Brainstorming
Before designing your robot, it's important to get familiar with our league's rules. And our provided parts to understand what constraints you have to design your bot around. Of course, feel free to purchase and use your own parts if you wish; just make sure that your bot follows all rules as specified in the rulebook!
There are 3 simple principles behind what makes a combat robot successful: movement, attack, and durability.
Movement
Wheels are the simplest and most popular way to make a combat robot move. They are simple, reliable, and durable. When designing the wheels for your robot, keep a few points in mind:
Make sure that the wheels can make solid contact with the ground even if the robot is lifted a little. Remember that there will be a lot of debris in the arena as stuff gets destroyed, so your robot may run over some of it and get lifted up.
Keep in mind that the arena floor is wooden, which won't have much grip. Most bots use foam tape around the wheels for more grip, but feel free to design your own solution.
Consider if you want your bot to be able to drive even if it gets flipped over by another bot.
If you have a large spinner, the vibration and gyroscopic forces may move your bot around. Consider how this will impact its movement.
Attack
You will be able to choose between a high-power weapon motor or a high-torque servo to power your weapon. Weapon motors are typically used to make a spinner-type weapon, and a servo is typically used to make a flipper (forklift) type weapon.
If a spinner is improperly balanced, it can create a lot of vibration as it spins, which may have undesired effects.
Smaller spinners may break easily since they are 3D-printed plastic, but will reach full speed quicker.
Larger spinners are much more durable but will take longer to spin up.
Better to have lower clearance with the ground so that forks are able to disrupt opponents' drive.
Durability
At minimum, your combat robot should be able to handle getting pushed around the arena. Keep these points in mind:
There will be a lot of movement during a match, so make sure that everything is securely held down or fastened so that it won't come loose.
Different filaments each have their own properties, which can impact the impact resistance of your robot.