BattleBots

You need a hammer and anvil approach with a flame bot, fire takes time to work so you need the opposing bot to be held in place while you flame it. Perhaps sacrificial mini-bots could work for that?

edited 6th Jul '15 11:25:50 AM by Silasw

What's the no engagement rule?

Also speaking of chains, I was reminded of a classic design.

I think he meant "no entanglement".

Yeah sorry about that, was typing on iPad.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Also wasn't thinking of chains being used that way.

I was actually think of having the chains (or rebar) used solely for defensive purposes (i.e acting as some sort of armor).

Thing is is if they are chains they can't be used defensively, as presumably the opponent would risk tangling their weapon in the chains, thus violating the no entanglement rule.

Rebar would work fine though, that seems legit. I still think that avoiding spinning blade weapons is best done by have a weapon with enough reach.

edited 6th Jul '15 12:11:22 PM by Silasw

Just thought about it some more.

Even if the rebar can resist being cut, there is still the possibility of the rebar being ripped from the rest of the bot from the force of the blade colliding with the component.

It is a common knowledge in engineering that the points where one component interfaces with another component are common potential points of failures, is that correct?

Full Episode 3 video

The round of 16 brackets explained

Warhead vs. Stinger video

For a lot of flipper bots, their weapon doubles as a self-righting mechanism. If they end up on their backs, they can just fire their weapon and flip themselves back onto their wheels. I imagine Bronco can do something similar.

As for dealing with spinners, one tactical method of dealing with them can be to just charge straight at them before the spinner can get up to full speed, but that has a rather small window of opportunity.

Looking back on the series' original run when I was a high-schooler with dreams of building one of my own, I'm now realizing just how utterly screwed the screws would leave the lightweight bot design I'd often make doodles of in my notebooks. Its weapon was basically a Whip Sword (I was a bored high-schooler, okay!?).

I'm also waiting for the seemingly inevitable moment when a bot gets caught in the screws during the pre-fight posturing . Seriously, why are they even active during that?

edited 6th Jul '15 2:27:48 PM by Lightblade

You know given the advances in computing technology, I really want to see this show host a separate competition for autonomous robots.

Bronco's flipper is so powerful it doubles as a jumping mechanism, albeit probably unintentionally so. It's pretty dang hilarious, really.

I wouldn't doubt at all that unless the flipper takes significant damage, it should easily allow Bronco to flip itself no problem.

Right now, I'm really looking forward to seeing Bronco take on Stinger, because I think those two have become my favorite bots left in the competition, especially with Nightmare leaving early (It could just be that I really liked that moment where Nightmare wrecked that minibot).

Bronco's fun to watch with that ridiculous flipper power, and it's amazing to think how fast he's ended fights without actually destroying the robots he's up against.

And it's hard not to like Stinger when it's shown itself capable of putting up a good fight, and when it has a team that knows exactly why people are there. It didn't make much sense when the fight was ongoing, seeing how Warhead was basically out of it only for Stinger to multiple times bring Warhead back in, but in the post-fight interviews I loved seeing how they went on about keeping the fight going because they were having fun, especially since the Warhead team was enjoying the fight even as they were loosing. They know what the crowd wants, and they gave it to us.

If Stinger actually manages to take down Bronco, I'm definitely going to start rooting for it to go all the way as an underdog darkhorse. I'll probably be rooting for the winner of that fight either way as long as one of them are still in it, though.

Makes me sad that we didn't get to see the full extent of Stingers first fight, though.

Oh sure, you know where that leads.

edited 6th Jul '15 7:56:27 PM by tricksterson

Yeah yeah, gladiator revolt, Megatron, Skynet, Claptrap.

The problem with getting in before a spinning blade is up to speed is that it can start speeding up during the activation phase before the fighting begins.

Though I wonder how two such bots with fair against each other, the possible Tombstone against Icewave final is gonna be interesting if it happens.

Some more videos have been posted to the ABC site:

Bobak's Breakdown:

Wrecks

Razorback

Mohawk

Complete Control

And, we also got full match videos of two of the qualifying matches that weren't fully shown on TV!

Overdrive vs. Chomp

Stinger vs. Captain Shrederator

There's something about the Stinger team. On the one hand I appreciate the common man underdog vibe. On the other hand they just project a creepy Stephen Kingy countervibe. Like if you were to go into their cellar you'd find manacles and bloodstained surgical implements.

Tonight's results!

Overdrive vs. Witch Doctor: Overdrive put on a good show, but Witch Doctor's spinner managed to get some solid hits in, and eventually Overdrive broke down and got counted out. Witch Doctor wins by KO.

Tombstone vs. Radioactive: In the beginning of the match, Tombstone waited for a moment after the match started before turning on its spinner to toy with Radioactive. But once it was done playing around, it went after Radioactive and tore the plastic-shelled robot to shreds. Tombstone wins by KO.

Lock-Jaw vs. Overhaul: This fight was a rematch of the fight in the qualifiers where Lock-Jaw laid that late hit on Overhaul. And Overhaul came back with a vengeance. They upped the strength on its crushing arm for this fight. It started out with Overhaul getting ahold of Lock-Jaw and managing to pierce one of its tires. It managed to drag its opponent around the arena for a while before Lock-Jaw managed to free itself. But then Overhaul got Lock-Jaw into its grip again, squeezing its foe by its drive train. This was enough to disable Lock-Jaw and provide Overhaul with the revenge it craved. Overhaul wins by KO.

Bite Force vs. Hypershock: The pre-fight clips revealed something interesting about Bite Force. It has magnets in its treads to help hold it to the arena floor. But that said, this match was the most exciting one of the night, in my opinion. Hypershock dominated the early portions, even managing to send Bite Force flying with a hit from its spinner. But Bite Force managed to recover, and the resulting pushing match caused Hypershock's motors to burn out, giving Bite Force the victory. Bite Force wins by KO.

This was one of the more exciting episodes I've seen so far. All four of tonight's matches ended with KO's, and the Bite Force vs. Hypershock had enough back-and-forth to keep it interesting through the entire fight.

Now, the stage is set for the quarterfinals next week.

Also, ABC has posted its Tournament Bracket◊ on its website. It only has the seeding for the Round of 16, however.

I am very eager to see the blades of Tombstone and Ice Wave shatter against armor that they cannot cut apart.

Those bots need to be humbled and taught a lesson that is nothing is invincible.

edited 12th Jul '15 10:20:45 PM by Worlder

I'm scared for Witch Doctor, Tombstone is pretty much The Dreaded right now.

That's why I hope one team better come up with an answer to the question of "How does one break a weaponized lawnmower?"

I suspect that we may get a final of Icewave against Tombstone, such a match will come down to driving, whichever one gets a shot in with their blade first is likely to win.

Also proof of good seeding, the 1-5 seeds are all still in it.

So glad to see Overhaul win. Aside from their being from my home state I feel Lockjaw should have been disqualified in the first round. It only got through because of a pro-veteran bias.

Tombstone's weapon is devastating but it's also set in front so if you can get to it's back and sides I think it would be vulnerable. The fact that Witch Doctor has a mini-bot and so can attack from two directions at once might prove important.

And okay, I will admit now, fire can be a useful weapon, especially if you're facing a wheeled bot.

edited 13th Jul '15 8:03:02 AM by tricksterson

I wonder if the next season someone might get the idea to put mail inspired armour on their bot.

Assuming it doesn't violate the entanglement rule and is a good defense against spinning blades.

Here's some more videos added to the ABC site.

Round of 16 Part 2 Full Episode

Team Lock-Jaw vs. Team Overhaul, recapping the drama surrounding the rematch.

Lock-Jaw vs. Overhaul, Round of 16, the match itself.

Breaking Down the Quarterfinals

I have officially missed the last two weeks entirely. Grargh...

At least now I can finally watch last week's episode online.

Battlebots has been particularly good about making it easy to get caught up from week to week so you're not in the dark when it comes time for the latest round of fights.