Robocon National Tournament Champion

This time, I would like to introduce the work of my son in the fourth grade of elementary school. Won the national championship at the 18th Shibaura Institute of Technology Robot Seminar National Convention held by Shibaura Institute of Technology. This year, 135 top prize winners out of 1,750 contestants from 32 locations across the country gathered at the Toyosu campus to compete.
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Prior to the national competition, there was a three-day robot seminar at Shibaura Institute of Technology in August, and robot production and regional competitions were held. The one who participated was a type called a "boxer", and instead of moving on wheels, it had an elaborate mechanism of six-legged walking.

My son's machine this time was actually a reference example. The movie that was playing in the classroom during the lunch break on the first day of the seminar gave me a hint. The content was a video of a carpenter grandpa helping his grandson build a robot, moving the body backward, extending the arms, and attaching the underlay to the front. My son was originally not interested in decorations at all and said, "I just want to make them stronger." On that day, I finished buying what I thought I would need at a nearby home center.

Assembly work on the second day. At first, I thought it was going to be assembled normally, so I took a peek at the situation in the afternoon. It's the first time in a runaway that assembles like a head. It may have been devised so that the arm faces downward as much as possible. As a result, it was a nice decision. My son finished assembling it early, cut the PVC board he bought the day before, forcibly fixed it with vinyl tape, and immediately started playing with a battle. However, the underlay is loose and doesn't work well. He was nicknamed "Shitajiki-kun" by those around him.
The day was long from here. After the seminar, I went to the company with my son and started remodeling. I didn't do any decorations and just focused on making it stronger. Only one here, I put wisdom based on the information I checked on the net. The weight limit of 1kg is the weight without the battery, so if you put the remote control battery on the main body side, you can add the weight of the battery. There are two wires left over from the recommon. If you use those two, you can move the battery from the remote control to the main unit relatively easily. In addition, I helped with difficult parts such as making the arm and fixing the underlay.
Unexpected problems occur frequently, such as interference between screw heads and frames, strange movements, and abnormal noises. Each time, I pursued the cause with my son, saying, "It's not like that, it's not like this," and adjusted. However, this is the true charm of manufacturing. I searched for a weight that could be used in the company, and brought it closer to 1kg. On that day, the two of us managed to complete it until 11:00 in the middle of the night. I think it was a valuable experience for my son to repeat trial and error until the last minute and raise the degree of perfection.

3rd day local tournament. He won all the qualifying leagues without danger, and on this day his nickname was promoted from "Shitajiki-kun" to "Strongest-kun". Just when I thought I was going to win the finals tournament, in the semi-finals, I hurriedly pulled the remote control cord just before the time limit, and unfortunately finished in 3rd place. The person himself was frustrated and tearful, but he got the qualification to participate in the national tournament.

There was no major remodeling for the national competition, but the issues I felt at the local competition were improved. One is that the underlay is transparent. With the black underlay, you can't see your feet, and you run the risk of missing a step. The second is to remodel the remote control with information obtained from the Internet. Inadvertently raising and lowering the arm due to erroneous operation is common, so a push button is inserted to prevent erroneous operation.

and national competition. Size and weight are very limited. However, the movement of the suspension is light. In the qualifying league, the underlay caught on the 6mm step and couldn't attack, resulting in a draw several times, but in the second half, he got the hang of how to overcome the step, and in the end, he won the championship without losing even once.
In this competition, I think the type that scoops up from the bottom is the most advantageous. Except for my son's machine, I used a metal plate or paper for the scooping part, but the advantage of the PVC plate is that it is highly flexible, so it is easy to press and stick to the ground, and even if you play against the same type, you can dive down. is. Also, even if it was scooped from below, it was flexible and did not leave, and there were several scenes where it turned to attack. In addition, as a point to keep in mind, it is easy to maintain Imonegi because it will be played for a long time at the tournament. If the center of gravity is on the back side, it will easily tip over, so be careful. I've seen several aircraft that have been remodeled to lay their bodies down and lower their center of gravity. (It was a formidable opponent) Also, the adjustment of the undercarriage is an important factor that separates victory or defeat, whether attacking or escaping.

This time, I am helping my son at key points, even as he wishes, but I remember that my father also helped me a lot with elementary and junior high school crafts. Some people may criticize that if parents help, children's creativity and autonomy will be damaged. However, as I am currently making a living as a creator, I think this is a baseless worry. On the contrary, it is a valuable opportunity to experience the real thrill of manufacturing and a sense of accomplishment at a higher level, and I think that experience will be a source of inspiration in the future.

Lastly, I would like to thank the Shibaura Institute of Technology for their enthusiastic and kind support, my son's friends who rushed to the national tournament to cheer me on, and the rivals I met at the venue who cheered me on. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to them.