September 11th, 2005
Trying out some new technology!
It's been a while since we did anything worth reporting on the web site, but suffice it to say we're back up and running 'bot-wise, and we're even trying our hand at some new stuff - tonight's new technology is Lithium Polymer batteries. We're starting small with this - actually, about as small as we can get: we're putting a LiPo pack into our smallest 'bot Wobbly Wedge 1.0. Take a look at the build report to see the exciting new stuff!

May 21st, 2005
Rebuilding and upgrading our simplist 'bot.
Seeing as though our thrown-together fairyweight managed to come third at RoboGames 2005, and secure a spot at the 2005 RFL Nationals, we decided to spend a little time rebuilding the 'bot in case we're able to make it to the Nationals later this year. We had five productive hours and made a lot of useful modifications.

March 27th, 2005
RoboGames 2005 was a blast!
With four 'bots in the back of the BotMobile, and three humans up front, we hit the road for the short ride to San Francisco University, to take part in RoboGames 2005. It was a big event for sure, with all weight classes from 150g fairyweights through 340lb super-heavyweights, alongside non-combat events too. Huge! We did pretty well, as it happened, taking away two third place medals, and had a lot of fun to boot. Take a look at the competition diaries for all the information.

March 22nd, 2005
The final pre-competition push to get the middleweight ready.
With the competition just a couple of days away tonight was ready-or-bust night as we attempted to pull all the pieces together into a completed, driveable, armed, armoured 'bot. We did make a lot of progress, and completed some good things, but ultimately we elected to stop working on the middleweight after tonight as there was still too much to do to make it competition-worthy. To see the progress we did make, take a look at the build report.

March 21st, 2005
Working on the middleweight's weapon.
With the chassis and frame components fabricated we turned our attention tonight to the 4-bar lifting mechanism we're planning to install as the offensive capability of the 'bot. We had a very instructive build session tonight, and accomplished some good work, although there were a couple of minor hiccups ...

March 20th, 2005
Completing the middleweight's chassis and drive train.
Following yesterday's progress, we forged ahead with a plan to complete the chassis and drive train for our new middleweight, Epitomic Expletive 0.9 so we'd only have the arm and electronics to worry about before the competition. It was a pretty productive build session - take a look at the details.

March 19th, 2005
How difficult can building a 2WD wedge be?!?
We designed a really simple wedge to take up our fairyweight slot at RoboGames, but when it came to fabricating this 'bot, it turned out reality can sometimes be a harsh mistress. Take a look at tonight's build report for Wobbly Wedge 0.9 to get the details.

March 19th, 2005
A new competition - a new reason to build.
With RoboGames 2005 just around the corner, and with it being a competition that accepts 120lb middleweight, and as it's in our (new) backyard, we'd be fools to pass up a reason to finish Epitomic Expletive 0.9 and take it to the competition. With that chain of though, we opened up the wooden shipping crate and spent some quality time working on our biggest 'bot.

March 17th, 2005
An inside-out design session.
Having pretty much decided to drop Machiavellian Malcontent 0.9 from our roster for RoboGames 2005 we elected to put together an easier fairweight to take its place, and so we spent an hour or so tonight sketching out a design for it. After some long division and a quick bout of CADing, we had a design for Wobbly Wedge 0.9!

March 17th, 2005
Ready for a competition - and even time to practice driving!
Today we hit a major snag with Cantankerous Cowpoke 3.0. - one of our motors was having an issue, which isn't good when your attack strategy is to drive fast and hit the other 'bot. We overcame this though, and managed to get the 'bot ready to compete at the RoboGames event.

March 6th, 2005
Moving into new digs, and working on an old 'bot.
With a new year comes a new location - we've moved 3,200 miles from Baltimore to the San Francisco Bay area, and we're itching to get building! We've found some new space to build in, and an old 'bot to work on so we settle in for some unpacking, and some upgrading of Cantankerous Cowpoke 3.0.

November 24th, 2004
One last night of building in Alabama.
This is our last trip to Alabama for the foreseeable future, so we decide to make the most of it and get some build time in on our middleweight Epitomic Expletive 0.9 before crating it up and shipping it back to Maryland. Things don't quite go as smoothly as they could have, but a big thanks to Sam and all the folks in Montgomery for their help over the last few months!

September 6th, 2004
Back from a relaxed Alabama competition.
We spent this weekend in Huntsville, AL, in the company of the SECR folks and assorted competitors for their second Rocket City Robot Assault competition of the year. We took four 'bots, and came away 4-8, but it was a great competition, with little pressure, and a relaxed atmosphere, which made it a great time! Take a look at our event report.

September 3rd, 2004
Minor revisions to our feather-weight.
Fortunately our 30lb brick suffered virtually no damage at NERC's Motorama 2004, so we did a quick inspection and re-made one part while preparing Intrusive Interloper 1.5 for the upcoming Rocket City Robot Assault competition.

September 2nd, 2004
More chassis fabrication.
We've put in a good chunk of time working on the Epitomic Expletive 0.9 tonight to see if it was still feasible to think that this 'bot would compete at Rocket City Robot Assault. Take a look at the build report to see whether we made it in time.

September 2nd, 2004
Mill + Chassis = Less Weight
After last night's great session with the CNC mill, it's time to go manual and cut out some weight from the new aluminium chassis of our 12lb'er. We had great fun wrapping up the build in preparation for the Rocket City Robot Assault event.

September 1st, 2004
A new 'bot and a new toy!
Here we are in Alabama. It's 7pm, we've had dinner, and we're bored. Time to head to the machine shop! In preparation for SECR's upcoming competition, we've decided to rebuild our 12lb brick, and so with a mill available to us, we make a start on Cantankerous Cowpoke 3.0.

August 28th, 2004
Trying yet another tiny drive train.
Tonight we decided to take another stab at putting together a decent drive train for our fairy-weight Machiavellian Malcontent 0.9. We've tried a few different arrangements, and tonight decided to start the chassis over from scratch to accomodate the new drive train.

August 27th, 2004
Installing the thresher weapon motor.
It's been some time since we worked on Unlettered Understrapper 2.0, but we had to try to get it wrapped up tonight so we could compete with it at SECR's Rocket City Robot Assault. We had a new weapon motor to install, and came very close to finishing it.

August 21st, 2004
Starting a brand new 'bot!
We've got two weeks, a bunch of components, some materials, and access to a nice machine shop. With these assets, it's time to make a start on a new 'bot: Epitomic Expletive 0.9. We began by working on the frame, and laying out the internals. Take a look at the initial build report to see the first stages.

August 14th, 2004
Wiring up the 'bot, and a test drive.
A few more hours of work tonight, this time getting Gestalt Gastonade 2.0 to a driveable state. Having resigned ourself to the fact the 'bot will once again not have an active weapon, we needed to know how much weight we could use in building a plow for the front. Take a look at tonight's build report.

July 31st, 2004
Finishing the drive train, and some bad news.
We're getting back into the swing of things at Team Radicus Headquarters, and we're starting small. To that aim, we did some catching up on things by starting with one of the smaller 'bots: Gestalt Gastonade 2.0. Although we finished fabrication of the drive train, we realized we were unlikely to be able to shoehorn a weapon into this small 'bot. For the gory details, take a look at the build report.

February 22nd, 2004
Had a heck of a lot of fun at a local event!
NERC is our local event organizing group, and they again put on a Motorama event up in Harrisburg, PA. Originally the plan was to skip to the 12lb through 120lb weight classes, but Tony managed to convince them to put on a sub-12lb competition, and built an arena to run the competition in. This event report contains fun, frolics, and the flu, but a fun time was had by all!

February 1st, 2004
Handing off a 'bot to a friend.
We wanted to thank Eric Posey for his great work on our team shirts, and so in thanks we passed on our half-finished antweight Poor Punctuation 0.9 to Eric. Keep an eye on Eric's web site to see his progress bringing Poor Punctuation 0.9 to fruition.

February 1st, 2004
Not a great way to start the year ...
We were doing so well ... we were on the verge of having a full ten 'bots completed, and we were going to go down to Florida en masse and enjoy our first competition of the year ... but somewhere along the line it all fell apart. Three of our 'bots competed, none won a match, one came away destroyed and needing to be rebuilt. Not the happiest way to start a season, but at least it was an event. Take a look at the competition diaries for the details.

January 28th, 2004
Wrapping up the rebuild!
With one final push, we installed the electrical system and completed the rebuild of Y-chromosome 1.2 for Battle Beach #2! Too see the last few build photos, take a look at the build report.

January 28th, 2004
Completing the build of the new 30lb brick.
We were pretty determined to finish up Intrusive Interloper 0.9 so Scott would have something to drive at Battle Beach, and with a few more hours of work, we had the 'bot completed today. See the build report for the final efforts.

January 25th, 2004
A complete drive train means it's time for a test drive!
Hot on the heels of yesterday's work, we put some more effort in tonight and completed the drive train for Y-chromsome 1.0. After hooking up a temporary wiring harness, we took the 'bot for a test drive and caught it on film. Take a look at the build report to see the huge improvement the DeWalt drive motors make!

January 24th, 2004
Major advances on the re-build of Y-chromosome 1.0.
We've spent a fair amount of time on the smaller 'bots over the last couple of weeks, so we decided it was time to put some effort into the largest 'bot currently on the operating table: Y-chromosome 1.0. Last time we worked on it we found out that the hex axles we had fabricated were skewed, so we decided to fix that, and also try to complete the installation of the new MagMotor gearbox. Take a look at the results of the build session.

January 24th, 2004
Catching up with an old favourite.
It's been a month since Unlettered Understrapper 2.0 reached the point of mobility, and we decided to spend a little time on it today fine tuning the drive train and installing the electrical components. We reached the point where all we have left to do is weld the thresher assembly and install a weapon motor. If we could only decide on a weapon motor ...

January 23rd, 2004
Installing the other side of the drive train.
We spent a couple of hours today on our 12lb'er Cantankerous Cowpoke 2.0 installing the other side of the drive train we didn't quite get to finish up last time. There was one minor issue, but we sorted it out and now the 'bot just needs it's electronics installing after tonight's efforts.

January 21st, 2004
Getting started on the frame and drive train for a new 'bot.
We wanted a 'bot for Scott to drive at the upcoming Battle Beach competition, and decided to see what we could improvise. We grabbed some components, some aluminium, and headed over to Quanta to play in Paul's machine shop for a while. Take a look at the build report to see the beginnings of the new 'bot.

January 21st, 2004
Almost completing the drive train.
We pushed hard today to try and complete the drive train for Cantankerous Cowpoke 2.0. Although time ran out before we could finish the remaining item, we did get a chance to run the completed side, but noticed something that could well be a big problem in the very near future. See today's build report for the issue.

January 18th, 2004
Pausing for a rethink of the fairy's drive train.
Thanks to Eric for mailing us some drive motors ahead of American Science and Surplus, and we've decided we need to implement a bit of gear reduction in order to make the 'bot more effective. We calculated out a 6:1 reduction, and changed course slightly in our build efforts to encompass the modifications. Take a look at the build report to see the changes.

January 18th, 2004
Completing the drive train, and some bad news.
Seeing as though we recently received the outstanding items needed for Gestalt Gastonade 2.0's drive train, we decided to spend some time on it today to install all the new parts. We fabricated new tracks, and installed the drive line and motors, which led to a disappointing discovery that the 'bot was turning out larger than Jared before the Subway specials. Take a look at the build report to see what's happening.

January 15th, 2004
Making up for lost time - and then some!
After the last troubles trying to fabricate such tiny parts, it was great to once again achieve progress with our smallest 'bot, and now we have all the frame and chassis components fabricated. Take a look at the build report to see just how far we went.

January 15th, 2004
Trying something new as we make some wheels.
It's been a while since we did any work on Cantankerous Cowpoke 2.0, so we elected to spend some time on it today. One of the major things we need to do for the 'bot is fabricate some wheels for it, as we won't be able to use the Team Whyachi wheels we bought a while back. After a few hours of quality lathe time, we're pleased to say we've found a solution. Take a look at the build report to see the details.

January 12th, 2004
One step forwards, and two steps back.
We'd intended to spend a few hours each on a couple of our 'bots today, but after attempting to fabricate some parts for our new fairyweight, Machiavellian Malcontent 0.9, we decided today wasn't a good day to be playing with power tools, and so we packed up early. To see the little that we accomplished, take a look at the build report.

January 10th, 2004
Starting the build for the fleet's smallest 'bot.
We found ourselves with a few spare hours today, so we decided to get the ball rolling on our fairyweight: Machiavellian Malcontent 0.9. We had materials on hand to assemble a large part of the chassis, including numerous #0-80 screws. To see the progress, take a look at today's build report.

January 9th, 2004
Some more work on the drive pods for Hyperbolic Hoops 0.9.
Not much of an introduction to this one; suffice it to say we accomplished some more as we endevour to complete the drive train for Hyperbolic Hoops 0.9. Take a look at the build report to see where we stand.

January 9th, 2004
Working on Gestalt Gastonade 2.0's chassis.
We spent a few hours today trying to wrap up the assembly of Gestalt Gastonade 2.0's frame, so we could begin installing internal components. We received a nasty shock as we wrapped up for the day in that most of our weight allowance for the 'bot had disappeared, and we were still short a couple of important components. Take a look at the build report to see which ones.

January 8th, 2004
The smallest member of the 2004 Fleet.
We finally sat down and gave some serious thought to the idea of building a fairyweight 'bot for the 2004 Team Radicus fleet. After working through a number of potential designs, we finally settled on one that we could actually fit into the 150 gram weight limit, and so we're pleased to announce the newest, and smallest, 'bot in the line-up: Machiavellian Malcontent 0.9! Take a look at the initial CAD diagrams.

January 5th, 2004
Making a start on Gestalt Gastonade 2.0.
The pile of parts for our second version of the antweight Gestalt Gastonade 2.0 reached critical mass tonight, and so - in accordance with the laws of nature - building commenced! Although we didn't have much time available tonight, we still managed to get a reasonable way along. To see just how far, take a look at the build report.

January 3rd, 2004
The first build report of the new year!
Switching on the "Build to Win" philosophy, we headed down to the build space to try and get Y-chromosome 1.0 moving. As it turned out, today's build efforts were to be hampered by problems featuring motors, shafts, and noodles?!