Cybercondriac – sHazBot

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Team principal: David Pride

About the team: Just little ole me. No soldering skills 2 years ago. Been learning Python for 4 years.

The 2015 journey: I went for simplicity as had little physical building experience. Didn’t use pwm or speed control as didn’t really have the experience. Used 4 grunty motors and tank style controls, also to keep it simple – and strong.

The highlight: Winning the obstacle course!

Advice for competitors:

  • KISS (Keep it simple, silly)
  • Control wins over speed for most of the challenges.
  • Don’t think you have to be an all-rounder. Focus on one of the challenges if you can’t do them all – the category prizes are still amazing!
  • If you can, use encoders on the wheels, accurate turns on an unknown surface are pretty impossible without them.
  • Make it easy to swap batteries – you’ll need to.
  • Take spares. And take a back up SD image, just in case.

Next year: I’ve applied to compete in next year’s competition. I’m aiming for bigger, harder, faster, probably with mecanum wheels!