Lego BattleBot: the Dustpan!

The Dustpan is a BattleBot that a friend and I designed and built for a class-wide competition. Our intention was to make something that was agile and could sneak under other BattleBots, and I think we were successful!

To start things off, take the pieces shown above and connect them as shown. After making one, make a mirrored version.

Take three beams and connect the two pieces together.

Take two motors and stick them to the I-shaped connector. There will be a small space between the motors, so put another I-connector in the space.

Add more beams to the rear end.

Attach two L-connectors to the motors so that they point the pegs forward. Place I-connectors on the L-connectors further back.

Take and connect the shown pieces. The gears and the smaller wheel are entirely for spacing the wheel. When finished making the wheels, slide the axles through the beams and into the motors.

To further reinforce the motors into the frame, take two more beams and attach them on as shown.

Slide the battery pack onto the beam and secure it with long pegs. Put an I-connector with a long peg on the other beam and secure the battery with three small beams connecting them.

To secure the other end, connect two L-connectors and one I-connector as shown and attach them to the back of the frame. Be sure to line them up with the battery pack. You should be able to slide a beam through as was done on the other side of the battery pack.

Take a beam and connect small pegs onto it and then slide it through the space in the battery pack. The outer pegs should connect to the L-connectors, and the inner pegs should line up with the holes on the battery pack. Secure the beam and the battery pack with two I-connectors, and place a third on top.

Attach an I-connector onto the receiver, and then connect it onto the battery pack. At this point, you may connect the wires from the motors and battery pack to the receiver.

For more added security, add more beams to the back. It also just makes things look better!

This is what it should look like from the front at this point.

For the plow, create three clusters of the bent pieces as shown above. Take two of the square pieces and add L-connectors onto the bottom part. This reduces the motion of the ramp while it is pushing something. Connect two of the clusters into the squares with a +-rod. Make sure that the rod is longer than it needs to be, so that you can connect the two parts together through the final cluster. Take one more +-rod and slide it through the holes closest to the bent pieces and hold it there with two little yellow stoppers. This further reduces unnecessary motion of the ramp in the other direction than before. Attach the entire plow to the front of the chassis with the two L-connectors that were attached to the motors.

You'll need a total of nine or six of those squares, depending on how far up you want the ramp. Connect them wherever possible like shown in the pictures, and be sure to add the beam at the bottom with I-connectors. This is to reduce the gap between the ramp and the plow, although it doesn't completely cover it up. Take two other bent beams and put two of the +-pegs on one end of each and another black peg two holes down. Place one of them on the chassis onto the same L-connector that was used to attach the plow. The two pegs should be facing outward. Connect the ramp onto this piece, and then secure it with the other bent piece on the other side.

This is the finished model! Definitely feel free to make modifications and let me know of anything that works or needs improvement!

I noticed in our time driving this thing that some bots will get stuck in the gap between the plow and ramp. The two aren't perfectly lined up, so adding one more beam to cover the gap puts the ramp above the plow and it isn't as smooth. The plow also still wiggles a bit too much, despite my efforts to reduce it. When it is pinned against a wall by any heavier BattleBot, the ramp may fold inward and raise the wheels off of the ground, which is a slight problem. One last thing is that it is very light, compared to other bots. You definitely do not want to charge straight at your opponent.

Overall, however, the Dustpan is a force to be reckoned with in the arena! It has very high mobility and it is able to slide underneath and lift your opponents!

Here's a video of the Dustpan in action!

Rough start, highlighting the moving plow lifting the wheels and just how light it is compared to the other bots, but the mobility overcame these disadvantages in the end!

Thank you for checking this out!