When designing your robot, some simple physics calculations can be very helpful. Wanna know how how to calculate how hard your robot’s gonna hit (in theory)? If you’re doing a spinner bot, there’s a lot of calculators already made which are linked below!
For spinners to be effective, at least 80 Joules of bite energy are recommended. 100-150 Joules will usually be enough to cause noticeable damage with each hit.
Belt & Pulley Center to Center Distance Calculator
Spinner Weapon Energy Calculator
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[Joules] is the S.I. Unit for energy. An average pro baseball player outputs around 117 joules into the baseball with their bat, with the best players propelling it to speeds over 90 miles per hour.
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For non-spinner weapons, such as spear bots or flippers, you can use physics equations.
In Physics 1A you will learn about converting between potential energy and kinetic energy. There are some useful equations that can provide you with important information while designing your robot. Here’s the main gist of it:
m= mass, v= velocity
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$$ K.E.=\frac 1 2 mv^2 $$
$$ [\text{Joules}] = [\text{Kilograms}]\frac{\text{[Meters]}}{\text{[Second]}} $$
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If you have a mass and give it velocity, you get kinetic energy. If you give kinetic energy to a mass, it gets velocity.
F = Force exerted by spring, k = Spring Constant, x = Displacement of spring
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$$ F=-kx $$
$$ [\text{Newtons}] =\frac{\text{[Newtons]}}{\text{[Meter]}}\text{[Meters]} $$
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An ideal spring linearly builds force as you pull or push on it. It has a spring constant, “k”, that determines its stiffness. The negative sign shows how the force exerted by the spring is in the opposite direction of the force displacing it.
What happens when you push or pull on a spring? Potential energy.