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We built the 250 lb combat robot Switchback for the latest season of BattleBots (2022) with a team of 11 engineers. With an 80 lb drum spinner on the end of a 180 degree articulating arm, Switchback is full of engineering challenges. And we had only 3 months to get it working…
You can watch the Switchback fights here:
• I WANT A SUPLEX AND I ...
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You can follow Team Switchback on Facebook and Instagram:
/ switchbackontv
/ switchbackontv
A huge thanks to all my Switchback teammates:
Greg Needel
Christina Needel
David Yanoshak
Amanda Morrison
Orion DeYoe
Gabby DeYoe
Frank Lima
Phil Luetchford
Parker Holloway
Wolf Thomas
Noah Santoni
Music in this video:
Dust till Dawn - Dusty Decks (Licensed through bit.ly/epidemic-sp)
3house - Ooyy (Licensed through bit.ly/epidemic-sp)
Like Shadows (Instrumental Version) - Ooyy (Licensed through bit.ly/epidemic-sp)
my reverie - bomull (Licensed through bit.ly/epidemic-sp)
Hemisphere - Ooyy (Licensed through bit.ly/epidemic-sp)
Rock Steady - Henrik Andersson (Licensed through bit.ly/epidemic-sp)
Nanda Devi - Ooyy (Licensed through bit.ly/epidemic-sp)
my reverie - bomull (Licensed through bit.ly/epidemic-sp)
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You replied to a comment i made on this video and I replied back but i'm yet to hear an answer off you. If you have the time, i wouldn't mind a response please.
I love you guys, but the last thing I need in my life is ANOTHER streaming platform... Best of luck to you with that.
Most important question. Is that a cup from Dickey's BBQ? At 9:12
I think your design is really well I think it would be awesome if you coupled that with artificial intelligence I like how you can keep your weapon away and get it spinning up then drop it in on someone.
From my experience at BB my advice to new builders is don’t build your first combat robot trying to do things the “new way” brushless drive is far less reliable (but sometimes necessary due to space constraints). Also the Battlebots floor is really difficult to get good traction on so small, hard, smooth wheels are usually not the best choice if you have a high center of mass. With all that being said, tremendous props to this team and what they accomplished. I’m sure they learned all of those lessons before they even left the event. I love this video and the bot is a really neat concept and I’m sure they’ll be back even better next season!
I'm going to guess that with brushless motors you end up blowing up the controller boards pretty frequently... my experience with eletronic controllers is that they aren't particularly fond of vibration - getting sufficient isolation for the board so that it works reliably in competiton must be terribly difficult.
@@wrlprchnx I've never examined a failed speed controller board to determine cause of failure, however I would guess heat buildup due to large current demands and insufficient cooling would be the main causes of failure. Vibration failure can easily be overcome using polyethylene or a polymer resin to encase the parts so the components and circuit boards can't flex. Once that's done the components will be held rigidly in place. Heat dissipation will be your primary concern after that. The only method I know would be to used a water cooled heatsink that's also encased in the polymer resin making direct contact with the FETS using thermal epoxy. I'd consider using a couple of negative coefficient temperature sensors connected to a ESP-8266 to monitor temperature and control the cooling to critical components. Just my thoughts. Maybe you have alternative solutions you're considering.
I don’t understand how not tinning the wires caused a dead short. That sounds like something I’d say at work to cover up for a mistake I made that destroyed a piece of equipment 😂😂😂
@@wrlprchnx it’s dumb easy and most of us let the ESCs just flop around inside the robot. It’s overdraw causing them to burn up that usually kills.
Awesome to see a bunch of REV Robotics people on a channel I like, they're super helpful when it comes to my FIRST teams.
The REV folks are wonderful. I met Greg in China, and had a blast meeting and making friends with everyone else while I was in Dallas.
Same, I was suprised when he said at the start of the video that he was at REV headquarters, to see that these were the same guys that made my FRC & FTC parts
Nah its really annoying when you are from the Netherlands because shipping and customs are super expensive and you cant get the stuff from other places
@@joran4612 we always try to make it as easy as possible for teams all around the world, but international logistics is not easy or inexpensive. We are always trying to improve our process, please feel free to reach out to us with any concerns you have.
This is awesome, reminds me of my time with FIRST robotics, I miss those days. Cool to see this is at REV, I don't think we got parts from them until later on (2015/2016). Never had brushless motors though, they look awesome. Also, I love all of the robotics shirts. 2169 represent!
Greg is awesome! He had a goal over 20 years ago to work in robotics and he's achieved more than I think even he ever thought possible. He and I (with others) were co-founders of our university's robotics club (MDRC at RIT, go Tigers!). Best of luck Switchback team!
its been quite the ride.....🙂
@Karl with a K Greg co-founded Rev Robotics which makes components for educational robotics systems, especially the international FIRST Robotics Competition that get hundreds of thousands of high school age students hands on involved with robotics every year. He and I go back almost 20 years and seeing how our discussions of what we wanted to do with our talents and skills have panned out, Greg is definitely doing what he wanted to do so many years ago. So to bring the experience he's gained from designing robot components for so many years back into BattleBots, which so heavily influenced all of us in that university robotics club so many years ago is great to see.
@@karlwithak.Post the video. I want to see it
the vescs getting destroyed is a very common issue, try this: Solder a 50V TVS diode directly onto the pcb. Adding a low ESR cap also helps but that will increase bulk a lot. The vescs dying usually happen because of voltage spikes, tvs diodes and caps help with that a lot!
glad to see more of your videos hope you are doing better thanks for the great videos
I second that
Your esc needs to be be rated 10 times the motor power rating because the way motors are rated is weird. You might need special rc buffered esc because the load is rather unpredictable.
by RC i mean resistor-capacitor in series connected to all three phases of each output
Could also design it so that your ESCs sink heat into your frame.
Also the static buildup from spinners(which act like van de graaf generators) could mess them up I wonder if OHKOs by spinners that turned out to be receiver errors, happened that way in the show
The ESCs and Motors alone cost well over a thousand for battlebots of this size 😭
Meaning if you have 4 wheel drive with 4 motors… that’s roughly over 8 grand. Double it due to testing and having spares, the cost exceeds 20 grand for just motors and escs
It's so weird to see pre-injury video now; because I kinda noticed something but didn't really think about it until after you said something. I'm really glad you're talking more about the hard to quantify effects of brain injury because I've had a couple different friends experience traumatic brain injuries and have their lives turned upside down just with the symptoms still left after everything was treated and "okay". I've always loved your work and I'll be sticking around for whatever you wind up doing even if you just want to start doing vlogs about living with the brain you've got. Either way you'd be providing really helpful and relatable information for people to live their lives better.
Looking back at his update video, He did say he was hit in the head by a falling pipe at a warehouse in Dallas in July. Which was when this video was originally shot :/
@@manorin i think you're on top something
When it's spinning at top speed, the steer torque will be impressive. Turning a corner could well flip it over.
If it turns using tank steering and raises blade it would probably do ok
something something Wrecks, something something highest kinetic energy spinner at the show.
spin it the right way and it could be gravitationally stabilized no matter how you flip it over! :P
I was thinking the same thing, this bot looks too simple electronically to handle well. battle bot have been too concentrated in getting good mechanical design, but good electronics, sensors and microcontrollers is also really helpful in controlling. I wonder why few ever go past using simple RC parts, even a flight controller will help with stabilization
@@yuxuanhuang3523 I think the sheer amount of power being pumped through the systems may limit the complexity of the control systems. One of the other robots this year blew up 3 ESC's in their weapon setup, and had to revert to a spare that was only rated for 50amps. It took their spin up time out to 15s instead of the 3s they were used to from the (IIRC) 300amp setup they had grenaded. There are many reasons to stick with proven "dumb" systems, including ease of setup, ease of troubleshooting, peak current capability, reliability, ability to survive the combat environment, and overall cost. More complex systems tend to cost more, and add more failure points - and if a system can't survive being hit with a flamethrower, having a 100lb steel bar spinning at 250mph slammed into it, or being dropped from 12 feet up onto a floor made of 1/2" steel, potentially all at the same time, then the average roboteer won't use it.
Awesome to see you again Scotty, been missing your content, hope your recovery is going well and you're feeling better bud, take care All the best from the UK
Nice to hear your voice again sir, great video as always. You talents and experiences are always a pleasure to watch. be safe and good health always!
Man seeing such a heavy thing spin st 10k rpm is truly terrifying
I remember test driving my (small) robot the night before a competition and blowing a MOSFET after few minutes. Early morning the next day to get it replaced and ready. Really enjoying watching this.
MAJOR kudos to the safety mindset on this build!! what a great team to be safe and produce a great product.
Agreed! I build non-combat robots and mentor FRC teams. One of my criteria for a team member to be anywhere close to a hot bot is "Are they sufficiently terrified?" This thing gave me chills!
Glad to hear you are on Nebula Scotty! And if anyone needs encouragement to join, I’ve had the Nebula/curiousity package for 2 years now and it’s absolutely worth it.
Just signed up for curiosity stream, but I cant see how to access Nebula from there. Is it Geo Restricted to the USA or something?
The comment I was looking for. Thank you.
Glad to see you again in shape ! Keep the good work ! You rock .
this was so incredibly cool!!! thank you for showcasing such great engineering
The REV team is so incredible. I only got to interact with them occasionally at FIRST champs, but theyre such a kind group of people!
I loved how switchback worked. When I first saw a picture of it I thought it would spin up, move the arm/rotate a bit and just go completely physics. Instead, it just worked fine. Sure it had some turning issues with the weapon extended since center of gravity, but other than that it worked beautifully and gave some pretty hard hits. Can't wait to see the improvements next season if you decide to re-enter.
Were so glad to see you! This video was EPIC! You never disappoint. Thank you
Love you man. I do IT for work and as a hobbie but your videos have made me dive deeper into the electronics side of it than ever have before. You also began my journey down the rabbit hole of supply chains and where parts come from so that has eaten a terrifying amount of my time. Thank you and glad to see you making videos.
That Neblua ad was genuinely one of the first times in over a year that I have listened to the ad all the way through and was actually interested in the product. I certainly hope more content creators here plug it in future, as it sounds like a really good alternative to the growing tyranny of the popular “free-to-use” platforms. If I may ask, what was it that KZhead was having you cut? Did some sections contain too much “unacceptable” content, or was it mostly length/visibility related?
Nebula is a nearly five year old platform that thousands of youtubers have been shilling in all that time. They're still pushing it, and we still dont use it.
I'm guessing its mainly just length, especially since he mentioned the algorithm. Lots of creators on KZhead that do longform videos complain about longer videos not working well with the algorithm.
Thank you for showing proper combat robot safety protocols!
It always feels like a treat to see a new video of yours. Thank you for continued content!
Love to see what we been missed to carry on and pick it up, not the program only, but you, Scott, all are well. Keep it up
I know from experience that worm gears are hard to run in combat robots - makes switchback even more impressive.
It's great to see you back :) Really enjoyed this video - can't wait to see more from this team.
So happy to see you back., and wishing you a very speedy recovery. You are one of my fav on youtube, and now on Nebula/Curiosity Stream. I always look forward for your videos. Wishing you the very best. Thanks for all the work that you do.
My Nebula subscription was happily paid for by the can shaking bit in your extended version of this video over there. Well done!
That was hilarious.
I would keep that steel armor playing, but I would want to put something similar to a ships hull on it. Maybe aluminium. Maybe even hard plastic. Something disposable and lightweight, just to get in the way before the actual armor is hit. But I don't know anything lmao. If I did, I'd be building my own bot
cool idea, but there are a few problems: 1. That works with projectiles and things that can be slowed down. Since the weapons are almost as big as the whole robot, they aren't going to slow down from a bit of soft material. The AR500 will do all the work when it comes to absorbing impact. 2. The judges use visual damage as a metric when the game goes the whole time. Chunks of aluminum and plastic are bad news in a close fight.
I would binge a whole Netflix Series about you guys on your way to BattleBots no question!
That explanation of the wire windings crimp was god damned phenomenal. I re-watched that explanation a few times.
Ohhhh man so good to see you're well. Fantastic video. Had to think about you a lot since the wife of a friend of mine has a similar brain concussion as well. So good to see it is getting so well.
Glad you're feeling better. Concussions are no joke. Robots are more like a bonus! :)
This is genuinely the most exciting thing I've ever watched! What a group of great people with brains and skills to match! Great to see you triumphantly return Scotty! 👍
It's so nice to have you back Sir! Hope you are well and hope you never stop uploading your awesome content!
“Its important to design your robot for the oven that you have” Im dead 😂
To whomever has access to the closed captions, I think he's saying "I don't wanna lose the whole platoon" and not "I don't wanna lose the hopeful tune" at 0:08.
It is auto-generated.
“So we’ve lost drive on one half of the robot” Welcome to Battlebots where losing drive is pretty much obligatory. 😜
Awesome to see your content again Scotty! Hoping you're feeling better!
This is so interesting! I love watching stuff like this because I was on a FIRST robotics team and got second in regionals the year I competed. It was honestly a super fun time!
Some improvement ideas: Remove the chain drive and use 4 smaller motors Definitely add heatpipes to all critical parts Maybe even split the spinner into 2 counter rotating sections which cancels the gyroscopic force offset to enable faster turns
Counter-rotating wouldn't work because you want the whole thing impacting at once in one direction to impart force into the other bot.
@@inthefade yes I thought so as well... Another downside would be that the bot flips itself in the opposing direction
been waiting for this content for so long, glad to see you back and hope your health is good!
Love your videos Scotty, have been watching since the start. As one IT to another you has always been a huge inspiration at what you've done and when you moved to a place I only dreamed of visiting. Can't wait to see more content, at your pace. Great to have you back.
So glad to see you back in videos. Glad you're improving!
"The resistance was infinite so essentially a dead short" That is 2 completely opposite states of resistance, not remotely the same. High resistance is the exact opposite of a short.
I think what he meant was that the controller had to crank up the output to overcome the resistance, and that increased current output made the controller act similar to a dead short scenario. They clearly at least *somewhat* know what they're doing, so I'll give em the benefit of the doubt here.
@@Amy_A. I have another explanation. It is a three-phase motor, and when one cable is not connected properly, the motor will not spin because two cables connect through one coil. What might have happened was that one connected coil was acting as a short because it was passing DC current. What should have happened in a spinning motor was AC passing through all three coil at 120 degree apart phases.
Obviously just a miss speak. Like it does not matter.
I agree this was just a misspeak, but I think he's also onto the wrong idea - I've never seen a motor controller where it blows up without connection to a load.
Kinda a longshot, but I'd love a collab between you and diy perks.
I'm glad you were finally able to make this video, it was great seeing the Strange Parts logo on TV!
Awesome content, so glad to see amazing stuff coming out of your channel again!
That was such a great and enjoyable video! I'm glad you got to do this, and are also well enough now to produce content again :) It's amazing to have ya back, can't wait for your next projects, and I'm on my way to watch that free fight now :3
Hey here's something that no bot builder has thought of. Installing limited slip clutches on their weapons and arms. I built recycling plants that wash tank paddles would jam up under excess waste material. to fix this, I added spring loaded clutch plates to the motor so that it would spin under power, but if the counter force was too much, the clutch plates would slip saving a lot of chains and sprockets. Your weapon stops abruptly on contact. A limited slip clutch would prevent it from burning out from excess load.
Believe it or not, clutches have been used since the very beginning of robot combat. Anything beneficial that you can readily think of has been done already. Especially something as simple as a clutch.
@@bldjln3158 I've watched every build vid from Blip to sawblaze and not one has incorporated a clutch. The mechanical engineer in me gets frustrated when I see spinners being installed as diirect/chain drive without so much as a single measure of protection. Electronically, these machines are sound as a pound, but mechanically they could use some expertise.
Thanks for the great video. I'm happy that it seems like you've now made a complete recovery.
Only seen you got a head injury now. Sorry to hear hope you heal quickly. I've had a bad year due to problems with my kidney and it's just put a damper on a already existing financial situation, us as humans really take good health for granted especially when your type of work is physical. All I can say is I hope you heal quick and soon. Keep up the good job on these amazing engineering videos.
You inspired me to study engineering. I love your videos, it is great to see you again.
I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE BACK!!!
So good and refreshing to just see the FIRST logo out and about in a video that is not utterly and completely directly tied to FIRST. I think this might be my first time wondering upon this channel, but to my subscriptions this channel shall go!
Awesome. I enjoyed watching the build. I know y'all had a blast with this!
Im so happy your doing better and posting again. I love the content.
actually with the thickness of those plates you don't need to preheat AR500, you only need to preheat for greater thickness (more than 3/8")
Glad you're posting again. Hope you are feeling better!
Glad to see your videos popping up in my feed again. Hope you're making a good recovery from the accident :)
I saw switch back live in Vegas! Looking forward to seeing V2!
Very ironically I had a concussion a little whiles ago, I was very lucky to read up on treatment of concussions due to your video. I've recovered almost fully now, but it was pretty scary when it happened and I couldn't speak properly
Switchback is a super interesting idea. I saw the Gruff fight live at filming last year.
Welcome back Scotty. Can't wait to see your full creativity continue to come back to life.
Scotty never disappoints when that notification drops!
Excited to see you back, hope you've had a full recovery!
we use a lot of rev robotics parts in our robots that we build for robotics. This was a REALLY COOL video knowing that you were invited to their Warehouse. Keep up the good work!
We're Battle Bots ever actually built in garages by small teams, and did they ever win?
Back in the 90s and early 2000s, robots with small teams and meager budgets could feasibly win a championship, but that's not been a likelihood since Battlebots came back in 2015 - now it's all 5 figure budgets, sponsorship deals and typically large teams.
@@Matt-cn2nn I wonder if a sportsman/grassroots class could help
Glad to see you posting again! we missed you. Hope youre healing up!!
Great to see you back making content again, missed your video's !
I love to see you are getting better. Keep it up!
Oh, crap, can't say enough how I missed your videos! It's SO GOOD to see you nice and well!
Glad to have you back mate! You're a gem.
That looks like an awesome battle monster. Great to hear your head is all better man! Welcome back!
Glad to see u back in yt. Love your content. Always blow my mind
Wow that's cool, thanks for sharing! Hope you are getting better really enjoy your channel and content.
Man have i missed your chanel, glad to see you back and see another awesome vid 👌
Great to see your videos again. I hope you are doing well with the recovery
I’m so glad I got an option to watch your video and I did this was super fun to watch!! Thanks man
This is one of the BEST BATTLEBOT DESIGNS I'VE EVER SEEN 😢
Loved the video, gonna have to watch the fights later. The moment you did the nebula Ad I ditched to Nebula, got a subscription but I never remember to watch people on there instead of KZhead
The extra content was amazing and it’s sad the algorithm hated it
Happy to see you better! Thanks for the video 🙏
Love to see you back making content, Scotty!
Hopeful and still praying for your health and the future of your channel scotty. Don’t ever give up on your amazing passion. Chin up.
Love seeing a random Skystone (I assume from team number) bot in the background lol, also it'd be awesome to see more of REV in the future, I'd love to see a strange parts video about some FIRST bots.
Amazing how much effort goes into just making sure it doesn't destroy itself and the whole team! Nice work, and glad to see a new video! :)
Watching the testing of some other bots is so damn scary.
Awesome video. So good to see you back at it ! Looking good 👍 shop looks great too.
Its really interesting to me just how similar a lot of the build methods used in this are very similar to what we do on our school's FTC team. We have been doing welded steel robots for the past 4 or 5 years now, we have done custom wheels the past two years, and we usually use chain on our drive train. We *would* use brushless motors if they were an option, but they aren't legal to use in FTC. Also, power delivery is a bit of an issue we have been struggling with recently, because the batteries we are allowed barely last a full match, and drop a ton of voltage the moment a single motor turns on
So good to see you and that you are recovering well 👍
It's been a while since I've seen any of your videos but good to see you back!
I am really happy to see your new upload. You are the best! I wish you all good.
nice to see you do videos again sir. looking forward for more interesting contents.kudos
dude. I'm so glad to see you looking and feeling good!!! I've missed your channel!!!
right? this is new?
To clean the enamel coating off magnet wire i always use a sand blaster, perfect connection every time.
thanks so much for the nebula reminder early on i keep watching videos on yt which i could be watching over there just because i dont check it as frequently ..just gonna, keep this one running in a tab as well watchtime and what not
Happy to see lots of new videos from you!
You should make a video showing the destruction capabilities of this robot. Awesome work :D
You are a huge inspiration to me and one of the people who got me interested in pursuing technology. I hope you are doing well, you are an awesome person!
oh you're back! Good, been waiting for your videos