Building RoboSumo Arena & PVC Frame to Suspend IR Tower

The RoboSumo arena is made from 3/4" hardwood plywood.  A eight by four foot piece of birch plywood was cut into 2 equal four foot squares with a circular saw.  A two foot radius circle was drawn from the center of one of these pieces, using a yardstick with a nail embedded for the center pivot and a pencil embedded two feet away as a compass.  A jigsaw was used to cut out the circle.  A band sander was used to smooth the edges of the circle.  Plastic wood was used to fill the cracks in the wood, and it was sanded smooth with a palm sander.

Four leg anchors were fastened with short screws at the bottom of the circular board.  Four six inch legs were further shortened to 3 inches with a saw, and screwed into the leg anchors.

The board was painted glossy white with fast-drying spray paint.  A three inch band was marked at the edge of the circle with the yardstick compass, and masked with painters tape.  A glossy black band was spray painted over it.

An inverted U-shaped PVC frame is used to suspend the LEGO Mindstorms IR tower above the Robo-Sumo arena.  It measures about two feet high and about five feet across (to clear the 4 foot diameter sumo board).  Three PVC T joints and two elbow joints are used, with the odd t joint in the center of the top, in order to have a surface to Velcro the IR tower down.  The 3/4 inch piping was all cut to length with a hacksaw, and fastened together with friction only, allowing easy disassembly for transport.  A DB9 serial cable runs from the IR tower (held on with Velcro on the battery door) along the PVC frame to the serial port on the laptop.  The cable is fastened with Velcro loops.  If the printing on the PVC piping bothers you, we found that it can be removed with acetone (fingernail polish remover).

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