Ki

Ki is a senior-designed 3lber, introduced as a project to test out experimental 3lber ideas. It was designed and built during the Summer and early Fall of 2016 for Sparkfun, a competition in Colorado.

It was then redesigned for Motorama 2017.

Its central concept is an asymmetrical horizontal bar spinner. The original design's horizontal bar looked like a key, hence the name. Other features include .25" UHMW armor in Ki and .5" UHMW armor on Kii.

Kii
Year Of Creation	2016
Versions
Current Version	2.0
Update Year	2016-2017
Wins/Losses	0/2
Information and Statistics
Weight Class	BeetleWeight
Weapon Class	Horizontal Bar Spinner
Combined Wins/Losses	1/4
Weapon Speed	3500 RPM
("Temporary")	("Temporary")

Competitions

Sparkfun 2016

Results: 1-2

Bracket type: double elimination

• Loss vs Margin of Safety
  • First fight against Margin of Safety. Great odds.
  • At first, Ki and Margin are exchanging weapon hits. This pattern soon ends as Margin rips off all 3 armor pieces. Ki loses by tapout.

• Win vs Kamikaze
  • Kamikaze is a full-body bar spinner with an ABS frame and massive weapon.
  • Kamikaze and Ki exchange blows for around 30 seconds, after which Kamikaze tears Ki's back armor off. It then ricochets, breaking its own ABS chassis and KO'ing itself.
• Loss vs Just a Wedge
  • Just a Wedge is, as its name suggests is just a wedge.
  • It was a wedge fight for most of it. Just a Wedge got its wedge stuck under a saw field hazard. Ki then bumped it free after a short time. Ki loses by judges' decision.

Motorama 2017

Results: 0-2

Bracket type: double elimination

• Loss vs Meili
  • Meili is another horizontal bar spinner. Oddly, its bar is at the exact height of Kii's belt.
  • At first, Kii and Meili are exchanging blows. Meili then knocked Kii's back armor around in such a way to lift Kii's drive wheel off the ground. Then Meili's bar cut Kii's belt, at which point Kii lost by tap-out.
• Loss vs Deathcap
  • Deathcap is an drum spinner with an elevated drum.
  • Early on, Deathcap and Kii hit, resulting in Kii's right wheel being knocked off. Kii held Deathcap off for the full 3 minutes, and then lost by judges' decision.

Version

Ki

Created by: Jonathan Spalten

Drive Motors	12V medium-power 25D mm 9.7:1 Pololu Metal Gear Motor
Drive Motor Controllers	Scorpion Mini
Weapon Motor	NTM Prop Drive Series 28-26A 1200kv/286W
Weapon Motor Controllers	Afro Slim 20A ESC
Receiver	Hobby King 2.4Ghz Receiver 6Ch V2
Remote Control	Hobby King 2.4Ghz 6Ch Tx and Rx V2
Battery	Turnigy Nano-Tech 2200mah 3S 25~50C Lipo Pack
Wheels	Banebots T40s

Problems

• Ki's weapon shaft was bolted on by only 4 4-40 screws.
• Its weapon shaft had two pieces that screwed together by threaded rod, resulting in odd interfaces with the weapon support system.
• Ki's top and bottom plate used 3/16" that had pockets to be milled down to 1/16". Not a good idea.
• Ki's armor pieces were screwed into the 3/16". 3/16" is too small to support 4-40s, and screws in general.
• Body is unecessarily large.

Good aspects

• The central concept of the bar support pieces was good.
• The weapon, when its support screws weren't shearing, performed well.

Changes/Improvements

• Reduce body size
• Use a screw for the shaft
• Make bar counterweight smaller
• Improve armor mounting

Kii

Created by: Jonathan Spalten, Tyler Hiu, Tristen Smith, Sidharth Eleswarapu

Drive Motors	12V medium-power 25D mm 9.7:1 Pololu Metal Gear Motor
Drive Motor Controllers	Scorpion Mini
Weapon Motor	Quantum MT Series 2814 880KV
Weapon Motor Controllers	Afro 30A Race Spec Mini ESC
Receiver	Hobby King 2.4Ghz Receiver 6Ch V2
Remote Control	Hobby King 2.4Ghz 6Ch Tx and Rx V2
Battery	Turnigy Nano-Tech 1000mah 3S 25~50C Lipo Pack
Wheels	Fingertech Snap Wheels

Problems

• The wheels were unarmored and came off frequently.
• There were still issues with enemy bots tearing armor off.
• Weapon motor was mounted to 1/16" Al. It bent, resulting in the belt coming off relatively frequently.
• The belt was an easy target.

Good aspects

• The weapon was effective.
• The wheels worked well, when they weren't torn off.
• It was easy to access electronics with the weapon support layer made of 3/16" Al with 1/16" Al top and bottom plates.

Changes/Improvements

• Putting armor on the wheels is a good idea
• Increase effective weapon area
• Protect belt
• Mount weapon motor more effectively

See also

• Dat_Boi
• Qti
• Schwifti
• Snuti
• Radii

Notes:

Based Tyler is the reason for Kii's major success.

Originally built by Jonathan Spalten