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Hacksmith Industries: Orbitron

2024-03-28 | By The Hacksmith

License: See Original Project

This project was created by Engineering Superheroes of Hacksmith Industries.

DO NOT ATTEMPT to Re-Create

After Orbitron’s experience at BattleBots: Distruct-A-Thon went up in flames — literally! — the Hacksmith team had more than just a few adjustments to make. Switching up the armor, improving weapons, updating firmware, creating new codes, changing up controllers: the team worked hard to prepare for its latest battle.

The Hacksmith team arrived in Las Vegas with the Orbitron rebuilt and ready to go. Or so they thought. The team had a few setbacks during driving tests, but with a “fresh set of eyes” on their challenges (we all need a good night’s sleep!), the Orbitron was finally powered up for an epic battle weekend. The team took on BattleBots’s veteran, Disarray (and minibot) — a vertical spinner, stingray-shaped robot.

Check out how the Hacksmith team reimagined the Orbitron’s orbit and kill modes for not only one, but two awesome battles — and how you can get your own Orbitron!

 

How Does it Work?

The Orbitron uses four brushless motors driven by electronic speed controllers (ESCs), each one powered by a 5200 mAh LiPo battery. The Orbitron is one of the frist AI-driven battlebots and uses a AI to autonomously move around and attack its oponent, giving the Orbitron great reaction time advantage and setting it apart from other competitors.

The rebuilt Orbitron uses two vertical spinner weapons: a disc and a bar (a change from the original twin vertical spinners). The gold-colored disk is fashioned from a full spiral terminating in the cutting tooth, an improvement from the previous design where a single tooth was affixed to the outside of a circular disk. The blue bar weapon has a reduced surface area to minimize the risk of damage from opposing spinners. Both new weapons are practically indestructible, fabricated of AR500 steel.

The Hacksmith’s team optimized the armor to fight vertical spinners. With the new weapon configuration allowing for more weight to be allocated to the armor, the new version increased from AR400 3/16 inch steel up to 1/4 inch AR500 plating, providing an increase in both thickness and material durability.

Finally, the Hacksmith team moved on from a Playstation 5 dual-sense controller connected via USB to the team’s computer to a wired XBOX controller — no more wireless controllers, no batteries, just a controller connected straight into the computer.

Check out the schematic here:

 

Check out the Orbitron Journey:

Hacksmith Orbitron

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