Thomas Kenney

Thomas's Articles

Robot Battles 61 at the Geek Media Expo
February 2017
Last year’s event marked the fifth official Robot Battles event held in Music City, featuring the return of Kelly Lockhart as MC, and a much larger arena than in previous years.

BUILD REPORT: Shaka v.3 — Part 1:
March 2012
Design Goals and Methodology

PARTS IS PARTS: Fingertech ‘Silver Spark’ Gearmotor Review
October 2011
Fingertech Robotics’ first line of Insect-sized gearmotors — the Gold Sparks — were originally released in 2009 as a drop-in replacement for the commonly used Banebots 16 mm models.

BUILD REPORT: Another Brick in the Wall — Building Rudy
August 2011
In mid 2009, I built the most recent version of my Ant brick, Gilbert.

EVENT REPORT: 2011 Chattanooga Robot Battles
April 2011
The 2011 Chattanooga Robot Battles event was held on Saturday, January 22nd at the Chattacon Sci-Fi convention in Chattanooga, TN.

PARTS IS PARTS: Fingertech Tiny ESC v2 Review
December 2010
Just a few weeks back, Fingertech Robotics released the upgraded version of their popular TinyESC single channel speed controller. I was one of the first to have a chance to try out this new piece of hardware in the arena, and my experience so far has been nothing but positive.

BUILD REPORT: A Reintroduction to Wedges
July 2010
In mid 2007, I began the construction of Gilbert — MH Robotics’ first antweight.

Franklin Institute 2009
December 2009
The 2009 Franklin Institute Robot Conflict was held by NERC on October 4th in Philadelphia, PA. This was the third annual competition at the institute, with numerous robots competing in the one, three, 12, 30 lb, and Sportsman classes.

Shaka
October 2009
In late 2007, I began the design and construction of my first combat robot over three pounds: a 30 pound featherweight.

2.4 GHz Radio Fail-safes
December 2008
Robotic combat is a dangerous sport in its very nature, and if participating, one must accept the safety risks that are all too often present in the sport.

Cloud of Suspicion
December 2008
The wedge is one of the oldest and most successful types of combat robots. The effectiveness of a simple ramp with good drive power has yet to be matched by any other robot design.

An Introduction to Wedges
March 2009
Since the inception of robotic combat, the wedge has been viewed as one of the most successful and easy to build designs, though it has also become among the most hated.

2009 Chattanooga Robot Battles
April 2009
The 2009 Chattanooga Robot Battles were held on Saturday, January 24th at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn.