BattleBots Return - And They're Powered by VEXpro!

[BBray_T1296]

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)

[Michael Hill]

Originally Posted by Zebra_Fact_Man

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.

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.

[BBray_T1296]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

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.

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

[gblake]

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!

[Munchskull]

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?

[Chief Hedgehog]

Originally Posted by gblake

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!

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!

[Cory]

Originally Posted by dodar

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

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

[IKE]

Originally Posted by Electronica1

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

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.

[safiq10]

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

[vrcprogrammer]

Originally Posted by safiq10

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

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.

[Rosiebotboss]

Originally Posted by vrcprogrammer

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.

The LRI in me wants toread the rule.

[Caleb Sykes]

Originally Posted by vrcprogrammer

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.

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

[msaunders]

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.

[Necroterra]

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

It was one of those situations where entanglement weapons were included into an "...etc" section of the rules. "No fishing lines, ball bearings, etc..."

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...

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Necroterra

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...

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.