General Hints and Tips

When building Antweights there are many different things to consider if you want to build a competitive one.

This page is an overview of some good points that you should bare in mind when designing and building your Antweights. Some of these points may not apply to your Antweight.

  • When modifying your servos be careful it is easy to ruin them. If you use hot glue this is very important as it is very easy to glue the wrong part and stop the servo from functioning properly.
  • Make sure you have good grip on your Antweight. If your ant has more grip than your opponent that can significantly tip the odds in your favor. Remember that 50% of the arena is open for you to push ants out of.
  • Make your Antweight invertible, or include a self-righting device. The amount of lifters/flippers in Antweights today makes having one of these functionalities very important.
  • Try new ideas that other people have not though of yet. Antweights have been going on for many years but that does not mean that everything that can be done has been done. If you do something new then other Antweights will not be prepared for fighting against it.
  • Learn to drive your ant. If you can drive your ant well then that gives you a significant advantage in a fight. While practicing against Coke cans and the like can help nothing beats a real opponent. The best way to learn is to go to as many events with your Antweight as possible.
  • Start of simple first. If this is your first Antweight, you are more likely to build a simple one successfully than you are an over complicated one. Just because your ant is simple does not mean it cannot win.
  • Participate in online forums for Antweights. A vast majority of what I have learned about Antweights has been picked up through the RobotWars101 Forum. This site also has a forum for Antweights, as do many others. You can pick up lots of valuable advice straight from the builders them selves.
  • If you are stuck ask for help. Following on from the last point, do not be afraid to ask for help on the forums if you are stuck on something when building your Antweight. The other roboteers will be all to happy to help you.
  • Have fun! Antweights are all about having fun and enjoying yourself, and you will enjoy going to events with your Antweights a lot more if it is less about winning and more about having fun.

A community project to provide a central source of information about Antweights. Anybody can add information, and everyone is welcome to contribute.

We have made two Antweights, Bobblebot (in 2003) and Myth, which is currently being built and will hopefully be completed in time to take part in events towards the end of 2010.

Antweight Links

Robotwars101.org - Antweight resource site
Robotwars101.org/phpBB - Discussion forum
Antweights.co.uk - The Antweight Wiki
Simon Windisch's site - Useful guides and advice
Antweight.co.uk - Good general resource site
AntweightRobots.com - Beginners site

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