Hydraulic BattleBot packs powerful pinch

Ormond, FL-"It all started when I was watching BattleBots on television with my six-year old son," says Brian Nave, the engineer behind Pincer, a brand new hydraulically enabled BattleBot created by Nave's TeamLogic. "I thought that I could design a better BattleBot."

Pincer is a 350-lb brute with two 28-inch hydraulically powered pincers that generate enough pressure to pierce .25-inch steel at the pincer tips, which are sharpened like knife blades. But that's just what Pincer can do with the side-to-side motion.

Pincer also moves its claws vertically for lifting opponents up and flipping them over. "We can lift up to 1,200 lbs without much problem," says Nave. Once they're flipped and vulnerable, Pincer uses a long rod "stinger" to impale opponents.

Nave says that he considered using pneumatics, but preferred smooth operating hydraulics. The new BattleBot uses a dual-stage hydraulic pump. "The pump supplies 18 gpm and 3,000 psi, but not at the same time, which is why we use control valves and smarts to get the fastest traverse rate and the maximum crushing power!" he explains.

Nave uses three hydraulic 12-volt so-lenoid valves from Parker Hannifin (Elyria, OH). "They are a good choice for this application because of their low leakage rate," says Don Caputo, the general manager of Parker-Hannifin's hydraulic division. "We use a microgrinding technique that creates a tight tolerance, 50 millionths of an inch, between the valve body and spool."

The dual-storage hydraulic pump is powered by a 3-hp gas engine. The engine runs at any angle, even upside down.

"Nave used our D1VW valves on Pincer for the quick response time, 32 ms at full flow and full pressure, which is needed in the attack mode," says Bill Bowen, marketing development manager at Parker Hannifin's Pan American Division. "He also needed our high flow capability, up to 22 gpm in a NFPA D03 size valve, which gets Pincer's arms moving with deadly swiftness."

The hydraulic robot has computer-controlled four-wheel drive. It also uses four-wheel steering on a drive-by-wire platform.

Pincer's first test will be in November at the upcoming BattleBot competition. "I'm gonna pick up the opponents, slash them, slam them down, and poke holes in them," says Nave. For more information on Pincer, check out Nave's web site at www.teamlogic.com.

For more information about hydraulic valves from Parker-Hannifin: Enter 538