Shrinking the Hacksmith Orbitron BattleBot Down to a 150g Antweight Machine
To make a miniature Orbitron that could compete in the antweight class, Team Panic had to reduce the weight by 750 times to just 150 grams.
For geeky engineer types (we know our readers), the BattleBot concept is one of the most appealing “sports” imaginable. Running around while holding a ball is boring athleticism. But designing and constructing robots that fight to death in a modern televised Colosseum? That takes brainpower and fabrication skill, which becomes especially apparent in the lower weight classes. If you want some proof, take a look at Team Panic’s antweight replica of Hacksmith’s Orbitron.
Team Orbitron is a group of students from Ontario, Canada’s University of Waterloo. In 2023, the massive Hacksmith Industries YouTube channel combined forces with the team. The resulting Orbitron BattleBot is a 250-pound behemoth that competes in the heavyweight class. Its distinctive weapon setup consists of two chain-driven vertical spinners, which flip over opponents. Orbitron even has autonomous capability and can attack other BattleBots without direct control from a human operator.
As a fun way to interact with fans, Team Orbitron released a small 3D-printable scale model of Orbitron. That can’t fight or even move under its own power, but it gave Team Panic the idea to build an antweight version of Orbitron that can. Rules for antweight classes vary, but Team Panic decided to adhere to the typical 150g weight limit. That’s about a third of a pound, which is extremely restrictive and challenging.
Like the heavyweight Orbitron, this antweight Orbitron is a four-wheel drive BattleBot with two spinner weapons. Four tiny DC gearmotors sit in the robot’s 3D-printed plastic frame to drive the wheels. Each spinner has a more powerful brushless DC motor, like what you’d find on a small drone.
And this is where Team Panic started to get clever with weight reduction. The spinners and their motors attach to mounts made from PCBs. Not only are PCBs strong, but this also eliminates some parts. The spinners themselves were fabricated using PCBWay’s steel 3D printing service. That let Team Panic design them to be very lightweight, but also strong.
Team Panic doesn’t specify the controller used for this build, but it appears to drive the wheel gearmotors directly. The two brushless DC motors seem to have dedicated miniature ESC (Electronic Speed Controllers). Power comes from a pair of itty-bitty lithium batteries.
In testing, the antweight Orbitron worked well. It is nimble and the spinners back a big punch as they rotate at very high speed. That’s impressive considering it is only about 1/750th the weight of the real Orbitron.