Franklin Institute 2016 Report

I keep posting these things months after the event. I gotta stop doing that.

This was my first time going to NERC's smaller fall event, which is held at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. I had originally planned to re-build FireArrow and build a new beetleweight for this event, but due to a lack of time ended up only bringing FireArrow v2 again. The antweights were kind of put on the backburner due to how many big bots there were (this was the largest FI ever) so I got to hang out most of the day without fighting, which was cool.

Also there was the BattleBot SubZero, which had been set up on display for the day. This was my first time seeing one of the television robots "in the flesh", and it was definitely a highlight of the day.

For this event FireArrow v2 received some minor last-second changes. The problem with the motor mounts I had mentioned in my last report had been fixed, and I decided to replace the UHMW wheelguards with some titanium horns to keep robots from driving up and over my wedge. I also stuck two spare screws out of the back end to keep FireArrow from being high-centered.

Match 1: FireArrow vs. Physique Black
Physique Black was a tough little drumbot built by Ian McMahon, who flew up from Texas to compete at Franklin. His bots are always super hard to fight so I knew this would be a tough one. I went in head on at first and drove him around for a bit, but eventually he got to my wheels and tore them off. Knockout loss for the wedge. Physique ended up winning the entire tournament so I wasn't too upset about this loss.

At this point was where they decided to sideline the ant bracket until after the museum closed, so I didn't have another fight for about 7 hours. There were some truly amazing fights in the bigger classes, and it made me wish I had finished my beetle in time.

Match 2: FireArrow vs. Justice
Justice was another Revelation Robotics bot, a solid overhead spinner which had already won a fight or two before this match, but the brackets were weird so it was my first loser's bracket match. This match was super close, with both bots trading hits. There was one point where Justice got under me and tore into FireArrow's bottom armor, actually separating some layers of the garolite. It didn't crack anything, it just peeled the layers apart. Really strange. Anyway, the two minutes ran out and the judges gave FireArrow the win on a close decision.

Match 3: FireArrow vs. Ferocious
This would be my second time fighting Brandon in a one-on-one fight, and also my second time meeting Ferocious in the arena (it was also in the rumble at Motorama). It had a pretty solid lifter, so I knew i'd need to aim for the bent pieces of his wedge and keep him from flipping me. This worked for a while, but eventually Ferocious got underneath and drove me over to the wall, where I realized I couldn't move! I got counted out on the wall, and inspected what happened: I had managed to get high-centered between my wedge and the screws I added to keep from getting stuck! It was such dumb bad luck that I had to laugh at it.

All in all FireArrow v2, the flawed design it is, ended up doing well enough that I wasn't upset at all by only going 1-2. It was still a fantastic event. Any chance I get to meet up with other bot builders and have a good time is a day well spent in my book.

See you all at Motorama again this weekend!

Super Belated Motorama 2016 Event Report

Hi there, it's certainly been a while. In fact, over a year has passed since I last wrote in this blog. But I've decided to finally come back to this thing and write about this year's Motorama which went well despite basically nothing going right for my robots. I was still happy to go out and compete despite everything.

As usual, the antweights happened on Friday, the day before the main competition, so FireArrow was up first.

Fight 1: FireArrow vs. Scooper

My first battle of the weekend was vs. Scooper, a Canadian Viper kit owned by a newcomer to the sport (as a matter of fact, Moto was his first ever event). Due to how uncontrollable the 11.1:1 sparks in the previous version were, I decided to swap them out for the slower 22.2:1 sparks in order to improve control for Motorama. However, what I didn't know is that these made FireArrow too slow. In fact, it was so slow that I couldn't take control of the fight, get under Scooper's flipper, or really do anything. To make things worse, something was wrong with the screws in one of the bearing blocks and it came loose after about a minute of flipping, reducing FireArrow to 1-wheel drive. I held on to the judge decision but unsurprisingly was given the loss. All in all this was probably my most embarrassing loss ever, and it put me in a poor mood for most of the rest of the day.

Fight 2: FireArrow vs. Cornerstone

Into the loser's bracket I went, where I ended up against Adam's very solid wedgebot Cornerstone. It was solidly built and solidly driven, but it had taken some serious damage from an undercutter in its first match (I think against Vile Ant?) and as such had a few spots where its wedge didn't lie flush with the ground. I knew in order to win, I would need to target these spots and get under him as much as possible. In preparation for this fight I replaced the FingerTech sumo wheels with the 2-inch Lite Flites from the old FireArrow, which I had repurposed as my "anti-wedge" wheels after Bot Blast. FireArrow v2 had sort of intermittent drive when running inverted, and I figured that the improved angle provided by the larger tires plus the assistence when running inverted would help out immensely. This proved to be correct, as I was able to get under Cornerstone fairly consistently, and with the help of the re-replaced 11.1:1 sparks was able to deck Cornerstone into the wall with a lot of speed quite a few times. That isn't to say it wasn't a close battle though, as there were times when Cornerstone got under FireArrow as well and took it to his advantage. However, the judges rules the victory to me, and I couldn't help but feel relieved after that one. It's always good to win a match after something goes embarrassingly wrong.

Fight 3: FireArrow vs. Klazo

Up next in the loser's bracket was my first battle against a Near Chaos Robotics bot, this being Klazo the (heavily modified) Saifu kit. I decided to keep the larger wheels on for this match because it would help me get under Klazo's anti-wedge forks. I put up a pretty good fight in this match despite taking some pretty hard hits, but that screwed up motor mount struck again early into the match leaving me with 1WD once again. However with about 15 seconds left, FireArrow's other wheel came off after a big hit and I was counted out with seconds on the clock. It was disappointing, but at this point I had realized the flaws with this version of FireArrow and was ready to re-design it again for its next competition.

Fight 4: Antweight Rumble

To send off Friday's fighting and FireArrow v2 I participated in the rumble at the end of the day's fighting. In the rumble alongside FireArrow were Klazo, Cornerstone, Ferocious and The Ophidian (which was without its spinner weapon due to damage from an earlier fight). I rammed people around for a while until getting flipped over by Ferocious, at which point I was forced to resort to driving into people in the hopes that I would get tipped back over. This happened about a minute later when Klazo knocked me right-side up, though the wedge had gotten tweaked a bit. Everything went smoothly from there up until I drove under a seam at the edge of the arena and couldn't drive out due to the lack of traction on the steel floor. Klazo freed me again, and then knocked one of my wheelguards loose, stranding me off of my wheels. To add insult to inury, I was then propped up on the arena wall with my wedge stuck in the seam, unable to move and held perfectly perpendicular to the floor. This is where I stayed for the last 30 seconds of the rumble.

All in all, FireArrow had a subpar showing at Motorama, but it was fun and I know where I went wrong with version 2. It's been re-designed since.

Nocturne's run of the weekend got off on the wrong foot. Nocturne passed safety, but I noticed its drive was super twitchy. I traced this back to the Fingertech Tinymixer, which was reacting to the Kitbots motors poorly. After discovering this, I removed the mixer, but in the process accidentally smoked one of my drive motors. Unfortunately, I was without spares, and had to borrow one from Nate (thanks again!) in order to get Nocturne running for the competition.

Fight 1: Nocturne vs. Trilobite

Oh geez. All that work and I get put up against the premier brick in the beetleweight class. Due to the new weapon setup, the spinner worked perfectly, but since the robot was driving sans mixer I was still getting used to the dual stick plus weapon setup. I got a couple of decent hits off before Nocturne's weapon belt threw itself. Since I had zero chance without a weapon and didn't want to subject the audience to 2 minutes of ramming, I decided to tap out there. Nocturne got a belt replacement and was ready to go for its losers bracket match.

Fight 2: Nocturne vs. MowBot

MowBot was a neat overhead spinner from Georgia who was battling spinup issues all weekend. Nocturne's spinner gremlins returned in full force from here on out, with the belt not throwing itself, but somehow sucking itself into the gap between the brushless motor can and the top panel of the robot. This happened after the first hit of the match, and it became pushing for the next minute or two before MowBot's weapon finally spun up. I decided to simply turn around and use Nocturne's back end to absorb the blows, which it did fairly well. This was a pretty lame fight in all honesty. Fortunately the judges ruled the match in Nocturne's favor and I was able to fight again.

Fight 3: Nocturne vs. Scrambles the Death Dealer

Scrambles is Tim's horizontal bar spinner which has had luck almost as bad as Nocturne. However, Tim really got Scrambles dialed in this time around and it showed throughout the weekend. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to win this match and so went into it with a "F it" mentality, basically whatever happened happened and I wouldn't be upset about it. The belt thing happened again and I basically rammed into Scrambles until either time ran out or I got knocked out, I don't remember which one happened first. I lost either way.

Well that's it for Motorama this year. It was fun to attend, even though just like last year the robots didn't turn out with the results I wanted them to.

Bot Blast 2015 Event Report

Bot Blast this year was insane. So many robots, so many awesome fights, and so many great moments. I think this was one of my favorite events I've been to so far.

After arrival, one of the first things I noticed this year was the pits, which were about twice the size as last year. Next on the list were the awesome team namecards made by Jeremy and family, which listed all the robots on the team as well as the builders, which I thought was an excellent touch. There wasn't much space left in the pit area by the time I got there, but I found a space in between Ian (aka ResettisReplicas) who was there with his modified RC car Petit Gateau, and Russ Barrow, the builder of the legendary Dark Pounder. After getting through safety with Nocturne and FireArrow (which impressed everyone with its new, sleeker design), and barely getting Landshark within weight (it was about 3 ounces over! D'oh!) it was time to fight.

Fight 1: FireArrow vs The Ophidian

In the first round this time around, I met up against Revelation Robotics again. This time it was younger brother Joe and his Viper spinner kit Ophidian. I had high hopes for FireArrow's new titanium wedge, and this would be a great battle to test it out on.

After charging into his blade a few times, he got a lucky shot on one of my wheels which took out drive on that side. However, I was able to maneuver well enough to get under him again. This destabilized Ophidian and caused it to gyro-dance, where its blade flew off, knocked one of its wheels loose, and turned the fight into a battle of one-wheeled wonders.Time ran out shortly after this, and the judges (after minutes of deliberation) awarded me the win. Score one for FireArrow!

Fight 2: Nocturne vs Gemini

Gemini was a 3D-printed wedge created by Team Astrobot which has some nasty spring steel armor surrounding it, so it had very little exposed plastic. This made me nervous going in, but I figured I'd try my best and see what happened.

The very first hit Nocturne got on Gemini sent one half of its side armor flying and made me proud. Gemini quickly recovered and slammed me into the wall. The match continued in a similar fashion with Nocturne's spinup gremlins continuing to plague it throughout. I still got some good bites on the exposed ABS and knocked Gemini around a bit. However, I couldn't get the crucial knockout before time ran out, and ended up losing the judge decision. After the fight, I noticed that one of the motors Nocturne was using for drive had fallen apart, which was probably why I couldn't maneuver as well as I wanted to. Turns out one of the screws in the motor had stripped out during the match,

Fight 3: Landshark vs CATAPULT

Catapult was Brandon's mantis FBS which he has been working on for about 3 years now. I was pretty certain Landshark could hold it off.

I rushed it at the beginning and slammed it around a bit before it could spin up. It then spun to full speed and got a good hit on my wheel, but then was slammed into the wall where its shell popped off! The rest of the fight was me pushing Catapult around the arena, and I got the judge's nod at the end. However, near the end of the fight, smoke came out of the underside of Landshark, and I had some drive issues with it. Returning to the pits, I noticed how hot the motors had gotten, and presumed an ESC blew. I'm not sure if that was actually the case. However, the shot Catapult got on my wheels shattered an important gear in one of the gearboxes, and we didn't have spares due to the ebay seller not having enough for me to order them. However unlike two years ago where I was able to borrow a spare motor from someone, no one had an extra gearbox for me to take apart (Kyle still had the ones he ordered, but forgot to bring them). This meant Landshark had to forfeit out of the rest of the competition. Real shame, but it happens I guess. I'll have to figure out the issues with it and sort them out for next year.

Fight 4: FireArrow vs Dark Blade

Onto round 2! Dark Blade was the first of Russ's machines I got matched up against, and it had a very wide, very scary undercutting blade for me to deal with.

I moved in carefully to start, trying to get under from the side so as to avoid the brunt of the weapon. Eventually, though, he got a very nasty hit on my wedge which left a gash in the titanium, tore one of the screws out and nearly exposed my battery! if it had hit any harder, I think I would have lost by default. Luckily for me nothing combustible was exposed, and his blade flew off on the same hit! For the rest of the time I pushed him around and into the walls, and this ended up getting me another win by judge's decision.

Fight 5: FireArrow vs Satan's Segway

After a few hours of waiting, here I was in the antweight winners bracket semi-finals. Fred had made some excellent changes to the Segway to get it this far, including an incredibly low spring steel wedge mounted to the front of the thwack arm. I felt confident going in, especially considering I had beaten it before. This overconfidence, however, proved to be my undoing.

On the initial charge, his wedge got under mine and I sped up, over and onto my back! This meant I no longer had the wedge to control him. We pushed each other around for most of the time limit, but I couldn't catch up in points after the flip and lost the judge's decision.

Fight 6: Nocturne vs Colsonbot

Now what the heck happened to Nocturne? Its first match was back before lunch, and here I just said I had to wait a few hours between my matches between Dark Blade and Segway. Certainly the first round of the beetle loser's bracket didn't take that long to start?

The deal is, after losing, I was drawn against the winner of Richard Kelley's machine Low Blow, and Jamo's Silent Spring. Low Blow won, but then Kelley left early, meaning I got a forfeit. After that I had to face the loser of Dark Daggers, another machine from Russ, and Circuit Breaker, a nasty horizontal spinner from Joe Doerfler. Daggers lost the fight but was in pieces, and so Russ forfeited. All of a sudden Nocturne was in the fourth round of the loser's bracket and against the winner of Colsonbot vs Sparty Mini. Amazingly, Colsonbot won (again!) which meant I got to fight this spinning tire thing.

Nocturne got some nice hits on the Colson, but the rubber worked incredibly well at deflecting my hits and it was able to get some good hits in as well. Once again the judges turned in favor of my opponent, knocking Nocturne out of the competition.

Fight 7: FireArrow vs Dark Pounder.

OH BOY, HERE WE GO. I get to fight Dark Pounder, the antweight with, according to Botrank, the most wins of all time. This would be a treat.

After some maneuvering, Dark Pounder flipped me over and then went wedge mode, with me trying my best to stay in the match and be aggressive. Right at the end he spun up again and I decided I had nothing to lose, so I rammed into his spinner a few more times. The match ended shortly after, and I knew I had lost. Out of each match I fought that day, Pounder definitely did the most damage to me, leaving several cuts in the titanium and a large gouge in the back of the chassis. This loss landed me in joint-fifth alongside Adam's robot Justice. Not bad for a redesign, especially since I matched up against Dark Pounder to end the day.

Fight 8: Antweight Rumble

In we go for the antweight rumble! From what I remember, it was FireArrow, Sisu, Blutsauger, Petit Gateau, Dark Micro 44, Zip Reborn, Don't Ask, andtwo RC cars from Radioshack (which was still open here!) all in the box. However, due to time constraints (we only had until the mall closed, which was about an hour from then) it was constrained to two minutes. I tried my best, ramming into Blutsauger and pushing around some other bots, but one of my motors finally gave up the ghost near the end, and I was stuck upside-down after charging Blutsauger. Eventually I got hung up on top of a discarded drive motor from Micro 44, and then the rumble ended. I had a great time, but didn't win. That honor went to the spinner of Dark Micro 44.

Fight 9: Beetleweight Rumble

For the last match of the day, I tossed Nocturne into the rumble, which I figured would be a good way to retire the design after a year of all sorts of problems. In the rumble to my knowledge were me, Arcbeetle, the remains of Circuit Breaker, Colsonbot, Rmr, Robo-Rooter (minus weapon, plus spork), the aforementioned RC cars, Scrambles, Play'n Krazy, and Gemini (not sure about this one). Nocturne put up a valiant effort but once again was reduced to 1WD, and near the very end I think its battery died as well. It took some nice battle scars from Scrambles, PK and Arcbeetle, who ended up winning the rumble.

So for the first time in a Bot Blast event I didn't take home a trophy, but I still had a great time. It was great to meet everyone again and fight some robots. Bring on the next event!

Bot Blast 2015: Thoughts on the Opposition

Bot Blast 2015 - Thoughts

It's that time of year again, and I've once again decided to write up my thoughts on the competition at Bot Blast this year. Since I'm bringing three robots this year (one in each weight class) I'll be talking about all of them.



-----Antweights-----

Blutsauger
Ryan Beaver - Team Beaverbotics
Weapon: Vertical Drum
Notes: Team's first drumbot

A new robot from a team I've never met before. Blutsauger should do well but I think FireArrow's titanium wedge should be able to hold up and give me the win.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Century
Jake Woodruff - Team Empire
Weapon: Wedge and Spinner
Notes: Competed last year with Empire

Jake has quickly progressed with his building skills, which impresses me. If he's able to build a robot with a working spinner this year, it could perform well. Again, though, I should be able to out-drive it and win the match.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Cornerstone
Adam Cunard - Revelation Robotics
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Moto 15 rumble winner, Pennbots 15 third place

The fleet of robots from this team looks a lot more impressive this year than last, and Cornerstone is no exception. With a speedy wedge and a good driver, Cornerstone should be one to watch out for. This match will come down to who can get under who more.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Cyclone
Sean McKeown - Team Gyroscopic
Weapon: Horizontal Blade
Notes: Same as Spinzilla

I lost to Spinzilla at Moto because he was able to take off my wheels. With my new wheelguards in place, I should be able to beat it (and the original version of it, Cyclone) with relative ease. Still, it has a high-speed weapon that I should definitely watch out for.

Fear Rating: 4/5

Dark Blade
Russ Barrow - Dark Forces
Weapon: Undercutting Bar
Notes: Recently came out of retirement.

This thing is scary. However, from what I've seen, Russ hasn't had the best of luck in getting it to run at top performance. My wedge should be able to hold up to it, the only problem is that if it gets to my wheels, I could be done for.

Fear Rating: 4/5

Dark Pounder
Russ Barrow - Dark Forces
Weapon: Vertical Disc, Wedge
Notes: #1 ranked antweight of all time

Oh god. Despite being 7 years out of date, it came second at its first competition out of retirement last month. It also has two forks in front to block wedges. I am scared out of my mind to face this thing, but I know it'll be a match for the ages.

Fear Rating: 5/5

DDT (Ranked 7)
Jamison Go - G3 Robotics
Weapon: Undercutting Disc
Notes: 2013 Champion

DDT scared me 2 years ago, and now it's back to reclaim its title with an even scarier one-toothed disc. I have serious doubts about my ability to beat this thing.

Fear Rating: 5/5

Don't Ask: Panicked Assembly Required (Ranked 18)
Tim Thompson - Asylum Robotics
Weapon: Undercutting saw
Notes: 1WD

This gyroscopic wonder made its debut last year at Bot Blast, where it beat me before losing twice. This new version is even more ridiculous than last year's featuring a larger saw and one wheel drive. I predict a lot of sparks will fly, but my better-protected wheels should do wonders in this match.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Gyroscopic (Ranked 13)
Sean McKeown - Team Gyroscopic
Weapon: Vertical Beater
Notes: Bot Blast 2012 2nd place

I finally got to see Gyroscopic fight at Motorama, and it's got a nasty bite. However, in its current form it seems to have some reliability issues. If I can keep eating hits until it breaks, I could win.

Fear Rating: 4/5

Ice Shard
Don Doerfler - Doerfler Bots
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Replaces Nuff Said

From the name alone, it almost sounds like they're making a clone of FireArrow. Which flatters me. I fought Nuff Said at last year's Bot Blast, where we were both having drive issues. Don's other robot Blackout came second in the mantis division, and so I know he's a good driver. This match will be tough.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Justice
Adam Cunard - Revelation Robotics
Weapon: Wedge and Overhead Bar
Notes: New robot from the team

Justice is Adam's newest robot, and definitely his most fearsome. It gives off a Hazard vibe which is always a good thing. If we fight it will come down to who has the better wedge and if I can withstand the spinner.

Fear Rating: 4/5

Mini-Boss
Josh Noel - Team Blood Gulch
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Viper kit

I'm helping Josh put this robot together, and hopefully it will turn out well. Still, it's a Viper kit which I think I can outdrive.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Petit Gateau
Ian Miller - ResettisReplicas
Weapon: Plow Scoop
Notes: Modified RC Car

Ian's first foray into self-built combat robots is certainly interesting. Resembles Onslaught. Unfortunately, it isn't a good robot. I should take an easy win.

Fear Rating: 1/5

Satan's Segway
Frederick Moore - D6 Robotics
Weapon: Thwacking Arm
Notes: I beat it at Motorama

This cool steel-pipe thwackbot is currently 0-4 in battle. If it actually thwacks I might have a tough time against its heavy thwack arm.

Sisu
Adrian Kelly - Last Minute Robotics
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Didn't fight him at MIT

From what I remember, Sisu was a speedy wedge. However, I think I should be able to win by outmaneuvering him.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Slim Pickens (Ranked 14)
Nate Franklin - Mutually Assured Destruction
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Bot Blast 2014 finalist, I beat it there

Nate's wedge is a tough competitor. I nearly lost to it last year at Bot Blast, and this year I'm sure it will be just as tough. This match will come down to who is the better driver.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Sparty Micro
Jim Rowland - Rowdon
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Bringing six robots to Bot Blast

I don't know if six bots for a one-day event is a good idea. Regardless, it's simply another wedge.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Spinzilla
Brandon Nichols - Team Headbangers
Weapon: Spinning Chipper Blade
Notes: Lost to it at Moto

It's Cyclone with a different driver! The new FireArrow now has enclosed wheels, so I should be able to win.

Fear Rating: 3/5

The Ophidian
Joe Cunard - Revelation Robotics
Weapon: Undercutting Blade
Notes: Viper Kit

Joe's Viper kit did well at Moto, despite its blade falling off every match. If they can fix that issue, The Ophidian could be one to watch out for.

Fear Rating: 3/5

The Red Shpee
Ryan Beaver - Team Beaverbotics
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Went 0-2 at Franklin last year

It's a basic wedge. There really isn't much to say. If I out-drive it, I win.

Fear Rating: 1/5

Unknown
Kevin Shaw - Team TRG
Weapon: Flipper
Notes: New robot from new team

I know literally nothing about this robot. I suspect it will be a challenge of driving skill.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Zip Reborn (ranked 26)
John Rowland - Rowdon
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: 2-2 record

The only robot from this team with a pre-existing record (they had a hobbyweight as well, but that no longer runs at Bot Blast). If I can outmaneuver it, I can win.

Fear Rating: 2/5

-----Beetleweights-----

#1 Low Blow
Richard Kelley - Kelley PA
Weapon: Ramming Bar
Notes: Snazzy green tires

This team's robots have held up spectacularly well for low-budget machines and always seem to do well at Bot Blast. However, this one has some nice corners to nom on. This should be a fun match.

47% Steel
Alex Horne - Wedge Industries
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Uses leftover parts

Tough steel front wedge, speedy drive and a decent driver. I don't know if Nocturne will be able to bite the wedge, but I do know if I can get to the sides, I can tear into those wheels.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Arcbeetle (Ranked 8)
Kyle Singer - Twisted Sick Robotics
Weapon: Vertical Drum
Notes: Runner-up at Bot Blast 2011

Arcbeetle is one of the beetles that genuinely scares me. I'm not sure what I'll be able to do to it. If we meet, I suspect he'll throw me to the ceiling before I can hit him.

Fear Rating: 5/5

Boll Weevil
John Rowland - Rowdon
Weapon: Unknown
Notes: new robot from out-of-retirement team

I have no clue what its weapon is, but it should be easy to defeat. From their previous bots I think it should have lots of tasty right angles to tear into.

Fear Rating: 1/5

Catastrophic (Ranked 44)
Sean McKeown - Team Gyroscopic
Weapon: Vertical Beater
Notes:

It's a beetleweight Gyroscopic, so completely different to the last time it competed. I'll have a tough time getting around the beater, so it'll be a difficult fight to win

Fear Rating: 4/5

Chibi Knockout
Joe Doerfler - Doerfler Bots
Weapon: Vertical Eggbeater
Notes: another new bot

Based on their latest 15lber, Chibi Knockout looks like a vertical spinner with lots of resistance to other spinners. This one will be a tough nut to crack.

Fear Rating: 5/5

Circuit Breaker
Don Doerfler - Doerfler Bots
Weapon: Horizontal Bar
Notes: Uses the same weapon motor as a 12lber

This robot is essentially a better version of Nocturne due to the larger weapon motor and lower profile. However, it's 3-D printed, at least some of it, which means it'll take stress less well. Does this mean I can win? maybe...

Fear Rating: 4/5

Colsonbot (Ranked 27)
Charles Guan - Team Testbot
Weapon: Spinning Tire
Notes: Can he spin? Can he win? No he can't! He's a wheel!

All I can say is I'm excited to see this thing fight again. It's been too long.

Fear Rating: 1/5

Dark Daggers
Russ Barrow - Dark Forces
Weapon: Vertical Disc
Notes: Very long frontal wedge

Oh jeez. Can Nocturne even hit Daggers' wedge? We'll find out...

Fear Rating: 5/5

Dominant Mode
Jamison Go - G3 Robotics
Weapon: Vertical Drum
Notes: Successor to Cake, 2011 runner-up

A wide, vicious drum with lots of power behind it. I'm not sure if I'll be able to survive this one.

Fear Rating: 5/5

El Destructo (Ranked 17)
Brandon Young - Bone Dead Robotics
Weapon: Vertical Beater
Notes:

Brandon's bots are always at least decent, and this one is no exception. It has a nice, wide drum which gives me little to bite on the front end. However, I think I should be able to bite the sides of his robot and get some good damage in.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Gemini (Ranked 19)
Bryant Wersinger - Team AstroBot
Weapon: Wedges
Notes: Frame is entirely 3D printed

The past few competitions have shown me that when unprotected ABS is hit, it doesn't enjoy it very well. I should be able to get in a lot of damage on this one, though I'm not sure if I can out-drive it.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Mondo Bizarro (Ranked 2)
Brandon Nichols - Team Headbangers
Weapon: Vertical Beater
Notes: 2x Bot Blast Champion

Very scared about this weta. Brandon is an excellent driver, and while I think I have a chance to avoid the front end, I think I'll leave this match with a lot of battle scars no matter who wins.

Fear Rating: 5/5

Rmr
Frederick Moore - D6 Robotics
Weapon: Overhead Spinner
Notes: runs on tracks, has a 0-4 record

Not too nervous about this one. It seems to have a tendency to flip itself (a lot of overhead spinners like to do that in the insect classes) and the tracks make it kind of slow. I should be able to take it.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Robo-Rooter (Ranked 38)
Alex Horne - Wedge Industries
Weapon: Hubmotor Disc
Notes: Beat me at MIT

Robo-Rooter scares me, but now that my weapon works and I have a stronger weapon shaft, I should be able to hold up to it for longer. Still, it'll be tough to win.

Fear Rating: 4/5

Scorpius
Bryant Wersinger - Team AstroBot
Weapon: Undercutting Edger Blade
Notes: Frame is entirely 3D printed

Just like with Gemini, Scorpius is entirely 3D printed. However, this one's already lost to a horizontal spinner at Motorama. I think I can win against it pretty handily.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Scrambles the Death Dealer (Ranked 47)
Tim Thompson - Asylum Robotics
Weapon: Horizontal Bar
Notes: 0-4 at Bot Blast

Scrambles keeps getting deadlier, yet its only victory at Bot Blast has been a rumble. Still, I think it has more kinetic energy in its weapon bar, so I may be screwed here.

Fear Rating: 4/5

Short Circuit
Grant Long - Circuit Overload
Weapon: Vertical Beater
Notes: New bot by new team

Similar design to El Destructo. However, since it's a new robot, I don't know how well it'll hold up. I think I'll be able to win if I keep the weapon going.

Fear Rating: 3/5

SIMO
Jamison Go - G3 Robotics
Weapon: Undercutting Disc
Notes: Beetleweight DDT

More reach and a powerful undercutter. I don't think Nocturne will enjoy this much.

Fear Rating: 5/5

Sir Squirt
Tim Thompson - Asylum Robotics
Weapon: Undercutting Sawblade
Notes: BW Don't Ask

LMAO WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TIM

One wheel and a sawblade, and my spinner should be strong enough to hold out. I think I can take this one.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Sparty Mini
John Rowland - Rowdon
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Team last competed in 2010

It's a wedge from a team that last competed half a decade ago. I don't think I'll have many issues with this.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Super Killy Deathbot 3000
Mike Zalatan - Wedge Industries
Weapon: ?????????
Notes: Built Pizza Party

If Mike builds another joke robot (like Pizza Party, Spongetron and VLC all were) then I shouldn't have an issue unless something breaks down.

Fear Rating: 1/5

The Yinzer
Thorin Tobiassen - Team PLUNDER
Weapon: Vertical Drum
Notes: Last competed in 2013
A narrow spinner that seems similar to Weta. It doesn't look too fierce, so I should be okay.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Thunder Child
Nate Franklin - Mutually Assured Destruction
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Trilobite kit

Nate managed to beat quite a few spinners at Motorama with Thunder Child. As the only Trilobite in the competition, it should do fairly well. I'll have a lot of trouble with this one.

Fear Rating: 4/5

Whirl and Hurl
Adrian Kelly - Last-Minute Robotics
Weapon: Melty-Brain Spinner
Notes: The other melty-brain

Adrian's melty-brain doesn't scare me as much as Gene's, but that's just due to experience. It'll still be tough to beat if it works as well as I presume Gene's does.

(Note: Gene's melty-brain beetle, One Fierce Fourty Five, pulled out of the competition after I wrote this.)

Fear Rating: 4/5

Yardmaster, Master of Yards
Frederick Moore - D6 Robotics
Weapon: Undercutting Bar
Notes: totally not SIMO

Fred seems to have taken SIMO's design and added a bar to it. If it works as well as SIMO does, it could be a threat. If its bar is low enough, it could tweak my weapon shaft as well, and that usually isn't good.

Fear Rating: 3/5


-----Mantisweights-----

CATAPULT (Ranked 14)
Brandon Young - Bone Dead Robotics
Weapon: Full-Body Spinner
Notes: Went 0-2 last year

Brandon's been working on this shell spinner for about 3 years now, and I think he finally has it dialed in. With the added teeth and new baseplate, it could be a contender. However, I think my wedge is the right shape to keep it from damaging me, and I can out-maneuver it for the win.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Chibi Blackout (Ranked 4)
Don Doerfler - Doerfler Bots
Weapon: Vertical Drum
Notes: last year's runner-up

This is the mantis that scares me the most. I don't think my drive is fast enough to box-rush it, and I also don't think I'll be able to hold up to it for 3 minutes. We will see.

Fear Rating: 5/5

Chibi Floppy Wedge
Luke Yount - Magical Lipo Fire
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: First mantis by this team

Luke's robots always seem well-built despite the last-minuteness of them. If it's fast, it may be a challenge.

Fear Rating: 2/5

CounterStryker
Zac O'Donnell - Brain Damage
Weapon: Counter-rotating vertical blades
Notes: Built Threecoil, 2013's mantis champ

Zac's been all over the USA this year with heavyweight robots, and they've inspired him to make this. With its counter-rotating blades, it seems to be much more stable than most vertical spinners. However, whether or not it'll get a good bite on Landshark is questionable...

Fear Rating: 3/5

Cozmo
John Rowland - Rowdon
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Old team, new bot. Entered SIX robots this year
This'll be a classic wedge v wedge battle. It'll all depend on who's lower to the ground and who has the stronger drive.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Damaged Goods
The Cooley Family - Team RTFM
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: First robot from this team
A family team with their first robot coming along now. No clue what it looks like, so it'll be interesting to see. Another wedge/wedge battle.

Fear Rating: 2/5

FLCL
Kyle Singer - Twisted Sick Robotics
Weapon: Pneumatic Flipper
Notes: Only pneumatic robot registered

So apparently Kyle isn't building this and instead is reviving Massive, his wide-ass wedge from 5 years ago. So many wedges...

Fear Rating: 2/5

One Fierce Bush Wacker (Ranked 1)
Gene Burbeck - Fierce Robots
Weapon: Undercutting Bar
Notes: 2011 mantis champion

Believe me, I'm scared to fight this beast of a robot. However, I feel that my steel wedge will have the right shape to withstand its blows. Also, my wheels are easy to protect. I could just pull this off.

Fear Rating: 4/5

Sparty Junior
John Rowland - Rowdon
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Last competed in 2010

Another wedge! What else do I have to say at this point?

Fear Rating: 2/5

Spawn of Floppy Wedge
Luke Yount - Magical Lipo Fire
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Another wedge???

Not sure if it's the same as Chibi or different, but either way they're both wedges.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Motorama 2015 Event Report

Motorama was a blast. I got to see everyone again, met some new friends, and fought some robots. Here's how I did:

Fight 1: FireArrow vs Satan's Segway
Satan's Segway was a thwackbot made out of metal pipe. It made me a little nervous because I knew that if it could spin quickly, it'd have some good force behind it. However, it had some big issues with it (I think related to traction and weight distribution) and it couldn't thwack at all. I took home an easy judge decision.

Fight 2: FireArrow vs Vile Ant
Aw man. This was the fight I didn't want to happen. Vile Ant and its undercutting blade is one of the scariest ants out there, and fighting it this early on scared me. I was able to absorb the first few impacts fairly well, but eventually he got a wheel. The same hit, though, took out half of his drive train. I was able to drive pretty well using the remaining wheel and he was having issues, but some bad driving on my part meant he got the other wheel and I tapped out. I was pretty sure that had I kept my other wheel safe for the last thirty seconds or so, I would have won the fight.

Fight 3: FireArrow vs Ring-A-Ding-Ding
My first loser's bracket opponent was a beautifully machined ring spinner from Team Whyachi. I was excited to fight a robot from them, especially something this cool. It was still hurting from its first fight against Fangus, and couldn't spin fully. I felt fairly confident going in.

Holy crap, I could not get under that thing, and it had enough traction on the floor to shove me around. So instead of trying to win the push match I decided to show aggression, backing up when we locked and knocking him away when he tried to spin up. I was nervous I wouldn't get the decision, but the judges gave me the nod. That thing had some serious magnets stuck to it.


Fight 4: FireArrow vs SpinZilla

Grudge match time! Brandon had gotten a new version of SpinZilla from Sean, and it was pretty nasty. The FingerTech chipper blade it used was really powerful. Still, I felt fairly confident.

Fight time. I was able to get some good rams in early, but he got my damn wheel again, and then the other one. I tapped out early on into the match, pretty disappointed with myself. I decided right then that I wanted to redesign FireArrow and bring it up to date. It had been sitting in its current form for about a year now and I decided I was done with it. I'll get to the details later on.

Fight 5: Antweight rumble

I was the first to sign up for the ant rumble, and it turned out four other people wanted in: The Ophidian, a viper spinner kit, Cornerstone, a titanium wedge, Poco Tambor, a drum, and Kate the Rat, a thwackbot that used the same drive train and basic layout as Puppy, which I fought at MIT. Everything started out well, with me getting some slams on Poco and Cornerstone, but about 2 minutes in the motors gave way and FireArrow sat against the wall, dead in the water. I was kind of disappointed, but it was still fun to compete. I forget who won the rumble, I think it was Poco Tambor, but I'm not entirely certain.

Fight 6: Nocturne vs Project Darkness
Onward to Saturday! I was excited to fight with Nocturne, because I thought I had finally gotten the weapon dialed in. However, it turned out a couple of ounces over the weight limit due to the bigger teeth we gave it, and we had to buy a drill at a hardware store on the way to the complex the morning before.

My first opponent was Project Darkness, a wedged vertical spinner made by Ian McMahon, who I had been talking to for most of Friday. I hit a bit of a problem though: When I went to put it in the box, Nocturne drove around for a few seconds, then stopped moving entirely. I didn't know what happened, and decided to use my postponement to see what the heck happened. It turned out a sliver of aluminum from the weight holes we drilled had gotten into the receiver, shorting the robot. When the match actually started, I was able to get some hits in early, but there was a problem. While the weapon spun freely with the new belt, it didn't hit very hard, and it stopped upon any contact with Darkness. This meant he could have his way with me, and with about a minute left to go in the fight a big hit flipped my BEC's power switch and killed Nocturne, so I tapped out. We later taped this switch to the on position in order to keep it from happening again.

Fight 7: Nocturne vs Honey Baked Ham
Honey Baked Ham was a joke robot from Georgia Tech that featured a large steel propeller blade and a styrofoam base. It was held together with tape, and I thought I had the weapon working with the tighter belt, so I figured I'd demolish it. However, it wasn't to be. The weapon spun in prefight testing, but as soon as the light turned green, it wouldn't spin, so I decided to just ram him. Ham got some decent shots on my top, but its blade wiggled free of the tape and gouged out some of the styrofoam. Eventually, something blew in Ham's electronics and it died. While it was being counted out I finally got Nocturne to spin up and deal some damage to his wheel, but it was too late.

Fight 8: Nocturne vs Grande Tambor
My final match of Motorama was against Grande Tambor. I cursed my luck, because this was one of the few robots I didn't want to face this early. We had made a tighter round belt to spin the weapon, and I thought I had stopped the cogging gremlins which had plagued Nocturne since the beginning. Again, it spun fine before the match, but as soon as the lights went green it had problems. I was quicker than him and spent a lot of the first part of the match running away and trying to spin up. Eventually I decided "screw it" and rammed into him, which caused Nocturne to go flying. One hit flipped me over and I stopped moving, but he hit me again and I was able to move. I did get to his side for one decent shove near the end, and with about 20 seconds left the bar FINALLY spun up and delivered a single hit to Grande before the match ended. The judges didn't take long to decide I had lost. As it turned out, he had hit me so hard it had rattled most of the screws loose that held on the top, and one of them was kind of stuck at an angle. When he flipped me, I was caught on that loose screw, and it held my wheels off the ground. Other damage included a bent top plate and some new bites in the aluminum bar, but nothing serious.

Unfortunately, I had to leave before the end and couldn't stay to have any grudge matches or rumbles. However, I left with some knowledge and ideas for later designs:

I'm going to redesign FireArrow from scratch. I've decided that the current edition of FireArrow, while solid, has the wheels too exposed for my liking. The redesigned version will have UHMW wheelguards and frame, a titanium wedge, and spaces for magnets in the bottom so it doesn't get knocked around as easily in the steel Moto box.

Nocturne held up perfectly in its battles, and we just need to figure out how to spin it without having cogging problems. Hopefully, that day where we do figure it out will be soon.

All in all, I had a great time at Motorama and I'm excited for my next competition!

I took a ton of pictures at the event and I'll be uploading them tomorrow.

MIT Mini Maker Faire 2014 Event Report

It's been awhile, hasn't it? I haven't updated this blog in two months! Here's what went down between then and now:

-FireArrow got a new wedge so the self-righting issues were fixed
-Nocturne got finished

MIT's first annual Mini Maker Faire was this weekend, and they had a robot competition hosted by Jamison Go, who built DDT. Since it was the first year for the event (and only two weeks away from Franklin, the bigger tournament around the east coast) not many people made it out, but it was a great competition nonetheless. Here's how my two robots did:

Fight 1: FireArrow vs Puppy
Since there were only six ants, it was decided to run them round robin. My first opponent was Puppy, a 4WD wedge built by Team Metal Volcano. They had decided to come up and test their robot for Franklin, and it was a solid build. The new version of it featured pink 3D-printed parts and some thicker armor all around. I had some flashbacks to Antelope when I first saw it, and knew I'd have issues getting under it. However, despite some early flips (which were mitigated by my robot's new wedge modification) I was able to be in control most of the match. Eventually, he ramped off my wedge and flipped himself, and I was able to control him entirely from there. FireArrow wins a deserved judge's decision.

Fight 2: Nocturne vs Derp Bot
Derp Bot was a last-second build by an MIT student, and it was the ideal cannon fodder: held together by duct tape, servo drive, and a spinner that'd be more at home on an antweight. We had been struggling to get Nocturne's weapon to spin up, and those issues were prevalent again here. However, after a few tries it got going and absolutely tore into the duct tape, leaving an entire side open. I got another couple of smaller hits but nothing like that first one. Late into the match I hit the arena's kickplate, and one of Nocturne's weapon teeth cracked. Looks like they were too brittle for combat. Eventually Derp Bot is counted out and Nocturne moves on.

Fight 3: FireArrow vs Spinzilla
Spinzilla is Brandon's ant, and it featured a VDD kit blade, carbon fiber armor and a very high-up weapon assembly. His spinner wasn't really able to get a good bite on my wedge, so I was able to slam him around for a while. Eventually, his lipo managed to fall out. I thought the match would end, but apparently not, so I kept ramming him around. Then, late into the match something truly bizarre happened: I slammed him battery-first into the wall, and the battery fell into the small gap that surrounded the arena. It was tethered to the wall! It eventually freed itself, but that was about it. No surprise I won this one.

Fight 4: Nocturne vs Robo Rooter
Alex's brutal hubmotor spinner, Robo Rooter, was my next opponent. This was one of the beetles I was truly scared of. I knew I'd have issues with my weapon so I decided to go into his weapon rear-end first. This seemed to work for a while, despite the damage I was taking to the corners. Eventually I got the weapon spun up and I got one good hit on his wheelguard before it stopped and wouldn't start again. At this point I was just hitting him with all I had and trying to survive to the next match. I got caught on the seam at mid-arena and then got punted one more time by Robo Rooter, and this time I couldn't move at all. No clue why, I just couldn't move. So I tapped out. Taking the robot back to the pits, we found out that the last hit had severed the connection between the power switch and the robot, meaning it couldn't move. Other damage included a bent weapon shaft and some very deep gouges in the UHMW sides. Needless to say, Nocturne was done for the day.

Fight 5: FireArrow vs Glass Cannon
Glass Cannon was another "built at the last minute" bot from a MIT student. This one featured a deadly looking vertical blade, but in its first match it cracked in half on the first impact, and so since was held together with pink duct tape, ballpoint pens, and dreams. Since the builder was AWOL at the time, Jamo drove it. It was a fairly simple match, with me getting under, him glancing off my wedge and bouncing off two walls of the arena, and so forth. Eventually the weapon stopped, and that was it. FireArrow wins again.

Fight 6: FireArrow vs Cannon
Oh boy. Here it is. The one ant I was legitimately afraid of. Massive vertical eggbeater. However, it wasn't all bad, there were kids behind me in the seats cheering for me. And the fight was a lot of fun too. Tons of heavy hits and big slams, and he got me flipped a few times. Eventually, though, I lost a drive motor, and the last two big hits killed FireArrow entirely. These were at the very end of the match though so it still went to the judges, but they passed it to the crowd. Since I was the wedge, they of course said Cannon won. We took it back to the pits and found the drive system a mess. The axles were bent, the bearings had broken and we didn't have the tools to fix it there in the pits. This meant we had to forfeit the last round of the round robin. However, since I won the first three fights, I had a good enough record to tie for second with Spinzilla. In my opinion, I came second, because my victory over Spinzilla in the main competition would have been the tiebreaker. They wanted to do a tiebreaker match, but with neither robot in condition to do so we decided to put a Spongebob pinata on a giant coin-flipping machine (don't ask) to decide the winner. I lost the sponge toss. So officially, I came third.

Still, it was a fantastic event with a lot of great people, and I got to see some pretty neat stuff when I wasn't competing (like Chibi-Mikuvan). Now, to prepare for Moto!

I will upload the pictures I took tomorrow and edit them here.

Nocturne is near completion!

Despite being unable to make it to Bot Blast, Nocturne is closer than ever to being a finished robot. Recently, the weapon assembly was finished (just need to add the steel weapon teeth) and the drive was mounted. We're going to Velcro some of the more important internals (ESC, battery, etc) so they don't get knocked around as much.

Here's a weapon test:

Of course that was before we decided to mount the wheels internally so they don't get damaged as much. Also changed since that video was taken is the front of the robot. That front point has been milled off so it's harder to damage.

Here's a picture of how Nocturne looks at the present moment:

It will be ready for October's competitions as soon as the weapon teeth are attached and the power switch is mounted.

Bot Blast 2014 Event Report

Bot Blast was a ton of fun as usual. Nocturne was not finished in time to compete, but FireArrow was ready to go so we packed it and our tools and set out for Pennsylvania. We arrived, passed safety, and got ready for our first fight with no issue at all. This year, my spot in the pits was in between Kyle, who was running the 3lb Ripto, and Jake from team Orbital Activity, who I met at Pennbots, with his new antweight drum Empire. Matches started on time and FireArrow managed to get a bye to the second round.

Match 1: FireArrow vs Don't Ask
Don't Ask was a last-minute 4-hour ant build by Tim, the builder of Scrambles the Death Dealer. It was a UHMW box with an undercutting sawblade that reminded me all too much of DDT in its first match. My plan was to wait for his gyro forces to expose his rear end and then go in for the kill.

As the match started, his unpredictability got the better of me and left some good scratches on my wedge, dealing some slight damage as I pushed him around and sending him flying whenever he got a good hit. Eventually, a good hit from his blade flipped me onto my back, and I spent a lot more time than I should have trying to right myself. I knew it could, but apparently the floor had less traction than my driveway so I
had issues trying to right. A good charge into Don't Ask's blade flipped me right side up again, so I was able to push him around and stuff. Near the end of the fight one of FireArrow's silver spark gearboxes let go so I only had one-wheel drive for the last 10 seconds or so of the match. Based on this damage I lost the match on a split judge's decision.

Match 2: FireArrow vs Nuff Said
Nuff Said was exactly how I saw it on Youtube: A long, 2WD box with two low titanium wedge forks at the front. We had replaced the broken gearbox from the battle from Don't Ask but we unfortunately didn't realize that it had claimed the other gearbox too. After a few rams into the wall the other gearbox fell apart leaving us with 1.5 wheel drive for the rest of the match. However, Nuff Said had bigger issues than that, they had some massive radio reception problems that allowed me to win the match on a judge's decision.

Match 3: FireArrow vs Slice
The team that brought 3 antweights to their first event was a family from New Jersey, and the drivers were bright young kids who showed a lot of promise. Slice was their first robot and as so wasn't very strong, its weapon had very little force and couldn't right itself. I pushed it around for a while, it got stuck on its side a few times (I was nice and knocked them onto their wheels again) but eventually it got flipped onto its back and counted out.

Match 4: FireArrow vs Velociraptor
Velociraptor came all the way from Washington with a vertical sawblade and an excellent driver. Nate and Slim Pickens had already defeated Velociraptor, so I was going to try to use the same strategy he did and charge into him from the side. This was a basic "slam-him-around-the-box-until-the-match-ends" fight with Velociraptor only gaining the upper hand once or twice, getting to my steel back end and sending some sparks flying. Their titanium wedge was a non-issue, I was able to get under it easily. Despite more paint scratches it was a fairly easy match, with FireArrow taking another judge's decision.

Match 5: FireArrow vs Hercules
I saw Hercules fight last year, it was a promising little lifter bot with a pretty big weakness to spinners. It had managed to make it to the final four with me and I had to take it down to take home a trophy. The first charge proved his wedge was lower than mine, so I had to go around the wedge to get him into the walls. A few times I was able to wedge myself in between the lifter and the chassis, and I used this opportunity to shove him around. FireArrow won once again by judge's decision.

Match 6: FireArrow vs Antelope
Antelope's newest incarnation was a 4WD wedge bot. It looked pretty tough to drive around so I knew I was going to have to outwedge it. They were using their solid wedge attachment for this match, after their finger wedges lost to Slim Pickens in the winner's bracket final. Holy crap I could not get under that thing. He was always able to get under me, drive me around and flip me over. I knew I wasn't going to win, but with 30 seconds left in the match I got incredibly lucky: I got to his side and was able to somehow stick his wedge into a seam between the wall and floor. Antelope got counted out and I was moving on to the finals!

Match 7: FireArrow vs Slim Pickens
This was it. The finals. I was up against Nate, who had made it to the finals going 4-0 and undefeated. I knew this was going to be close. The match started with both of us getting under each other several times, with me getting the first big slam of the match. We were both trying to outmaneuver each other. Not much else to say, it was a wedge final. However, one good slam got Slim Pickens stuck on its wedge horns, and since it couldn't move from that position Nate tapped out. FireArrow takes home the antweight title with a 6-1 record!!!

FireArrow's overall record for its first full year of competition is 15-3, and to be honest that's outstanding. I can't wait for my next event, whatever it may be, and hopefully we'll be there with two robots, as Nocturne creeps ever closer to completion.

Bot Blast 2014: Thoughts on the Opposition

Bot Blast is less than two weeks away! I thought I'd pass the time by checking out the competition (posted on BuildersDB.com) and writing my thoughts on the two classes I'm fighting in, the antweight and beetleweight classes.

ANTWEIGHTS

Antelope
Team Sandman
Weapon: Hinged Wedges/Plow
Notes: Bot Blast 2012 Best Driver, getting totally redesigned for this competition

Antelope is currently one of two 4WD antweights signed up and currently looks awesome. Its front plow is going to be an absolute pain for spinners to fight, but I think I'll have little issue getting under it with FireArrow. However, the matchup between two skilled drivers will be very interesting to watch...

Fear Rating: 3/5

Cannon
Slammers
Weapon: Vertical Eggbeater
Notes: Moto 2013 runner-up

I've never fought an eggbeater before so this'll be interesting. Hopefully it'll be similar to the vertical spinners I fought last year. If it is it shouldn't be too hard. Still, it'll have more throwing power and that makes me nervous.

Fear Rating: 5/5

Cutting Edge
Revelation Robotics
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: New robot and team

Brand new team, they've entered 3 antweights in their first event. I think they'll be overwhelmed, especially if one of them gets thrashed by a spinner. The low build quality on two of them interests me, reminds me of old style antweights. I think I can get under or out-drive it for an easy win.

Fear Rating: 1/5

Empire
Orbital Activity
Weapon: Drum
Notes: Built Mr. Smiley at Pennbots, promising young builder despite his bots being low-tech

Another likely low-quality robot that'll be defined as one of the scrappiest bots here. Despite using a saucepan and servos, Mr. Smiley was a decent bot, so hopefully we'll see similar quality here. That is, if it can get through safety... Against FireArrow, it shouldn't have much trouble, as drumbots normally don't cause much trouble.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Gyroscopic
Team Gyroscopic
Weapon: Vertical Eggbeater
Notes: Incredibly powerful, Bot Blast 2012 Runner-up

Similarly to Cannon, this thing scares me. However, like Cannon, if I can use its KE to my advantage, I could pull off a win. Gyroscopic lost two years ago to a solid brick when its wheel fell off after a large hit, if something like that happens again I should be golden.

Fear Rating: 5/5

Hercules
Conn Bots
Weapon: Servo Lifter
Notes: Competed last year, went 2-2

Hercules is a pretty well-built robot, and it has the lifter to distance itself from wedge bots. I'm not sure which one of us is lower, but if it's me I should have no issues.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Hungry Like the Wolf
Team Kapbotiks
Weapon: Overhead Spinning Bar
Notes: New robot from old team

If we meet up, it'll be my first time facing a horizontal spinner. Depending on how stable it is and if it can self-right, we'll see how well I do. All I can predict is that I won't be leaving the arena unscathed.

Fear Rating: 4/5

Nuff Said
Don's Robots
Weapon: Wedge Forks
Notes: last competed 2 years ago

If it's the same as it was 2 years ago, it'll be a low robot built by an experienced team. I'll have to avoid the forks and hope he doesn't out-drive me.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Sky Rocket
Revelation Robotics
Weapon: Servo Lifter
Notes: Kit robot, new team and robot

The kitbot entry from this team interests me. Again, this is going to depend on the competence of the team (running 3 bots at your first event is going to be a MAJOR hassle) and which one of us is the better driver.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Slice
Revelation Robotics
Weapon: Angled Spinning Bar
Notes: Probably the lowest-tech robot here

This was once really bad looking but has since been updated, and now the bar looks like it at least some power now. It still is on an odd angle and I don't think it'll do very well, but it's better than before. It might deal some minor damage to my wedge but that's about it.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Slim Pickens

Mutually Assured Destruction
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Completely rebuilt from last year, Moto 14 3rd Place

Alex and Nate have assembled an awesome antweight wedge that I hope I get matched up with. Me and Nate are pretty equal in terms of driving skill, so it'll be a great fight either way.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Spinzilla
Team Headbangers
Weapon: Horizontal sawblade or metal bar
Notes: previously known as Antamantium Rage

If it still has the sawblade, I'm sure it'll be a fairly easy match. If it has the bar, it'll be tougher but I think I can tough it out. Not sure how strong Brandon's spinner will be or even if it'll be working in time for Bot Blast, but I'm confident I can take it down.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Uber-Saw
BeaverBotics
Weapon: Vertical Sawblade
Notes: Went 0-2 at its first competition last year

I like Uber-Saw because it's TF2 themed and it's got a cool color scheme, but like with other vertical sawblades I can't see it doing much damage. Its saw has pretty large teeth though so I can see it throwing other bots pretty far. I think I might get knocked around a bit in this fight, but it'll go down similarly to my fight with Guildenstern where for most of the match he's beached on my wedge.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Velociraptor
Team DinoBots
Weapon: Vertical Sawblade
Notes: Western team comes to Pennsylvania to play. I believe this robot has made numerous event finals.

Veliociraptor reminds me of Guildenstern in that it's a mainly UHMW vertical spinner with an experienced builder at the helm. However, it uses a sawblade instead of an offset bar, meaning it probably won't have the damage output Guildenstern did. I'm not gonna count this one out just yet though, knowing its capabilities.

Fear Rating: 4/5

Viciously Circular
Mutually Assured Destruction
Weapon: Wedge and Vertical Spinning Bar
Notes: Previously known as Endgame, this robot won the Robogames Junior Ant class under a different owner

A vicious new robot under Nate's ownership. It's got a powerful weapon, but I don't know how good its wedge is. I don't have a good track record against wedged spinners so I'm scared of this thing either way.

Fear Rating: 5/5

Wedge Bot
Joe's Robots
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: New robot

I've never seen this thing before, but apparently it has a wedge. Can't base much off of that but its builder is very experienced.

Fear Rating: 3/5

BEETLEWEIGHTS

Allosaurus
Team DinoBots
Weapon: Vertical Drum
Notes: Numerous event finals, one of the few robots to beat a 2-time world champion

Holy crap. I did design Nocturne's new bar to beat Wetas but this is like if Weta took steroids and then ingested 300 pounds of manliness. It scares me.

Fear Rating: 5/5

Black Raspberry
Joe's Robots
Weapon: Vertical Drum
Notes: New robot

Again, can't base much off this, but once again the builder is very experienced so I can expect the best from him.

Fear Rating: 4/5

Casbah
Team Kapbotiks
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: New bot from old team

From the preview pic, it looks like it'll be a solid rammer. Since I have a horizontal spinner my only hopes are that I can deal some fatal damage quick.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Counter Shock
Don's Robots
Weapon: Vertical Eggbeater
Notes: First time this robot has competed in 2 years

Counter Shock did pretty well last time it went out even though its weapon wasn't working for half the event, so if its weapon is working this time it'll be even harder to beat. Experienced driver, builder and a solid robot here.

Fear Rating: 5/5

Dumb Post Motorama Idea #1 (Titanium Edition)
Team Cookin' With Gas
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Super fast

I lost to this bot twice at Pennbots. There aren't pits at Bot Blast, but he can still ram me all over the arena. Aiming for those exposed wheels is my best bet.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Gemini
Team AstroBots
Weapon: Finger Wedges
Notes: New team and new robot, 3d printed frame

One of the big things I picked up from last year's Bot Blast is that 3D printed frames don't hold up well. This gives me hope that I'll escape another solid wedge whooping by the damage I'll cause, but we'll see. Despite being a new team the builders have competed before, so they aren't exactly green to the sport either.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Mondo Bizarro
Team Headbangers
Weapon: Vertical Eggbeater
Notes: Reigning champion

Like I said, I designed Nocturne to take on Weta kits, but they're still scary. I'm incredibly nervous that I'm gonna get torn apart.

Fear Rating: 3/5

One Fierce Javelin
Fierce Robots
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: New robot from Gene, did well at USATL

Gene always brings some insane robots to events. Here's another wedge with insane speed, too. Just like with DPMI, I'm going to have to take out those wheels fast or I don't think I'm going to have much of a chance.

Fear Rating: 4/5

Pizza Party
Team Cookin' With Gas
Weapon: ???
Notes: New robot, new builder, supposedly a joke bot?

I have no clue what this thing is, but it's supposedly going to be an entertaining beetleweight built by Alex's friend. With that in mind I think I got this.

Fear Rating: 1/5

Play 'n Krazy
Bone Dead Robotics
Weapon: Vertical Eggbeater
Notes: Came third last year and won the Highest Hit award

Nocturne was designed to take on Wetas, and this one should be no exception. PK is a little bit weaker than Mondo, and its driver is less experienced, so it should be a slightly easier fight.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Purple Boxer
Kelley PA
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: Slow but torquey

I saw Purple Boxer at Pennbots and it looked incredibly resilient to attack. Mondo Bizarro hit it and despite sparks flying it didn't take much damage. If it's as tough as USS Monitor was (I lost to it at Pennbots after hitting it once) I don't think I'll win by KO. My best bet is going to be to outspeed it and aim for the wheels.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Raptor 2.2
Team DinoBots
Weapon: Wedge
Notes: 2-time RoboGames champion

This thing is the definition of beetleweight brick. It's a 2-time world champion and scares the hell out of me. I think if I can get to its back I can leave some scars, but I ain't winning this fight in a million years.

Fear Rating: 6/5 (yes you read that right)

Ripto 3.0
Twisted Sick Robotics
Weapon: Vertical Disc
Notes: Bot Blast 2012 champion

I fought the antweight version of this last year and lost to it. Hexxus, a similar design to Nocturne, fought this thing and lost to it 3 years back. Horizontal vs vertical usually ends with the HS winning but Ripto scares me so much.

Fear Rating: 5/5

Scrambles the Death Dealer
Asylum Robotics
Weapon: Horizontal Bar
Notes: Bot Blast 2013 Rumble winner

This'll be a fun match. Scrambles inspired a lot of aspects of the current incarnation of Nocturne, and two similarly-designed horizontal spinners would be an entertaining match. Plus, Tim would probably be yelling references for half the match, so basically this would be the best fight ever. The redesign of his robot is looking pretty scary too. It'll have more range and I think more power, so I'm not sure I'll win.

Fear Rating: 3/5

Slugger
Conn Bots
Weapon: Undercutting Bar
Notes: Came 4th last year

Slugger's a cool bot but it only won one actual fight last year despite it coming fourth. It's also made entirely of UHMW, which my bar is designed to damage. As long as I can get around his bar I feel confident that I can win this.

Fear Rating: 2/5

Suplexor
Team Cookin' With Gas
Weapon: Suplex Lifter
Notes: Brand new beetleweight

Inspired by Kyle's Jukid, Suplexor looks like it'll be an entertaining addition to the beetle class this year. However, it has weak front armor that I think will be easy to tear into, and the design as a whole looks kinda weak to spinners.

Fear Rating: 1/5

The Subtle Destroyer
Team Sandman
Weapon: Undercutting Blade
Notes: Incredibly powerful friction-driven weapon

Another undercutter that scares me. If it lands a hit on my bottom frame that could be it for Nocturne's weapon. However, last time it fought it was rather slow so we'll see.

Fear Rating: 3/5

For the mantis class all seven robots look like they'll be tough contenders. My predictions for the class are that it'll be very entertaining no matter who wins.

Can't wait to be there on the 19th! Nocturne is coming along well and over the next 3 days the frame should be completely assembled. FireArrow is still waiting on the ESCs and switch but they'll be here any day now.

USATL 2014: Day 3

Day 3
This is it, the last day of fighting. Still lots of bots left in competition, so let's see who will take home the championships.

ToothFairy vs That Yellow Mouse
Somehow, That Yellow Mouse has made it to the third day without fighting once. That's because it postponed its first match against Federal MT to day 2, then forfeited that match. It's a yellow robot armed with a front wedge and what appears to be Pikachu's face or something similar. It's fighting ToothFairy, who is exactly the same as last time we saw it. Hopefully its weapon works this time.

3, 2, 1, fight! ToothFairy is still having weapon issues. Yellow Mouse shoves ToothFairy into the pulverizer, and smoke is pouring out everywhere. It takes another hard hit from the hammer on its weapon, and after driving around a little bit fire starts pouring out of the top of the robot. It stops after driving around while on fire for a while, and ToothFairy taps out.

Touro Classic vs Witch Doctor
And up to the middleweights! Touro Classic and Witch Doctor are unchanged from yesterday. Winner moves on, loser goes home.

Fight! Both bots spin up to speed. There's some maneuvering, and Witch Doctor knocks Touro Classic out of the arena in one hit! That's the end!

Killa KT vs The Mutt
The Mutt took a forfeit from the absent Frankencat to get to this point. Both robots are unchanged, I have no clue if The Mutt's weapon works yet or not.

Fight! Doesnt look like The Mutt can spin. Killa KT immediately gets under and plows Mutt into the wall, and maneuvers The Mutt into the pulverizer several times. Mutt appears to have lost one side of its drive, and Killa KT easily gets The Mutt back under the hammer. The punishing blows of the Mutt appear to have knocked out The Mutt, and they tap out. Killa KT continues plowing through the loser's bracket.

Mrs. Plow vs Little Bill
Cortana forfeited to put Little Bill here. Mrs. Plow is a lot more promising as a wedge bot.

Fight! Both bots jockey for position. Mrs. Plow gets under and shoves Little Bill into the wall twice. Mrs. Plow manages to use its momentum to flip Little Bill on its back, and Little Bill stops moving. Mrs. Plow maneuvers Little Bill into the hammers, and there's some slight movement from Little Bill. One more slam from Mrs. Plow knocks Little Bill onto its back end, where it's stranded. Little Bill is counted out.

Ziegenkase vs Touro Maximus
The 120-lb The Big Cheese, after beating Polar Vortex on a split decision, is now in the heavyweight semis. His opponent it Touro Maximus, who has beaten Tanto and Shrederator in one hit so far in this bracket. Will the Cheese get the ultimate upset? It's time to find out.

3, 2, 1, fight!! Big Cheese zooms under Touro Maximus and immediately into the hammer. Touro escapes and two big hits from Touro warp the wedge of Big Cheese. Touro Maximus gets under the underside of Big Cheese, we see some parts go flying, and the Cheese taps out. It has no bottom protection, so when Touro Maximus got under it was chewing on exposed mechanics.

Electric Lawn Gnome Supremacy vs Aquiles
Two more undefeated drumbots in the lightweight class. Winner moves on to the winner's bracket finals. Loser moves down to the loser's bracket.

Fight! The two drive out at each other. Aquiles zooms behind Electric Gnome and knocks it onto its back, then punts it into the wall. A chunk of Aquiles' tooth is sent flying, and Electric Gnome is no longer moving. The Gnome taps out.

Touro Light vs Tetnis
More loser's bracket matchups. Tetnis and Touro are both very impressive spinners. Touro has beaten bar spinners before, Tetnis has a very powerful bar that totalled UBRuined yesterday. This match was postponed once because Tetnis had some weapon issues.

Fight! Touro zooms out and gets around the back end of Tetnis, causing sparks to fly. Touro lands hit after hit, loosening the top plate and eventually flipping Tetnis on its top and then its back. The belt of Tetnis is missing. Tetnis is counted out after this brutal onslaught and Touro does a series of impressive flips to celebrate.

And with that fight, we go to lunch break. Some bots are tested during the break.

General vs Touro
Middleweight semi final action time. The two biggest names in Brazil are about to fight each other for the first finals spot. Both bots have been absolutely dominant to get here. General's already beaten one Touro bot on its road to the semis, so let's see if it can do it again.

Fight! Both bots spin up. General gets under Touro, sparks fly, Touro is knocked up into the air. General;s weapon is stopped and there's some fork damage on General. A big slam from General knocks Touro into the air, and then Touro gets underneath. General's trying to use Touro's force against it, and it does work, as after a few more slams and more sparks, Touro is knocked out of the arena with the force of its own weapon. An impressive knockout victory for General.

Federal M.T. vs UnMakerBot
Now for an almost carbon copy of the last match in the lightweight division. Federal MT is a lightweight General. UnMakerBot is an American Touro.

Fight! Both robots spin up to speed. The first hit sents both bots backwards and Federal MT is sent on its back. Federal MT self-rights and there's another hit where UnMakerBot comes on top. A third hit is huge and sends Federal MT hurtling into the air, and there's some wedge damage on Federal MT. UnMakerBot is under again and grinds the underside of Federal MT, almost immobilizing it but with the Federal escaping at the last second. One last hit knocks Federal MT into the air and it's comboed with a brutal pulverizer hit. This wombo combo is too much for Federal MT to deal with, so it's counted out. UnMakerBot advances to the winner's bracket final.

Blue vs That Yellow Mouse
Oh wow, there's Eiffel 65 playing in the background before this match. Blue is using its green wedges. Yellow Mouse is unchanged.

Fight! Yellow Mouse is having some issues driving in a straight line. There isn't any contact for a long time. Blue is very slowly nudging Yellow Mouse into a hammer, but Yellow Mouse escapes. A big hit flips Yellow Mouse onto its back and it's slammed into the wall. That Yellow Mouse is pushed under a hammer, and several blows come down before That Yellow Mouse is counted out.

Mrs. Plow vs K2
This'll be interesting. Mrs Plow has shown to be a resilient wedge bot, but K2 has that hinged wedge on the front that's been absolutely devastating to every brick it's fought. However, K2 has had a tendency to explode in its matches, so maybe there'll be an upset.

Fight! K2 spins up again! Mrs Plow rides up the wedge, sparks fly, and a second hit flips Mrs Plow on its back. Some careful maneuvering from K2 gives Mrs Plow a pulverizer hit, but another hit knocks Mrs Plow right side up again. There's some good pushing from Mrs Plow and then K2 gets in some more strong hits which flip Mrs Plow end over end. Mrs Plow is flipped onto its back, and now panels are missing from Mrs Plow. One more hit from K2 beaches Mrs Plow on the arena bumper, and despite the Mrs Plow team's best effort to use the force of their pulverizer to unstick their robot, it's counted out and K2 wins the match.

Black and Blue vs Killa KT
Black and Blue are back from being trashed by Touro yesterday. Killa KT has been absolutely dominating this loser's bracket, let's see if it can do it again. Blue still has the wedges on from its match against That Yellow Mouse, Black has its steel plow.

Fight! Killa KT tries to dodge Blue and does a decent job of it. KT is able to shove both bots around at once, while Black and Blue have some issues doing so. Both clusterbots take a hammer shot, one intentional and one by accident. Killa KT reverses Black into the wall and then pins Blue to the wall. Killa KT almost scoops up both bots at once but is unable to. Black is stuck under the arena bumper by Killa KT and the match is stopped for an unstick. When the match restarts, Killa KT gets a good push on both robots, slamming Blue into the wall and also nearly getting Black into a pulverizer. The rest of the match consists of Killa KT playing the divide and conquer game, maneuvering the two clusterbots around. Time runs out with Killa KT pushing Blue into the wall. Killa KT takes the judge's decision, ending the clusterbot's run.

The Big Cheese vs Witch Doctor
Yep, these two again. Last time they met Big Cheese won after Witch Doctor blew up its weapon controller and took a split decision. With the weapon going, will Big Cheese be able to take it? Especially after its loss to Touro Maximus? We're about to find out. Brad has put the "In queso emergency, I praise to cheesus" meme in between the two driver cameras. The cheese jokes never get (m)old.

3, 2, 1, fight! The Big Cheese powers across the arena and charges at Witch Doctor. There's a pulverizer hit on the weapon, and another. Witch Doctor escapes and delivers some powerful hits to the Cheese, knocking The Big Cheese up and over and back again. The Big Cheese seems to have lost a drive motor. The Big Cheese takes a pulverizer hit and then stops moving. The count out goes down, and Witch Doctor has his revenge.

Blue vs Touro Light
And we're back in the lightweights! Blue has its plow back on, Touro Light is completely unchanged.

Fight! Blue powers across the arena and into the pulverizer, taking a shot. The first weapon hit sends Blue sky high. After a few more hits, Touro Light's weapon stops entirely. Touro is stuck under the bumper but frees itself. Now that Touro Light's weapon is stopped, this is Blue's fight. However, Touro is able to turn Blue around and give it a few whacks from the pulverizer. Blue then pins Touro to the wall, and again. The torque advantage here is really too much. Touro appears to be stuck again, and it's counted out. Blue is moving on.

Electric Lawn Gnome Supremacy vs K2
The longest name vs the shortest name in the lightweight loser's bracket. Spinning drum vs spinning disc. Who moves on? We're about to find out.

Fight! Both bots spin up. there's some big hits, and K2 is flipped onto its back within seconds! It takes a pulverizer shot to its belly and that's it for the #1 ranked lightweight. Electric Lawn Gnome Supremacy is moving on.

Ziegenkase vs Polar Vortex
And to see who's facing Touro Maximus in the heavyweight final, we have a grudge match! The Big Cheese beat Polar Vortex by a split decision earlier, and in an attempt to remedy that, has opted for the solid wedge over the forks. The Big Cheese, hopefully, has been repaired from its second big beatdown today from Witch Doctor.

3, 2, 1, fight! The two bots charge at each other and Polar Vortex gets underneath. Some more maneuvering, and The Big Cheese is almost sent out of the arena with a big slam. Polar Vortex gets to the side and nearly hits itself with the pulverizer, but dodges it. There's another slam from Polar Vortex. The Big Cheese has stopped? Looks like those two big spinner matches took its toll. Polar Vortex wins and is moving on to the final.

Killa KT vs Witch Doctor
More middleweight loser's bracket action. Killa KT has come a long way from its first round loss, Witch Doctor is looking for some more dominant wins.

Fight! Killa KT tries to get around the front wedge of Witch Doctor and drives itself into the hammer doing so. Witch Doctor gets a few small hits, and then a bigger one which sends Killa KT into the air. Then, Witch Doctor gets underneath, charges across the arena, and sends Killa KT up into the air and across the arena bumper! Killa KT is out of the arena!

UnMakerBot vs Aquiles
Lightweight winner's bracket finals time. Two big drums, one from America, one from Brazil. Only one can take the first finals spot.

Fight! Both bots spin up to speed. The first hit knocks Aquiles into a corner and it takes some hammer shots. There's some maneuvering where Aquiles tries to get around UnMakerBot, but the silver drumbot does a great job keeping the drum facing Aquiles. The second hit sends a chunk flying from Aquiles' drum, and it stops spinning. Aquiles drives back over to its side of the arena and taps out. UnMakerBot advances to the final in its very first competition!

Polar Vortex vs Touro Maximus
This could be it folks. If Touro Maximus wins this match, it takes home the heavyweight title. If Polar Vortex wins they go to one more match to decide the championship. Polar Vortex is, of course, running the steel scoop.

This is the match we've all been waiting for, folks. 3, 2, 1, FIGHT! Polar Vortex charges right at Touro and does a great job avoiding the drum, pinning it to the wall. Touro gets to the side and knocks Vortex up but there's no damage. Polar Vortex gets under Touro Maximus, lifts it up, there's sparks as Touro Maximus' drum grinds up the bottom of Polar Vortex's wedge, and it's stuck on the bumper! Its wheels are spinning but it can't move! Touro Maximus is counted out! Polar Vortex wins!!!

Of course this means there will be one more fight to decide the heavyweight title. However' that's later on.

Federal MT vs Blue
Federal MT is currently unchanged. Blue is using its plow.

Fight! Blue comes charging out at Federal MT, and... Federal MT isn't moving? Oh there it is. The weapon is spinning, but Federal MT seems to be missing a drive motor. Blue flips it with a big charge, and so now it's just derping around and grinding on the floor. Blue charges across the arena again and plows Federal MT into the wall and under the pulverizer. A few hits flip Federal MT right side up, but the robot has stopped and is counted out. Blue continues its dominance in the loser's bracket.

Touro vs Witch Doctor
This is it everyone. The middleweight loser's bracket finals. The winner faces off against General for the title, the loser goes home.

Fight! Both bots spin up. Or are they? Touro is not spinning! However, Witch Doctor can't seem to get under the little wedge feet the Touro Team has added. The first hit knocks Touro up and over but that's about it. Touro takes a solid pulverizer shot as it attempts to dodge Witch Doctor. Witch Doctor has more torque and shoves Touro into the hammers, taking a few solid hits. It then pulls a reversal and force feeds Witch Doctor a pulverizer shot. Witch Doctor then pins Touro to the side wall. The match was paused for an unstick, but there seems to be no need as Witch Doctor drives away. Touro is still pulled from the wall. 1 minute left as the match resumes. More jockeying for position, and Witch Doctor finally starts landing hits, with him almost beaching Touro on its side. Witch Doctor tries to shove Touro under the hammer but misses and eats a direct shot from the pulverizer. This causes smoke to start pouring out the back, looks like the speed controller broke down again. Time runs out as the Touro team looks incredibly excited about disabling Witch Doctor's weapon. Unsurprisingly, Witch Doctor takes the unanimous judge's decision.

Electric Lawn Gnome Supremacy vs Blue
The lightweight bracket is finally winding down. In this fight we have Electric Gnome, who knocked out the dominating K2 in its last match, and Blue, who took out Federal MT in a grudge match. The winner of this match moves on to the final against UnMakerBot.

Fight! Gnome spins up while Blue charges out, then takes two hammer shots as it repositions. There's a small hit from the Gnome, but its weapon isnt as powerful as it was in its last few matches. It's able to pop around Blue a few times before Blue sticks itself on top of Gnome, stopping both robots entirely. The match is paused for an unstick. Blue immediately shoves Gnome into a hammer. The Gnome finally gets its drum back up to full speed, but takes some more hammer hits as it tries to reposition. Blue takes a few hammer hits as it tries to dodge around the drum. Blue finally goes at the drum, and Blue takes two big hits before we hear something break off of Gnome's drum, sounds like a tooth. Yeah the drum's definitely missing a tooth. Blue shoves it into the wall and it seems to have stopped moving. The drum is still going, but the wheels aren't. However, time runs out before Electric Lawn Gnome Supremacy can be counted out, but the decision easily goes to Blue.

Blue vs UnMakerBot
And right after that, Blue is back up for its shot at the finals! It's still got the plow from its previous fight. UnMakerBot barely seems to have a scratch on it.

3, 2, 1, Fight! UnMakerBot spins up. Blue comes out swinging. UnMakerBot pops Blue into the air once, then twice, then a third time which pops Blue over to the other side of the arena but flips UnMakerBot onto its back. UnMakerBot calls for an unstick, as it is able to drive upside down but was unable to move. UnMakerBot spins up but still not moving. Blue pushes it along the floor. UnMakerBot moves a little bit, and stays in the fight. The drumbot gets a big hit on Blue which knocks a big chunk out of the plow, but it's moving too slowly to stay in the fight and is counted out. One more fight between the two will decide the lightweight title.

Witch Doctor vs General
And now for the middleweight finals. Witch Doctor is coming up from the loser's bracket, beating all sorts of comers after burning out a weapon controller in its second fight. General brutalized the winner's bracket, defeating rival Touro in its last match to get here. If General wins, the middleweight bracket will be over. If Witch Doctor wins, they'll have to fight again.

3, 2, 1, fight! Both robots spin up. The first hit pops Witch Doctor into the air. Do does the second one. Witch Doctor gets General to a pulverizer, and you can hear grinding as General's weapon chews on the hammer. The next hit flips Witch Doctor onto its back, but it can still move. Or can it? It appears to have stopped. Witch Doctor taps out! Your champion is General!

Blue vs UnMakerBot
Lightweight finals time. Blue's already won once, but UnMakerBot got some big hits in and definitely didn't get here by a fluke.

3, 2, 1, fight! Blue charges out. UnMakerBot isn' spinning its drum. Oh, now it is. It flips Blue over onto its back, but it appears to be a little unbalanced. Blue pushes UnMakerBot across the arena and nearly takes a pulverizer hit. UnMakerBot flips Blue around a little more, but drives under the hammer and takes a few hits. Blue does a good job dodging UnMakerBot's drum and pushes it into the hammer again. UnMakerBot gets another hit in before being pushed into the wall again. And another small pop by UnMakerBot. And Blue gets another slam into a corner. UnMakerBot gets two more big hits in, and then time runs out. The judge's decision goes to...UnMakerBot?? The people in the stream seem to be mystified by this, but it was very very close.

Polar Vortex vs Touro Maximus
This is it. The last match in the tournament, and the last chance for a non-spinner to take home a trophy at this event. Polar Vortex is still using the steel scoop. Touro is still looking very very strong.

The box is locked, the lights are on, it's heavyweight finals fighting time! Touro Maximus spins up, makes contact, and causes sparks to fly. A hit damages Polar Vortex's tires, and there's more sparks before Polar Vortex gets under and beaches the drumbot onto the bumper again! Is that it?

Nope, the pulverizer comes down and frees Touro Maximus. The fight continues. Polar Vortex comes in and pushes Touro into the hammers for a shot. Then there's more sparks, and then Touro spins up to full speed. And more sparks. Touro Maximus gets underneath and starts tearing into Polar Vortex's linkage, and it pretty much is able to stay there and tear into the underside of Polar Vortex. When Vortex gets free we see chunks of rubber go flying. We see puffs of smoke coming from one of the bots, as Touro is being whaled on by the pulverizer during this onslaught, and we time runs out with more sparks flying. However, there's a controversial hit after the match ends where Touro hits Polar Vortex and sends it flying. What happened there?

The judges make their decision. The winner is Touro Maximus!!

Congratulations to all the winners down in Florida and good luck with whatever competitions you're going to next!

USATL 2014: Day 2

And here's today's fights. Thanks again to Brad for having this livestream running so I can archive the matches here in text form.

Day 2

El Gran Rey Cholo vs Hurricane Cindy
Our first match of the day is a match in the 120lb loser's bracket. Cindy lost to Touro in a vicious knockout, Cholo broke down against Frankencat. For both of these robots, this is their last chance. If they lose they're out.

3 2 1 Fight! Cholo seems to still have issues. Cindy comes out and gets some good hits on Cholo. Cholo spins up, still with drive issues, and Cindy is able to grind up the back end of Cholo. Cholo is still sluggishly moving around, and there's some noticable damage on Cholo's top. It's still moving only enough to not be counted out. Then Hurricane Cindy makes the decision to drive into the arena bumper at full speed and stops moving. A cheap win, but a win nonetheless for Cholo. Maybe next time they'll actually move out of their square.

Marvin vs The Mutt
Both bots are silver drum bots. Both lost their first match. Who moves on? We're about to find out.

Fight. Mutt's weapon isn't spinning, but he does a good job juking Marvin's initial charge. there's no contact made for a good half minute, and then Mutt takes the upper hand, shoving Marvin into the wall. Marvin narrowly misses the hammer, then gets maneuvered into it by The Mutt. One, two, three, four, FIVE solid hammer hits dent the top of Marvin, and it escapes. Mutt pins Marvin to the wall again. After this there's more boring maneuvering, neither bot seems to have their weapon working, and then Marvin stops entirely. Mutt wins by knockout.

General vs Touro Classic
Back up to the winner's bracket now. Touro and General are both big names from Brazil. Touro's attached a wedge to the front so it can attempt to stave off General's forks.

Fight. Both robots spin up. The first hit causes sparks and flips General on its back. General tries to self right, Touro gets another big hit and seems to have some driving issues afterwards. General hits Touro a few times while inverted, and Touro's drive is working again. Oh wait, now it's spinning in circles. Another big hit knocks General back on its top, and then sparks fly as General hits Touro hard, then sends it flying. Twice. Touro stops moving! General wins!

Touro Maxmimus vs Shrederator.
Ohhh boy. This is the match everyone's been waiting for. Touro Maximus, the most feared robot at this tournament after annihilating Tanto, is facing off against the fresh-out-of-retirement full body spinner Shrederator, formerly known as Phrizbee from BattleBots. Its internals have been upgraded from the last time it fought and it's ready to square down against the sleek bull from Brazil.

3, 2, 1, Fight! Both robots spin, Shrederator is kinda wobbly. Touro is up to full speed, there's a hit, sparks fly, and... Shrederator stops moving entirely?! That's it?? Touro wins by knockout and continues its one hit KO record. Post fight review shows that the battery connection was severed on that one hit, stopping the robot dead.

Black vs GLaDOS
Black is back from its close loss to Aquiles yesterday, and it seems GLaDOS has recovered from its beatdown yesterday courtesy of K2. Black is sporting its plow setup.

Fight. GlaDOS is up to speed fast and gets two good hits on Black, but after every hit GLaDOS has a chance to shove around the drumbot. There are some hits, but it seems that GLaDOS isn't spinning as fast as it was. Black takes advantage of this, slamming GLaDOS into the wall hard. GLaDOS has now stopped spinning entirely. There's a close pushing match in the back corner of the arena, then Black drives straight under the hammer, taking a solid hit. Black can't really get a good position to shove around GLaDOS. Black tries a sit and spin maneuver as the match ticks down. After the match ends we see a puff of smoke and apparently fire from GLaDOS. Black wins the judge's decision.

Aquiles vs K2
Two undefeated robots in the lightweight division. Aquiles never spun up in its first fight, so there's no idea as how powerful its drum is. There's no question, however, as to how powerful K2's weapon is, as it caused a massive lipo fire at the end of yesterday's fighting.

Fight. Both bots spin up and the first hit knocks Aquiles into the air. Aquiles answers with a massive uppercut that knocks K2 up, over and onto the wall, and there is smoke pouring out of K2's undercarriage. Aquiles is moving on.

Maelstrom vs Killa KT
And we're back down to the middleweight loser's bracket. Both these bots lost pretty fast, so it's a chance at redemption for these teams.

Fight. Maelstrom is still kinda shaky spinning up. Killa KT gives no craps and plows straight into it, stopping its spinning. Killa KT maneuvers Maelstrom into the hammers, and Maelstrom takes several hits. Maelstrom is no longer spinning. Killa KT takes a hit from the pulverizer. Killa KT has most of the control over this fight, wedging Maelstrom into the corner and keeping him there. And then the entire shell of Maelstrom breaks from the top bars! Maelstrom is shoved back under the hammers where it takes hit after hit and is eventually counted out. Wait, no that was the end of the match. The judge decision, unsurprisingly, goes to Killa KT.

And now we go to break. During the break, we see Shrederator being tested, and it looks functional. Excellent. Hope they've fixed that battery problem.

Tanto vs Polar Vortex
We're back with another heavyweight matchup! Tanto has recovered from its match yesterday and is ready to face off against the unique Polar Vortex, still in the fork setup it used against Ziegenkase yesterday. Tanto is sporting a Team Toad flag, thanks to the fact that they helped the British team get Tanto ready for this match.

Fight! Tanto still has some slight drive issues but wedges under Vortex first. Neither robot really takes the upper hand early as there is lots of jockeying for position. Both robots take a hammer hit. Polar Vortex is unfazes, Tanto's top has fallen off and it's stopped moving. Is that it? Yeah it is. Tanto is out of the competition.

Tetnis vs UBRuined
Tetnis made it to the second round of the loser's bracket after forfeiting to teammate GLaDOS in round 1 and then taking a forfeit from RIP in its first loser's bracket fight. Tetnis is a non-invertible box with a set of horizontal spinning hammers at the front. UBRuined has been repaired from yesterday's match against UnMakerBot, got a much-needed bye into this fight and still has an undercutter.

Fight. Tetnis spins up as soon as the fight starts. UBRuined is a little more hesitant but does get spun up. There's one tap between the two robots and then there's a big hit which sends UBRuined skidding away, and a wheel falls off. UBRuined is still skidding around on its weapon but can't really move. UBRuined's weapon then gives out, and that's the end for UBRuined.

Black and Blue vs Touro
Both Black and Blue have their plows on. Touro is unchanged. Only one of these 60lb bots needs to die for the match to end.

Fight. Black and Blue are pretty tentative, and they both eat a direct hit from Touro's weapon, the hit on Black actually causing the arena camera to bend lower and give us a worse perspective of the fight. Both clusters are still alive. Touro's weapon has stopped. There's a little infighting involving Black and Blue, and Touro spins back up. The next sends Black out of the arena, and that's the end of the fight. Touro wins.

Mrs. Plow vs Electric Lawn Gnome Supremacy
Mrs Plow and Electric Gnome both dominated their first matches to get here. Neither bot has changed.

Fight. Gnome spins up, Mrs Plow tries to stop it and gets a shower of sparks in return. The next hit flips Mrs Plow on its back, and the wedge won't work anymore. A third hit flips Mrs Plow back right side up, but they've stopped entirely. There's a count out, and your winner is Electric Lawn Gnome Supremacy.

UnMakerBot vs Touro Light
Both these bots are silver drums. Both beat horizontal spinners to get here. Who's the better bar killer? Let's find out.

Fight. Both robots are up to speed. They're kind of tentative to hit each other, and the first one sends Touro Light flying. So does the second. Smoke starts coming out, and a third hit sends sparks flying. There's smoke everywhere, the drum stops, so does a drive motor, and the last hit of the match props Touro Light in a way that it can't move. UnMakerBot is moving on.

Witch Doctor vs El Gran Rey Cholo
Both bots are very nasty vertical spinners from Florida. Witch Doctor's replaced the burnt weapon controller from yesterday.

Fight. Both bots spin up, Cholo is still fairly slow. Witch Doctor speeds behind Cholo and flips it over with one hit! El Gran Rey Cholo can't drive inverted, so that's the end for Cholo.

Blue vs Federal M.T.
Federal M.T. is the lightweight from Team Uai!rrior and is essentially the same as the team's middleweight General: A wedged robot with a vertical spinning disc. It got this far thanks to a forfeit. Blue's got the anti spinner plow on for this match.

Fight. Both robots move out and Federal MT gets the early upper hand, knocking around Blue all over the place and getting some good hits in. Eventually Blue is knocked under the hammer where it takes a few good hits.  Federal MT is relentless with its hits, continuously knocking Blue into the air. Blue keeps coming at Federal MT, but each time he does he gets knocked a few feet into the air. Eventually Federal MT pins Blue against a side wall but is forced to let go. A few more hits from Federal MT and the match ends. Federal MT wins the judge's decision, although massive props are given to Blue for surviving the 3 minutes.

Touro Classic vs Octobot
Both bots are completely unchanged from their last matches. Touro Classic has already inverted a spinner once here, so let's see if it can do it again.

Fight. Both bots spin up. The first hit knocks a piece off of Octobot and sticks Touro on its side, while Octobot starts smoking. Touro sticks itself on the arena bumper, and we see Octobot still moving in its smoke screen. Touro gets off the arena wall and moves in to attack Octobot again, and then we see all sorts of fire coming from Octobot. That thing is seriously on fire. It gets counted out and the crewbots go in to put out the blazing Octobot.

Proton Shaker vs Killa KT
And after this latest lipo fire break, we have two school teams up against each other. Proton Shaker's still red and blue and has a spinning drum. Killa KT is still a paintless wedge.

Fight. Proton Shaker is up to speed. Killa KT gets under, shoves Proton Shaker into the hammer and a belt is knocked off. The drum stops moments later, and Proton Shaker takes another hammer shot. Now it's pinned against the wall. The drum is not doing any damage whatsoever to Killa KT. Proton Shaker drives under the hammer itself and takes a hit. Proton Shaker is then driven under the hammer again by Killa KT and there's some noticeable damage to the back of the drumbot. Proton Shaker somehow gets to the back of Killa KT and is able to pin the wedge in a corner, but the match ends with Proton Shaker pinned against the wall. Killa KT takes another decision.

General vs The Big Cheese
General and Big Cheese are both coming off fairly tough matches against Touro Classic and Witch Doctor respectively.

Fight. The first hit inverts The Big Cheese, and so does the second one. Big Cheese is able to maneuver General into the hammers for a shot. The next hit from General is massive, sending The Big Cheese flying and killing it. General moves on.

K2 vs Black
And back into the lightweights for one more fight. K2's been repaired from blowing up earlier today, and Black is coming off of a fairly dominant victory over GLaDOS. Black has the plow setup once again.

Fight! K2 is not spinning up its weapon at all and is able to use its wedge to maneuver Black around the arena and into the hammers early. Black tries a sit and spin maneuver, but K2 gets Black to the hammers again. And again. There really isn't much Black can do against K2's wedge. And there's another hammer shot. K2 is absolutely dominating this match. K2 gets some more pins in. Black goes back to the sit and spin technique and it works for a short time, knocking K2 away, but K2 gets Black back to the pulverizer again. The match ends with Black being pushed around by K2. K2 wins by a judge's decision, even though it doesn't have its weapon.

Polar Vortex vs Shrederator
The last match of the day is the semi finals in the heavyweight loser's bracket. This is it for Shrederator. It lost in one hit against Touro Maximus earlier in the tournament, and so it's in the loser's bracket now. Polar Vortex is using the steel scoop for this match.

Fight. Shrederator spins up to speed and hits Vortex on the wedge, but bounces back and takes a hammer shot. Vortex pins Shrederator in the corner and lifts it up, but Shrederator is back to life. A chain is seen dangling from the bottom of Shrederator but it seems inconsequential. Shrederator spins up again and pinballs off Vortex's wedge, then comes in for another hit. This one damages one of Polar Vortex's wheel hubs. Vortex is tentative to hit Shrederator, but it pinballs off the wall anyway. There's more hits and more sparks, but Polar Vortex gets Shrederator stuck in the corner again and that seems to be it for Shrederator's spinning. It's stopped, and it doesn't spin up again. The rest of the match is Polar Vortex dominating with its wedge. The match ends with Polar Vortex rushing Shrederator and tipping Shrederator up against the wall right as time runs out. You probably don't need me to say this but the winner of the match is Polar Vortex.

That's the end of Day 2 fighting. Tomorrow is the last day of the event and there's still lots of bots in contention. Massive props to everyone still in the tournament and good luck to everyone tomorrow.