Product category:
Cables and Wires
News Release from: Multi-Contact (UK) | Subject: Silicone cabling
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 07 October 2003
Cabling withstands robot wars
Highly flexible silicone cabling has proved to be a winning ingredient for Storm II, the latest champion to emerge from the popular BBC series of "Robot wars" TV programmes.
Highly flexible silicone cabling from Multi-Contact has proved to be a winning ingredient for Storm II, the latest champion to emerge from the popular BBC series of "Robot wars" TV programmes Dubbed "Full body hammer" because of its compact design, rugged armour plating and aggressive fighting style, Storm II is the brainchild of two-man team, Ed Hoppitt (mechanical designer and team captain) and Tim Bence, his assistant
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 29 Sep 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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With a top speed of 32km/h, the 127mm-high robot can launch devastating attacks against opponents, delivering 4kJ of energy whenever it impacts against a solid object.
As a result, Storm II emerged as the tournament champion of the recently shown "Robot wars extreme: new blood", emerging undefeated through encounters with various robots including Revolution II and Direct Action.
Highly flexible silicone-insulated cable from Multi-Contact was used for wiring throughout the robot, and was specified both because of its ability to withstand high temperatures and for its tight bend radii that enables cable lengths to be kept to a minimum.
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Ideally suited for the internal wiring of extremely mobile components under high thermal stress, the cable features super-fine, oxygen-free copper stranding in a thin silicone insulation and can operate in a temperature range between -80 and +150C.
It can be run up to +250C for several hours and will even withstand higher temperatures up to 300C for short periods.
"This made it an ideal choice for our power cabling", commented Ed Hoppitt, captain and chief designer of Team Storm, "particularly since each of our two motors is able to draw up to 900A.
It also helps if Storm II ever gets trapped on the flame pit".
"The tournament proved to be a real baptism of fire", he continued.
"There were none of the usual 'mercy clauses' that Robot Wars competitors usually get to sign.
Instead, all losing machines were thoroughly trashed by the house robots.
Fortunately, we stormed through the qualifying heats and went on to win the final - not bad for a robot with no active weapon".
Storm II's two LEM130 "lynch motors" are run off of four 30-cell 36V 3Ah Sanyo NiCd battery packs, enabling it to enjoy a peak output of 17.6hp.
As the champion of the "Robot wars extreme'' tournament, Storm II has gained automatic entry to the new series - (the seventh in all) - of the regular "Robot wars'' which returns to Channel Five in the UK on Sunday, 2nd November 2003.
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