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Quick summary: The first match started off well - I did considerable damage to my competitor - "IT" - but then lost control of my bot for no apparent reason. I started going around in circles - entirely out of control. Eventually lodged itself against the side of the arena and was declared knocked out. This may have been due to RF interference - a lot of people were complaining of similar problems. I had also encountered similar behavior previously - could be due to a bad speed controller. 2nd match - up against a wedge-bot - forget the name. Landed a few good pops - then to my shock - my blade flew off striking the side of the arena with a loud bang. Fortunately enough damage was already done so I was able to nudge the wheel of the other bot. Judges gave me the victory. Post-fight inspection revealed that I'd actually severed the drive shaft for the blade. Pretty impressive as it's it's about 1/4" aluminum. I'd never encountered this problem in testing. Fortunately I had some backups - although it turned out not enough of them. Funding for SpamButcher Combat Robotics is provided by SpamButcher - an antispam email filter. 3rd match - against Ripple - a pinch-bot. I landed a really solid hit on his pincher early on in the match - simultaneously removing it, and (again) breaking the shaft on my blade and sending it flying. After we'd both lost our weapons - his bot showed better control - and won by judges decision. This basically took me out of the match besides for "the rumble" - a fight between all the bots at the very end. I had one more spare blade shaft. After installing I decided to pick some fights with whoever I could coax into it. This probably turned out to be an error - as I again broke my (last) blade shaft.
Killer Robots Kill Spam - SpamButcher is proud to sponsor combat robotics. I -really- wanted to compete in the rumble with weapon functioning (if only for a few seconds) as it was my last shot at getting a trophy. I had several working motors, a blade - but no way to mount it. My oh-so-supportive pit-crew pointed and laughed as I tried to solder my blade the motor shaft (yes, bad idea). I eventually managed to jerry-rig in a different model of motor that I had a mount for using electrical tape and zip-ties. The further bastardized bot was ready for battle about 5 minutes before the rumble. Finally, Double B performs exactly as intended. The blade not only stayed on - but caused serious injury to several bots - and fully knocked out at least one (I'm still reviewing the video footage). Double B won the rumble by audience vote - and I have the giant nut to prove it! I'll post some video footage soon. They also had 12lbs bots at the event. very impressive - they looked and worked a lot more like "real" battlebots. I will be making one soon. Double B will also be back after minor modifications. -Rich
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