Evil Robots IncEvil Robots Inc

theFrankes.com · Highly Configurable Wheel One Wheel To Rule Them All

Jason — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 21:49:35 +0000

I’m just starting to learn OpenSCAD and I think this is a wonderful example of the awesome things it can do: A thoroughly parametric robot wheel.

theFrankes.com · Highly Configurable Wheel One Wheel To Rule Them All.

Chatt*Lab Makerspace in Chattanooga.

Jason — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:25:56 +0000

Some friends and I working on a community space / makerspace / hackerspace in lovely Chattanooga Tennessee.

Check it out at http://www.chattlab.org

1st Place at Dragon Con Robot Battles 2010

Jason — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 01:20:20 +0000

I won first place in the 12lb category this year with Tetanus Shot.
The battles this year were nothing short of epic, there were some amazing bots and some amazing fights.

Here is a highlight video from Dale Heatherington:

Dragon Con 2010

Jason — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:58:23 +0000

Getting ready for Dragon Con 2010 and the Robot Battles. Again this year I have slacked off and did not get to building until last week. Evil Robots Inc has a new 12 pound entry Tetanus Shot and Rippy will be returning in the 1 pound antweight competition. I unfortunately had no time to complete bots for the 30lb and 3lb categories.

I am taking a break from the robotics programming track this year to spend some time enjoying the con as an attendee again. I still plan to go see much of the programming organized by Valerie. You should too!

Gearing up for DragonCon Robot Battles 2009

Jason — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:07:56 +0000

As usual I am way behind in my robot building for RobotBattles at DragonCon. I am trying to get the 12lb Probulator updated a bit with some new anti pushback changes and minor upgrades to the pneumatic spike. My 1lb Rippy is getting a nearly complete rebuid, the foam core armor did not stand up to the competition at MegaCon in march. The 3lb robot Family Joules needs a major drive train overhaul. And if I have the time, my 30lb robot Vorpal Bunny Fu Fu needs a weapon rebuild and upgrade.

Lots to do, and very little time to do it.

Mech Warfare

Jason — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:20:07 +0000

I have long been a fan of the Battletech game and universe, and I loved the Mechwarrior games and the Virtual World Battletech simulators. Obviously this led partially to my love of robot combat. With all the amazing advances in the last few years to bipedal robots, a “Battletech” style competition is now possible. And it will be at Robo Games in 2009: Mechwarfare. I personally hope that this particular competition takes off. There is a tremendous amount of room for innovation and creativity in these designs. Since the competition is scored on “Hit Points” and not real physical damage, the ongoing cost issues are not quite as high as a traditional combat robot competition. Although, without the violence and mayhem, I fear audience support and enthusiasim will not be quite as high.

If I get some time (Yeah right), I might start working on one of these. Sadly, RoboGames is in San Francisco, 2446 miles from my house.

The photo below is from the best looking Mech I have seen for this competition so far at Trossen Robotics.

Hagetaka, Trossen Robotics

EPB fiber to the home

Jason — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:47:00 +0000

Tomorrow, I become the third person in Chattanooga testing the new EPB fiber to the home services. I will be testing a high speed synchronous net connection at 10 Mbps. Rumor has it that EPB will be offering service up to 50 Mbps!!
I will also be testing their TV and phone services, all delivered over the fiber connection.
They say their DVR has. “really cool features” so I will be testing it. I doubt that it will be able to compete with my MythTV setup though. We will see.

Moved to WordPress

Jason — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:57:27 +0000

I have changed the site software to WordPress and imported my old posts. Now I need to start updating again. In the past I have restricted my posts to robotics related material but now I am going to broaden the scope to include more of my interests and hobbies. Also this is my first blog...

Read the rest

Robot Battles Chattacon 2008

Jason — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 09:46:00 +0000

I attended the Robot Battles at Chattacon 2008 this year.
This is the first time we have had a Robot Battles event at Chattacon in over 10 years.

The same arena we use in Atlanta at Dragon Con was brought up for the competition, and we held a small event with 1lb and 3lb robots.
I brought Rippy’s Revenge, an antweight based loosely on it’s namesake Rippy, using the same weapon blade. Rippy was destroyed at the Dragon Con Robot Battles 2007 by the arena hazard.
Rippy’s Revenge did not live up to his name and was also destroyed by the arena hazard.

I also brought a 3lb beetleweight robot called Ringo to the competition. There was only one other team there with 3lb robots, so we really just made it an exhibition match. I still lost, mostly due to the track system I stole from an RC car having horrible traction on the painted plywood arena floor.

Both Rippy’s Revenge and Ringo used brushless motors for the weapons, but I was not terribly happy with their performance. The brushless motor controllers are too smart and shut down when a heavy load like hitting another robot is introduced. Brushed motors will just keep on trying to spin. I think I prefer that behavior. Also, brushless motors require a separate motor controller, which takes up space and adds extra weight.

I have uploaded a few pictures to the media gallery. Hopefully I will have some video from Kelly Lockhart next week.

Dragon Con Robot Battles 2007

Jason — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 05:42:12 +0000

Evil Robots Inc attended the Dragon Con Robot Battles again this year.
I am hoping to obtain the full competition bracket information soon to post for everyone but the most important part is our 1lb robot Rippy took first place in the antweight competition. Rippy was later mostly destroyed by the arena hazard in the Battle Royale. The audience loved it, and so did I!.
Probulator did well in the 12lb competition but did not win.
Vorpal Bunny Fufu also did well in the 30lb competition but was out when the Vantec motor controller died while fighting Stewie Bot.

I have a lot of videos that have been sent to me that need some editing and compressing. Hopefully I will have those up in a few days.

Update-I am obviously a slacker about posting the videos. Go see some of them at the Robot Battles website.