BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!
 

If you haven't heard, BattleBots is back! Believe it or not, BattleBots has played an exciting role in the history of VEX and our parent company, Innovation First International. In anticipation of the season premiere this Sunday, we thought we would share some of this history with the Chief Delphi community.

When the Victor 883 was introduced back in 1999, it was the first motor speed controller developed specifically for use in the growing competitive robotics world. FRC teams reaped the benefits of smaller size/weight and increased current capacity; it revolutionized the way that their 130 lb robots were designed and controlled.

Soon, other competitive robotics enthusiasts took note of this new technology, and in the early 2000's, Victor 883 controllers even started appearing on BattleBots. In addition to continuing their development of 12V motor controllers for FRC, IFI responded to this unique new demand with higher-powered products for these massive, 340 lb machines.

• A 60A / 24V version of the Victor 883
• The 120A / 24V "Thor" controller, now called the "Victor 885"
• The "Victor-HV" series at 120A / 36V and 90A / 48V

These electronics could be found in an estimated 80% of robots in the BattleBox, and IFI also provided official sponsorship to several teams (including my personal favorite combat robot, Nightmare).

Over time, IFI Robotics progressed into VEX Robotics and the VEXpro product line, but our passion for all forms of large-scale competitive robotics has remained constant. As seen above, Bob, Tony, and Paul had the opportunity to attend a taping of the new 2015 season - we are thrilled to share that Victor 885's are still the speed controller of choice, and can be found on nearly every robot competing this year! VEX is also proud to be sponsoring three of the teams that you'll be following on TV:

• Inertia Labs - Bronco
  • Creators of the legendary Toro, winner of a BattleBots superheavyweight world championship and two Royal Rumbles
• Aptyx - Bite Force
  • Creators of the championship-winning Barrage and featured in this "Meet the Robots" video
• Mutant Robots - Lockjaw
  • Creators of Diesector, two-time superheavyweight champion and featured in "Meet the Robots"

Keep an eye out for Bronco, Bite Force, and Lockjaw as they enter the new BattleBox on Sundays, 9pm EST on ABC!

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Go Team Aptyx!

Now I'm kicking myself for not attending the taping last month, but I'm pumped to watch the action this Sunday!

-Mike

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

If you're watching this weekend you'll see three 254 mentors with Aptyx Designs' Bite Force!

Myself and Travis were part of Paul Ventimiglia's pit crew at the event. It was a lot of fun and we're looking forward to the first episode, where they will show our qualifying match vs Warhead, one of the most iconic battlebots from the original series.

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FRC-Battlebot merger confirmed.

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Your robot reminds me of Charles Guan's Uberclocker:

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Wow! Nice job!!!

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Did you know Charles has a team too: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php...272365&fref=ts

With a design that featured uberclocker as a spirit animal.

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As if I needed more reasons to nerd out like I was 14 again...

Can't wait to see those three go at it!

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I could have swore I saw an Andymark AM14U2 chassis in their promo video.....

https://youtu.be/v05Eu6NicaI?t=55s

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The shot you're referring to is of a team near us. It's not an AndyMark base though.

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"The uploader has not made this video available in your country."

:(

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This version does not appear to be region locked.

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Definately cheering for any crusher or spinner-type robots.

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I just saw a mentor from Team 1572, the Hammerheads in the video interview, our partners at Inland Empire during Week 1.
I forget his name, but at Champs, I recall the other team members saying he couldnt attend because he was working on this upcoming Battlebots event.

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You're probably thinking of Donald Hutson. He (and other mentors from 1572/1266) were involved with Disesctor.

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Let's go team Aptyx!!!

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The premiere is tonight! Very Excited!!! :ahh: :yikes: :D

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Team Mutant Robots consists of 4 FRC Mentors from San Diego:

Donald Hutson (Captain) and Alex K from team 1572, The Hammerheads.
Paul Ferrell from team 4583, Robosaurus.
Jonathan Medina from team 1266, The Devil Duckies.

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FYI, it's about to start.

Also, will this bring in another surge of "Is it like BattleBots" when someone asks about your participation in FRC?

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Yes, most likely. But honestly that's a good thing. Especially if it gets more people interested in building more machines like battlebots.

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Guys....Plan X has minibots.

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After watching icewave vs razorback it definately seems scouting is crucial. I'm a little dissapointed to see subjective stats like aggression instead of things like weight, motors, and drivetrain. I'd like to see how thats calculated. I guess thats the price of being on tv :)

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Yeah, those battlebots TV producers should take a few hints from FRC Scouting. I'd love to see what powers some of the spinning arms/saws and crushing devices. :)

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And like most FRC versions, they did nothing and when tasked, they didnt do anything.

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What an incredible match by Bite Force. Amazing job, Team Aptyx!

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Of course 254 owns Battlebots too

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Nice work team Aptyx! That was awesome.

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Against the team that also built Razer. Epic!!!

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You can definitely tell bite force was designed by people who know what they're doing. They didn't just build a good robot; they designed strategically and analyzed the game. And they're crushing it. (literally!)

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The first surge never abated.

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Ok, I'll give you that...but there should have been a generation gap dang it!

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I'll give the first episode a solid A-.

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To slightly rephrase a relevant quote : "There are those that understand BattleBots. And there are those that don't matter."


-dave




.

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Team Aptyx for the win. It was mentioned earlier in the thread, but I am curious; how much scouting and robot modification actually goes on for Battle Bot competitions? The show kinda alluded to it when they were talking about Project X and her multitude of weapons, but it was never clear.

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Didn't even know about the 254 mentors before I deemed Bite Force as my favorite battlebot! Still don't know why circle swerve ramp bot isn't here yet though...

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So question to the people helping teams competing in this - how did you get selected to be on the show? I bet there are a few others that will want to compete next season (hopefully there is a next season.)

Awesome episode but a few of those robots would have benefited from the KOP chassis. Some pretty weird drive choices with a high center of gravity.

Bite Force is going to go far. The magnetic tank treads seemed to do the trick, it didn't even budge when hit.

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Some very questionable design choices........ The commentary leaves a lot to be desired. In a car race they have a lot of commentary about the car technology. This was dumbed way down.

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With no lack of style in the bot design. Looks slick out there!

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I think some of the people are viewing this from a too FRC-specific mindset. A large part of Battlebots, and especially televised Battlebots, is the "cool factor." Some of the design choices may not be ideal, but they set the robot apart and made them a noteworthy machine that plays well on TV. Otherwise we'd just see a bunch of sturdy wedges and defensive spinners.

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It took a decade of it not beong televised to get people to not associate FIRST robots with BattleBots. Looks like the association will be back on the upswing.

Nonetheless, it's pretty entertaining and it was fun to see Cory and Travis on there.

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Paul told me that ABC contacted well known builders and asked them to either build a brand new bot or upgrade an old one. They didn't make it an open competition because they only started contacting people back in December 2014 and wanted to make sure that they would have tried-and-true builders who could manage to make epic robots in that time frame that would work and look cool on TV.

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I'm rooting for BiteForce and Plan X. Also what did you all think of the commentators, I personally thought they were very scripted...

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Quite a bit. It is a lot like FRC...plus the weight limit is enforced only for your current configuration, so you can mix and match modular systems without any real penalty (whereas in FRC, all components must be weighed together).

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Bit Force for the win. I just love the fact that FIRST mentors just pwned a "legend". Also some one should start a March Madness style lineup for the top 16 robots once they have the top 16.

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After yesterday's episode I am super hyped for next Sunday. I also can't wait to see Whysachi's minibots get destroyed again.

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Does anyone know where I could find the full rules for building one of these?
I'd love to see both the robot rules (weight, height, power/speed limitations), as well as the "game rules" (What am I allowed to/not allowed to do in the arena, how cool does my robot need to be/how aggressive/defensive do they need to be).

I think it would be an interesting exercise mentally building a robot for this "game".

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(The rules aren't there right now.)
Does someone have the rules for this current season that the robot fighters had to abide by?

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The rules are likely similar to those used by http://robogames.net/rules/combat.php.

Most combat events in the US, outside of Battlebots and RoboGames, use some variation of the SPARC rules and specifications.
http://sparc.tools/

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

OK, I have to step in here. I am not picking on you, but I want to nip this in the bud.

FIRST mentors did not pwn a legend. Paul Ventimiglia, a seasoned battle robots veteran, just pwned a legend. Look at some combat robotics results from 2009 and you will see Paul V. on top there.

I just don't want this to get out of hand with the whole "FIRST mentors who also now pwn in BB" rhetoric.

Additionally, Donald Hudson is a Battle Bots legend and now helps an FRC team in his area. He was one of the original BB champions from the original tv series. Can't wait to see his robot, Lockjaw, compete.

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Yes, this is Paul V.'s baby, and Paul has been doing this for a long time.

My favorite moment from the first episode:

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Coincidentally, that minibot moment was how I felt by the end of 2011.

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It's still pretty awesome to see that three of the four people shown with Bite Force are involved in FIRST robotics.

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Spotted:

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Haha, didnt see that during the show.

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After reading quite a bit about battlebot design here, I'm curious what limitations there are on Battlebot action during their 3 minute matches.

• Can robots climb or entangle with the field or field elements?
• Could a battlebot be totally defensive? Or would that be a poor design choice due to one of the tiebreakers being "aggression"?
• How large can these battlebots be when they start the match? How large can these battlebots be during the match?
• How much of the robot can I change between matches? It seems that modularity is allowed, but when does removing a module become removing what mkes the robot itself?
• Do the Battlebots participants get free corndogs?

If the last answer is yes, goodye FRC, hello BATTLEBOTS!

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

Not free, but a food truck with pretty decent $1 corndogs was on site.

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Truth. This was Paul's robot. There was a group of people helping here and there (some associated with 254 ) but this was his baby.

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I saw no corndogs at Michigan districts. Corndogs available at MSC and CMP were priced much higher than $1. IRI has excellent corn, but not corndogs, if memory serves.

FRC, are we going to let BattleBots go unchallenged in the corndog competition?

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

Who drove the robot? Great job whoever it was.

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

IRI had corndogs last year, albeit pretty small ones

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Thanks, Paul, and thanks everyone! TLDR: Battlebots is awesome.

I am not an active of a poster here on CD, but I have been an active reader behind the scenes for about 10 years :)

I was super excited for this event to ask some of my friends and fellow mentors on the Cheesy Poofs to help me with this crazy project. I could not have done it without them! Travis, Cory, Colin, Andrew, and Mani were especially crucial Poofs which enabled my team to compete; they all worked hard for long hours, on a whim, and without question. Having Cory and Travis at the event was huge, really put me at ease and able to just drive the robot, and worry less about fixing it and getting it ready after having little to no sleep for weeks.

It was great to partner with VEX Robotics, and WPI for this event. I have used IFI control products, and speed controllers, in so many winning robots over the years. There is a reason I keep using them, super reliable, and tiny well made products. It was great fun getting to see Bob/Paul/Tony out in CA and cheering us on at the event filming! I am proud to have gotten their logos out on primetime TV! I was able to convince ABC to do some filming with us as FRC mentors with the Poofs, as some back story, and hope they use some of that footage.


I love Battlebots, and FIRST. I have been building combat robots for about 15 years now, since I was 13, competed all over the country, in official Battlebots events and Robogames, others, etc. It has been a fantastic journey, and taught me almost everything I know about engineering and building robots.

Combat robots introduced me to FIRST. At WPI, the lab I was given some space in also house Team 190, and I quickly became friends with those mentors and I tried my hand at mentoring with them from 2006 and on. FIRST was huge for me, because I loved working with the mentors and students. Competitive robotics is my passion in life, eat, breathe, and sleep robot events. After moving to the west coast in 2013, I knew I had to join the Poofs!

For anyone that dislikes Battlebots, I feel bad for you, you just don't "get it." It is OK to love FIRST, and Battlebots, Robogames, and whatever other competition pops up. It is all fun, and certainly all inspiring, and all very educational. My favorite part about Battlebots? When I was 13, I was calling industrial companies, sourcing parts, creating a budget, researching how to cut metal and drill holes, learning how to organize travel and shipment of a team and robot, and what can go wrong (everything). My favorite part, is that you actually learn those things the most when the project is a small effort, a 1 person or 3 person team for example. Nobody is just "along for the ride" or "part of the team", you are the team. I think there is much to be learned from working in teams, and team projects, but even more when you go out on your own some time for something you are truly passionate about.

I am a huge advocate of having students go out and try some projects on their own, I think it is the only part missing from FIRST. I would love to see kids going out to find sponsors, design their own machines, compete, make products, anything, on their own for a personal project, as the culmination of the FRC experience. Combat robotics is just one simple area which lets people try that.

If you want to follow along and learn more about my current team, this page will be the most active: https://www.facebook.com/AptyxDesigns

Please respect that we have signed some very restricting documents, and the season is still airing on TV, so there are many things we cannot talk about. The rules and details around the event were made not public for various reasons, but I am sure more information will be available in the coming months.

-Paul Ventimiglia

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I saw a youtube video for Battlebots where one of the tv guys went around to each of the pits and talked to the builders. When he came to you, you said that you put magnets on your tracks to get better traction in the arena. Did you do that after you saw the arena or was that a pre-designed/pre-knowledge of the arena decision?

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

I have used magnets to help hold my robot to the arena floor since 2004. Many others have done this before me too, not my own original idea.

The floor of the Battlebox has always been steel, with traction paint, and Robogames etc also have steel floors.

However, the magnets in Bite Force are not adding a whole lot of additional downforce. There wasn't time to properly tune or test that, or the entire robot. The robot was only finished the night before, no driving testing on steel.

The tank treads are primarily for TV. They look cool, and people like them, that is it! For engineering purposes, they are horrible. Heavy, expensive, time consuming to make, single point of failure, etc.

But... tank treads are neat, and Battlebots is an entertaining show for the masses! I want their to be a toy made with tank treads for Happy Meals.

-Paul Ventimiglia

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Looks like that minibot hit 88MPH. It's probably roaming around the wild west or something.

-Brando

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I had no idea that Donald did this before. That's awesome!
We won Inland Empire with him this season and back in 2011, we teamed up also losing in the Vegas Finals to 987 and company. Donald was pretty hyped since it was their very 1st regional win in the 11 years he's been with 1572. I just forgot his name earlier.:p

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FRC/battlebot merger confirmed again: That's awesome...

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Wow, Battlebots is back! That was a fantastic show. I can't wait for next Sunday!

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I can add some details here from what I heard... and know from past events that seem to have carried over.

Team's were pooled mostly from existing groups of known builders that were still semi-active, groups that competed in such things as ComBots/Robogames and smaller events around the USA/world). I believe teams had to submit a video/designs for a robot/updated robot, some which are floating around on the youtubes.

Battlebots 2015 has a 250 LBS weight limit, and no weight bonuses given to walkers (like it did way back during the first few seasons of the original ie: son of whyachi). "Mini bots" are factored into weight, all "bots" are weighted together and the total weight has to be under 250lbs. As stated earlier the 250lbs is calculated on what you have sitting on the arena floor, so you can reconfigure all you want, just what you fight with is under 250lbs. (Unlike FRC the 250lbs includes batteries/etc)

The best thing about battlebots imho is that it has a very OPEN set of rules. Almost any motors/ESC/power system/building material/etc is fair game, along with no budget limitations. (I could be wrong about the new show but it seems every "battlebot" competition has been like this). Some competitions have stricter rules on weapons (places that don't have a battle cage) such as no flame throwers, no spinners/etc obviously because of the cage most of that area is pretty free for battlebots itself as far as I can tell. Also I don't know numbers but I assume there are some basic dimension rules so the bots can fit through doors and such, as well as basic safety guides (IE no firearms/bombs/EMP/radio jammers/etc).

Matches are 3 minutes, if any robot is disabled within the 3 minutes (ie cannot move) the other robot wins. If both robots are still functional the panel of judges decides who is the winner of the match based on number of hits, severity ofs the hits, who dominated etc. And I believe there's a button where you can forfeit the match if it's going that badly for you.

Now I know a lot of people seem to be bashing certain robot(s); not all builders are driven with the main goal of building the most engineery/techy solid killer robot possible. Some people build them for fun and express creative designs and weird fun things often just for TV, sure they don't do as well as the hardcore battlebots but that's not the point. Sometimes a design just doesn't work out, happens all the time, often time/season(s) builders iterate just like in FRC! I don't want to speak for anyone but aftering seeing some of the posts on reddit/fb/etc I felt like mentioning something along these things here.

I have followed all the "battlebots" alike competitions (battlebots, robotwars, robotica, combots, robowars) since I was a little kid, and am glad to see it back. And pretty happy with how it went, sure there was some TV fluff and drama added in but some great flights as well. All of just just reminds me I need to go finish designing my 30lber- for the competitions around me...........

PS: Most of the teams have pages on FB if you wanna see more photos/etc hit them up since as the show is now on air some NDA restrictions have lifted.

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Thank you for correcting me on this. I appreciate that people on CD are always willing to help correct misinfomation.

I would like to add that it is always cool to know about all the FIRST associations that people have in these engineering competitions.

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Do you think (assuming there are future seasons) that BattleBots will ever become an open competition?

Also: Definitely cheering for Capt. Shredderator next week!

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I just found out that I'm working alongside a competitor from the previous seasons.

He built No Tolerance 3 (and 2, and 1).

See time 14:30 and time 20:30 in this video No_Tolerance_vs_Toe_Crusher

He said that he was planning to go watch, and found out that the entry fee was not much more than the cost of a spectator ticket, so he quickly whipped together his first robot using IFI (now VEX) and Black & Decker parts, and headed west (I remember being young, employed & single ... those were the days).

If the past is prologue, and if the show lasts more than one season, the producers might have casting calls.

My colleague's robot was purposefully built to be both eye candy, and have some chance at winning. He echoed the previously posted comments that the show is about good TV as much or more than it is about good/effective robots.

Build a robot. Make a demo video. Have someone get it in front of the right person, and maybe you will get invited next season...?

Blake

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Yes, I do think that for sure. Every single other Battlebots event has been open since the beginning.

This one was simply unique because they had so little time from announcing, and couldn't firm up details with the network deal. Additionally, they wanted to work with people they knew would have functional robots to make the filming a success for the pilot episodes, and not risk first timers showing up with non-functional, or non-exciting robots.

-Paul Ventimiglia

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Best robot there was Ice Wave, there's not really any way to beat it... The mower blade is awesome.

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I flipper extension may do the trick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVsQoM-i4mw

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Get to it before it can fully spin up to speed and never let it spin back up. Constant contact could beat it.

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If you drive fast enough before the blade spins up, you can drive up the ramp on the front and (potentially) knock the engine out (or off).

I think the most likely to take out IceWave is either Witch Doctor and Shaman, Bite Force, or LockJaw

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IceWave was on fire by the end of its match, remember?
Spinners frequently do similar amounts of damage to themselves as the opponents. This is especially true after multiple previous matches have already put a toll on them.

Spinners can and do lose. I don't think IceWave is the favorite. It's not even the best spinner (IMO). That would be Tombstone.

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Nah, Capt. Shrederator.

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Unless they made it much larger for the ABC show (250 lb weight limit), Tombstone has a big weight advantage on Capt Shrederator.

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There was already a 250lb version (Shrederator Supreme). Wouldnt be surprised if they were using that. Even if they aren't, I still think Captain is better because they dont have to face a certain way to attack, so if their drive gives out they just become an increadibly dangerous navigational hazard.

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Shrederator just isn't that good anymore. Last Rites/Tombstone is a much more destructive robot and is probably the premier modern spinner bot. Here are some recent videos of the two robots against the same opponent Polar Vortex where Sherederator fails to do any damage and gets man handled while Last Rites destroys Polar Vortex

Polar Vortex vs Shrederator

Polar Vortex vs Last Rites

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

Icewave does have an advantage over Last Rites, because Icewave's spinning blade covers all edges and faces of the robot, giving it defense on all sides. However, Last Rites' blade only covers the front half of the robot, and because of this, the other half can be easily accessed by a wedge or flipper.

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Conversely, Tombstone/Last Rights has the advantage of being able to drive after being flipped. ICEWave would require knocking itself back upright using its spinning blade.

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I'm a HUGE fan of bite force. Their match against warhead was AMAZING! Granted they could have a bit more offense, but they're going to be hard to beat for sure.

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I'd say Death and Taxes (or Witch Doctor and Shaman) is another very good bot that could go all the way

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You were saying? ;)

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Anyone else not super happy about how they handled Ep. 2?
I mean, I'll take some super-awesome killing robots to no super-awesome killing robots any day, but if you can't fit all 8 matches into 1 episode, why not split it up more evenly to accommodate (6-6 or 5-7), or better yet, just tack on another episode (entirely up to the broadcaster abc; I totally get it if their hands were tied to 6 episodes)?
But to montage through 1/3 of the round and then spend almost 10 minutes on a cheat/no-cheat net? meh.

I'm not complaining; I get to watch super-awesome killing robots, which is more than I could say for the past 12 years. At least that won't happen in the Round of 16.

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

3/4 bots that got the wildcard spots didnt deserve them. Other than the Tombstone fight, this episode was really lackluster.

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

Going to be honest, I saw the net coming. But that is because I had just watched this a few days ago.

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

For months my favorite robots coming into this competition are Last Rites (Renamed Tombstone) and Sewer Snake (IDK what its new name is but it is the one in tonight's episode during the montage with the yellow wheels)

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

Pretty annoyed they replayed the net match. If it's not in the rules, it's not in the rules...then again, they've never released the rules to the public (terrible idea, btw). I don't really see this show staying on the air very long. There's no real analysis or commentary. It's all so...shallow "Oh, these robots are SO DIFFERENT!". I guess that's what you get when none of the commentators have any technical experience.

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

Not to mention the editing is really poor. As the robots collide: "Let's Show the commentators!" because they're relevant too right?

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

This show almost certainly is only a Summer schedule filler, but maybe it well catch lighting in a bottle.

Remember who the target audience is, and it will make sense. Don't over analyze it, just enjoy it!

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

The three strongest robots would have to be (IMHO) Lockjaw, Bite Force, and Tombstone (aka Last Rites).

Lockjaw seems to have the grappling down, and it looks like it could use its teeth (is that what they would be called?) as a wedge. I did notice that it looked like it had some trouble with flipping overhaul making me wounder about its torque, who will it flip first its self or the other bot.

Bite Force (my personal favorite) seems to be a very strong contender. To me it seems similar to Lockjaw in claw/teeth(?) design. One edge that it does have over Lockjaw is the configuration change. Bite Force's biggest weakness is its treads. As stated earlier (by the designer of Bite Force?) treads are good for show not practicality. I could see them getting destroyed leaving Bite Force immobile, assuming that they do not have any thing up their sleeve (WCD under those treads?).

Last and most certainly not least is Tombstone. Tombstone appears to be an unstoppable harbinger whose entrance into the arena is a herald of tiny bits of broken bots. Dramatics aside Tombstone does pack the strongest punch of my top three. I can see em going all the way but not with out others putting up a fight. I think that wedges could deflect the blades blows and jam its spinner is used right.

My honorable mentions have to go out to Bronco and ICEwave.

Bronco's flip will certainly pack a punch but how maneuverable is it when it comes to defending its back side? Plus with two blade bots out there how will it hod up if they go head to head.

ICEwave has a great showing and as mentioned has a 360 blade, but how strong is the the spinners engine? It did catch fire according to the show, and how will it deal with being stalled?

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

I agree partially. However, the target audience should be for those that are interested in Robotics. The WWE format is a bit of a turn-off for me, but my 7- and 8-year-old boys love the robots in action!

On the same note that others have identified: it would be better if they gave real stats rather than the arbitrary ones that they give. Maybe as this gains some steam, they can evolve these given stats into some that are more reflective of the robots themselves.

It will be interesting to see if more FRC related teams become involved in future seasons. I know that my team is looking into it.

All in all - I am grateful for some Robot action during the summer! Let's keep the Neilsen ratings up there!

P.S. We are all for Bite Force in my house!

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

There's a reason 4 matches were shown as highlights... Because you weren't missing much by not seeing the entire match.

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

I actually thought it would just be a box full of a bunch of cardboard that would act as an energy absorber. IE, it would take a lot of damage, but slow down the spinner enough that it would not cause real significant damage. and allow the other robt to push it around.

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

As much as I hate the net It was a pretty interesting concept that worked but was against the rules (kinda).

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

If it is true that entanglement was not against the rules (which would be a huge mistake), then it was wrong to replay the match based on "historic rules." It wasn't the most crowd pleasing idea, but neither was refusing the hand shake. I didn't like it, but it was thinking outside of the box.