BulletPoint — Fighting Robots

Iain from Iochdar has been keeping himself busy lately building his collection of BulletPoint, Fighting Robots. If you were ever a Robot Wars fan as a youngster, these are the robots we’re talking! Robots that compete and fight for entertainment at various events across the country and the globe. For Iain, this is more than just entertainment. This is a passion which he’s spent a lot of time and effort on. From designing to building, testing, travelling and competing with his robots, he’s kept on the go.

‘I’ve been a fan since around 1998, back when Robot Wars was first broadcast on TV. These machines come in various weight classes and can weigh as little as 150g and up to 110kg. I compete in the beetleweight class with a weight limit of 1.5kg. You can practically build them in the kitchen. 

They are challenging to make. You can go with the simple design or you can try and design something completely new by yourself with all types of different weapons, lifting mechanisms, hammer mechanisms or a spinning mechanism which can deliver a lot of energy.’

When you think of robots, often the mind goes to a machine that’s built of nuts, bolts and metal. But things have changed in the robot engineering world.

‘Some newer materials have come out, like TPU – thermoplastic polyurethane – which is a very rubbery kind of material and it’s very durable. Plastics still have their place in these robots, but a lot of them rely on metal for digger buckets or tank armour.

 

These robots can be designed using Computer Aided Design, a 3D printer CNC machining, welding and other methods. All in all, there’s a lot you have to know.

You have to think about the wiring process and what components you use for electronics. You have to know how to solder things together and give the robot the required features. It needs a power method, a light to indicate that it’s switched on and controllers for speed, direction and weapons. I like to make it a bit of a challenge with my designs, I would use something like a CAD program to design all the parts. 

Sometimes you can make mistakes in the process. If they take too much damage or the motor acts up or if the battery gets hit, suddenly the robot could fail or catch fire or other problems can happen, you want to avoid that.’

I’d say that a combusting robot is definitely something you want to avoid. Iain believes that he is the only person in the Western Isles or entire Highlands and Islands who is involved in this world, however he sees a lot of opportunity out there for our young people.

‘Designing these robots would be great for engineering students, tech students or design students or anything like that. Maybe they haven’t done any of these at all, but they might take part in the sport and then learn to do these incredible things.

 

Suddenly, they might find themselves in a career or in a particular field that relates to their skill. I’d like to think that it’s an excellent opportunity for young people, or people who are into technical building to get their teeth into it. It might lead them into something that they never expected.

 

So, getting people involved is part of my mission.

 

All over the world, there are competitions taking place. The closest competition happening to the misty Western Isles are in places like Edinburgh and Bristol. There are other events worldwide hosted by various organisations, including the NHRL and BattleBots in the US. Some of these you can watch on Youtube. Some competitions can have a cash prize with the top tier of competitors winning between $400 and $10,000. Time we all got building robots! There is a spin speed limit of 250 mph for the robots in order to protect the arena and also the general public who come to these events.

‘The first event I brought my robot to was last year. Unfortunately, when I got there, for some reason, the transmitter was not connecting properly to the receiver inside the robot, so I couldn’t compete in that tournament. But we got it working again later.

I then went into an exhibition match later that day and won the fight against three other robots! My robot was upside down and my lifter wasn’t working properly, then they hit me again and I got back on my feet. Then I was driving around and trying to be aggressive and pushing them around until they accidentally landed on their back and couldn’t move.

So I went and opened the pit – which is something that you could do, you can press a button beside the ring to open up the pit – then I just pushed them down and that was that. It was a little bit of a cheeky first win there.

Iain, since his first match has managed to win some other fights during these competitions and he doesn’t plan to stop yet. He’s currently working on his latest robot and mentions that there are lots of inspiring and creative designers out there.

There are lots of great and unique robots out there. I have friends who build robots quite differently. One friend built a robot that didn’t have wheels, it ran based on vibration.

 

There was another person who built a robot out of a cutting board. He used the plastic of the cutting board as a chassis and it was called Chops To It. Then his next robot was a literal bread bin with a bread knife on top as the weapon.

We get some really cool people and really impressive, fun robots. People like to think that this is a bit of a geeky nichè, but it’s breaking out of that perception because things like NHRL and BattleBots are becoming more popular.

When Iain is designing his robots he likes to start off with a hand drawn sketch and then take to technology working through Computer Aided Drawing. He mentions that there are free applications out there like ‘Autodesk Fusion 360’. He goes through many versions of his design before he 3D prints the parts, puts the electrics together and fits the chassis. Then he can begin testing his device.

‘It’s just lots of trial and error with getting the design right. You need to do an awful lot of testing, making sure that the robot works, that it drives as it should and that the weapon works as it should.

There’s a lot of DIY and there’s a lot of electronics involved, so you have to build and test them safely. But once they’re in the box, like an actual ring, it’s the safest place they could be. The space is enclosed and everybody’s perfectly safe. So you can go full tilt in there if you want to.

Previously, in the ring, my wedge got blown off my robot. My competitor managed to shear every single screw holding down the wedge. So I learned my lesson from that on how to make a stronger, sturdier support for the wedge. When I saw it happening, it was quite epic actually.’

Iain mentions that this community that he is part of is an open and welcoming one and he’s made friends from all over the world. At the moment he is designing and building his robots by himself in his Iochdar home, but he has plenty of people to turn to for advice in this community.

‘I do talk to others and run ideas by some people for advice, and they’re very helpful. That makes a big difference because it’s hard to be confident by yourself.’

Iain’s vision for the future includes Uist and the Western Isles being a frontrunner in the robot world. Let’s watch this space!

‘I like to think that where we come from is fairly unique. Imagine that there’s a robot from a place that people from across the world would think is from a fantasy novel or something like that. You know what I mean? Well also, I want to show off that we exist, and show that there’s lots of interesting things happening here.

We’re very talented people. There are a number of brilliant individuals here doing different things. I’d love to get the schools involved in building, designing, fixing and thinking about making machines and devices, these skills are transferable to all sorts of industries. It would be great for the Nicolson Institute or Sgoil Lìonacleit or even UHI to get involved. It’d be a good thing for them to get involved with and find new skills.

I’d also love to build my own arena to have local events, but that’s very expensive. But I’d like to see if we could get more young people here involved, because it might be something they could really get their teeth into. Especially if they get to know how to build things – and also wreck them! Wrecking is definitely part of the fun.’

In a final note, Iain encourages people to get involved and engage in this world. There are plenty of opportunities out there for all and he’d be happy to talk to anyone interested in building their own robots.

It’s important to have fun with these things. I think some people can take it quite seriously, they’re very competitive. As much as it’s not fun to have something expensive be completely wrecked, it’s also fun to watch something you didn’t expect to actually happen and then learn from it.

So when damage happens, you just have to realise that it’s okay, and that it happens. I’ve had the privilege of knowing a lot of people through these robots and I’d love for it to become more popular here.’