Quote:
Originally posted by Replic
From what I've seen of Battlebots, the only thing I have come not to like is the way the show presents itself. The announcers making it sound like a football game, and some of the one liners that are used are just sad and pathetic.
As for the community of Battlebots, I have not competed in it, so I will not comment. If it's anything like what I've met here in FIRST, though, I'd be surprised. I'd be hard pressed to find a community like FIRST anywhere else.
As for the engineering aspect of battlebots- I have seen some truly creative designs. Sure, I have seen some truly crappy designs, but you also have to look at Snake and another one using blades for legs (I forget the names of both of these, but they were truly awesome to behold. Very creative.)
|
Lemme back up Dan and take this on section by section.....
1) The Show is not at ALL an accurate depiction of the life at BB, it's all the fun with your friends in the Pits that makes it as cool as it is. Sooooooo many Inside Jokes, Pranks, and general comradery goes on in the pits. I spent about 70% of my time at BB and about 30% fighting and watching fights, the show doesnt give you that.
2) Community. I bet you have the same idea in your head for FIRST, "These people are AWESOME!" I hope it's at least as good as what we have. My Friends at the Events are what I look forward to the most, not the competition itself. My friends Jerome Eric Chris John and Josh all helped me rebuild my utterly trashed 210lb robot in 2.5 hours at robot wars and was finished in time to make 1st place in it's event. Jerome put about 1200$ worth of stuff in there with about a 50/50 chance of getting the thing trashed. and he did it like it was nothing.
3) The Creativity is there, but you wont see it on television. You see the outer shell, armor and weapon. It may be an external copycat of another robot, but inside it may have a truly innovative feature that only the fellow builders saw. Many robots are copycats of other robots because their design is effective, that's all. If the design wasnt so good, it wouldnt be copied, would it? And even if it wasnt, it would be an oppurtunity to engineer an improvement to that design.
In total, I have spent about 8000$ of my own money on combat robotics. I must come out and say that I think spending a lot of your own money inspires you to use "Thrifty" engineering as opposed to sponsored/school money.
Besides, many people have had FIRST/Combat event crossovers and still had a great time. Remember, Battlebots is By far not the only combat event.
Lastly, here's a lil Phrase that applies to all robotics in general:
"Cheap, Fast, or Good; Pick 2!"
Peace,
http://forums.overvolt.net
S.E.C.R.
N.E.R.C
N.C.R.S.F.
Robotcombat.com
Battlebots Forum