DOOMBA: the Robot That Can Burn Down Your House!

short and simple. I want to build a roomba thats FAST, REMOTE CONTROLLED, AND SHOOTS FIRE!. why you may ask? because it sounds fun!

Step 1: The Basic Plan So Far

so basically to get this terrifying Roomba clone in the flesh I started with some dimensions I stole from an actual Roomba, ultimately I plan to gut a Roomba to cram this inside of it for extra stealth but that's down the road a bit , first constraint is diameter of the main body, seems like a 300mm diameter suits it well so I'm doing that, frame will be laser cut via send cut send and ill be using belts and pulleys off of a pair of brushless motors to get this thing scooting around

Step 2: There Was an Attempt

these little drive modules ended up being cool as hell in my opinion but thats gonna be a problem later... (ominous foreshadowing)

anyweys doofing around in fusion 360 for a couple of hours produced this lovely render that shows how this thing goes together

its pretty simple but effective in providing some suspension to keep the drives engaged with the ground by easy to make on the ol ender 3 potato master 9000.

Step 3: Moar Parts

after a buttload (metric) of printing the drive modules where complete.

it was about this time that the chassis showed up from send cut send in aluminum , (I wanted carbon fiber but my wallet said no).

Step 4: Electronics Thingy

it was at this point I realized I needed a thingy to hold all the electronics , so 30 min in fusion 360 resulted in this, I'm calling it the main electronics sub chassis. it also holds the gas canister valve doohickey so the canister wont fall out the bottom of the robot

Step 5: ALL TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME!

at this point I started finally installing the drive electronics, super duper simple tank drive, this was a bad idea, cause this thing is stupid fast. oh by the way, the front and back wheels are the smallest swivels with actual tires available via the all mighty mcmaster carr catalog (all hail the sacred texts for they are mighty with cad data)

at this point it was time for a test drive, and boy howdy did it go bad....

Step 6: Your Robot Explodes for the First Time

so that brings us to now. ( like right now, today, at this very moment)

so yeah, my robot barfed its motors.

ugh.

so back in the ol confuser in fusion 360 I quickly designed some drive modules to be made out of mild steel, these will be tig welded together but should act as a heatsink so it don't get so melty anymore.

Ive sent them off to my beloved send cut send and will weld them together sometime next week hopefully and ill be able to "GIVE IT THE BEANS" and really smoke those lil tires!

whats next!?!?

FLAMETHROWER!!!!

Step 7: Ugh. More Exploding.

DOOMBA update!

The new drive modules that are welded together worked great!, so great that they broke off the suspension pivots and yeeted themselves across my garage. This thing has Stupid torque. Oh and the tires. Turns out rc car tires was a bad choice, see vid. https://youtube.com/shorts/6LUEOlVvFq4?feature=share

Step 8: Suspension!

ok major redesign, new welded suspension and oil filled shocks, needed less boing and more vroom, 4.8mm mild steel should take the punishment from the drive modules far better than 3d printed parts

Step 9: PCBWAY IS THE JAM!

the fine folks at pcbway did some amazing work! Their machining services have made it possible for a new monolithic aluminum drive module ! I’m so excited to get these installed, also! Suspension has been redesigned and will use oil filled shocks to dampen the erratic movement of the drive modules!