Slashdot Mirror

Maybe the ACLU needs Old Glory Robot Insurance?

First of two, there is a neat range of stuff at
http://www.robotmarketplace.com/

Second of two, you can do nifty things with just steam and pistons, but I assume you'll be doing that anyway.. =p

It's a good thing I got my insurance premiums paid up!

Clearly, they're in denial about the dangers robots pose towards old people.

Where's Sam Waterston when I need some robot insurance? http://www.robotmarketplace.com/video_oldglory_hi. html/

I guess it's now time to invest in robot insurance...

Welcoming them is the only choice we have. After all, the only protection we have against robot attacks, the tips in How to Survive a Robot Uprising , only work against single robots. If they are able to effectively band together against a target, we're doomed. At least insurance is available for letting your family pull through after the metal ones come for you.

As long as she has Old Glory Insurance, there shouldn't be much of a problem.

Like this?

Time to invest in Robot Insurance...

Better make sure my robot insurance is up to date.

You can read my post under yours for more info, but the short answer to your question is http://www.robotmarketplace.com/.

I would recommend the "EV Warrior" motor for price-performance or the "MagMotors" if budget isn't such an issue.

After getting into BattleBots years ago, I decided to reduce my commute to college (before I graduated) by building an electric scooter out of "spare" parts. It's not an e-bike from the standpoint that I didn't want to have to input any energy into the system myself (i.e. the motors had to do all the work). For cost and simplicity reasons, I chose to go with SLA (sealed lead acid) batteries and a couple of overvolted motors. With the proper timing, I achieved a flat speed of 16.5 MPH on two 1HP motors. With 64Ah (@12V) of Pb-acid chemistry onboard (this weighed a whopping 50 pounds), I had a maximum range (tested on all terrain including large hills) of just over 12 miles.

That's what I did and perhaps you can learn from what I would have done differently. First off, I would have used NiMh batteries. This would have cut the weight in more than half and also would have allowed me to customize the pack more both in shape and capacity (I only needed to go 9 miles in a day). The only downside to this was the charge time. SLA batteries are pretty indestructible and I could charge the full 64Ah in around an hour. With NiMh, you're talking about several hours or less if you don't mind compromising lifespan (with the right charger you could charge the same capacity in NiMh in the same time if you didn't mind getting only ~100 charges out of your packs). If I had the cash, I would probably use the high capacity, high discharge Li-Ion batteries from PowerStream (http://www.powerstream.com/LL.htm) as they would be incredibly light (~10 pounds for the same capacity).

As far as the motors went, I was fairly satisfied with the power output, but would have liked more. If you compare it to a car (~100HP for ~2000 pounds), you should have ~10-15HP available for the same performance. Now with electric motors, due to their differing torque curves (in comparison to internal combustion engines), you can achieve similar results from significantly less overall horsepower, but I still would have preferred having 3-6HP on my project.

Of course, if you go with high output motors, you need a speed controller capable of handling the current. And if you go with the Li-Ion batts, you need a fairly expensive charger.

You can take a look at some basic pics of my scooter at:
http://sloviper.com/hobbies/scooter/index.html

A good place for parts is:
http://www.robotmarketplace.com/

Cheap Ni-Mh batteries can be found at:
http://www.batteryspace.com/
I have used them in BattleBots before and they hold up decently, almost as well as the "expensive" ones from http://www.battlepack.com/

If you have any specific questions, feel free to contact me. I love discussing this sort of thing and have had tons of experience. :-)