After my near failure with mechanics on Flatbot, it seems I didn't learn my lesson. Here you can see a new Photovore with a radical new style. I wanted to design a creative photovore with the solar cell being the lowest part on the robot. I figured these bigger bulkier motors would have the torque needed to move this bot; I was so wrong!
The wheels were way too big, and the large 60 x 60mm solar cell was encapsulated in glass adding to the weight of the bot. Unbeknownst to me at time, it turns out that covering even just a small part of the solar cell drastically hampers it's current flow. Here you can see practically everything being mounted directly above the solar cell. The bot definitely still did fire and function, but the weight was too much for the motors to handle, even after adding an extra set of diodes in front of the 1381's to boost its trigger point by about 0.3V.
I loved the style, but this photovore could barely move, and a photovore that can't move...well, I'll quote Dave Hrynkiw from his book 'Junkbots, Bugbots & Bots on Wheels'
Tilden's Laws of Robotics:
- Protect thy ass.
- Feed thy ass.
- Move thy ass to better real estate.
The unnamed bot was repurposed and was turned into two different bots, the solar engine going into Scorpio and the motor and solar cell chassis utilized by Electropopper.
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