It has come to my attention that I don’t really have any “good” pictures of TB4.5, since my camera died a few days into the build session and the rest was taken using friends’ cameras or the cell phone, which sucks.
So now that I do have a replacement for the old cam, here are some pics of TB on the best surface I could find in this general vicinity – a bright, patterned carpet. Of course it’s a good photographic background!
Looking back on my build pics (the reports themselves are lost to history), TB4.5 has so far been my magnum opus of design and engineering. The sheer amount of work I did on this bot in about one month is insane. I was pretty much only able to start after the FIRST Robotics season ended, which was exactly a month before BBIQ.
And the best part? It all worked, and the only reason I wasn’t more successful was because I waited too long to order batteries (this doesn’t let Maxamps off the hook because they took another week to tell me they had no stock) and ended up having to run on cheese-o-cells which failed mid-tournament.
TB4.5 will be revived and reworked for local tournaments. Look for Test Bot 4.5 Service Pack 1 some time soon!
It doesn’t really need that much work – the electrical system is active, minus the arm controller which I borrowed at the tournament. A new lifting arm beam and linkages need to be machined, in addition to a new gear for the drill motor, which has two snapped teeth from all the drumbot punting.
Bot on!