pic: OUCH!

[starbot]

Not sure if you remember us, we were Team Alph, the table next to you. I was the one in the alf suit. You guys had a pretty cool design, though with most FIRST teams, it was severly underbuilt and weak for combat (My 12lber had a 2" bore cylinder, so for a heavyweight you should be looking at 5 or 6"). Hope you had fun, and I hope to see you guys with a bigger, better, stronger bot next time!

[Amanda Morrison]

Congrats to you guys for doing a great job. The media coverage was pretty cool:

Originally Posted by D&C Local News

The event's sponsors, Haas Factory Outlet and Monroe Community College, want to help local manufacturers groom future workers, Boyle added.

Greg Needel, 21, represents that ideal candidate, said Boyle.

Needel, who finished 2-2 for the weekend with his creation, Tetracide, is a fourth-year mechanical engineering technology student at Rochester Institute of Technology. "Engineering gets boring when you don't have something to work on," he said.

Originally Posted by D&C Insider Features

The double-elimination tournament will consist of about five three-minute bouts per hour — psycho robot on psycho robot — featuring professional and amateur builders of various levels of techno-sanity. Upwards of 75 builders will have robots accepted into the battle, all competing for a cash prize and (possibly more important) the respect of fellow builders.

RIT mechanical engineering student Greg Needel, 21, of Henrietta will be one of them — along with his heavyweight robot "Tetracide."

Although he's been building robots since high school, this is his first violent competition — and his robot is fierce.

"(Tetracide) has three pneumatic flippers each capable of throwing 800 pounds and a triangular wedge design which makes attacks (on it) difficult," he says.

Winning, he adds, "takes a sound strategy, a good design, strong construction and a decent driver."

And even though he's spent the entire summer assembling the robot, he says he's ready to see its possible destruction.

"In a competition like this where it's really one idea versus another, losing is just like in chess," he says. "You got outplayed, but in the end you learned something."

It sounds like you guys did very well, and I was impressed by the amount of media coverage you got. Congrats!

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

Congrats to you guys for doing a great job. The media coverage was pretty cool:





It sounds like you guys did very well, and I was impressed by the amount of media coverage you got. Congrats!

The media knows Battle bots better than they know FIRST due to it being on TV. Plus the public likes when things crash and blow apart so the media is drawn to it. It's is kind of cool but I'd still rather do FIRST (more challenging).

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by starbot

Not sure if you remember us, we were Team Alph, the table next to you. I was the one in the alf suit. You guys had a pretty cool design, though with most FIRST teams, it was severly underbuilt and weak for combat (My 12lber had a 2" bore cylinder, so for a heavyweight you should be looking at 5 or 6"). Hope you had fun, and I hope to see you guys with a bigger, better, stronger bot next time!

i remember yas very well. we were trying to fit a much bigger one in when we went after phrizbee. we went back to the site for repairs and we found out that it doesn't fit so we kept the same size piston. Greg is in the works of a makeover on tetracide. I am also in the works of making one crazy spinning, crab driving middle weight (120lbs max). i hope to get it done and possibly travel somewhere to compete with it and the made over Tetracide! we just shall see.

[Amanda Morrison]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

The media knows Battle bots better than they know FIRST due to it being on TV. Plus the public likes when things crash and blow apart so the media is drawn to it. It's is kind of cool but I'd still rather do FIRST (more challenging).

I meant the publicity that the individual team got - especially them concentrating on Greg as a future hire for companies. Tetracide and Midnight Invention seemed well-received for the media, no matter what competition they were in. The quotes they used were not solely about destruction of their creation or the fierceness of the competition, but also quoted Greg talking about the strategy and design involved, as well as the learning experience behind it. I thought they played him off to be a college student chock full of ingenuity.

I'm sure there were plenty of articles about the competition and teams there, I just thought it was cool considering how many were about Team Midnight Invention. I guess you guys must have had a good impact.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

I meant the publicity that the individual team got - especially them concentrating on Greg as a future hire for companies. Tetracide and Midnight Invention seemed well-received for the media, no matter what competition they were in. The quotes they used were not solely about destruction of their creation or the fierceness of the competition, but also quoted Greg talking about the strategy and design involved, as well as the learning experience behind it. I thought they played him off to be a college student chock full of ingenuity.

I'm sure there were plenty of articles about the competition and teams there, I just thought it was cool considering how many were about Team Midnight Invention. I guess you guys must have had a good impact.

The D&C did a big article about FLR and R News did a nice story on it as well.

[Ellery]

Originally Posted by starbot

Not sure if you remember us, we were Team Alph, the table next to you. I was the one in the alf suit. You guys had a pretty cool design, though with most FIRST teams, it was severly underbuilt and weak for combat (My 12lber had a 2" bore cylinder, so for a heavyweight you should be looking at 5 or 6"). Hope you had fun, and I hope to see you guys with a bigger, better, stronger bot next time!

Yeah we figured that once we got there that we were alittle under powered but for a first -time competitor we're pretty happy with our performance.

There's not such thing as overkill in this type of competition. Now we know
and we'll be redesigning it in a little while.

It was a pleasure to meet you guys too.

Ellery

[Alex Cormier]

heres the video koko was talking about.

set up of the robot starts at 1:43.
the match starts around 3:30

it hurts to watch.

any other videos ed?

[Greg Needel]

my whole body shudders when i see this...sorry it isn't a great angle but you get the idea.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

my whole body shudders when i see this...sorry it isn't a great angle but you get the idea.

Yeah, I parked over by the corner of the arena and just started shooting. Greg's dad may have a far better video of the action than I got. He was up on the stage next to Greg I think.

[mechanicalbrain]

Oooh that was nasty! Well I have to say that if all that happened was a broken flipper then you guys did one heck of a job building it! I can't wait until you guys get some good pics of the mechanics behind it on your site. What type of weapon did that bot use on you?

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

Oooh that was nasty! Well I have to say that if all that happened was a broken flipper then you guys did one heck of a job building it! I can't wait until you guys get some good pics of the mechanics behind it on your site. What type of weapon did that bot use on you?

it was a simple base that weighed around 90 lbs. the weapon is interchangeable from a heavy 130 lb op to a 120 pound blade. the one that wrecked us was the spinning top. it is amazing what that top can do because it never slows down after a hit, it keeps going.

[JMH]

What happened there looks like your robot blew up.

[Ellery]

Originally Posted by JMH

What happened there looks like your robot blew up.

Yeah pretty much since the 2" cylinder seals broke after the rod was bent and the 250 psi pressure released instantaneously.

Ellery

[teamtestbot]

Good to see that some more people have gotten insight on the combat world, and that they got some media spotlight out of it too. I started out doing combat and still am, alongside FRC this year.