ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

Most won't care, but for those that would, here's some interesting news.

http://www.battlebots.com/news_home.asp#espn

Lots more info at the link, but this'll keep the post from getting massive.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

I want to make one! Where do I sign up?!?!

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

You mentioned a link... where is it? :confused:

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

I hope it's more organized than the one I went to a couple of years ago with Greg. It was really disjointed and came off as more of an exhibition. Considering that I paid $22 to attend that wasn't so great.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

Ed, the event in rochester actually was an exhibition, the tool and die administration paid BB to put on a show. As for this one it is a return to the roots of televised robot combat. I have already started sketching some ideas for Tetracide 2 (faster, more powerful, etc)...

The event is going to be sometime in the june-july time frame, good thing I didn't work with a team this year because now I have my own 16week build period

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

$22 for an exhibition is a bit much. So what weight class is 220 lbs?

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

heavyweight

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

http://www.battlebots.com/news_home.asp

Sounds like fun.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

Hrmm, I've always wanted to do one of these competitions, and its in the summer so thats nice. I attended a BB competition about a year ago and to be honest, it was kind of boring.

There was one fantastic crash and then the bot was disabled and as they say in the south "Dun fur" It definitely would be fun to get some college guys together to do this tho.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

Holy smoke, yeah this sounds pretty interesting. I'm sure we could get a team or two together from Indiana :)

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

That does sound pretty cool id like to be on a team (bo was here)

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

Too bad it's only for college teams, as my team is in the SF Bay Area and we usually don't do much with our old robots anyway... :yikes:

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

So...I might be able to drive a robot again.....interesting.....:D

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

I just read the rules, and was trying to think of a design I'd be okay with building, and then came to the realization - the point of this competition is to HURT other robots :ahh: The thought of destroying any robot is just......depressing :(

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

Well, you can think about i differently.

When I design for robot combat, I think of trying to make the most durable machine I can (on top of the usual ease of manufacturing, cost, good practices, etc...) because I want my skills tested. Now, to get those tested, the other guy has to be able to lay some smack down; so, he's expecting me to return the favor. ;)

But, I can admit, It's also nice to see some good robot on robot combat sometimes.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

How much is it to register for one of these competitions?

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

using past events as a reference ~$200

although if you are worried about that cost I would suggest skipping it. I would bet that most people with a bunch of FIRST stuff lying around would still need to invest $1500-2500 min to have a competitive machine.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

UCF Team built theirs for a few hundred at the college BBIQ comp I went to last year, but granted they didn't do all that great they basically designed a bot to only beat the #1 bot ( a cow catch that avoided being hit by the spinning blades of their opponent ) they just pushed their opponents into the hazards.

Its much harder however if you can't use good materials.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

An update for everyone was posted a few days ago: http://www.battlebots.com/news_home.asp#espn2

For the college students, this is some good news:
We didn't think we'd be able to pull together the people to do this having just come from Atlanta, but now we can work on it over the summer and into the fall semester.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

I remember going to BattleBots when it was in Las Vegas a few years ago, didnt know it was still around.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

Love it or hate it, but BB really looks to have come back....

Official event registration has opened on Builders Database, and teams have begun to register. There are three classes, high school (120 lb.), College (120 lb.), and Pro (220 lb.)

Yes. That’s right. High school 120 lbs.

Think you're good at Defense? Well, now you can prove it… :yikes:

I'm not entering anything, but I'm definitely going to test the waters.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

Combat robotics actually "inspired" me to become so interested in robotics. When I was about 3 or 4, I watched an episode of Robot Wars.

I used to love combat robotics, but I feel the sport has got stale. Every (effective) robot has a spinner. No originality in the sport anymore. Before, you would have robots of every kind to test their metal, from giant sledge hammers to circular saw blades to pneumatic spikes. Granted, these weapons, especially the pneumatic spikes and saw blades were so terrible all they caused were scratches, but at least there was variety.

I actually enjoy watching rambots (Tornado, storm, sewer snake), since they do more than aim for a robot, rev their spinning disk/drum/body, and go, but instead, they actually maneuver a robot around, and they are more fun to watch. The carnage a spinner causes is nothing like watching a combined 200lb+ mass of robots slam into a wall.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

at first i liked battle bots and other stuff like that..
but after competing in FRC, i like FRC better bc youre actually building something constructive that is less violent and promotes the whole gracious professionalism ethic that we all strive to emulate.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

I can't wait to see this competition. There should be some great ideas that would apply to an FRC bot as far as high quality fabrication goes. Though personally I'd only go if I can watch other peoples' robots be destroyed ... I just don't have the heart to watch one of my own magnificent real life creations be pulverized to dust. SimCity :D taught me that.

Re: ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions
 

I was at the event and had a great time. Entered with my 12lber fighting as a 15lber in the botsIQ event that was running at the same time. Got 4th out of 25-30 15lbers and best engineered.

The big bots were pretty good. I really hope the 220lb stuff makes tv. Can't go into detail about the big bots as those were taped for TV and are covered by the NDA for the event.

Here's my bot getting tossed around in its third match against eXecuter-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9-jk...e=channel_page

Note, the arena roof is at least 8' tall and I hit it twice. Got high centered on a piece of my bot that got ripped off and that's what got me counted out.

Went 5-2, winning 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6. Spent half of match 4 and the rest of the tournament with only one working wheel. I really hope video of matches 5 and 6 turn up.