The Hammer

The hammer component has been a real stumbling block on the design of the robot. The aim was to design a hammer that, most importantly, looks really cool and works well. I had two options, I could either use a pneumatic ram or a motorised system.

To start off with I looked at using a pneumatic ram. I found this post on a forum about a very successful antweight robot. The author mentions in the alternative parts section that lego pneumatics could be used for the ram. I started researching the lego and came across some interesting things.

Lego Ram

For a lego pnuematic system you need these following items:

• Ram
• Valve
• Air Tank
• Pump

I found a kit for all of these things for £50 here. However, extra parts would have to be purchased as the lego does not support electrical switching (all done by hand). This would mean an electric vacuum pump and solenoid valve would have to be found that interfaces with the lego parts. This would look like the below design if made:

Another, much simpler way, to make the hammer would be to use some kind of motor, such as a stepper motor or a servo.

After much thought, I chose to use a servo. This is because, despite the fact that the pneumatic stuff would be cool, it would be way too complicated. Also, the power given by the pneumatic ram would be over the top as I don't really want to cause too much damage to the other robots. However, the pneumatic stuff could be added in if a second version of this bot was ever made.