Show Bot

[jar24]

My team mentors have let me take on a personal project on the side during the off season to promote robotics, I call it the show bot, or as my mentors have begun to call it ''The Russell Bot" I am already got these things planned for it:
- Speaker system / car stereo
- catapult mounted on top
- a "flag pole" that moves the team banner up and down
- Old ambulance Lights or "cheery's'' ( one red, one white)

What would you think would be good to add onto this? keep in mind that everything has to follow one thing that it is
- Cheap (under $15) as it comes out of my pocket

[Moriarty]

Changeable color LED strips. LEDs make everything cooler.

[jar24]

That could work, i think we actually have some laying around the shop

[Garrett.d.w]

Sprinkler valves plus an accumulator and a pvc barrel = T-Shirt cannon.

It's not quite under $25 (think around $50 all said and done) if you buy everything new, but many things can be modified for use in this mechanism.

You can shoot t-shirts into the crowd and soda cans into a field. Its just a lot of fun.

[jar24]

T-shirt cannon was my first choice, just no resources to build one, that's why I am building a pneumatic catapult, t-shirt cannon is a future endeavor

[fb39ca4]

Underglow!

[jar24]

that could work, but putting lights aside what mechanical things

[pmangels17]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTc0VFGV7s4
This would be kinda cool.....

[JaneYoung]

If you build it to withstand a water game, you could call it Show Boat.

Just sayin'...

Jane

[jar24]

Originally Posted by Garrett.d.w

Sprinkler valves plus an accumulator and a pvc barrel = T-Shirt cannon.

It's not quite under $25 (think around $50 all said and done) if you buy everything new, but many things can be modified for use in this mechanism.

You can shoot t-shirts into the crowd and soda cans into a field. Its just a lot of fun.

would you happen to have a parts list / blue prints on how to correctly make one that dont take up much space?

[Camren]

At the last minute my friend Ryan and I threw together what I call RoverBot. It is a white box on wheels with a Camera on a 2 axis servo mount that draws the attention of people to go check out what is inside the white box at our booth. Plus the kids get a kick out of it when the driver makes them think they are controlling it with hand actions.

[Amo10]

Originally Posted by jar24

would you happen to have a parts list / blue prints on how to correctly make one that dont take up much space?

This is from Kipkay and you would have to make some modifications for it to work on a robot but it should give you a good start

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Amo10

This is from Kipkay and you would have to make some modifications for it to work on a robot but it should give you a good start

The first modification I would do is to replace every piece of PVC with something that won't shatter if it breaks.

If PVC breaks under air pressure, it tends to shatter, and the shards go far--read pain to anybody who gets hit. Air is not the same as water, which is what PVC is rated for.

That said, I do remember hearing that ABS pipe does not have that problem. If you were to make your accumulation system of that, and leave PVC in the barrel, you should only have a potential issue if the barrel clogs (and most of the time, the clog would be the ammo on its way out of the firing end.

If you were to use PVC, I would highly suggest investing in some plywood or other similar material to build a box to contain the storage part of the system. Use the extra flat space for more cool stuff (spray paint is cheap, good place for lights, could always put sponsors or ads on it, you get the picture).

[jar24]

Originally Posted by Amo10

This is from Kipkay and you would have to make some modifications for it to work on a robot but it should give you a good start

thanks for this, now I can give my mentors a better price range, you think it would work the same if i was to scale it down?

[jar24]

Originally Posted by EricH

The first modification I would do is to replace every piece of PVC with something that won't shatter if it breaks.

If PVC breaks under air pressure, it tends to shatter, and the shards go far--read pain to anybody who gets hit. Air is not the same as water, which is what PVC is rated for.

That said, I do remember hearing that ABS pipe does not have that problem. If you were to make your accumulation system of that, and leave PVC in the barrel, you should only have a potential issue if the barrel clogs (and most of the time, the clog would be the ammo on its way out of the firing end.

If you were to use PVC, I would highly suggest investing in some plywood or other similar material to build a box to contain the storage part of the system. Use the extra flat space for more cool stuff (spray paint is cheap, good place for lights, could always put sponsors or ads on it, you get the picture).

I have heard and have been told to wrap it in duct tape, and make it so that you can un- screw the barrel to change it out