REVIEW
Mini Trooper
Mini Trooper
A fighting robot kit to build at home
T
TOTEM €59 for one, €109 for two totemmaker.netAssembling the robots isn’t difficult, but it is very
fiddly. Some of the parts look very similar to each
other, and some of them take a bit of a shove to get
into position. You have to pay close attention to the
instructions – even then, we found ourselves having
to go back and redo bits. The saving grace here is that
the instructions are well illustrated, so we were able
to figure out what should be going on.
We’d recommend allowing three hours or so to
build each bot. We were able to do the second one a
little quicker, but it’s not a process you’re ever likely
to get done quickly.
It’s made a little frustrating by the fact that some of
the nuts aren’t properly threaded, meaning that bolts
don’t go in properly.
The 2 mm hex driver that comes with the kit is an
unexpected delight. It’s far superior to the regular
L-shaped Allen keys that are usually provided with
kits. It’s magnetic, to hold the bolts in place, and
fits comfortably in the hand. Unfortunately, it
only comes with a 2 mm bit, as we’d like to
use it for far more than just the Totem
kits, but we can’t really blame them for
that as it does all the bolts in the kit
(there are also a few screws, and a tiny
screwdriver is included).
As well as the mechanical parts,
there are electrics which, in this case,
consist of a control board, a servo, and
two motors. These all bolt in place easily
enough, and wiring simply involves putting
JST connections into the right slots on the control
board. With everything connected, there’s an app for
Android and iOS (we tested the Android version) that
connects via Bluetooth and turns your phone into
a controller.he Totem system consists of a range
of plastic shapes that can be secured
together with nuts and bolts. The
most common of these plastic shapes
are bars, similar in design to aluminium
extrusions, which have a groove for
holding a nut in place while you slot the bolt through
from the other side. There are also some shapes of
metal bracket and plastic sheet that you can bolt
together to make a whole range of things. In the case
of Mini Troopers, you create two fighting
robots with ‘flipper’ weapons.By Ben Everard @ben_everardBelow
Let’s get ready
to rumble!