Back in 2012, I designed and 3D printed a desktop modular coil gun. I made a video of the build at the time and published it on YouTube, so I could share it with friends. The coil gun ended up on my shelf and I moved on to the next project. Looking back, I see that this particular video has gotten quite a few views since then. I have received a few requests for design details since then, many of which I haven’t responded to yet (I guess 9 years latency is pushing it a bit, but hey, I’ve been busy!

I love watching robot competitions. It doesn’t matter if it is sumo robots, line followers, boxing bipeds or the more familiar Robot Wars / BattleBot combat tournaments. I still remember being blown away by the robots in the first episodes of BBC Robot Wars when it aired back in the late nineties. It’s incredibly fun to watch these proxy battles of the minds, but I imagine that it would be even more fun to participate, especially in the heavyweight classes.

During a family trip to Japan last easter, I was fortunate enough to have a couple of hours to myself in the tech mecca of Tokyo, namely the Akihabara district. My two hour “geek pilgrimage” involved plans for visiting four of the more iconic shops in Akihabara. These were Mak Japan, G-Front, Tsukomo Robot Kingdom and Vstone Robot Center. After having spent quite some time looking at maps and web sites, I was finally able to locate the entrance of the MAK Japan shop.

The short version Mostly Harmless won the obstacle course challenge and decimated the targets in the arena, but got its ass thoroughly whooped by the fearsome drum spinning Ascend robot in the finals. To the audience’s disappointment, the whooping didn’t take too long. The robot was on its back - dead in the water after just a few seconds. However… Robot fighting is a spectator sport and the audience demanded more carnage.

How much of a punch can a 2kg robot throw ? And how much sustained beating can a 2kg robot tolerate and still remain operational ? The answers to these questions will become clear on Nov 9th at the next local robot wars competition, hosted by Omega Workshop in Trondheim. The Inspiration For some reason, I have managed to miss out on all previous tournaments, but this spring I was persuaded to join as a referee (I later discovered that the tournament date conflicted with the date for a local whiskey festival - hence an acute shortage of available referees).