5 4wd skid drivetrain

  • 2 T motor spinner (48:16 ratio eventually lowered to 16:48)

  • Horizontal deadaxle (later changed) full-body spinner

  • Tightly packed electronics

  • Symmetric and very rigid design

Version 3:

The third, and final version, of the robot, was designed to solve all of the problems as V1, but not have the problems V2 had. To solve this, the weapon was prototyped and designed first, and the rest of the robot was designed around it. The weapon was powered by a new BuWizz motor with a double chain power transmission for extra reliability. All of the electronics were located in a central compartment, and the entire top panel folds out to access this. The drive modules were similar to V1, because the 4wd skid steer had trouble turning, but the wheel amount got doubled for more traction.

V3 robot specifications:

  • BuWizz control system

  • 2 L motor 1:1 2wd drivetrain with double wheels

  • 1 BuWizz motor spinner 1:1 ratio

  • Horizontal dual-chained bar spinner

  • Tightly packed, but very accessible electronics

  • Symmetric and very modular design

  • Easy access to chain for repairs

  • Chain guard for combat protection