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Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls, let us introduce to you this very day our brand new Fighting Heavyweight. This is a very different robot, and it’s successors could be even better. Let us introduce you to...

Sorry for that rubbish at the top, but the image software was being a pain and I couldn’t get the robot logo any higher up the page, and I needed something to fill the gap.

Spyro is our new heavyweight clusterbot. That’s right, it’s a clusterbot. This means it starts the fight as one machine, but then splits into two smaller machines. Each is armed with a spinning disc, and each can run both ways up. There are no pneumatics or hydraulics on board, so this should be easier to build. This robot is coming together nicely, but I can’t give you the normal pictures of the build. I don’t have a digital camera, and film is too expensive and time consuming. The only camera I have is connected to my computer, and I don’t fancy taking the computer outside! The shots of the smaller robots are taken with this camera, but they will fit in my room. Spyro won’t.

The frame of the robot is made from 6mm sheet Aluminium. It was going to be made from steel box, but this was prving too hard to work with. The robot is driven by two 800w 24v electric motors, and has a two stage transmission using chains and spur gears. The power comes from two 18Ah SLA batteries. The speed controllers are home built (partly because we know how to do it, and partly because it's cheaper!) but are interfaced with the radio and controlled using boards imported from the states. The weapon is driven by another electric motor, and is a high speed spinning disc made from aluminium. As it's a clusterbot, there are two identical units.

The robot runs on 260mm trolley wheels, and can run both ways up, meaning a mechanical self righter isn’t needed.

The robot is making progress, and pictures will come as soon as someone with a digital camera turns up on my doorstep (that will be Charles. he’s got one, but he’s at uni in Bolton. This also means that me and David are doing all the work. but Davids at college all day, and at work at weekends, so I guess I do all the work.)