2.61mb AVI

Question 1: What was the general strategy or plan behind your bot design?

The original design for Dizzy, was to have the whole robot spin, to deflect opponent attacks. Through the design process, it transformed into a robot where the outter shell (large wheels around the robot) would spin, while the body of the robot would drive a normal path around the ring. Dizzy was built for a sumo event at Brickfest 2003 where it was required to fit into an 8 inch circle. After Brickfest, Dizzy was trimmed down from about 3 pounds to exactly 2 pounds.

Question 2: What technologies/mechanisms did you use?

The key component to Dizzy is a pair of wheels from a Starwars Hailfire Droid. These wheels have a hollow center, which has gear teeth, that can be driven by a motor. Dizzy used a single motor to drive the two wheels in the same direction at all times (except when turning)

Question 3: What was the most challenging aspect of construction?

Weight. The original design was a little under 3 pounds. It had 5 motors, and 8 drive wheels. Almost 20% of the total weight was used in the 2 Hailfire wheels. They weighed a combined 6 oz, of the allowed 32. In order to weigh-in at 2 pounds, two of the motors were removed, leaving two for driving the robot, and one for spinning the Hailfire wheels. After ALL excess pieces were removed, it was still a couple ounces overweight. The only solution was to remove one Hailfire wheel, or some of the drive wheels. The decision was made to remove two drive wheels, leaving six on the final robot.

Question 4: Are there any special features you care to talk about?

At it's first competition at Brickfest, it was discovered Dizzy had very little pushing ability. Whenever it would begin pushing an opponent, the large wheels would cause it to turn away. This is why the front forks were added. They allowed Dizzy to "catch" and push the opponent, when the opponent was in front. Dizzy would also change the direction the outside wheels would spin, while the robot was turning. This would cause the wheels to appear stationary, while the base of the robot turns. So, if an opponent was in contact with the outside wheels, Dizzy would still turn in place, usually turning to face opponents.

Question 5: What surprised you about how your bot behaved/performed during the event?

We really didn't expect Dizzy to win Sumo-bot 5. It was just lucky enough to win all it's battles. It was not the best robot there that day, but some of the better robots lost in other rounds, and never faced Dizzy. If we had been able to run more rounds, the outcome may have been very different.