With good armour, a strong frame, and high top speed, The Diabolical Machine had all of the ingredients for a successful rammer, but it lacked controllability, effective ramming weoponry, and it could definitely use more traction. This is what caused its poor performance at the HSRC.
Here are some pictures of the DM in action:
Diabolical Machine charging at an opponent
DM vs Count Rampula
DM vs Count Rampula (Note the bent spikes)
I found myself very confident with DM in the rumble. With multiple targets and more driving experience I had little difficulty charging at and hitting an opponent. Thanks to shorter spikes and a broken front caster wheel, I was able to use the spikes as a "Vlad style" wedge. DM came 2nd to Quadraplex (quad-ryobot) in this round of the rumble.
DM in the rumble, tangling with Peepzort
DM in the rumble, getting under TC30
DM in the rumble, with TC30 again
L: Count Rampula
W: EMF (by default)
L: The Chairman
Diabolical Machine v2. It was rebuilt for the Robot Riots competition:
First of all, I tried to improve on traction. I tossed the lawnmower wheels for some r/c truck wheels off of Obelus. Second, I tried to fix the weight distribution of the robot. In the first version, I had the wheels at the very rear with very little weight on them. This time, I put the batteries behind the wheels to aid in traction. Then I turned my attention to the armour. Replacing the 1/16" steel plate was 1/8" aluminum diamond plate.
With these additions, the DM became an effective rammer. Fairly bulletproof, easier to drive, and with the ability not only to ram, but to push opponents from arena wall to wall. The ramming weoponry was greatly improved.
Version 3:
Diabolical Machine v3,built for NERC's Motorama event:
I used the basic and underweight setup of Version 2 with an added weapon. I started with an old series wound fan motor driving the blades with a 2.3:1 v-belt reduction. The saw blades didn't have the speed to cut nor the torque to throw, as the v-belts slipped. So I switched to a 4.8:1 chain drive reduction to the saws using an EV Warrior motor, which now had the power to toss a bot on top of DM3
L:JB Johnson
L: Thing
Version 4:
Diabolical Machine v4,built for the Sportsman Class:
When I found out about the new Sportsman class for NERC competitions I was eager to try something new. After competing with the Midnight Express for the last two years I've been bored with its defensive design. With no fear of massively destructive spinners, I can try a new weapon system and use less weight for armour.
Diabolical Machine v5,built for the Sportsman Class:
I found inspiration for this design from one of my favourite robots from the old Robot Wars days, Mark Setrakian's 'The Master'. Unlike his design, I decided not to put all of the electrical components in the wheels, just for simplicity sake. With this design, abruptly changing direction of the drive motors causes the whole body to rotate, bringing the 1200 rpm spinning saw blade onto the opponent's top armour.
Version 6:
