Page 52 - Build Your Own Combat Robot

FIGURE 2-7 Chapter 2: Getting Started 33
Spike before
heading off to
Robot Wars.
(courtesy of
Andrew Lindsey)

Start Building Now
This can’t be stated any more clearly: If you want to compete in a contest that is six
months away, you’ve got to start building, now. Bots always takes longer to build
than you think they will or allow time for, and other, less important time commit-
ments like school or work easily get in the way. There’s always something that
doesn’t work and needs to be redesigned. Things break and have to be fixed.
Things don’t fit together like you planned and need to be modified. Murphy’s Law
always comes into play when building bots, especially when you are in a time
crunch. There are some people who have successfully built a bot in as little as two
weeks, and others who’ve spent over a year on their projects. Plan to spend at least
six months to build your machine. It can be done in less time, but you’ll have to
work a lot harder to do it.