You are hereby invited to participate in LVL1's Mini-Sumobot
Tournament on 10/29/10, 7pm. Halloween party after. You have almost
a month to build your bot. LVL1 is Louisville's Hackerspace.
http://wiki.lvl1.org/Mini-Sumo_Competition_10/29/10
Hope to see you there!
Brian
Ooooooooh, very fun! We need to take up a collection so we can buy parts or a kit. If there are any potential sponsors lurking on the mailing list and want to donate I’m sure we can add your company logo or whatever you want 
According to lvl1’s wiki it looks like at minimum we can do a sumo for $30 but it would be better to have a $100 to play with. Seems like most ‘kits’ are about that.
We also need to see who can be there on that date. It’s not looking good for me at the moment… But I would love to help build a bot!
Craig
I could try printing this chassis and I would lend my Arduino if we
can come up with the other parts.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1548
I think I could make it on that night, but I am not 100% sure. I
would have to work until 6pm that day.
~Dave
I will donate my diavolino board (arduino clone). I like that chasis. Maybe after tonights meeting we can collect enough money to buy the motor parts…
I have a motor controller board from adafruit that I can donate, and I have a Li-Poly battery I can lend.
I’m thinking something like this design
http://letsmakerobots.com/node/5015
He used Baby gear motors (http://www.solarbotics.com/motors_accessories/gear_motors/) and if you buy 2 they are about $5.75
Not sure where his wheels came from but they look nicer than what is on the solarbotics site…although it maybe one of the rubber wheels…
He used the Fairchild QRD1114 (~$0.70/ea) for the line sensor (2 of them)
And Sharp IR sensors (2 of them) to locate the target. I believe this is the same one we have gotten before from sparkfun for around $14/ea.
I’m sure there are other things I’m forgetting but with what we have it may only cost us < $50
Craig
Wow, pretty impressive! The videos really show how the sensor’s detect and eliminate any opponent. (although the beer bottles don’t fight back, so I am not sure if it was a fair fight…)
–Ed
Hmm, perhaps two more sensors on the back, if it detects that it is being pushed back over the line it could try to twist aside to avoid being pushed over the line.
It will probably depend on how much we can raise for this event. Especially for $14/ea for the IR sensors but I think being able to see behind us would be good. I guess we could always go with a ‘bump sensor’ design. Which is just a bumper on a switch.
The only problem with a “bump sensor” is that you’re reacting to what’s already happening vs. proactively avoiding an incoming threat…
Is there a budget limit for the robot?
–Ed
But you do not bump into the line, it is just a line on the mat and we need to expect to run into stuff head on to push it out of the way. And the line sensors were only 0.70
Aha, I see i was not clear in my first email. I meant two line sensors on the back to see if we were being pushed over the line, not two more distances sensors on the back.
Ohhhh, you are trying to sense backing into the line…gotcha. But to Ed’s comment that is reactionary…and every late at that.
Ok, I just created an excel price sheet that I think anyone logged in from their mailing list account should be able to view & edit
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AkjIUQ3ZJ5GydEF1OHJ3aXM0Q3UydkFXV3ZELWdMMnc&hl=en
I put on all the stuff we have talked about in this thread and some sources for parts. THe only part we have not discussed is wheels and that is the only slot I have not filled.
Our current total is around $36.
LVL1,
I’m assuming we are doing Autonomous only competitions right? I personally would prefer that. The closer I can get to making my mini-sumo self aware and territorial the better 
How close is the ring going to be to the official rules? http://www.robotics-society.org/mini-sumo.shtml
Craig
According to the official rules it is RC vs RC or AI vs AI, not mixed
Right, so I want to build an AI bot and if they build an RC bot we would not be allowed to fight because that would violate one of the primary directives that governs the AI morality. 
As far as the wheels go I’m kind of feeling the smaller ones: http://www.solarbotics.com/products/rw2i/ but the one used by the makerbot frame (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1548) look to be the 2-5/8" wheels instead http://www.solarbotics.com/products/gmpw/ We could just adjust the makerbot frame for smaller wheels. It is typically easier to push along with smaller wheels. And by push I mean for the motor. What do you guys think? Either way the wheels are about $4 each.
I’m not a mechanical engineer or anything, but somehow it seems to make sense that smaller wheels would transfer power from the motor to the ground better. Also, the more surface area the wheel puts to the ground, the more friction thus better traction.
Here is a winning Canadian bot that LVL1 links to on their site: http://www.huv.com/miniSumo/seeker2/
The Seeker II looks hard to beat…but it isn’t as pretty as a custom scoop!
Stl file attached 
I just combined the thingiverse scoop w/ our coin and made a few cosmetic changes.
Craig
hive13-scoop.stl (188 KB)
I am surprised the Seeker II passes the mini sumo rules. IMHO it fails on article 6:
or use any type of sticky tires
which they clearly say the tires are here:
The tires are sticky enough, that if I leave Marauder with clean tires on a flat surface for about half an hour, the tires “stick” to the surface and you need to carefully peel away the tires from the surface. I normally leave the tires dusty, or rest Marauder on it’s back.
under the “Finished Tire” section, which is where he “got the mixture from my brother.” This design is a few years old, which might have been before the rules defined tires and other guidelines.
Regardless, I think we can come up with a better design…
–Ed