or driver. For that, you’ll have to tune into the
show. However, we can tell you that this mean
machine uses multiple “short” AmpFlow A28-
150 24 volt neodymium magnet DC motors to
drive its wheels, and a “long” AmpFlow A28-
400 24 volt PMDC motor to drive a wide belt
that spins something at the front end.
Once the tournament has been televised,
we’ll be able to provide more details about
which robots competed, how well they did,
what parts they used, what worked, and what
didn’t.
Please Show Me at
Least One Robot?
Since you asked nicely, we’ll show you an
inside view of one of the crowd favorites from
the May 2002 BattleBot competition,
Warhead.
SERVO 07.2015 53
Marc DeVidts (far left) works on his
robot while Trey Roski (left), founder
of BattleBots escorts some VIPs
through the pits.
A Drone’s Eye View
The dilemma of watching or
televising a fight between two
destructive robots is how to see
what the robots are doing
without being in harm’s way. The
solution has always been thick
sheets of polycarbonate that are
mostly clear and impervious to
projectiles large and small.
However, even brand new
polycarbonate creates
reflections and warps the view.
For BattleBots 2015, DJI
provided two of their Inspire 4K
camera drones and technical
support to get a truly new
perspective on each fight.
Michael Shabun of DJI
Technology, LLC gave me a
close-up look at the carbon-fiber
technology and tiny built-in
camera that records 4K video on
a microSD card during flight.
I can’t wait to see the drone
footage when BattleBots airs.
DJI provided this Inspire drone to fly
inside the BattleBox, filming the action.
The DJI Inspire drone with
4K camera.