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The BattleKits line of robot kits is a great starting point for robotics projects like educational robots, industrial robotics, experimental robots, hobby robots, and robotic sports and competitions. BattleKits are designed along the lines of one of the most successful competition robots ever: BioHazard. We started with some of the key features in BioHazard and developed three rugged, low-profile, high-performance, mobile platforms on which you can build your next educational or sport robot.
We offer three different kits:
Our kits feature:
Optional components include: We feel that the above combination of features results in a kit that will save you countless hours and hundreds, (or even thousands), of dollars.
Maximum Versatility
Minimum Weight
The "Full Kits" in the above chart include the following components:
Light Weight Kits The base plate is drilled and countersunk with all the holes required to mount the speed controller, batteries, and other components - a total of 62 holes. Available options: Specifications:
Middle Weight Kits Note that four motors are not required in any of our kits in order to achieve four-wheel drive. All wheels will be driven even if only two motors are installed in the kits. But if you decide to go with the E30-150 economy motors, we suggest you use four of them in the middle weight. A total of ten chains are used for power transmission and speed reduction. The ten chains have no connecting links, and they are all exactly the same length. In fact, every chain in all of our kits is the same length, (except two chains in the heavy weight). This enables us to buy these in large quantities and reduce costs. All the kits also share wheels, axles, sprockets, shafts, and other hardware so we are able to take advantage of volume discounts on all those items. The base plate is drilled and countersunk with all the holes required to mount the speed controller, three sizes of batteries, and other components - a total of 84 holes. Available options: Specifications:
Heavy Weight Kits The base plate is drilled and countersunk with all the holes required to mount one or two speed controllers, three sizes of batteries, and other components - a total of 92 holes.
Available options: Specifications:
Modular Drive Units Each unit is basically one half of one of our middle weight drive train modules. It includes a 10" length of the 3/8" extruded square tubing. The tube houses a two-stage chain-and-sprocket speed reducer and a 4" wheel. It bolts right up to our E30, A28, or F30 motors. This unit is very easy to use. Just bolt it in place, plug it in, and go play! You can easily mount these modules into your robot by drilling and tapping four 1/4-20 screw holes right into the 3/8" aluminum wall. You can also mount other components directly to the module using more tapped holes. We left the hole locations up to you so that you would have maximum flexibility in mounting. The extruded aluminum frames are symmetrical so the motor can be mounted on either side. We call these "Type-A" and "Type-B". For a four-wheel drive robot, you would typically need two of each type. Just choose the types that you need on our order form. You can always reconfigure them if you change your mind.
Reduction Ratios: These drive modules are available with either 5.6 or 3.4 to 1 reduction ratios, (the same ratios used in our kits.) The standard ratio uses sprockets with 9 and 24 teeth and the high-speed ratio uses sprockets with 13 and 21 teeth. To switch to the faster ratio you just replace the standard sprockets with our high-speed sprockets. The following chart shows the robot's top speed using various combinations of motors, voltages, and reduction ratios:
Ten to twelve MPH is plenty fast for almost any type of educational or fighting robot so we ship all our kits with the 5.6 reduction ratio. Those who have had lots of driving practice at that speed might want to try the faster ratio so we offer a high-speed upgrade. We recommend using one of the "A" series motors with the high-speed ratios. The modular drive units (unlike our kits), are available with the high speed ratio factory installed. Available options: Specifications:
Low Cost
Visit our order page to order your kit. For more information, or to order individual components please visit these pages:
* Visit the Motors page
Home |
Motors | Gearmotors |
Motor Controllers |
Batteries
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BattleKits
feature a bulletproof drive train that is completely housed in a square
aluminum extruded tube.
Drive
train modules include a separate two-stage speed
reducer for each wheel. All the drive chains are continuous loops with no connecting
links. (Connecting links reduce chain strength by almost 30%.)
All our kits feature
#35 chain. The sprockets, shafts, and axles are custom-made from 5140 Chromoly
steel. Two different sets of sprockets are available so you
have your choice of medium-fast or very fast, (details below). One of our powerful
The wheel assembly
is made from the popular 4" Colson Performa tire. These are machined and
mated to our custom hubs, bearings, and 19-tooth Chromoly sprockets.
This combination weighs in at just 1.1 pounds - including the drive
sprocket.
The base plates and
the bulkheads are made from 6061-T6 aluminum. The base plates are drilled and
countersunk with all the mounting holes for the bulkheads, drive modules, speed
controller, and several different sizes and types of batteries. All components are CNC computer machined to tight tolerances for maximum consistency
and lowest cost.
Battery Options and Mounting:
We offer three different battery options. The batteries are held in place with steel mounting hardware that is
bolted to the base plate. The base plates have been pre-drilled and
countersunk for the hardware for each type of battery and for every
optional battery location. To hold the batteries down onto the base
plate we use 2" wide Velcro strapping. This combination of steel and Velcro makes for a very secure and low-cost
mount while making it easy to remove the batteries for maintenance. 
Tip Resistance:
The wheels are positioned so that they stick out of the frame towards the front and the rear. This allows the robot to be tipped up onto its front or rear and
still maintain contact between the drive wheels and the floor. You can
decide to keep this feature or cover the wheels. The wheels are
also positioned as close as possible to the sides of the frame so sideways tips will have to be
quite extreme before the frame comes into contact with the floor. 
Ground Clearance:
In place of the standard four-inch wheels, optional five-inch, 28-tooth
wheels can be fitted to any of our kits for additional ground clearance.
This requires drilling new axle holes and removing some aluminum around
the wheels. Contact us and we will provide detailed drawings, or we can
do the job for you at an additional cost. Shown on the left is the Light weight kit with 5-inch wheels. The ground clearance
is increased to over 1.8 inches.
All the kits share the same wheels and
speed reduction hardware. The light weight kit is the simplest and lightest
possible 4-wheel-drive configuration using our custom hardware. It includes two dual-wheel drive
train modules, aluminum bulkheads, and
a base plate. The motors are located in the center of the drive modules and each wheel has
its own two-stage speed reducer.
You can order this kit with up to four motors and
four MC-545 batteries installed. The square footprint works well for a
many types of robotics projects. 
The
Middle and Heavy weight kits can be configured with two or four motors.
Ether configuration will provide four-wheel drive. Robots with just two
motors employ a "jack shaft" in place of the second set of motors. The jack
shaft is simply a shaft with two sprockets that runs in two ball bearings
mounted in the aluminum drive module. Four motors are required in the heavy weight kit if
you choose to use the E30-150 economy
motors.
If
none of our standard sizes will do the job, consider using our Modular Drive
Units. With the "MDU" you can easily construct a
mobile platform that is exactly the length and width you need.
Like
all our kits, no chain tensioners are used in the modular drive units. The axle locations are machined to such tight
tolerances that chain tensioners are not required. This is one of our key cost-cutting features in all our kits. We reduced the
parts count and the cost with no impact on the ruggedness. We tried to heed the advice of Antoine
de Saint-Exupery when he said "You know you've achieved perfection in design, not
when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away." But
we made sure to temper our enthusiasm for that philosophy with Albert Einstein's advice:
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."