Beat It

Beat It is the first robot created by the WATBOTs team. It’s a 1-pound bot which uses a spinning bar as its primary weapon, made from waterjet-cut AR500 steel.

Beat It is powered by brushless DC motors and a 350 mAh LiPo battery and is operated using a RadioMaster drone controller.

The chassis and wheel guards are made from 3D-printed TPU, a flexible material with excellent impact resistance. The top and sides are constructed from carbon fiber and titanium sheets, which provide the flexural rigidity needed to maintain the robot’s shape during impacts.

Smooth Criminal

Smooth Criminal is the second robot on the WATBOTs roster. It’s a 1-pound robot that uses its entire body as a weapon by rapidly spinning itself into its opponent. Motion is achieved using a method called translational drift, allowing the entire robot to spin while also moving by pulsing the motors when they're facing the intended direction during rotation.

Smooth Criminal runs on brushless DC motors, a 350mAh LiPo battery, an Arduino Micro, and uses a high-G accelerometer to determine its heading during rotation. The entire chassis is made of 3D printed TPU clam shelled around a machined aluminum ring with a large tooth. The wheels have steel cleats in them to ensure maximum grip on wooden arena floors, which helps prevent drift in the robot heading.

Human Nature

Human Nature is the third robot that WATBOTs has built. It is our first 3 pound robot. Human nature uses a powerful spinning disk on the end of its arm to cut through other bots. This disk is made of AR 500 steel, so it is extremely difficult to break. Human Nature uses a high torque motor to actuate the arm, allowing the bot to keep the weapon at a safe distance when not needed. Human Nature also has a 1/8 inch thick steel plate on the front to block incoming hits. Like our other robots, Human Nature is primarily made out of TPU, with titanium plates on the top and bottom.

Blood On The Dance Floor

Blood on the Dance Floor is a 1-pound vertical spinner robot. Using two asymmetrical steel discs, it damages opponents and launches them into the air. The weapon discs are spun using a brushless motor connected with a pulley, and they are mounted on a set of uprights that allow the robot to drive while upside down. Like the other bots, the chassis is 3D printed from TPU, with a carbon fibre top plate to add rigidity. The drive consists of two brushed motors and uses cast rubber wheels for more traction.

Don't Stop

Don't Stop is a 3-pound undercutter. It has a large horizontally-mounted disc below the chassis that cuts at the wheels of opponents, and can dish out big hits due to its large mass. The weapon is mounted to a hubmotor for a more compact chassis. It uses a two-wheel drive setup, which in the future will be converted to a shuffler for a 25% weight bonus.

Fly Away

Fly Away is a 3-pound flipper robot. It uses a modified crank-rocker mechanism for the flipper with a gear ratio of 1:2 to increase output torque. A brushless motor is attached to the smaller gear, and the rocker arm is attached to the larger gear, amplifying the rotational motion. The robot has large aluminum forks, used to pin, lift, and control opponents. There is also a separate wedge configuration for going against undercutters or other horizontals. An ESP32 will be used to control brushless ESCs for both drive and flipper motion.