Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

The LRI in me wants toread the rule.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Agreed, so far all I have learned about the rules of this competition is that the rules don't really matter.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Was a bit surprised, my wife (who is not into FIRST at all) sat there and watched the whole show. She seemed to enjoy it and thought the net was a unique idea though was a bit puzzled with the ruling of historical rules. Will have to see if she returns next week.

She was wondering how the judges did their evaluation.
I know some of it was broadly mentioned in the first episode.

I was expecting to see only a small set of matches like the first episode, appeared some of this weeks matches did not last long enough or were not exciting enough.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

On the battlebots subreddit, a member of Team Mohawk said the following when asked about the entanglement:

Now, in my (and I think most people's) opinion, a net is clearly within that etc. but I understand the argument that it isn't. The real mistake CC made was not clearing it with a judge first (perhaps they went and asked a producer who said "sure! sounds exciting" without really caring about the rules), and I think resetting the match was the correct move. It's unfortunate that the match went poorly for both bots after the reset.

As a side note, would some sort of thick foam work to catch a horizontal spinner? It wouldn't be entanglement, per say, but rather absorbing all the kinetic energy...

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

While the foam is deccelerating the spinning blade, the will be plenty of equal and opposite reactions going on that will affect both robots.

Also, in general, anything that does a lot of deccelerating in a short distance starts to be more like tire rubber, or loops of steel cable, than it is like foam.

I think I would prefer trying a mixture of sloped armor, mechanisms that would anchor me to the floor when struck, and/or actively grabbing the spinner while it is slow after a hit.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I thought we were gonna see a minibot drive through the box at the beginning of the fight.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Why? (That's a rhetorical question).

Do the potential viewers who are interested in Robotics spend more money on advertised products than other viewers do?

Or to look at it another way, doesn't ABC already have your eyeballs using the existing format? It makes perfect sense for them to try to attract as many other consumer eyeballs as they can, and for them to push the format as far in those other directions as they are able, without losing your eyes.

Again a rhetorical "Why?"

STEM inspiration advocates would certainly agree; but according to ABC, I'll bet the target audience should include whoever they can attract (more than once if possible) that has the most disposable income burning a hole in their pocket.

ABC isn't PBS.

Is ABC an important example of "changing the culture"?

Discuss...

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Ideally the target audience should be people NOT interested in robotics.

The show is awesome, and I hope my team gets a chance to compete next season.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Actually, Battlebots has debuted to strong ratings against its competitor networks and has had some pretty great reviews thus far. I liked this article best, personally.

My opinion appears to differ sharply from yours. I'm no engineer but have worked for companies in robotics education, production, or engineering consulting for my entire professional career. As a result I hold myself as a fairly decent barometer between the never-exposed, technically clueless and the well-versed robotics community.

At first I was uncertain when I saw that they are using sports reporters alongside STEM personalities. That changed sharply when I saw Bobak Ferdowsi featured, and when I heard Kenny Florian explain the transfer of kinetic energy in the first episode (he's actually very articulate without the appearance of dumbing it down for the masses and I've come to appreciate his weigh-in on the matches). While for nostalgia's sake I was sad to not see Mark Beiro return, they've captured that boxing introduction element perfectly with Faruq Tauheed.

See, if we keep touting that we're participating in a sport for the mind and if we keep trying to get our schools to lend robotics the same legitimacy that sports programs enjoy, we have to include that sports community in what we're trying to accomplish. I'm not saying the whole of America are completely stupid, but Jim Jefferies said it best in that "we have to walk as slow as our slowest person to keep society moving". You cannot introduce someone to Battlebots for the first time and assume that they understand the complicated intricacies and history of robotics competitions. The net-in-a-box was a great example - the casual viewer probably thought the birthday surprise by Complete Control was awesome, but the rest of us knew that there was no way the refs were going to let that fly. Made for great TV, though!

Yes, they weigh categories such as "Defense" and "Aggressiveness" which are somewhat subjective, general, and atypical metrics that you would use to analyze a combat robot. As a community of strategists and robot builders, we know that. America may not know that. Those arbitrary stats are a great general indicator for, say, a small child who has never been exposed to robotics before Battlebots. This show can be a starting point without having exhaustive analysis and still get the point across.

In the blurbs that have featured women engineers/builders on the show, they have all been shown as equals to their male peers without expressly calling that out. There's very little of the special, rare unicorn mentality and these women have done an amazing job of spreading the message of "I wanted to do this, so I did it." The message from all builders, from all backgrounds, of all genders and ages, has been that they are interested in competitive robotics and they do this because they think it is cool. I could go on and on about how I think ABC is doing this particular part of the show so very, very right, but I'll keep that for another post at another time.

By showing the builders, by explaining their professions and backgrounds, the masses will start to see that building a robot is an attainable goal that isn't just for the super-nerdy male engineering stereotype. It gives them the opportunity to build allegiance to a team and that will keep viewers coming back week after week to see how "their" robot has done. It's the same as shows like Amazing Race or the Bachelorette or whatever, right? You always want "your" contestant to win. So even those that are watching with no intention of getting involved themselves, they become invested in the outcome. Maybe they have kids who watch alongside, and discover the robotics team in their school. And just like that, you have a new generation invested in learning about technology application and getting ready for their big trip to Louisville or St. Louis.

I think they have found the perfect intersection between those who have no technical expertise and usually tune in to watch Honey Boo Boo-esque programming, and those who are professional engineers who are dying to build their own Battlebot. What you're perceiving as shallow is playing Mozart to the masses in the starting format of a children's lullaby. It will catch on, and the show can improve on some of the technical commentary once it has been further established and approved for more than just 6 quick episodes. This is an exceptionally difficult middle ground to navigate, and frankly I'm pretty pleased that ABC has done it so well. It could have been rebooted very poorly and the sport would have significant hurdles to overcome before being televised ever again, but the program's success is shared success for the acceptance and beginning of mainstream competitive robotics.

Fingers are crossed for Season 2 to be announced any day now!

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I'll admit I don't know much about the topic, but if you used the right density of foam (or maybe layers of scaling density), wouldn't the deformation absorb the impact and send you flying less? Solid steel won't get shredded by a spinner, but instead it just launches you away.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Shock absorber deformation slows/reduces the accelerations, but doesn't decrease the total energy involved. So, yes, shock absorbers tend to attempt to reduce shock magnitudes by spreading energy over longer times and distances, but they don't make the energy disappear (some is turned into heat, the rest shows up in rebounds, etc.).

If a spinning blade does hit a large, inflexible mass, BOTH the item that gets hit AND the device holding the blade experience roughly similar shocks. A difference is that the spinning blade device's designer knew exactly where that shock would hit, and could build in compensation for the shock.

Protecting (in the sense of surviving a head-on hit without being affected) the exterior of anything physical from attacks that can come from any direction an attacker chooses is usually hard to do.

Becoming a more difficult target to hit head-on, or finding a hole in the attacker's strategy is often easier than choosing to be on defense and then going toe-to-toe with them.

Blake

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I have no desire to violate my NDA by posting the rules in question, but rest assured there was a rule which would in fact disallow the use of the net.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

For anyone who is interested in the specifics of the rules involved, they have now been made publicly available, in response to a viewer email along the lines of the questions in this thread. They were released along with a disclaimer that they expect these to change for any further seasons, and that the highly experienced intended audience allowed them to be more concise (and unfortunately, apparently vague) than they would otherwise be.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I think the show is great. It's entertaining to kids and adults alike and is awesome for someone who doesn't know anything about robots. You have to remember that we aren't their target audience - they assume we will watch. It's the other 99% that they need to reel in. I think ABC is killing it and I hope season 2 happens!

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Those rules are a lot looser than I expected them to be. They don't appear to put limits on springs.
Also, you can fly. I thought there would be more quadcopter robots.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Copters would satisfy the crowd-appeal criterion, but what payload would they carry that would help a team win a match?

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I think part of the reason they were so loose is that they only had competitors who had been there before. So the first line of the rules to me seemed like an unspoken: "you already know the rules"

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I was thinking of powered drilling with (if you can get the tech) synthetic gecko feet to stay on top, but I guess that would be counted as damaging the electronics.

EDIT: you could go for the power switch, but that could be hard to get.
You could try to lift them off the ground! And then drop them from a height of 8-10 ft! If you can clamp on that well, anyway.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Depending on superstructure armor and location of certain critical items, of course, if some copter had a payload on a quick-release (probably want it on a winch as well) and a targeting camera aka "bomb sight", I suspect that a fair number of robots could be damaged or disabled in their internals--see "frisbee on power switch" in FRC 2013. Naturally, the power switch would be the primary target, or anything that happened to be moving.


That being said, I rather suspect that that would be rather difficult given armor considerations and best-guess payload-carrying capacity.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Everyone here saying tombstone is the best, but you gotta remember, tombstone was beaten by mecanum wheels. :P

EDIT: My brother just pointed out that on the battlebots website, the tombstone builder said Alcoholic Stepfather is his favorite robot.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I found this on the battlebots reddit, and it about encompasses everyone here's complaints (or so I believe). http://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/c..._disappointed/

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

::ouch:: What in the world was the other robot made out of??

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Straw.

It was the straw that broke the camel's blade.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Boo.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

After watching episode 2, I can tell most of the controversy was manufactured, just to build up "drama". A veteran would know better to do a blatant late hit. A grey area in the rules about entanglement? That all seems like stuff the producers shoehorned in to build up hype.

I do wish they would get into the more technical side of robots such as drivetrains and maximum momentum/energy of weapons. I remember watching the show as a kid and wondering why some weapons did better than ones that looked identical. That level of detail would answer those questions, and even inspire students to try to figure out how to improve upon some of their favorites. Plus maximum energy could give an actual stat to compare robots before a match, instead of arbitrary numbers with no basis.

THERE IS A WAY TO SEE MORE ABOUT THE ROBOTS
 

For a slightly more advanced look at the robots, check out this video, as well as the few other Battlebots videos on the Tested Youtube page. These videos go into more detail about every robot at the competition, as well as the arena, and at least a bit more about the construction processes behind the different build teams. It's might not be the full CAD post that we are all secretly hoping for, but it is definitely more informative than the show's stories on the robots, from a technical aspect.

*Derails Thread*
For those of you who haven't heard of Tested, it is a channel produced primarily by Norman Chan and Will Smith (the tech guy, not the Independence Day guy), along with occasional contributions from Jamie Hyneman, and more frequent contributions from Adam Savage (AKA The Mythbusters). I've spent a lot of my summer watching this channel, especially the Adam Savage pieces. Adam has the coolest shop I've ever seen for just one guy, and he has all sorts of amazing things to show off. Will and Norm do a lot of reporting on nerdy stuff, including Maker Faire, trade shows, prop building, Arduino, and just about every aspects of tech stuff. For all the FIRST-ers out there, check it out, it's awesome.
*ReRails Thread*

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

And the fact that these guys don't have standardized switches. Some have buttons, some have removable links, some may have more than one of each. You'd need to do something special to pull that stunt off.

Re: THERE IS A WAY TO SEE MORE ABOUT THE ROBOTS
 

His tool and hardware organization system makes me drool a little: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OPSbF6kM9k

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Apparently not according to one of the teams doing an AMA on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/c...znuc?context=3

It doesn't really seem like there's any FMS type system so there's nothing really to stop someone from driving after the buzzer.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

None of the robots have externally accessible power switches for obvious reasons.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I'm surprised you can tell all of that was manufactured, because it was in fact real.

I guarantee the producers and audience and event staff didn't know what was in the box because it would have messed up that team's strategy to reveal it to everyone. Furthermore, when you have a borderline legal devise, an "ask for forgiveness" situation will almost always help you. If you ask ahead, it will usually be looked at more closely and a gap in the rules closed.

The late hit stuff just isn't a big deal (when you're not a spinning weapon robot). Some people are just more sensitive and their are emotions involved. Both teams are good guys, I've known them both for forever, but they both get very sucked up into the competition.

The sort of hokey or "fake" looks stuff is still the builders being people. It's just a show.

Battlebots has a neat goal, to make robot builders be famous and look like rock stars. So kids look up to them like Michael Jordan or Britney Spears. My idols when I grew up? Battlebot builders. Isn't that strangely similar to another one of my passions?

/sarcasm Also, yes please come up with wacky designs to stop spinning weapons, especially if I am fighting you with a spinning blade! Please use anything besides angled hard steel plates. /sarcasm As a spinner builder, I would love to hit absolutely anything over just angled steel plates :)

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Hmmm, I wonder if a sturdy main bot could cooperate with one or two minibots to pin Tombstone long enough for the minibot to latch a pincer onto a Tombstone tire (and later onto the other tire).

The pincer's job would be to destroy the tire, not to become entangled with it.

A Tombstone that can't easily point it's nose at you (no tires) is a one-trick pony without a trick....

Blake

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

That could be a version of "Up close and personal" that ABC started with its Olympics broadcasts in the '70s. It just would have a different focus, and could be oriented toward kids rather than housewives (which was the original target back then.)

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Anyone care to predict the final fight? Im going for IceWave vs. Sting with Sting winning.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I'll predict the final four: Tombstone vs Bronco and Icewave vs Aptyx.

But I like all 4 of them and honestly could see any matchup in the finals from those four.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Is there a link to the most updated bracket ?

Wikipedia BattleBots has some great information but its not updated to the latest results.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Is this what you're looking for?

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I agree with 100% of this statement.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

The clips at the end of episode 3 seem to spoil a lot of the results. Or maybe they're throwing us off.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

and now we need to know... so we have to tune in next week :rolleyes:

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

The trailers do seem to be intentionally deceiving. There's been a very high concentration of good moments for the robot that ends up loosing, which out of context, sometimes look like decisive moments. For example, Bronco hung up on the side rail being rammed by Witch Doctor was prominently featured, as was Ghost Raptor's blade destruction vs. Complete Control.

There's definitely a lot that can be deduced from them based on match-ups shown alone though.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Actually, they're almost certainly throwing us off.



EDIT:

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

If TombStone and Sting meet up, sting will likely win because Last rites vs. Sewer Snake has always ended in a Sewer Snake win.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

to be fair, the one on 2011 doesnt really count because last rites broke their spinner motor the match before that, and couldn't fix it before the match

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Im talking about times when Last Rites' weapon worked.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the fact that there are 28 robots listed on the Battlebots website (http://battlebots.com/robots/) and four of them (BETA, Bull Dog, Chronic, and Splatter) have not been featured on the show. Is there a reason for this?

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Hmmm... Not sure. In the first round on the show, they had 24 robots

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

They were alternates and/or robots that couldn't compete for various reasons (like BETA) and were replaced by alternates.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

If anyone wants to take a short side trip into 1 lb and 3 lb battlebots (and small autonomous vehicles), our good friends over at SparkFun recently held a Saturday of fun at their HQ.

The Battle bots show up about halfway through this video
SparkFun AVR summary video

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Been very busy and haven't had the time to watch much TV, so I'm catching up on episodes on ABC's website.

This brings me back to being a huge fan of the series when I was in middle school. My dad and I watched and recorded every episode, I still have the first 3 seasons on VHS tape. A few years later when I learned my high school was starting a robotics team, I wanted to join because I was exposed from this television show.

After being involved in FIRST for 12 years, I wasn't sure if I'd still enjoy a show about a destructive competition. The verdict after watching: It's still awesome, and brings back memories of watching when I was a kid.

This is great exposure for engineers doing cool things, and I hope it inspires future kids to participate. I'm willing to answer "no, our FIRST robots don't battle other robots" for another 10 years if BattleBots reaches students and audiences not yet reached by FIRST.



Even more thrilling is to see a someone who you mentored as a student, now on national TV. Jamison Go is a 1902 Exploding Bacon alumni, class of 2009. He was our human player in 2009, received his undergrad at Georgia Tech, and is now part of Team Overhaul.

2009 http://www.explodingbacon.com/forums...id=215;preview

2015 http://static.east.abc.go.com/servic...x9.jpg?cb=0032

Oink Oink Boom! Lets go Overhaul!

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Oh my Tombstone....

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Spectacular match. 254 mentors vs a 1902 alumni. Instant classic, good showing from both teams.

Oink Oink Boom! Go Jamison Go.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Also a 469 alum. They clearly know what they're doing!

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

i seriously should not be on this thread, someones going to post spoilers and ruin it for me...
(9 minutes till it starts for me. till then stuck watching family feud...)

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Can you shed more light? Who was the 469 alumnus? How cool.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I love how every prediction ever about ICEWave just got pulverized (BattleBots pun intended)

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I might just remind people on this forum that West Coasters see the Battlebots episode after us East Coasters (#eastcoastbeastcoast).

Please, if you're going to discuss the episode, do so with a spoiler tag.
[spoiler] [/spoiler]

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

West coasters should just stay out of this thread until tomorrow. Or move East.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

but the west coast doesn't have hurricanes. also we have 254. and 1678. good enough.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

And the best video streams in FIRST.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Aight, now I know how to use spoiler tags. And now that I have re-watched the tested video, they did kinda spoil the De-icer (I spent all this time wondering why it said that on it).

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I would disagree with this statement. Michigan has best livestreams.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I would disagree

Shouldn't we be talking about battlebots anyways...?

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

What a good episode. I think we'll see a Tombstone vs Bite Force finals.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

The deicer prevented icewave from getting close enough to do any real damage. the one good hit icewave got flipped them over. Also the bot that tombstone just got really luck defeating witch doctor. Witch doctor was dominating that match.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

spoiler...it was totally worthless.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

IMO the only damage done to Tombstone it did to itself. Witch Doctor just had a thick enough armor plate to prevent any real damage to it. Kinetic energy did the rest.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

In my opinion, what you just described is the best strategy for defeating a powerful spinner...

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

MSC is professionally done by a local TV crew and paid for by sponsors. I don't know about 2014/2015, but when I was still in Michigan, livestreams for the districts were often done with a GoPro.

469's 2010 operator/de facto team captain. Charles Guan is also a 1771 alumnus, I believe. Jamison Go said on Facebook that 190 was also represented in that semifinal match.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Wow, Ghost Raptors evolution reminds me of the evolution that FRC robots saw this year.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

You spelled Bronco wrong.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Tombstone seems to be able to turn in place pretty well and I don't see them letting Bronco get position for a flip on them. Tombstone destroying itself on the other hand...

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

It seemed like Bronco's driver isn't exactly the best one there. Watching the match last night, it looked like he didn't have much field awareness (kept running into obstacles on the field and walls), but perhaps it's just a small sample size issue. Also, I'm going to assume that Tombstone has at least one more weapon and that they have time to put it on, so I'm leaning pretty heavily on Tombstone winning that match.

Also, it wasn't abundantly clear what happened with Ghost Raptor. Was their main weapon permanently damaged or did they just take it off to face against Icewave? If it was permanently damaged, I don't really see what they can do to stop Bite Force, but I suspect they'll do something to make it a good fight. I'm going to give Bite Force the benefit, because I seem to recall the announcers saying something about Ghost Raptor weapon being irreparably damaged.

Unfortunately, if Bite Force faces off with Tombstone, I think it's a pretty easy fight for Tombstone unless Bite Force throws on their heavy armor, which seems to be about the only defense against Tombstone. Let it destroy itself.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Ghost Raptor's horizontal spinner was sheared in half during one of their previous fights.

I don't know how much time they have between rounds, but the deicer seemed to be perfectly designed for Icewave. Did they bring that to the event, or design and manufacture it entirely between rounds? If the latter is the case, then it's highly likely that they'll have another redesign tailor made for their opponent. I like how much freedom they have when it comes to redesigns.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I think Bronco would have a pretty good chance of defeating Tombstone if they extend the flipper arm a little more. It rides so close to the ground that they could get underneath Tombstone (spinner or not) and flip.

I have a feeling there will be a Bronco vs. Bite Force finals.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I really wanna see Bronco vs. Bite Force or Ghost Raptor in the finals. I think Bite Force would have a better time against Bronco than Ghost Raptor would, but I don't know.

I think Tombstone is the weakest of the remaining four robots.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Am I the only one who finds Ghost Raptor matches boring?

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

The matches themselves might not be the most exciting but the strategy the Ghost Raptor team uses is the best of all robots. They lost their main weapon in their first fight of the event and still made it to the semis. The de-icer was particularly clever and reminds me of the blockers teams would use in 2013 to stop FCS.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

No. I feel like the de-icer is getting overhyped. It didn't stop Icewave from hitting them. Ghost Raptor was able to take the hit, but the match was pretty much over in 15 seconds. Not very exciting.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

It was made on site between matches.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Wow, that's very impressive. Do you know how much time they have in between matches?

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

It was basically a last ditch effort from a team not willing to let a huge setback kill them. It probably . . . shouldn't have won it for them, but I think the fact that Icewave's blade had to bounce around between Ghost Raptor's ramp and the de-icer made all the difference. The fact that Icewave was lifted off the ground while its blade bounced around against Ghost Raptor and it's de-icer threw it off balance too much.

Though I was rooting for Icewave, the de-icer was one of those great "not going down without a fight" / "crazy enough to work" moments.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I tend to look at more in terms of what they should have been doing all along, whenever facing a spinner.

Po-taa-toe vs Poe-tah-toe
Tastes great vs Less filling
etc.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

+1: in a battle with Tombstone; tombstone will cause most of the damage. now whether it causes this to itself, or its opponent...

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Bronco's driver is great: look up T-minus or Toro from the old battlebots- there's some more extended battles that show his skill better. I think that he just assumed that the field hazards wouldn't come up, since they were pretty much non existent in previous matches. and tombstone used his shorter blade vs witch doctor, so he still has 1 left

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Turns out the writers at Vice produced an article that provides the meat of my earlier argument, albeit in much more eloquent fashion. Beware strong language in some parts of the article.

Battlebots is Sports All Right, and It's Amazing

Literally the only thing I've been upset about has been the lack of ABC announcing the second season. I think this experiment in bringing back Battlebots to prime-time television has been an incredible success.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Depended on what point in the tournament it was. Probably 18 hours between the first fight and second fight, then around 2-4 hours for each subsequent one.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I really hope VEX considers giving FIRST and run for their money by getting a large robot competition going. I believe First needs some competition and we need more choices in the large robot format.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Wow! What a finals!

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

You're in for a treat West Coast!

See y'all next week to see who wins BattleBots in Detroit!

Wait...

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Ha!

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Remember what site you're on! CD members have been known to go off on people for comments like that :D

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

You obviously have never met Wil Payne before... :rolleyes:

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

Liking the sound of that!

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

His comments are some of my favorite :cool:

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

I WON'T POST ANY SPOILERS BUT I'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW!!!

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

*spoilers not really though*

Let's not forget to give Mr. Ventimilgia and team aptyx the credit they deserve. Biteforce dominated in the finals! Paul is truly a talented builder and driver. They deserved that trophy.

Re: BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

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