ECAD/MCAD Collaboration: The Secret Sauce of Ribbot from BattleBots

Ribbot is a heavyweight combat robot that is both fearsome and fun. With its vibrant green and yellow color scheme, it looks like it could have hopped right out of a cartoon. But don't be fooled by its playful appearance – Ribbot is a serious contender in the world of BattleBots.

Don't miss this opportunity to discover the captivating journey behind Ribbot's creation and the innovative design process it entails. Register now for our webinar and gain valuable insights from the Ribbot team.

During this special webinar, you will:

• Learn the fascinating story behind the creation of Ribbot, including how it was born and designed.
• Explore how Ribbot's design process was optimized to achieve the best results in BattleBots.
• Discover how Ribbot utilizes MCAD CoDesigner in Altium Designer to enhance its design.
• Gain insights into how Ribbot leverages MCAD CoDesigner in SOLIDWORKS for seamless integration.

Unanswered Questions From the Live Webinar

1. Any experience with using MCAD Co-designer and 3D Experience?

3DEXPERIENCE platform is not supported at the moment, but they are on the roadmap for future development.

2. How do you stop the detailed ECAD model slowing down the MCAD tool? I find on a PCB with ~2000 parts or multiple boards with fewer components the MCAD tool (SolidWorks) struggles, how do you work around this?

It is recommended to filter out small components using the MCAD CoDesigner. In the Altium CoDesigner Panel, click on your name, go to SETTINGS and there is an option to filter out smaller components.

3. Best practices for sketch constraints in SolidWorks. It seems not all types are supported when exporting to Altium. Also, which features should be avoided (i.e mirroring, patterns, etc.)?

Unfortunately, mirroring and patterns are not supported when exporting to Altium. It is recommended to create all entities individually. Additionally, 3D fillets/chamfers are not supported as well.

4. Naming convention between Solidworks and Altium. We have a problem now for large designs. Our mechanical team pulls Altium's PCB assembly and stores it in our server structure. Pulling an updated PCB design then sometimes gives error messages and becomes very heavy. Is there a way to keep the components from Altium on the server so all PCBs in the Assembly can use the same instance of a component instead of all PCBs keeping multiple copies of the same component. We for example have a design with 12000 of the same component.

It is recommended to set up a common component folder in the MCAD CoDesigner settings and put it under Product Data Management (PDM) control if a PDM system is used. Note that this recommendation is not required for Fusion 360 and Creo+Windchill.

5. When will you export/sync all the traces and polygon so the MCAD will able to see it? Is it possible for the MCAD to use the synced board easliy in their design? By ease i mean updated, change, assemble and etc…

Please refer to the MCAD CoDesigner settings for exporting and syncing traces and polygons. Yes, the MCAD tool can use the synced board, including creating external references from and to it, making it easier to incorporate updates, changes, and assembly.

6. What is your most used little known Altium feature?

Although it may be well known, the selection tool and hotkeys to highlight specific layers, as well as the ability to filter specific types of components, are very useful for working with dense boards.

7. Do you have any plans to put a self righter on the bot?

Currently, we have no plans to add a self-righter to the bot. We decided it wasn't worth the weight and space after the 2021 season.

8. If you had to face Tombstone what would be your plan against them?

If we had to face Tombstone, we would run our vertical spinner configuration with our wedge attachment against them.

9. If you had the chance to face Biteforce would you take it?

Assuming this would be against the last version of Biteforce that we saw, we would absolutely take the opportunity to fight them. The ground game has developed so much since the last time Biteforce competed.

10. What do you use/coding language do you use on the robot?

We primarily use Baremetal C for coding on the robot.

11. Is anyone currently on the team have a FRC background?

Yes, almost everyone on the Ribbot team has a background in FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), with some members also having experience in FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC).

12. How does Ribbot model the back-emf/current generated during the weapon impact events?

Generally, the motor is not likely to be damaged from back electromotive force (EMF) or current during collisions since the transient is short and the motor has a large thermal mass. Our controllers run current control and can respond to changes in motor speed in the order of 50 microseconds. The controllers have built-in protection mechanisms. We also implement speed-based current limits to prevent excessive heating when the robot is stuck on an object or in contact with another robot. Our robots are designed to handle 3-minute transients, considering the time spent on spin-up versus steady-state currents.