Posted by Kevin Sevcik.
Other on team #57, Tigers, from BT Washington and the High School for Engineering Professions and Exxon, Kellog Brown & Root, Powell Electrical.
Posted on 1/30/2000 10:12 PM MST
I sure did, taped it too. It was a neat competition and probably perfect for those FIRST-a-holics who long for the more physical games of the past. My lil’ bro swears he saw two FIRST Gear-Up shirts in the audience. It’s a neat competition and not quite as expensive as you might think, especially on the lower end of the weight scale.
::Evil Grin:: maybe I’ll take it or Robot Wars up for the off season. It looks like a neat way to pass the time.
Posted by Jon.
Engineer on team #190, Gompei, from Mass Academy of Math and Science and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Posted on 1/30/2000 11:28 PM MST
In Reply to: Who watched BattleBots on Saturday or Sunday? posted by Kevin Sevcik on 1/30/2000 10:12 PM MST:
i saw battlebots too, at least the end of it. like the end of the heavyweight and superheavyweight brackets…
i loved minion (little 6-wheeled rc car with sawblades) and the spider one who’s name escapes me… those kicked butt.
the little bolt trophy was kinda weak though…
i think i like my FIRST medals and trophys… (even if the trophys seem to always be breaking, they still beat that silly bolt)
Posted by Andy Grady. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Coach on team #42, P.A.R.T.S, from Alvirne High School and Daniel Webster College.
Posted on 2/1/2000 1:06 PM MST
In Reply to: yes yes good good posted by Jon on 1/30/2000 11:28 PM MST:
I also watched Battlebots sunday night, with many of the students from my team. It was a blast. But it also shows ya, sometimes physical competitions aren’t the best due to damage to robots. The best robots in the superheavyweight division (Ginsu and Mechadon) beat each other up so much, that neither of them could continue into the later rounds of the tornement. Goes to show ya why FIRST likes going with more of a non-destructive type of competition.
Good Luck all
Andy Grady, DWC/Alvirne
Posted by Dan.
Student on team #10, BSM, from Benilde-St. Margaret’s and Banner Engineering.
Posted on 2/2/2000 5:16 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: yes yes good good posted by Andy Grady on 2/1/2000 1:06 PM MST:
I competed in BattleBots last August (it was AMAZING) and plan on doing it again. Unfortunately they’ve been kind of vague about future competition dates and locations. They mentioned having a competition in April, but that doesn’t look likely anymore and they’ve also commented that they’d like to hold competitions in Austin, TX and NYC.
Gracious professionalism abounds in Battlebots; in and out of competition. The same people I’m competing against have taught me the tricks to making a better robot and the same helpful attitude in the pits of FIRST is just as apparent at BattleBots.
If you’re interested in it check out the BattleBots forum linked below.
BTW, Dan Danknick, a judge at last year’s CA regional, was the ‘color-commentator’ for the PPV event and is also a third year Robot Wars/BattleBots guy. He’s got an awesome page at www.teamdelta.com
Also, Jim Smentowski, creator of Nightmare (that scary robot with the 300MPH blade), was a coach of one of the CA teams as well (I forget which one.)
:-Dan
Posted by Keith Liadis.
Student on team #131, C.H.A.O.S., from Central High School Central and Osram Sylvania and Fleet Bank.
Posted on 2/1/2000 10:31 PM MST
In Reply to: Who watched BattleBots on Saturday or Sunday? posted by Kevin Sevcik on 1/30/2000 10:12 PM MST:
Wow, that was a cool competition, but if i hear that crappy robot say 'Let's kick some bot' one more time I'm going to flip out! It was the same recorded voice over and over and over again.
Anyway, I thought it was an awesome comp, it was cool to watch robots that were made for a completely different reason than what FIRST is designed for. Personally, I would love to compete in this comp! It's awesome! It would give a nice fill in for when I'm no longer doing FIRST. I'm sure that some of the engineers that I work with would love to get involved too. But still, nothing NOTHING beats FIRST! There's nothing like FIRST out there. It has been the highlight by far of my high school experiences.
I'll tell you one thing, those drivers definately were not as talented as those of us here in FIRST!!! hehe... I wanted to jump in there and take control of the robot myself! I thought the robot with the spinning wheel that got up to 300 mph was the craziest thing I have ever seen!! Oh yah, and the robots that spun around at EXTREMELY fast speeds! A robot would go into it full speed, and just get thrown off with what seemed like little effort from the spinning robot.
Anyway… before I go insane thinking about bots from BOTH comps, I’m going to stay focused on FIRST the more important of the two…
Later! -Keith
Posted by Andy Grady. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Coach on team #42, P.A.R.T.S, from Alvirne High School and Daniel Webster College.
Posted on 2/2/2000 12:36 PM MST
In Reply to: The ECW of FIRST posted by Keith Liadis on 2/1/2000 10:31 PM MST:
I agree that the drivers were as talented as the some of the drivers competing in the FIRST competition. As a matter of fact the reason why the robot ‘Vlad the Impaler’ won, was because of good driving. As upposed to FIRST, strategy in Battlebots was very simplistic, so basically if you could drive your machine well, you would fair well. I would like to see a robot there use the same type of control system that FIRST uses, i bet that would give a huge advantage by itself.
Here is something else to think about…what if we were to somehow assemble an all-star team from the many teams we have competing in the FIRST competition to make a robot to compete in Battlebots, it would be right up our alley seeing that so many of us love agressive play already…then again, maybe it would be too easy for us to win the thing 
Good Luck all,
Andy Grady, DWC/Alvirne HS
Posted by Daniel.
Coach on team #483, BORG, from Berkeley High School and NASA Ames & UC Berkeley.
Posted on 2/2/2000 2:34 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: The ECW of FIRST posted by Andy Grady on 2/2/2000 12:36 PM MST:
I think each first team ALONE would be able to put together a pretty impressive all star team. In fact, I plan to compete in BattleBots in august with a few people I’ve worked with via FIRST (not that I’m half the engineer most of you guys are).
Gonna be a blast.
-Daniel
Posted by Eric Rasmussen.
Engineer from FIRST.
Posted on 2/2/2000 6:11 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: The ECW of FIRST posted by Andy Grady on 2/2/2000 12:36 PM MST:
: Here is something else to think about…what if we were to somehow assemble an all-star team from the many teams we have competing in the FIRST competition to make a robot to compete in Battlebots, it would be right up our alley seeing that so many of us love agressive play already…then again, maybe it would be too easy for us to win the thing
Here’s some food for thought. Carlos Bertucci, a member of the former Raychem team that won the 1995 FIRST Robotics Competition National Championship (in their rookie year!), went on to compete and win in the heavyweight class of Robot Wars in both of the following two years. He is now (or at least the last time I heard) involved with the online company robotbooks.com (I’m not exactly sure how).
-Eric
Posted by Joe Johnson. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.
Posted on 2/2/2000 6:19 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: The ECW of FIRST posted by Eric Rasmussen on 2/2/2000 6:11 PM MST:
Eric,
Far be it from me to tell you how to do your job, but…
How come YOU have time to read & post on this forum and WE go without Update #7? Hmmm?
I suppose you think you have a LIFE.
‘Ha,’ I say. Get back in that dungeon and don’t come out until that Update #7 is out on the web.
Slave-Master Joe J.
Posted by Lora Knepper.
Student on team #69, HYPER (Helping Youth Pursue Engineering & Robotics), from Quincy Public Schools and The Gillette Company.
Posted on 2/2/2000 7:23 PM MST
In Reply to: What are you doing reading this forum? posted by Joe Johnson on 2/2/2000 6:19 PM MST:
You tell him Joe!
Lora
Posted by Eric Rasmussen.
Engineer from FIRST.
Posted on 2/2/2000 9:24 PM MST
In Reply to: What are you doing reading this forum? posted by Joe Johnson on 2/2/2000 6:19 PM MST:
: Eric,
: Far be it from me to tell you how to do your job, but…
: How come YOU have time to read & post on this forum and WE go without Update #7? Hmmm?
: I suppose you think you have a LIFE.
: ‘Ha,’ I say. Get back in that dungeon and don’t come out until that Update #7 is out on the web.
: Slave-Master Joe J.
Ha ha, I’ve already escaped! I’m working from the comfort of home, where I have my wife, my cat, a hot dinner, a warm fire in the wood stove, and a laptop full of email questions from teams that need to be answered. You can’t dampen my spirits now!
Actually, Frank and Andrea and I work on the updates as a team and we didn’t finish all the sections that we wanted to get into the update tonight, so we decided to delay it another day. I just finished answering questions at around 11 PM.
-Eric
Posted by Dan.
Student on team #10, BSM, from Benilde-St. Margaret’s and Banner Engineering.
Posted on 2/2/2000 8:16 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: The ECW of FIRST posted by Eric Rasmussen on 2/2/2000 6:11 PM MST:
Yeah . .Carlo Bertochini . .he also won the August event and the Las Vegas Heavyweight ‘Robot Rumble’ (where all the robots fight at once) with his robot ‘Biohazard.’ Biohazard is widely regarded as the best engineered robotic combatant in the world. His webpage is linked below.
Posted by Keith Liadis.
Student on team #131, C.H.A.O.S., from Central High School Central and Osram Sylvania and Fleet Bank.
Posted on 2/3/2000 1:30 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: The ECW of FIRST posted by Dan on 2/2/2000 8:16 PM MST:
If you watched the event on paperview, his spaceage alloy robot didn’t fair to well agains vlad… but the robot still looked cool and sleek. Vlad the impailer was an awesome robot cuz of its speed and ability to easily lift other robots… I love watching that match!
Posted by Andy Grady. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Coach on team #42, P.A.R.T.S, from Alvirne High School and Daniel Webster College.
Posted on 2/3/2000 8:32 AM MST
In Reply to: Re: The ECW of FIRST posted by Eric Rasmussen on 2/2/2000 6:11 PM MST:
Oddly enough the year that Raychem won the competition with Carlos, they defeated my old team, Nypro, in the finals…maybe its time to rekindle the rivalry
Good Luck all,
Andy Grady, DWC/Alvirne