Post A Challenge for Andrew to do on YouTube!

[Ryu Gemini]

Are you familiar with the Infernal Robotics mod?

In that case, how about something like this: A walker challenge. Using infernal rocket parts and any other allowed parts you want (see below), get from point A to point B as fast as you can. A good measure for this would be from the start of the runway to the end of it, since you would likely want to build the thing in the aircraft hangar.

Rules would of course be: No rockets, no jets, no ions, no propellers, no powered wheels (unpowered ones are fine and may actually help provide some traction with brakes on), no reaction wheel/sas torque rolling (you can use them to keep yourself upright though), etc. You must move using parts that change shape (i.e. infernal robotics).

[Andrew Hansen]

Are you familiar with the Infernal Robotics mod?

In that case, how about something like this: A walker challenge. Using infernal rocket parts and any other allowed parts you want (see below), get from point A to point B as fast as you can. A good measure for this would be from the start of the runway to the end of it, since you would likely want to build the thing in the aircraft hangar.

Rules would of course be: No rockets, no jets, no ions, no propellers, no powered wheels (unpowered ones are fine and may actually help provide some traction with brakes on), no reaction wheel/sas torque rolling (you can use them to keep yourself upright though), etc. You must move using parts that change shape (i.e. infernal robotics).

Wow, that just gave me the craziest idea - to create a flapping ornithopter with Ferram Aerospace Research and Infernal Robotics. It's probably not possible, but it would be fun to try!

[Ryu Gemini]

I was actually thinking about that too (Kerbal physics just might be wonky enough for it to work!). I also was pondering whether kerbal physics would allow for perpetual motion machines of some sort. Non-infiniglide ones that is, like this wheel thing (wouldn't work with OUR physics, but even stock KSP can violate conservation of momentum by transferring fuel between two tanks at the end of a stick and rotating the ship 180 degrees between transfers)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Perpetuum1.png

Edit: Now THAT is an amusing quirk this forum applied to the link. Still works though.

In fact, I was also thinking of maybe starting a proper Infernal Robotics challenge thread for this sort of thing. Didn't take long for me to consider I would need two score lists (trying to think like those people who look for every loophole for a while before making any challenge is a good idea), one for walkers and one for people who quite literally re-invent the wheel. That is, while powered wheel PARTS aren't allowed, infernal robotics does have some rotating things, so you could potentially make a wheel out of non-wheel parts).

Actually, I could even potentially put on a third group for people who want to build siege weapons.

Speaking of closing loopholes, I forgot to forbid infiniglide wing-flapping and separator ejection force abuse (which could be important as I specifically didn't forbid non-powered wheels). And on that note, powered wheels would be alright if you could prove that you didn't use the power at all during the run (for instance, if you did a video and had the brakes engaged for the entire time you were benchmarking your machine, along with it being visible that the wheels were not moving).

The whole reason I made those special rules for wheels is because I know full well that it can be hard to get proper traction against the ground sometimes in KSP, even on Kerbin. Yet, I also note that those free-spinning aircraft wheels appear to generate an unusually high amount of friction, when compared with non-landing-gear parts. Especially when braking, as many plane designers who designed a top/front-heavy plane with the landing gear too far back have discovered.

Anyway, I'll be messing around with the whole idea today, and depending on how viable it is, I may just fraps some quick demonstrations and set up a proper challenge thread.

Edit: with sufficient reaction wheels to force it to stay upright, I wonder if it may even be possible to do a bipedal walker. The magic of SAS after all can potentially take the place of all the troublesome balance aspects of making a real-life bipedal walker. I'll have to test that too.

.

Edited January 30, 2014 by Ryu Gemini

[Andrew Hansen]

with sufficient reaction wheels to force it to stay upright, I wonder if it may even be possible to do a bipedal walker. The magic of SAS after all can potentially take the place of all the troublesome balance aspects of making a real-life bipedal walker. I'll have to test that too.

.

Bipedal walker?

Bipedal walker?

Bipedal walker?

That'd be insane. Looking forward to how your tests turn out.

Anyway, just so that this post isn't almost-pointless, I'll give out a few more hints of what will be in future videos. I believe the next video will be a compiliation of stunts in KSP - some of them my own challenges, and others from suggestions from this thread. I will land a plane on the VAB, create sepatron-powered landers, and do flips in rovers. I've also got a pile of footage from my horrible attempts at landing on Tylo without quicksaves, which should make for a funny video. I've still yet to successfully land on it though, but after I get some time I'll get that recorded too.

[Ryu Gemini]

Bad news. Spent a bunch of the day faffing about with a vehicle I called the Science Train. Which was basically all the science stuff I had unlocked in a big old train-shaped rover. Except being a rover, its not too useful unless I launch it somewhere. I had really only made it for kerbin though.

So naturally, I decided it needed to fly. Fortunately, I have the spitfire parts mod installed, so I have a bunch of propeller stuff, including some really handy rotating VTOL engines. Unfortunately, it was impossible to get the damn thing stable with all the wings and the other stuff.

Fortunately, wings are overrated.

Honestly, its one of the best handling things I've ever flown, especially for its size (the reaction wheels help). I can let the jets flame out at high altitude, and stop its rotating and have it back and steady on its heading within like 10 seconds of said flameout. No spins of doom with this beauty. With a lot of torque and no weird flat lifting surfaces doing who knows what when flying at odd angles, it can tack against the wind in ways that would probably tear apart some of my winged aircraft.

Speaking of wings being overrated, you could perhaps take up a challenge of making the best aircraft you can... that has no wings or control surfaces whatsoever. With the caveat that it must still be TREATED as if it were a plane by the pilot (i.e. take off from the runway, and fly up to the 20-something kilo mark where your jets run out of air). Naturally, the "plane" will need to be a VTOL or have some other means of getting off the runway without wings. Oh, and "best" aircraft can be quantified or qualified by you. You could go for a standard of going big, or you could try and make something cool and make it fly like a jet. Like a battleship or something. In fact, that gives me an idea. Since I have infernal robotics, and the "Science Train" was such a success, maybe I should actually try it in a battleship shape, and give said ship working turrets. Maybe. Maybe later though, can't keep distracting myself from making a blasted walker or something.

Then I got bogged down in a rather, um, fun moon landing. Mainly because I refused to give up on landing an outdated lander (which I had just been upgrading the launcher for and throwing more stuff on rather then give it a proper re-design) on a slope a good deal too steep for it. Well, managed it finally.

Actually, how's that for a challenge then? Steepest slope you can land a ship on. You may notice that when I finally got it, I had tried retracting one side's gear. So go a step further! Design a lander that is purposely assymetrical and slanted, perhaps to the point where it cannot even land on a flat surface due to being so specialized for its task.

But not to despair! For just now, I finally decided to mess around with actual infernal robotics stuff! And my first attempt, thrown together in about 10 minutes of building, testing, and throwing struts around, shows promise! Its a "reinvent the wheel" type, mind you.

As you can see, I went with perma-braked wheels in hopes of some more traction, though testing will be needed to tell if they actually are better then just jamming an I-beam into the ground. That green thing btw is a biplane cockpit from the spitfire pack. Open air controls just seemed fitting for something like this. Anywho, this thrown-together piece of junk managed to get up to about 7-8 m/s, purely from me rotating the cockpit and the heavy fuel tank attached to it, such that it was hanging off the front. Gravity pulls it down, and the wheel forward with it.

I imagine it could be goaded into moving faster if I made it bigger. Also, if I were to send it to Eve somehow, since that planet has higher gravity. I've yet to land there though, to be honest.

But that will have to wait till tomorrow. For now, sleepy sleep. And then tomorrow, need to learn how to use some of the robotic parts I haven't tried yet. But the fact that I was able to do something already with only the rotators is encouraging.

Edit: Oh, last minute before bed idea for a quick little stand-alone challenge for a video. Build a plane that can land safely upside down. And then, of course, actually do it, perhaps from IVA/cockpit view. Shouldn't be too hard a challenge once you get used to flying upside down, but could still be worth a few laughs in youtube video format.

.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Ryu Gemini

[Andrew Hansen]

Oh, last minute before bed idea for a quick little stand-alone challenge for a video. Build a plane that can land safely upside down. And then, of course, actually do it, perhaps from IVA/cockpit view. Shouldn't be too hard a challenge once you get used to flying upside down, but could still be worth a few laughs in youtube video format.

I am just so susceptible to airplane challenges - I seriously love planes so much! I've gotta do this - make a plane that can land both right side up and upside down. Wouldn't it be cool if I could land on the VAB upside down or something? Don't count on it, but I'm going to be tempted to try that. Video maybe coming today. Or tomorrow. Or the day after.

[Ryu Gemini]

No walkers today. But I am learning how to use infernal robotics as I am making an attempt to build Final Fantasy 7's Highwind airship. A mechanically accurate one that is.

Which if you played the entire game has two times it changes, the last of which is the most drastic and involves fold-out wings (which themselves have fold-out winglets), a bridge that actually retracts upwards into the main body, and other fun stuff.

Seriously, now that I have actually started to study that airship's design, I realize it is one of the most kerbal flying things I have ever seen.

Edit: And yeah, the main transformation (the one most people remember) DEFINITELY looks like something kerbal. I'll have to use hinges for it though, and maybe those extending pistons.

.

Edited February 1, 2014 by Ryu Gemini

[Andrew Hansen]

OK! Video complete. This one I did Danny2624-style, with text and happy piano music. Enjoy!

EDIT: I apologize for not using the ZWheels mod for the Mun run. I wanted to, but the mod wouldn't work for some reason. I didn't want to spend a lot of time trying to figure stuff out.

Edited February 3, 2014 by Andrew Hansen

[Ryu Gemini]

Well, I messed around a little and...

Bipedal walkers are possible! It moved (very) slowly and the computer controls aren't quite perfect at keeping the thing level, but the first thing I whipped together did barely work.

Oh, on a side note, it is GREAT at just doing forward summersaults, and in fact moves about 100 times faster while doing them. But that is beside the point. Its supposed to be a walker, not a roller.

But seriously, I threw that thing together in about half an hour. The center of gravity is a bit too high I think, or maybe it needs a bunch of reaction wheels up really high, or something. But it can walk! Almost as fast as a Kerbal with 4 broken limbs! How do I know? Well, um... the walker may have stepped on him. By accident, we swear! Or at least we at the Kerbal Space Program do. Jebediah was piloting the thing though...

.

[Andrew Hansen]

Well, I messed around a little and... Bipedal walkers are possible!

That's awesome! Good for you. Unfortunately, as you've said, they're not as useful as a torque-powered roller. It's still a very interesting concept!

Anyway, I'm here with sad news. I tried to do a challenge someone posted here and failed. I tried to land on Tylo without quicksaves but ended up failing. First of all I ended up quicksaving "just for backup" supposedly. But of course when things didn't work out, I reloaded and tried again. However, I think I compiled it into a nice video nonetheless.

Jeb goes to Tylo and returns after some extreme EVA flying skills. Enjoy!

[Ryu Gemini]

I did have a walker that moved a bit faster by "semi-cheating" its walking. Which is to say, it used two opposing rotatrons so as to have a stationary foot (that is, it always faced the ground) move around in a circle. Unfortunately, I screwed up by not saving itterations, and ended up not keeping the stable variant as a result. I'll need to redo that sometime this week.

.

[Ryu Gemini]

Well, I made and recorded another, better walker. And the old one as well. And, if you can believe it, a bipedal ROLLER BLADING ROBOT. Just need to find some good free domain music for them and I'll probably upload them soon.

Seeing as its definitely possible to make things faster then 1 m/s, I may just be able to create an actual challenge thread for infernal robotics-powered craft.

...I wonder if its possible to build a pinball machine. It would, of course, use kerbals.

.

[ihtoit]

How about a WALKING manned craft built with B9 and Infernal Robotics?

EDIT: actually, strike that, I just read the rest of the thread o.0

RE-EDIT: Actually, strike that strike, and let's make things interesting: let's have a *tripedal* walker!

Edited February 14, 2014 by ihtoit

[Ryu Gemini]

I find great humor in the fact that you just happened to post that in the thread I for some reason or another had made into a sort of blog-base for my efforts at making walking robots.

Edit: Well, here's my pile of bots.

The first and bleh one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqvYBH9a4

The second and better one, along with the rollerblader.

Edited February 14, 2014 by Ryu Gemini

[Ryu Gemini]

You know, I just had a thought. Now that people have figured out the "Kraken drive," we could have a challenge thread where you are allowed to use ONLY infiniglide and K-drives for your ship. No "actual" engines.

.

[Andrew Hansen]

You know, I just had a thought. Now that people have figured out the "Kraken drive," we could have a challenge thread where you are allowed to use ONLY infiniglide and K-drives for your ship. No "actual" engines.

.

I just did some researching about Kraken drives, and downloaded some crafts as well. Sounds like such a neat concept! I'll do some testing and maybe make a video about Kraken drives in the future.

[Rakaydos]

With .24 coming up with contracts (and presumably money and reputation) I would like to see a combination of the Build a Rocket challange and the Affordable Space Challange.

Launch cycle looks something like this:

1) Assemble a 2 stage orbital booster that uses laterally attached docking ports instead of sepratrons, and put a payload on top.

2) First stage goes on a high suborbit over KSC, stages before it's completely empty.

3) Second stage sets up an orbit

4) Before second stage reaches apoapse for circularization, switch back to first stage and land it back by the launchpad

5) Circularize 2nd stage and deploy payload.

6) deorbit 2nd stage and land at KSC

7) Refuel and repeat. (either by a ground level docking port or a "launch pad" stage to land on top of, or possibly KAS fuel lines)

and count the "money cost" of the fuel tanks and any boosters you were unable to recover.

[Andrew Hansen]

OK guys... I'm feeling slightly bad here because... I haven't really been doing many challenges. I'll try to do more now.

That said, I did implement a K-drive into my latest video.

Sadly, it was so glitchy it was hard to capture the scene because it kept on spontaneously exploding and/or falling out the sky. Despite a few attempts, I was unable to create an infiniglide/K-drive combo SSTO. The k-drive doesn't impart a lot of force anyway, so it's hard to make it work for getting into orbit. I might try a few more times just for fun, but it's pretty hard to harness glitchy physics to power your spacecraft!

With .24 coming up with contracts (and presumably money and reputation) I would like to see a combination of the Build a Rocket challange and the Affordable Space Challange.

Rakaydos, that honestly sounds like a fun and challenging thing to do! I'll give it a shot. I haven't got anything going right now in KSP anyway after making my latest cinematic, so my hands are free. A lot easier to do than making a glitch-powered SSTO!

Edited February 23, 2014 by Andrew Hansen

[Kenobi McCormick]

Any progress on the challenge I posted?

[Andrew Hansen]

Any progress on the challenge I posted?

Sorry about not doing it so far. The main thing about your challenge is that you wanted me to use the ZWheels for driving. They're nice, but in my opinion just make any .craft files I post harder to access for the general public. So that's why I never did your challenge so far. But now that I think about it, I can still do the other aspects of your challenge - because it can be difficult to create a durable rover sometimes. So I'll do your challenge, but using the stock wheels.

Currently I'm planning on attempting to do Rakaydos' challenge first, but after that I think I'll create another "Downloadable Craft" video with a rover that meets most your criteria (except for the use of ZWheels).

So to reiterate, my plans are:

-Complete Rakaydos' challenge to "build a rocket" by connecting pieces together, then make the rocket 100% reusable.

-Create a durable rover that can survive high-speed collisions, right itself, carries scientific instruments, and seats two Kerbals.

[Xeldrak]

I've got a small engineering challenge for you - build a Pegasus-style launch vehicle:

I.e.: A rocket is stapped under a plane; the plane lifts off; carries the rocket as far up as it can and then the rocket launches midair. Use this launch verhicle to put a science-satellite into orbit. It's not impossible - I've done this.

[Rakaydos]

I've got a reusable, reassemblable orbiter that can lift about 5 tons and land both parts back as KSC.

What I cant do is dock a skycrane without crushing the docking ports. :/

[Andrew Hansen]

OK, here's a blog post on how I'm doing with these challenges.

So many awesome challenges guys! Keep it up.

[Rakaydos]

Posted this on the blog, but posting here as well in case you dont check comments:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/27556-Falcon-9R-KSP-Style-Reuse-Everything

This is the flight path that is proven to work.

[leafty]

Get Jeb into space (>70km periapsis) with him experiencing the least 'most gee force endured' (F3 proof). Never tried to do it, so I just don't know if you can go below 2.0G or even 1.5G.