Friday, April 25, 2014

Motorama 2014: Day 1

My dad and I went to Motorma 2014 last February, and this is our story

Day 1:

I was planning on fighting with two bots: the new and improved Slim Pickens, and 4 Minute Warning, which I bought off ebay from Team Asian Invasion. The latter of the two was unable to compete due to the lack of a lipo battery. No problem, I'd get it ready for Bot Blast. Slim Pickens had burned out its escs a week before the event, and a team graciously gave us some replacements. See, we aren't all bitter rivals!

I got to see many of my friends that day, and meet some new friends. One guy I got to talk to was Ray Billings. You might not know who that guy is, but to me, he's a celebrity. He built Last Rites, one of the most destructive spinners of all time.


Battle 1: Slim Pickens v No Such Robot

This was the guy who beat me in the FI 2014 rumble. Its builder had given it a bigger blade, and added a self righting mechanism. I simply pushed it around and won the judges' decision, while NSR only got a few shots in at my backside.

After that mach, my lipo burned out. I have no idea why. Luckily, some other builder gave me another lipo to use for the remainer of the event.

Battle 2: Slim Pickens v Algos

Algos was built by one of my best friends, Mike Jefferies of Near Chaos Robotics. He's given me lots of advice over two years, so now it was mentor v student! One shot, and I'm stuck on my horns.

Battle 3: Slim Pickens v Klazo

Klazo was the prototype Kitbots Saifu kit, which was also a part of Near Chaos Robotics (the driver was going to marry the driver of Algos).  I honestly was surprised that I was drawn up against this bot. In its previous fight, it faced Vile Ant, a terrifying bar spinner, and somehow won. I felt a bit less nervous going into this match, as Klazo was still a threat, but less than the Moto 2012 antweight champion. She got some good shots on me, but I stayed strong and pushed her around and even had her on her dancing on her front for a moment. The judges gave me the nod to go through!

Battle 4: Slim Pickens v Magzant

I've faced nearly all of this team's bots before, and I've beaten all of them. Magzant is unique because it uses brushless motors for its drive (brushless motors are used for spinning weapons). I scooped the other wedge up and got a good hold of it with my little horns. Whilst carrying the other bot, I shoved it into each wall and stuck her in the small space between the wall and floor.

Battle 5: Slim Pickens v Algos (again)
At this point in time, I knew that no matter what, I'd be in the top 3, get a trophy, and go down in Motorama history (okay, the final part might not really happen). This time I removed the horns, so I wouldn't get stuck on my back. Algos knocked me over a few times, and I got under him and pushed him around. Then he got a good shot and tore my wedge off, exposing my battery. I tapped out after that hit.

I got third in the antweights. Yay!

Luckily, the wedge damage wasn't that bad. I just had to reattach it with two screws. I lost both of my drive motors, and was done for the day.

The best match of the day IMO was the antweight rumble. Take a look!

The bots in the rumble are: PMD (Penis Measuring Device), Klazo, Magzant, Kate the Rat, Poco Tambor, No Such Robot, and Vile Ant

Next post: Days 2 and 3!

A Very Very Belated Franklin 2013 Report

I AM BACK


So I went to Franklin 2013, and this is my story.

I got there around 7:30 and bring all of my crap in. The arena is where it has been for the past couple of years, in an area that is rarely used outside of robot stuff. The table I picked was near the boundary line where non-competitors could go, and sandwiched between Hugh Savoldelli and his dad, and Zac O'Donell's two bots. Team Cooking with Gas took up the other side of my table, and I made sure to give him as much room as possible, since he had two 30lbers.

Battle 1: Slim Pickens v Hangar 11

So it's me vs Hugh. I get a couple of good rams at him (Also, you can see how zippy my robot is. It's running 22.2:1 Silver Sparks), but he flips me onto the wall and I can't get off. Oh well.


Battle 2: Thunder Child v Mr, Croup
I got an unlucky draw against this vertical spinner. I got hit several times until I was on my back. Luckily, it actually worked!


Battle 3: Slim Pickens v Ubersaw

Ubersaw's blade wasn't working, so the match was much easier for me. I simply pushed him around like it was nobody's business. Unfortunately, I got stuck underneath the gutter (seriously, why add that?), but the other robot got stuck as well. We got unstuck, and then I won on a judges' decision.

Battle 4: Thunder Child v Void
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo9Q1Xxeviw
Void never got its weapon to work. Thunder Child on the other hand, wasn't fully charged, so I was basically pushing him around really slowly. I ended up winning on a judges' decison.

Battle 5: Thunder Child v Play n' Crazy

Thunder child blew 2 of its motors, and was reduced to limping. PnC dealt some good blows against me, and I had to tap out.

Battle 6: Slim Pickens v Dust Pandemonium

DP was a wide bot with a little blender blade behind a "dust pan". I pushed him around for a bit, and then he flipped me over after my flappy wedge flapped backwards. He got the judges' win.


Battle 7: Antweight rumble

It was me vs Ubersaw, No Such Robot (a wedge with a saw), and See You Next Wednesday (a 1lb Sherderator). I started off pushing the other bots around, but NSR got from behind and cut out the back side of my bot. The lipo came out and was dragged behind Slim Pickens. I ended up tripping over it and it disconnected. I believe No Such Robot won the rumble.


Despite both bots going 1-2, I had a great time! Many of my friends were there, and I saw some awesome fights! Next time, I'll talk about Motorama '14!