I knew I had weight to shed but rather than focus on that, I also knew I had a few more components that needed to get into the robot, So I chose to add everything I needed and then strip out weight from that point rather than go back and forth with add a little, remove a little, add a little,.. remove a little,.. and so forth. So I knew I needed a power light visible from outside the robot, and I needed a manual power cut off that was accessible from outside the robot.

The front of the robot was as good a place as any to drop the power light, I had some fun with this by using a high power LED shone through the cutting board plastic. With an appropriate resistor install it only drained .05 mah and made a kind of cool effect when the robot was closed up, really it was only about a gram heavier than a standard LED so I went with it. Plus Red Rover really needed some more RED.

Bots eye view of what the enemy robot sees --->

The last requirement was a power switch, and unfortunately the only one I had that could handle 8 Amps of current was .1 oz, I did what I had to do and mounted it in the back of the robot, hot glued into place with a bit of expanded PVC to hold it upright. I installed it in a manner that allowed me to drill two little holes in the top and bottom plates of my armor. By sticking a skinny screw driver in the top hole I could push the switch to on, and by inserting the screwdriver in the bottom hole I could push the switch off,. this kept the power control well secured and protected within the robot. Since the top and bottom of my robot are very similar I put two red racing stripes on top so I would always know which side was up when dealing with main power control.

Finally, all I had to do was bring the weight down and build a few more battery packs. I drilled holes in just about every surface that was not absolutely necessary for structural integrity. Since this robot was mostly composite materials shedding weight was actually quite difficult. It basically all had to come from places that used metal, and there where not that many to begin with,.. most of the weight came from drilling more holes into the plow and removing a chunk from the center of the plow (to let the eye shine through (above)) and drilling and grinding even more weight from the hubs. Another chunk of weight was removed by shortening the springs by about 1/4" each, and replacing the metal wood screws that held the springs into the cutting board material with wedges of carbon fiber. Finally I even had to cut out a chunk of plastic from the back wall, degrading strength just a bit,.. but it had to be done.

All that hard work paid off though, I was able to add two large rare earth magnets for traction. and I did not have to give up the 6th battery, so I was able to run @ 7.2v as planned.

The extra batteries for the bots 2nd and 3rd pack showed up the night before the battle so I was up late soldering, cycling batteries and testing drive capabilities. Some how battery pack 2 and 3 ended up to be 2.60 oz rather than the planed for first packs 2.7 oz. At that point I added another two small rare earth magnets and called it ready at about 15.95 oz give or take .05 depending on battery pack.

Next: Fight Report w/video, Testing & Planned Upgrades -----> (coming soon)