About Bodacious Hillar Wolt

My son's plastic 1lb robot is called Bodacious Hillar Wolt, a name randomly generated by Tinkercad, the 3d CAD tool we used to create it. We built BHW to fight in the monthly Robot Roundabout events that ran regularly over 2016 and 2017.  These fights were among the first "plastic class" antweight fights anywhere, but it was and is a good idea and folks seem to be doing it all over now (smug face.)

Bodacious Hillar Wolt , much as it was when it first fought in 2016. 

Pictured is a rebuild using the original CAD files. 'Old Bo'

Since the fights were a new class, what would work was largely up in the air.  All the robots were brand new robots.  (Sadly all my photos from this early period were lost.)  Mistakes were made at first, but the robots evolved and improved rapidly, as did the building skills of everyone who participated.

The 2nd generation. We went through a bunch of these.

The first upgrades included stretching the body out, widening everything, including the weapon. The wheel guards were added to both protect the wheel and keep them from falling off. Sturdier screwed on "wedgelets" replaced the fragile oval feet keeping the spinning weapon off the floor. We got it dialed in and it got better and better. Until...

1st place BHW, Seattle Bot Battles 2018 

After the rumble. A nice view of the weapon motor and pulley, though.

While it obviously did well, I could still see one or two places spots for improvement. Subtle, to the untrained eye, I know.

The new and current version of BHD was the most radical upgrade since the first upgrade, all those years ago.  While keeping the basic dimensions the same (I used the original CAD, of course) the rear wedge was removed and the wheelguards and weapon brackets heavily reinforced. 

And how did "Old Bo", the reprint of the original do?

It was worse than this makes it look.

Old Bo needed upgrades all those years ago. It was front heavy, the wedge was too low, and it frequently couldn't move. This time around it broke or got stuck too quickly for the wheels to fall off, but they would have. The notion that I could/should improve it keeps popping into my head, but I can't because already have.

 The Black/Blue Bodacious fought with the old green one, and did well, only taking minor damage. It got pitted by Mission Control in the quarter finals. More on that later.

Name: Bodacious Hillar Wolt (Current Version)
Class: 1 pound Plastic Antweight

Printed from eSun PLA Pro, 215c .2 layer height, 70%-90% infill.

Weapon Motor - 1x Hobby King 'Donkey' Brushless Motor (discontinued)
Drive Motors -  2x 50:1 N20 gearmotors
Drive ESCs (Currently) - 2x Fingertech Tiny ESC
Weapon ESC - 1x 12amp Hobby King ESC (of some variety.)

If anyone asks, I'll sit down and do a full parts list inventory, including rods, bolts, belt and pulley sizes and amounts.

What is a dangerous toy? How dangerous are we talking, here?

This is blog about remote controlled fighting robots. (Sometimes) Dangerous Toys. Antweight sized fighting robots, which range from 150 gram 'UK' antweights to the relatively large 1 pound 'US' antweights.   As I design and build my machines with extensive use of a 3d printer, a lot of what I show and discussed will be related to 3d printing challenges as they relate to building small combat robots.

How Dangerous? For starters, not very. When I do talk about the more dangerous bots, I'll be sure to say so.

Building the "Crater" arena.  Just polystyrene, Elmer's glue, paint, and sand. So much sand.

This is the arena, finished for the first time. I have to repaint it after every few uses.  I find repainting and re-sanding it enjoyable, otherwise it would not be worth the effort.

On the Dange-O-Meter, these toys are solid green not-dangerous.

Vlad-Micro.

Just like the original, lifting spikes combined with a fast charge is surprisingly effective.

Sadly, while I managed to make my 10 year old Barello150 dual ESC fit, it no longer functions and is in the 'dead' bag, probably for good.  Current Vlad Micro uses two Banebots ESCs (don't remember the numbers, the yellow ones.) 

Mission Control. 1lb antweight. 3d printed carbon fiber infused nylon frame and accessories with titanium outriders, claw and scoop, and back wedge. Status: Active

The all plastic 'Plastique' full body spinner. A spring presses a brushless motor powered wheel against the shell, making it spin. Normally indestructible, the shell exploded into multiple pieces at Seattle Bot Battles 2018.  Status: Inactive

This is called "Bodacious Hillar Wolt", after the randomly generated title of it's original Tinkercad file.  It won the 1lb Plastic Class at Seattle Bot Battles 2018.  Status: Unknown - Just had it's best outing ever, but was destroyed during the rumble.

Lil Joker, a 150g machine. Its a modified version of a robot design from Thingiverse. This one features far faster motors, a titanium to plate and flipper, and a nylon base. It only won one fight, but it took no serious damage. Status: Inactive (guts removed to power some fun bots.)

Seattle Bot Battle 2018 remains. Clockwise from the top left. Bodacious Hillar Wolt, Plastique, Tiny the Impaler, Mission Control, Lil Joker

The 'final' Vlad Micro design. Improvements from the prototype include annoying power light on the top-mast, on/off switch, and sturdier construction. Of course, I've already made further improvements to this 'final' design. 

Tiny the Impaler.  Essentially the same as Vlad Micro, but with larger wheels for more speed, a titanium top plate and spikes, and a lower top-lid allowing it to run inverted. Printed out of eSun Carbon Fiber Nylon

I spent over an hour rewiring Tiny to lose those final 2 grams. When I was done, it still weighed exactly the same. Eventually I spent 30 seconds drilling for holes in the titanium lid.