We didn't get anything done over the weekend on the 'bots, as we had some pretty big issues to deal with at work, but this evening we decided to see if we could wrap up the antweight Poor Punctuation 2.0. We need to install the weapon speed controllers and finish the wiring - ugh. [More]

Okay - this is way too cool! Jerome Miles suggested we take a look at CamBam, which is a tool that takes a CAD drawing and allows you to specify what you want to do to the part with the mill, then it automatically generates the G-Code for you! How neat is that?? We created a DXF of the chassis base... [More]

We received some parts today that mean we can get back to our cutest 'bot: Poor Punctuation 2.0, and see whether we can install the drive ESCs. Unfortunately this was going to mean soldering - never our favourite task - but we steeled ourselves to the task and decided to see where we can get to. [More]

We spent some time sizing up the fairyweight opponents for Motorama 2012, and decided that a simple lifter wasn't going to cut it, so we needed something more offensive. We decided to go with a weaponed 'bot, using as many components as we already had available. [More]

Today is Martin Luther King Day, and our office is closed today, a double-bonus, especially after the BCP Test this past weekend, so after running some errands we hit the Build Space, determined to make some progress. [More]

We haven't made much progress this week, as we've been preparing for a Business Continuity Test that's happening tonight, but we're ready for it, and have a few hours free before the test starts, so it's time to hit the Build Space! [More]

With the drill press still out of commission, we're falling a little behind in our build schedule, but we found a few other things to be getting on with today, including a non-'bot-related job for a friend at work. [More]

Despite trying a number of V-belts from Grainger, we still hadn't found a decent replacement for the drill press, so we had to find other things to work on this weekend. We do have a lot of drilling and countersinking to do, and we're waiting for more parts to show up, so we decided to tackle the things we could actually finish without the drill press. [More]

Still feeling slowed and sluggish from this cold, we spent most of the day under the care of our favourite Alka Selzer Cold medicine, but by mid-afternoon felt like going and being quarantined in the Build Space - who knows, maybe we could screw some screws in or something. As it happened we were able to do a little more than that. [More]

Unfortunately we're at the end of our Christmas holiday, and still suffering from a horrendous cold, but we wanted to see whether we could get the New Year off to a productive start none-the-less. We elected to see whether we could get our hobbyweight drumbot to a driveable state. [More]

Ugh - despite a huge head cold, we stumbled out to the Build Space determined to continue making the most of our week off, and get some building done. We didn't want to work with Milly - besides, the Alka Seltzer Cold medicine says not to operate heaving machinery, and Milly is 900 pounds - we we settled on the wiring for our ancient beetleweight Unlettered Understrapper 2.5. [More]

Now that I have Steel Stiletto in good shape, other than continuing to practice mutilating pieces of wood in preparation for doing same to actual bots at Motorama, it was time to face the unknown: building Malicious Mule from scratch. [More]

We decided last night that we had to do something about the garage Build Space as it had become too messy to work in, so this morning, before building we spent a couple of hours tidying up and generally getting organized. It's going to be a short build time, as we're going to the movies tonight - Yay Alamo Drafthouse! - so let's see what we achieved ... [More]

We've had a pretty productive week so far! We're making good progress on two of the beetles, have one 'bot done, and are really waiting for parts to show up to get cracking on the others we're planning on taking to Motorama 2012. While we wait for those parts we have some pieces we can make ourselves, and we still have the wiring to do on Unlettered Understrapper 2.5. [More]

This is turning into quite a productive week! Having made a solid start on Versatile Villain 0.9 we decided to gather up all the milling we need to do and take care of as much of it as possible. [More]

We received an email today from the Whyachi folks: our parts should be here Friday! In the meanwhile, we have a few 'bots to work on, including our newest beetle, Versatile Villain 0.9, which we made a start on yesterday. Let's see how far we can get today! [More]

Okay - after a fun Christmas Day (love my Kindle!) it was time to get serious about Motorama 2012. We have the week off this week, so looking forward to a getting a whole bunch of building done. As we're waiting for parts for the new 'bots, and didn't much fancy tackling the wiring on Unlettered Understrapper 2.5, we decided instead to spend some time working on the chassis for our other new beetleweight Versatile Villain 0.9. [More]

It's Boxing Day and so time to return to Steel Stiletto. Today we replaced the receiver and bound it to the radio. After firing up the Steel Stiletto for some test runs, we discovered everything operated in the reverse direction. [More]

Having successfully implemented the brushless weapon setup for our old beetleweight Unlettered Understrapper 2.0 the thing we have left to do is the piece we dislike the most: wiring! [More]

Wow - that was pretty zippy! We received a shipment of parts from HobbyKing this morning - not bad considering they only shipped - from Hong Kong - on Friday! The EMS shipping is definitely worth the extra few bucks, versus standard airmail! [More]