Super Robo Time
An annual event run with UAS and the 3D Print Club, where anyone who turns up builds a robot to take on a challenge. Everything a team needs while it is running is on this page.
What Super Robo Time is
Super Robo Time — SRT — is an annual event held by the Robotics Team, UAS and the 3D Print Club. It is a chance to learn about robotics, drones and 3D printing, compete in a scavenger hunt in the labs, and build a robot to complete a challenge.
It generally runs over three to four weeks, with the main workdays on Saturdays and extra workdays and training sessions in between. You do not need to know anything going in, and you do not need to be on any of the three teams.
Turn up on a Saturday and build something
No experience assumed, no sign-up needed, and nothing to bring. The teams are put together on the first day and everything a robot needs is provided.
- 3–4
- weeks long
- 3
- clubs running it
- Sat
- main workdays
What you need, in the order you need it
Install the software first — it is the slowest part and the one worth doing before the first Saturday rather than on it.
Software
Two programs, and both take a while to install. Do this at home if you can.
SOLIDWORKS: download all three files into one folder, run the .exe, then run SWinstall.bat once the extract has finished. The older F: drive route was F:\install\Solidworks\Auto SolidWorks Install\SOLIDWORKS 2019 SP3.0\.
Mechanical
The CAD workshop, then the guide to putting the bot together. The wheel drawing is the demonstration part — the first thing most people draw.
Electrical
How it all wires together, and which pin on the ESP32 is which.
Programming
Start from the base code rather than an empty sketch — it already talks to the motors and the phone. The three libraries below are what it expects to find installed.
- Programming guide
- Base code on GitLab
- Dabble (remote control)
- L298N (motor driver)
- ESP32 AnalogWrite (compatibility)
Challenges
What to try to make your robot actually do. Nobody manages all of them, and that is the point — pick the ones your team finds interesting.
Going further
If SRT leaves you wanting to keep building, the parts reference is where the team's opinions about motors, encoders and controllers are written down — which one to reach for, and what its datasheet does not tell you.
Open the parts referenceWhen is the next one?
SRT runs once a year and the dates go on the team calendar as soon as they are set. If it is not on there yet, ask — planning usually starts well before anything is announced.