Stomp - February 1999

We've started making some calculations and, assuming we are the heaviest we can be, we're gonna need:

1. 1.5KW of power required (= 2 starter motors?). This is based on the assumption we're effectively lifting our whole body weight vertically (not exatclt true - but should leave some margin for error!
2. Starter motors only rotate in one direction and are very difficult to modify to rotate in both directions.
3. A CO2 system may give us the weapon we want.
4. We may have a source for metal plate and CO2 systems.
5. Radical idea: can we buy a cheap Tandy's R/C car (£14.00 all in) and use the R/C gear? Oops: we think they come with pretty tacky controllers.

What about Starter motors not normally come with a servo controlling the pinion? This may also be difficult to modify. The servo however may be useful on the control mechanism. It seems that pre-engaged starters (which most starters are today) come with a solenoid which throws the drive cog of the starter onto the engine flywheel. The solenoids usually come off the starter fairly easily and may be usefull for other things on the robot. But otherwise, the gear arrangement on such a starter would probably be unusable.

How many channels of RC will we need? A normal car has forward. back, left and right (4 channels). This will need different lines for weapons and possible lift devices. Shows how much we know. Turns out forward and reverse is ONE channel, left and right makes two!

CO supply: Soda Stream?

Second meeting held on Wednesday 10th February at Carl's Place. It was decided that this meeting was the last chance to formally join the group. No additional people came.

We begin to realise we MUST start building something and start scooping possible materials. we think we should build a framework out of Dexion space-frame. Not cheap! We also do some weight calculations and...oops, it's too heavy, we need to trim down.

We discover some amazing aluminium boxes (in a skip!) that could be made into the whole body and feet. We cut them up a bit and bolt them together (this is when we discover that Simon likes angle grinders). It feels great to have actually made a start.

Guess what - we discover that we're not the only walker. We're not even the first!