Bot Blast 2015 Recap (Very Belated)

I completely forgot I had a blog, and I think it would be a good idea to update it. Since my last event was Bot Blast 2015, that's the perfect place to continue

Both Slim Pickens and Thunder Child were ready to go days before the event. Viciously Circular had issues with mixing that I never got the chance to fix during the event (I was going to put it in the rumble or grudge someone).

If you forget which one is which you haven't been reading this blog enough.

At the event I was able to easily get through safety checks. I also had the pleasure of meeting Russ Barrow for the first time, who I had been chatting with for quite some time online. Russ had brought Dark Pounder, Dark Blade, and Dark Daggers for the main competition, and Dark Micro 44 and Dark Bullit for grudges and rumbles.

Many of my friends were there, including Jamison Go. It felt weird seeing him for the first time after his television debut on the reboot of BattleBots.

Due to the large number of bots competing this year (more than any other Bot Blast), all matches were shortened to two minutes long.

The antweight bots

The beetleweight bots

The mantisweight bots

Slim Pickens (2W 2L)

My first antweight match was against Cornerstone, a 2wd wedge I had fought before at Motorama. Last time I fought it beat me due to my ESCs not being calibrated properly.

The match went well, as I was able to outpush and outwedge it most of the time. After the two minutes were up, I had won the judges' decision.

Match two was against Sisu, another 2wd wedge (no picture available ATM). Unfortunately for Sisu, its wedge wasn't flush enough to be too effective against me. I dominated it for the entire match and moved onto the next fight.

Satan's Segway was my next opponent. Straight from MIT, this bot was made out of pipes. It previous events, it didn't do so well. As soon as the fight started, one of my Silver Spark motors decided that life wasn't worth living and broke a gear. Slim Pickens was left limping around for the full two minutes and was sent to the losers' bracket.

I went back to the pits and swapped out the wiring harness for Slim Pickens with a spare one I had made before the event. It was ready to go after the ESCs were recalibrated.

In the losers' bracket, I was drawn up against Cyclone, a horizontal midcutter with a nasty blade.

(Right)

 I was really nervous going into this match because this was the first time Slim Pickens ever fought a midcutter, and the fear of my wheels getting chopped off was present. After one good slam into the wall, Cyclone took my wheel off and then followed it up by ripping my wedge off.

Slim Pickens was done for the day. As I went back to my pit table with the bot in hand, Alex Horne, the man who helped me with this bot the most saw the damage that it had sustained. I don't know what happened, but I think a bit of him died that day.

Thunder Child (4W 2L)

With its brand new steel wedge, I had high hopes for Thunder Child at this event.

With my newfound confidence against spinners, the first bot I was going to face would be an undercutter.

(Foreground)

My opponent was Silent Spring, built by Jamison Go from MIT (something something BattleBots joke). What was interesting about this fight was that at Bot Blast two years ago I faced DDT, the one pound bot this one was based off of. He easily beat me.

Immediately, I raced across the arena to try and box rush him. I missed, and then we lined up for a head on collision. One good hit made him ricochet around the arena. After several other bounces, his weapon belt broke and I was easily able to push him around. Thunder Child won on a judges' decision, and suffered only scratches to the wedge and one side panel.

It made the "ping" sound whenever Silent Spring hit it. That was a plus.

My next match was against Gemini, another 4wd wedge with a 3D-printed frame.

Despite my best driving, I couldn't get under him with my new wedge. This sent me to the losers' bracket, and I was determined to make up for my previous loss.

My next opponent was Alex Horne, a good friend of mine. His bot Robo-Rooter came off of a lucky win against drum spinner Arcbeetle. Robo-Rooter was another midcutter with an STD (single tooth disc). I was a bit worried since I thought he could get a good hit on me if I wasn't careful. Thankfully, I didn't need to worry.

Robo-Rooter's weapon never worked, and its drive had problems. It was an easy win for me, and Alex gave me some advice during the match.

"Hubmotors are stupid, don't build them." 

-Alex Horne, 2015

My next fight would have been against a scary looking eggbeater named Chibi Knockout, but it suffered drive issues and had to forfeit. 

Instead, I ended up fighting its teammate, Don Doerfler's Circuit Breaker.

Don's bot was originally another midcutter with a partly 3D-printed frame. After running out of 3D-printed weapon pulleys, he was at the point of forfeiting. I had a spare titanium sheet and offered to give it to him. He duct taped it onto the back of his bot, creating a massive spatula, and added unnecessary but hilarious foam pieces to it.

It was a tough match, but I got the win. He kept charging me with the spatula but I was able to dodge it and give him some good shoves.

The next match was against Gemini, again. I was really nervous fighting a bot that previously beat me, and kind of bummed out that I wouldn't be facing Colsonbot. Not having much confidence in the same wedge that I used the first time, I quickly changed to my spatula wedge, but put it upside down to make a traditional hinged wedge.

I am happy to say that history did not repeat itself. For the entire match I was under Gemini and straight up dominating him to the point where Gemini's driver was ready to put his transmitter down.

After that, I was guaranteed first, second, or third. I was even more tense.

In the losers' bracket final, I would be facing two-time champion Mondo Bizarro.

Truth be told, I sometimes underestimate Brandon's bot at events. At Motorama and Franklin, it got some of the worst possible draws. For the past two years at Bot Blast, Mondo had gone undefeated. This year it lost to Dominant Mode in the winners' bracket final, and now I had to face it.

I used the anti-drum attachment that had worked well for me against Grande Tambor, as it was specifically designed for bots like Mondo Bizarro. For most of the match, I had the upper hand. However, the foam block used for shock absorption started to fall off, and Mondo got a good hit on me towards the end of the fight.

At the time I thought I had won. The judges said otherwise. Mondo Bizarro went on to get first place for the third time in a row.

For the first time ever, Thunder Child had placed at an event. All the things I learned from Pete and friends had paid off.

After the regular awards were handed out, Jeremy announced the winner of the Best Driver award. By an overwhelming majority vote, it was me.

Bot Blast was a success for me. Thunder Child made me love the beetle class a lot more, and I knew that there was a lot more in store for it in the future. Slim Pickens didn't go home without a win, but it's time for another rebuild.

Thank you to all my friends who were there, and Jeremy and family for giving all of us a reason to come back every year!

Bot Blast 2015: Thoughts on the Other Bots (Beetleweights)

This is part two of my thoughts on the Bot Blast 2015 competitors. If you have not yet read the antweight thoughts post, I would recommend you read it first.

I decided to run Thunder Child instead of Viciously Circular for two reasons:

1. After its performance at Motorama, I decided to run it.
2. Viciously Circular is being worked on by Kyle Singer.

Like the previous post, I will only be doing the bots that either have images, or I know what they look like. To view the full Builders Database list, click here.

#1 Low Blow- I'm worried that I won't be able to push it, but at the same time have a feeling it'll be pretty slow. It should be able to stand up to most of the spinners.

Arcbeetle- It's a Kyle Singer bot, so I can expect it to be deadly. I think it'll place this year.

Dark Pummeler- Not looking forward to it just like Dark Pounder. It got third at the Seattle event, and I think it'll go far

El Destructo- It's gotten a complete makeover, and it looks great. Brandon has been pouring his heart and soul into this bot, so it'll be neat to see how it does.

Gemini- Fast wedge, I just need to outdrive it to win. Hopefully I don't have to fight it (I don't want a wedgefest).

Mondo Bizarro- Two-time reigning champion. Probably the most successful Weta kit next to Weta itself. I think I can beat it. I have the anti-drum attachment, and if I can beat Grande Tambor, Mondo's next!

Nocturne- It had weapon problems at Motorama, but hopefully they've been sorted out. It's well driven, too.

One Fierce Fourty Five- A melty brain spinner made by Gene. I've seen it in a video before, and it's scary. I'll use the scoop to keep it at bay.

Rmr- It had some issues at the last two events it was at, and hopefully they'll be fixed. I kind of want to fight it, because I think it'll be an entertaining fight.

Robo-Rooter- Very vicious looking horizontal spinner built by Alex. I really hope it doesn't eat itself like it did two years ago, since I really want to fight it.

Scorpius- This bot is a 3D printed undercutter with a blade similar to that of Traumatizer. I don't like fighting undercutters, but I'll see what happens.

Scrambles the Death Dealer- Always looking mean event after event, it always comes up short. I really hope Tim's modifications work out this time.

Short Circuit- Another drum, I should be okay with this one. The lack of wheelguards could be a problem for it.

YardMaster, Master of Yards- Similar to Jamison Go's Silent Spring, I've just got to be careful and not let it get the best of me.

My top three scared-of bots in the beetleweight division are:

1.  Dark Pummeler
2.  Mondo Bizarro 
3. Arcbeetle

Bot Blast 2015: Thoughts on the Other Bots (Antweights)

Hello friends! I am back from my hiatus from blogging, so I thought I'd do a predictions post about my next event, Bot Blast 2015. For Bot Blast, I'm only bringing Slim Pickens and Thunder Child. I thought I'd divide up the posts by weight class, so I will first be doing the antweights. For the record I will be talking about every bot that has a picture of it, or I know what it looks like. To view the Duilders Database lineup, click here.

Anyway, here we go:

Antelope- Well driven wedge, I think he will be using the full wedge this time rather than the wedgelets, so I have to be more careful. Antelope has dropped out of the event.

Blutsauger- So far it looks like a nasty dumbot. I've seen the build progress of it, and it impresses me.

Cornerstone- I got beaten by this bot at Motorama because I had ESC problems. It's a well driven bot that I hopefully will be able to outdrive.

Cyclone- I haven't really seen that much of it in action, but I simply want to go right into his blade and make sure my wheels aren't attacked.

Dark Blade- I've seen footage of it that Russ posted, and it looks FIERCE. However, it did run into issues at a Seattle event. Russ should be able to fix it in time for the event.

Dark Pounder- Dark Pounder scares me. However, it might not be an unstoppable bot. Since Bot Blast uses a wooden floor, Dark Pounder will not have the advantage by using magnet wheels. It lost at the Seattle event because it got stuck under the arena seams, so if I'm lucky, you never know.

Ferocious Mk. - I actually don't know if Brandon Young is going to use this one, since he has three other bots entered. If he does, I'll have to outdrive it.

FireArrow V2- It doesn't have a picture but I know it's going to be similar to Kobalos but with the Fingertech Sumo Wheels. He'll be tough.

Gyroscopic- The bot that beat me at my first event is back. However, I'm faster and more maneuverable than before, so I think I have a good shot.

Justice- Should be fun. I've got to watch the wheels, though.

Petit Gateau- A first-try build from a long time fan of the sport. Looks crude, but I think it could surprise a few people.

Satan's Segway- Probably the coolest bot here. I'll use the horns and keep him at bay.

Spinzilla- The Same as Cyclone. Watch the wheels.

The Ophidian- One of the new Viper Kits that I really want to fight. If I flip him over, then I can control the fight and prevent him from chopping my wheels off.

The Red Shpee- Slow wedge, probably a joke entry.

My Top 3 most scared of bots:

1. Dark Pounder

2. Dark Blade

3. FireArrow V2

Franklin Cup 2014 Recap

I feel like this should've been posted sooner, but oh well.

The night before the event I couldn't sleep at all. I was so excited about the next day. What would happen? How would I do? As the hours ticked by, I was even more nervous!

I arrived at the event around 7 am, and set up my pit table next to Ian McMahon, who brought two ants and a beetle. Ian's a SWARC (Southwestern Alliance of Robot Combat) veteran, and I had some cool conversations with him about his experiences. My table was on the border between the pit area and the audience area, something I've been doing for the past two Franklin events.

Slim Pickens got through safety easily, but I had a problem. Viciously Circular was overweight by .7 oz. I was running out of time, and I wouldn't have enough time to bring the weight down. So for this event, Viciously Circular was out.

The fight brackets were posted, and I had to wait anxiously for my first match.
 

The pits. Lots of activity, as always.

Crawled Crawler, a cool looking sportsman from Canada. It managed to get 3rd in its weight class.

 Ian's bots. The bot on the far left, Speed Wedge 3, got first in the beetles.

Beetleweight Weta kit Mondo Bizarro. It didn't do so well this time.

Togr, an angled horizontal spinner built by Kyle Singer. It got second place in the beetles and did a lot of damage

Triggo, a destructive shell spinner built by Zac O'Donnell. It got first place in the featherweights.

The arena after a day of fighting.

Match 1: Slim Pickens vs Physique Black

 Physique Black was one of the scariest bots there. I wasn't sure I'd make it out alive. However, I was able to dodge the drum (which at one point started smoking), and win the judges' decision.



Match 2: Slim Pickens vs Puppy

For this match, I decided to not use the horns for Slim Pickens. After what happened at Bot Blast, I didn't want to take any chances with them slamming me on my back. We traded blows, and it was probably one of the closes fights I'd ever had. Luckily, I won the decision.



Match 3: Slim Pickens vs Brisingr

The actual Brisingr

For the record, Brisingr looked nothing like what it did in its BuildersDB page, so I don't know if Kyle was lazy or messing with us. It had a nasty spinning disc that had done some damage in its previous fights. I was really nervous. Luckily for me, they had weapon motor issues which allowed me to push them around with little to no scratches.


Antweight Final: Slim Pickens vs Puppy (again)


This was it. The ant final. I knew that if I lost this, I would still have another chance (you have to beat the undefeated bot twice in order to win in this event). This fight wasn't as close as the other one was. For the first time, I got first place at an event. Interestingly, this was the fight where Slim Pickens took the most damage. One of the washers for my Snap Hubs fell off and I didn't realize it until after the match. I had to go back into the arena to get it since I can't buy replacements from Kurtis.

Slim Pickens with its first place trophy.

This event was without a doubt a success. Slim Pickens performed flawlessly and left with barely any damage. I got to see some great matches, see cool bots, and hang out with friends. There will also be an article in Servo magazine in the next month or so that will be written by Hugh Savoldelli, so stay tuned for that as well. My next event is Motorama 2014, which leaves me with a lot of things to get done:

• Order extra snap rings for Slim Pickens
• Order extra parts for Thunder Child
• Get Viciously Circular in weight for Motorama
• Start working on my new beetle

The full results of the event.

A friend of mine, who goes by the alias "The Media Wiz", came to the event and made a little video about it. I think it would do the video justice if I embedded it here:

Franklin Institute Robot Conflict 2014 Predictions (Antweights)

It's that time again! Franklin Institute Robot Conflict is coming up, and it's time for predictions. I am going to devote this post to only antweights, since I will be competing with Viciously Circular and Slim Pickens. That way, I will be able to talk about each bot I could be facing.

You can view the BuildersDatabase page for the event here.


Brisingr

Brisignr is built by Kyle Singer, who has created bots such as Ripto and Fangus. The sawblade doesn't concern me as much as it would with a spinning bar or disc. One thing to note is that Brisingr was (I believe) the basis for Swamp Woman 2, a bot that I fought at my first event and beat. I shouldn't have a problem, but I just need to make sure he doesn't chew up my wheels.

Kate the Rat

This was the first bot I ever beat. I should be able to do it again, but it depends on who is driving it. The team (a family of six), has had alternating drivers on several of their bots. I'll just have to see who's driving this time.

Physique Black/Red

These bots scare me. They both have vicious looking drums, and are probably my greatest threat at this event. At Motorama I beat a bot similar to them thanks to a close judges' decision, but I think it will come down to how well they can drive them.

Puppy
Magzant is back, and it has a new name. Like Kate the Rat, it depends on who is driving it. It can get under me, so I just need to stay to the sides and shove them around. I'll probably ditch the horns this time.


Sky Rocket

I faced this bot at Bot Blast, and he could have beaten me had I not hit him in the bottom after getting under his wedge. I need to be careful facing him, since Sky Rocket had a pretty good driver, and it will probably be a close match.

Spinzilla

One of my best friends, Brandon Nichols, has a new antweight. It looks deadly, especially since it came off a 2nd place win at the MIT Maker Faire. Like Brisingr, I'll make sure he doesn't chop my wheels off.


The Red Shpee

Apparently it has a wedge, but it has no picture or any combat record. I'll just have to wait until the event.

So here are the top 3 most worrying antweights:

1. Spinzilla

2. Brisingr

3. Sky Rocket

Bot Blast 2014 Report

ANALYSIS TIME

So here's how my matches went:

Slim Pickens vs Nuff Said

Nuff Said was a box with two wedgelets on the front. At the start, I got under him, he got under me, and then he started to lose control. I shoved him into the wall and stuck him underneath. Then I whipped out my phone and took a picture, which gave everyone a laugh.

Viciously Circular vs Velociraptor

Interestingly, this would be a rematch from Robogames 2013, in which Endgame (the original bot), beat Velociraptor when it drove out of a pushout by accident. In Bot Blast, it wasn't going to happen  Both bots exchanged hits until Viciously Circular lost its pulley and was flipped over.

Slim Pickens vs Empire

Empire was a wedge with a spinning drum that I don't think ended up working. It was built by a team that had competed only once before. I pushed it into the wall several times and the link came off. Another KO for Slim Pickens.

Viciously Circular vs Sky Rocket
 

(Middle)

Sky Rocket was made from a new team for their first event. It was a scaled up version of Zach Lytle's "Micro Drive" that was made into an antweight kit by Fingertech Robotics. Going into this match, I was afraid that it would be able to get under me, and it did so for the first 15 seconds in the match. Not only that, but I didn't want to completely destroy their bot in their first event.  I was able to get around to the sides and hit them, and drive it to the wall to deliver some its to the underbelly. The driver tapped out, and I backed off.

Slim Pickens vs Velociraptor

After losing to this bot with Viciously Circular, I was a bit nervous going into this match. For safe measure, I removed the horns on my bot so I wouldn’t get flipped over. I got under him most of the match and he chewed up my wheels and put a few dents in the front. After the full three minutes, the judges gave me the nod to go through.

Viciously Circular vs Hercules

(Right)

Hercules was a servo powered lifter bot that I didn’t seem afraid of. I thought I could simply get under him and pound his underbelly. After one hit, my front panel fell off and I tapped out since it exposed my battery. The reason was because I didn’t put in all the screws and it simply fell out due to the shockwaves from the hit.

Slim Pickens vs Antelope

If you recall my predictions blog post, you’d remember that I was worried about Antelope. From its previous matches, it looked very effective and very wedgy. For this match, the builder used several aluminum(?) wedglets as opposed to its normal flat wedge. I pushed him around the entire match, and was able to get the judges’ nod to go to the finals.

Slim Pickens vs Fire Arrow

Fire Arrow was definitely on the top of my list of “bots that I am worried about facing”. What would make this match important is that it was for all the marbles. There would be no second match if I lost since it was a modified double elimination. The match started and we got under each other multiple times. My drive system had some issues and it seemed that I kept turning when I wanted to go straight. He got under me and shoved me to the wall, which ended up flipping me onto my horns. This left me with second place in the ants.

All in all, Bot Blast 2014 was a success for me. I got second in the ants, used a bot with an active weapon for the first time, and saw some awesome matches. I also learned how well of a driver I was, as several people told me how well I was doing. One other highlight was the crowd. They really enjoyed the event, and a lot of kids got really excited seeing robot combat for possibly the first time.

The next event I will be going to is Franklin 2014. I already know what must be done for the event. They are as follows:

-Resolder Slim Pickens' drive motor leads
-Get extra snap rings for my Snap Hubs
-Loctite the screws on Viciously Circular's weapon pulley, and grind a flat edge on the motor shaft
-Replace Viciously Circular's weapon motor and ESC

Bot Blast 2014 Predictions

Another event is on the horizon, and it is time for me to make predictions!

Bot Blast 2014 is an annual event held in Bloomsburg, PA. It features antweight, beetleweight, and mantisweight robots (and formerly fairyweights). I will be competing with two ants this time, Slim Pickens, and my new ant, Viciously Circular (formerly called "Endgame").

Let's get Started!

Here's how the ants look:

Edit: as of July 4th, Cannon will not be competing

Probably my biggest concerns include Gyroscopic, an eggbeater that beat me at FI 2012, Cannon,
another beater that got second at Motorama 2013, FireArrow, a very good wedge that got 3rd last year, and Antelope (it's being redesigned to be 4wd instead of just 2wd), another good wedge. Another bot, Velociraptor, could possibly be a threat. It's done very well in the past, but my wedge should hold up against the sawblade. If we do fight, I do hope to see a lot of sparks!

Now we're onto the beetles!

Probably the one to watch out for is Raptor 2.2, the two-time Robogames champion. It's fast, very well driven, and can take a beating but keep on going. From the same team is Allosaurus, a drum bot which is one of the few bots that has ever beaten Raptor 2.2. Ripto 3.0 is a returning champion(?) which has done really well and can hit hard. Reigning champions Mondo Bizarro return as well. It's a good bot, but I think it might get outclassed by some of the other bots. One Fierce Javelin is competing, and seemed promising when it got a few wins at the 2014 USATL STEM Tech Olympiad, and is pretty fast, too.

Finally, the mantisweights.

Reigning champion Threecoil returns to fight against some more dangerous bots. It's got a flywheel powered flipper that gave it two first place finishes in a row. Returning after a years' hiatus, One Fierce Bush Wacker is a nasty spinner that won a few years ago. It's another hard hitter. Chibi Blackout is a nasty looking drumbot that resembles that of a 15lber. CATAPULT is a shell spinner that has been under construction for a while. If it doesn't have any technical problems, it could do a lot of damage.

That's it for today!