Servo - June 2009

potential sponsors how and where their name will be visible, such as on team T-shirts, websites, You-Tube videos, and of course, on the bot. Show examples of where newspapers, magazines (say SERVO three times, loudly), and TV news programs have covered events. Showing videos from fights is important. Make sure the videos show enthusiastic crowds.

Include your annual budget on your folder. Include the total cost of building, fighting, and repairing your bot, marketing items like T-shirts, travel costs, entry fees, etc. Don’t be afraid to show the total cost. They can always fund part of the cost instead of the whole, but going back for more money later is difficult.

It will be difficult to get cash

from sponsors without a proven track record. However, parts or machining time are much more likely. Don’t give up after getting turned down a few times. Evaluate what you’re doing and keep going; this takes a lot of effort.

What’s Next?

The next installment of this summary will get into the nuts and bolts (literally!) of combot design: calculations, optimization, building and testing, structures, armor, and drive types. This short summary covered 16 pages of dense and fascinating material. SV

All material used with permission of RioBotz, Marco Antonio Meggiolaro.

A well designed brochure can elevate a team from “begger” to “sponsored.”

EVENTS

Completed and Upcoming Events

Completed Results for March 16 to April 12, 2009

Ideas Festival: March 27

and 28, Brisbane, Queensland.

Upcoming Events for

Jun-Jul 2009

RoboGames will be held June 12-14 in San Francisco, CA. Go to www.robogames.net for more details. SV

PARTS IS PARTS:

Banebots P60 1: 16

Gearb x Review

My P60 gearboxes have arrived and so far, they look very promising. The overall machining quality is vastly improved when compared to the Chinese produced versions. All the mounting holes on my gearboxes are in exactly the

● by Nick Martin

right spots where the CAD drawings say they will be.

Compared to the 42 mm gearboxes they replace, the P60 has a very similar 1/2” output shaft that reduces to 3/8” at the front bearing. The reduction point is