How Did The Robot Buggies Come To Be:
We were approached by the BBC to come up with some buggy designs inspired by Robot Wars. The buggies, unlike their larger Robot Wars counterparts, were to compete in non lethal competitions, such as football and capture the flag, which we did with Sir Killalot watching over proceedings. The buggies would need to be modified so that they were fit for playing the games, were aesthetically pleasing and be able to be controlled remotely. To be honest, they had us at Robot Wars. Challenge accepted! The time scales were very tight but luckily we have a skilled product designer on hand and direct access to Martin Woolley’s Bluetooth expertise, so between us we’d got one dreamt up, designed, built and tested (played with) within a few days.What Were The Robot Buggy Design Challenges:
- Everything had to fit directly to our line following buggy.
- The finished buggies needed to have a Robot Wars theme.
- We needed to design two teams of buggies.
- When assembled the buggies needed to be robust enough to withstand regular impacts.
- The designs needed to be easy to produce and simple to assemble.
- We wanted it to be modular, ie made of parts fitted together so that design changes and/or personalising them was as easy as possible.
- We needed to make the buggies capable of herding a football.
- We needed to design a self righting flag and come up with a way for the buggies to grab it.
- We wanted to be able to control the buggies via Bluetooth and a hand held *Android device.
- We had a very tight timescale.
The Things You Will Need:
- 1 x Line Following Buggy for the BBC micro:bit.
- 1 x BBC micro:bit.
- 1 x 2D CAD program such as Autocad.
- 1 x 3D CAD program such as Autodesk Fusion 360.
- 1 x Laser cutter.
- 1 x 3D Printer.
- 1 x 3mm Midnight Black Perspex Sheet (Frosted) or alternative.
- 1 x 3D printer filament. (qty dependent on number of buggies)
- 1 x An Android Device, phone or tablet.
- 1 x Blue BBC micro:bit Android App.
- 12 x M/F Spacers.
- 12 x 6mm M3 Screws.
- 2 x 10mm M3 screws.
Build A Robot Wars Buggy Learning Resources. | |
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Part 1 - Intro. | What we did, why we did it and what we used. |
Part 2 - The Buggy. | It's all about the line following buggy, We used the buggy as is and attached custom parts. |
Part 3 - The Perspex Top Plate. | How we designed and cut the top plate, with alternative methods for those without laser cutters. |
Part 4 - The 3D printed Add-ons. | How we designed and 3D printed the add-ons, with alternative methods for those without 3D printers. |
Part 5 - Making The Flag. | Our design process for making the self righting flag. |
Part 6 - Coding with the Microsoft MakeCode Editor. | Beyond line following. Martin Woolley gives a very thorough breakdown of how he wrote the code for the Robot Buggies. Learn how! |
Part 7 - Bluetooth Buggy Control. | How to turn your Android device into a remote control for the buggy, including pairing instructions, Again, over to Martin Wooley. |
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2 comments
Mark Donnison
Hi Matthew, We updated the buggy to version 2 which you can find here: https://www.kitronik.co.uk/5638-line-following-buggy-for-the-bbc-microbit-v20.html The line following board is brand new and a big improvement on the original.
Matthew O'Brien
Good morning as the Line Following Buggy for the BBC micro:bit has been discontinued. Do you have a replacement that can be used to create the Robot Buggy?