Drain Gang (Robot)

Overview

Drain Gang is a Plastic Antweight that was initially developed because multiple robot teams inside Aggie Combat dropped out close to the 2026 Red Dirt Rumble^[3] event. The development timeline of the robot took place over the course of only 36 hours, resulting in a lot of sub-optimal decision making. Drain Gang ended up getting 2 byes and losing 1 game in qualifiers at 2026 Red Dirt Rumble^[3], qualifying for playoffs, where is lost to 2025 world rank #1 kingpin.

Drain Gang features a 2 wheel drive system, directly driven by Repeat Robotics Mini Mk2^[1] motors, and a large 150mm, 1400 kV Palm Beach Bots^[2] motor powered vertical spinner. Drain Gang features a recognizable white and pink color scheme, and is named this after the musical collective Drain Gang, bearing a picture of one of its members Bladee. Drain Gang will likely be redesigned and rebuilt in the future, as it is a very entertaining robot to watch fight.

Version 1

Version 1 of Drain Gang possessed many quirks, most of them unfortunate for the robot's performance. These include inverted steering controls, a general lack of threadlocker and screws, and arriving at competition overweight, requiring the emergency removal of sizeable amount of material. Despite this, it technically was the highest performing Aggie Combat Robotics robot at 2026 Red Dirt Rumble^[3]. Both Kirill and John did not sleep for like 2 days straight to finish this thing and bring it to competition, but the experience was unforgettable.

Mechanical

It was cursed we just kind of looked at kingpin at 4 in the morning, looked at CAD and were like yeah that's pretty good. One drive side was worse than the other due to friction that there wasn't time to fix. The wheel molds were done kind of wrong please slant the walls of your mold please. Also use mold release. Also screw in all of the weapon motor screws. The bar is a 150mm diameter and hits hard, probably the best part of the robot. Made entirely with PLA Pro^[4].

Electrical

The entire thing was put together using WAGO connectors do I even need to say anything 💀. The final drive motor solder joints were done 15 minutes before leaving for competition at 4 in the morning. Runs on a 3S battery and hopes and dreams. Drive is Repeat Mini Mk2s^[1], weapon is a PBB 1400 kV motor^[2].

Competition History

2026 Red Dirt Rumble

Drain Gang Version 1 competed at this event, lucking its way into 2 byes and one loss, and getting to playoffs on a technicality, being the only ACR robot to do so.