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Lil Fashizzle

Tags:
Category: Rolling
Progress: Completed
Cost: $210.00
Time to Build: 72 hrs

PDXBot.03 Summary:
Lil' Fashizzle is my latest robot creation. On May 25th, 2003 it earned me one win and two losses for PDXBot.03. In its first matchup it lost to a robot named Chip, made by Dan Gates, which I believe is a modified Mark III kit. I blame the loss on poor positioning on my part. For some reason I wanted to start a push-off with a robot I designed to avoid push-offs.

For the second match, I had to, ironically, compete against my dad's robot that last year earned its sole victory against my robot Giskard. Lil' Fashizzle, after some mild sensor trouble, avenged my defeat and earned me, ironically, my sole victory for this year's tournament.

In my final match I faced LandShark, a fast robot that Lil' Fashizzle had lil' chance of escaping. It lost two of three rounds, and thus the match. LandShark ended up taking 3rd place in the contest.

Ultimately its slow speed and little torque were its fatal flaws. Still, I'm happy enough with it that it will earn the distinction of being the first robot I won't recycle for future robot parts. Afterall, it did earn my goal of a single victory. It was named after the urban slang term meaning "for sure."

I plan on building Fashizzle 2.0 based upon what I learned from this robot. Expect better sensors, faster motors, and a sleeker design.


Components:

Engineering Successes:

  • My most compact-sized sumo yet
    • 9 cm wide
    • 10 cm long
    • 6.5 cm average height
  • Seven distinct sensors
    • 4 midrange IR detectors
    • 3 active-high ground/tilt switches
  • Ease of assembly disassembly
    • all sensors can be unplugged with trivial effort
  • Black/white and contrast/gloss insensitive ground sensors
  • Fast edge-detection
  • Low to the ground front sensors
  • Wide-angle of vision
  • Different response per tilt signal ("smarter" response system)
  • Rechargeable batteries
  • OOPic 2.2 processor
  • Pretty stickers

Engineering Failures:

  • Weight distribution
    • too much weight on scoop, not enough on tires
  • Poor scoop
    • near-verticle scoop; not completely flush with ground
  • Duel power sources
  • Low torque
  • Low speed
  • Low weight (456g)
  • Left tire has choppy reverse
  • Exposed electronics
  • High cost: approx. $210 combined part worth (including batteries and charger)

Other notes
An OOPic, and standard board, serves as the robot's microcontroller and electronic base.

Four front sensors provide a wide-angle range of vision.

There are only two bolts/nuts in the robot, which are used to hold the board onto the frame. The rest was assembled with double-sided and electrical tape.

Three switches serve as tilt/edge detectors. Their reaction time is very quick, but unfortunately requires the robot move slightly off the edge of the ring, increasing the risk of getting knocked out. The front sensors are low to the ground, taking away some of the low to the ground robots' advantage.

The frame is made out of copper.

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