The sumo bot thing… what about one that uses a spring-loaded pneumatic platform attached to a ring around the entire bot, then flips anything coming in contact with it?
Pressure sensors along the “body” cylinder… fires off the command to “pop” the platform straight up…
I think it would also be cool if we were to get a ring of our own and host something like this sometime in the future - that way we can alternate ‘home field advantage’ (what exactly that advantage would be, I could say, but… it would be fun to go back and forth anyway).
I am very interested to attend this Louisville event, with or without a bot to enter, and can offer 3 other seats in my car. Partially to see how these events are run, but also because I’ve never seen another hackerspace in person and think it would be cool to check out.
Hey, Pneumatics are pneumatics, man. 
Could call it the pogo-sumo.
I think building our own ring is in order. If for nothing else but testing.
Building a ring sounds like a good plan. Time to look up the exact
dimensions.
I found the rules:
The Ring shall be in circular shape with its height being 2.5 cm and its diameter 77 cm (including the outside of the line that divides the inside of the Ring from its outside). The Ring shall be of black hard rubber (made by Toyo Linoleum: long vinyl sheet NC #R289, or it’s equivalent) adhered on top of aluminum plate.
Shikiri lines (where robots stand at the beginning of the match) are the two parallel lines with 10 cm distance between the lines, drawn in the center of the Ring. The Shikiri lines are painted in brown (or equivalent for reflection of IR light), 1 cm wide and 10 cm long.
The Ring shall be marked by a white circular line of 2.5 cm thickness. The Ring is within the outside of this circular line.
Article 4. (Space) There should be the space of more than 50 cm wide outside the outer side of the Ring. This space can be of any color except white, and can be of any materials or shape, as long as the basic concept of these rules are observed. This area, with the ring in the middle, is to be called the: “Ring Area”. If there are markings or part of the ring platform outside these dimentions, this area will also be con
77 cm ~~ 30 inches
I am thinking that for a test board just using some flat black paint on some plywood should work.
I can pick up the plywood & paint on my way to the hackerspace tonight.
I have a ultrasonic sensor i can lend to the project, if so desired:
Here’s a quick question. Brian’s ultra sonic sensor is far superior to the IR sensors we were looking at but we should still probably want 2 of them. Rocking back and forth to compensate for having only one may put us at a disadvantage if being attacked. The sonic sensor in the link is $30. This is basically the price of 2 IR sensors.
We could simply get another ultra sonic sensor and use the borrowed one for much higher accuracy. The only issue I see is that Brian’s is a loaner. If we want to keep the bot around we will eventually want to get another sonic sensor. Anybody have a preference? I’m inclined just to buy another sonic sensor.
Craig
I think we should build something that is permanent, that way we have things to demonstrate at the HIVE when we have visitors. (not to discount Brian’s generation loan) Ideally we can set up our own ring and actually have a couple of units to fight. (maybe a simple opponent that our “champion” can easily defeat instead of beer bottles)
I would vote for two ultra sonic sensors (one in front, one in the back) and cheaper sensors on the sides. (just to give basic proximity so the bot knows which way to turn) I also think we should make it ambidextrous, so that there is no front or back. (it functions the same in either direction)
Curious how something that is tread driven would work - so there’s more surface area on the ground. (with a slower, high-torque motor to just lumber along and push opponents along) I don’t see the value in speed for such a small fighting area…
Thoughts?
–Ed
I’ll donate that sensor to the project, keep it.
Brian
The only issue I can see with treads is that the ones that I have seen online are more plastic than rubber, which would give us less traction than some nice rubber wheels.
I'm a big fan of multiple, smaller wheels. You get the benefit of
treads, but the forgiveness of wheels.
I mentioned last night using really soft compound remote control car tires, but browsing the online selection, I now remember how absurdly expensive they are. Getting 4 tires and wheels could easily run $50, so we probably want to look at another option (unless someone has an on-road rc car laying around). For reference, the type of tires I was referring to:
http://www.rcspeedzone.com/category/tires_on10th/HPI4596.html
You choose the stiffness of the foam insert the same way you choose how much air to put in your tires, allowing you to modify the contact patch between the tire and the ground and resultant traction/friction.
I ordered some parts for the sumo bot. Once they come in we should be able to build version 1 of the hive13 sumo bot.
Paul, do you know if the motorshield you have takes power from the VIN pin? Typically this is unregulated power and I will need to add a jumper for that. Else I have one with a DC jack and the upgraded power regulator along with a 6v batter pack attachment. Let me know if the motor shield needs more power than this and if it needs unregulated power from the board.
I have an SVN repository setup but I have not figured out how to get OpenID/SAML style SSO w/ google apps working with it yet. 
I may have to just setup yet another user/pass DB if I don’t figure it out.
Craig
Hmm, I know that it has an external power socket for powering the DC motors, however I can not say for certain that the motorshield board does not use the VIN pin. I am reasonably sure that it uses the 5V pin from board and not the VIN pin.