I finally recovered enough to write my impressions of the BBIQ Tournament.
IT WAS FANTASTIC, AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!!!
The atmosphere of the whole tournament was very much a combination of Battlebots meets US FIRST. Some of the FIRST like fun included the large groups of kid’s impromptu dancing to the music during the breaks in the competition with the highlight being Trey himself doing the “electric slide”. The students were all very friendly towards each other and I witness no animosity towards any winning or losing robot teams (which isn’t the case at some high school football games I’ve attended). It’s great to know that the students really get it, that this is just an engineering learning exercise and the actual competition is just the showcase for their knowledge. It’s clear to me that the whole argument that “Battlebots is too violent” is a bogus argument if you look at the comradery the students have towards each other. There were several FIRST crossover teams represented and they did very well, I’ll bet we see many more for the next competition! On a separate issue, it was also very evident by watching the “Pit Crews” who was building the robots, 98% of the work was truly student built. It might be interesting to have a BBIQ requirement that ONLY the students can work on the robots once it gets to the competition.
My impression of the robots is that with very few exceptions the quality of the robots was better than that of Battlebots proper. I believe that can be significantly attributed to the BBIQ curriculum and the “Group Team Building” approach verse a single individual building something in the last month in his garage with only a power drill. The Miami “StarBot” teams tended to have each student on a team specialize on some aspect of the robot and that student would share or teach the other teammates what they had learned. At least three robots had titanium armor “Accelerator”, “Plasticbot”, “E2” and many/most used EV Warrior motors or NPC motors
Things I see that needed improvement are typical of most rookie BB & FIRST teams and that was electrical connections and DRIVING!!! Imagine 50 rookie teams all together at one tournament. The teams that finished a week ahead of time and practiced driving ahead of time had a significant advantage over all others. Of the seven teams fielded by “StarBot” of Miami only the robot “FLIP” (Ramtech 59) had any driving practice, and their performance was exceptional. While talking to a few other teams, they confirmed that their first round in the box was their first driving experience; our all girls team “Femme Fatale” with the robot “Joan of Arc” was no exception. Some of the weak driving could be a case where several teams let multiple drivers each have a chance to drive. The good side of this is that everybody now realizes how important the driving is and now that the robots are completed they can rebuild/ upgrade and start practice driving which should really increase the level of competition at the next BBIQ!
Without a doubt the driver controlled hazards was literally a smashing success!!! I defiantly would like to see something like this at the next BB! It took a few rounds of competitions for the students to start using the hazards as many of them were transfixed on the matches, but once they figured out what power they had and how it could effect the match, the saws & hammers were flying!!! One amusing match was between “Playbot” & “Gatorbot”, nether driver had driven before. When the match started both robots meandered under their opponents hammers and both were simultaneously pummeled…a mutual suicide of sorts. Both robots recovered and “Gatorbot” went on to the rumble finals. Of the 50ish robots maybe only 3 had to drop out, mainly because of lack of spare parts.
Some of my personal favorite fights include the “Green Wave” VS “Checkmate” fight when both spinners hit each other and knocked each other out with the advantage going to “Green Wave” with a few seconds of additional movement. The other would be our first fight with “Joan of Arc” VS the titanium “Accelerator”. ……Sparks flying and robots dieing. (It was our only win so it has to be a favorite!). They also had a few “Grudge” matches that you could sign up for and compete against any other robot. We were involved with a “West Coast” VS “East Coast” (actually Colorado vs Miami) 4 against 4 Rumble. That was a blast with the Miami “StarBot” team demonstrating total control of the rumble.
The volunteers of SERC did a great job on inspection and refereeing and I hope we can keep the BBIQ at Universal for the next several competitions. Parking was easy, hotels were inexpensive, the venue was totally air conditioned, and many of the teams stayed an extra day and visited the amusement parks afterwards.
Special Thanks to Nola, Trey, Greg for having the vision of combining a learning experience with a Battlebots tournament…When is Dean & Woody going to get that this is also good for the world?
K2
Ramtech 59
Team Loki
Advisor to Team “Femme Fatale”