Servo - July 2016

SERVO 07.2016 29

seems like a minor issue, but when you put your bot in the arena and nothing happens, having a simple light is a great troubleshooting tool. Also, the nicer ESCs have auto-calibration features, which are about the coolest feature ever if you are running two bots on one transmitter. Which leads to our last component ...

Never ever skimp on your transmitter. A crappy transmitter is just that — crappy. Radio interference is a terrible problem to have. Your transmitter is also likely to never need replacing. I still have a radio that I bought 14 years ago. I don’t use it much any more because 2. 4 GHz came out and rendered it practically useless, but now there are kits to upgrade old radios from 75 MHz to 2. 4 GHz. This radio is actually nice enough to justify that minor cost and effort. Also, the cost difference between a cheap radio and nice radio is not very much.

Regardless of what radio you pick, the feature I personally feel is the most important is model memory. I run multiple bots at most events, and the ability to set the radio specifically for each bot is a plus.

It’s also a feature I don’t have on my current radio and I fight it every single event. (As an aside, the very next thing I buy will be a new radio.)

Well, that concludes my highly scientific/highly subjective review of where to spend your money on combat robotics. I can hear you shouting at the magazine that I didn’t cover frames or weapon assemblies. That’s because I can’t. Each bot is different and you really need to choose materials based on what you need.

I prefer making my robots as cheaply as possible, so I use mild steel, cheap aluminum, or UHMW. Some people are looking for a more polished bot, so they may use titanium, aircraft grade aluminum, high grade steel, or magnesium. What you use depends on how much money you have left and the bot design you’re going for.