Hey everyone, Allen here from Triton Robotix. We're a team from the University of California, San Diego.
Anyway, the 900+ lb walking robot posted at the beginning is Gearcrow and was made by Mutant Robots. Incidentally, the creator of Gearcrow is our team mentor!
I actually got to compete in the April 2009 Championship, and that what an incredible experience that was. The producers showed the team some rough edits of the fights, and it looks spectacular. The Youtube videos hardly do the show justice, especially if you don't know how big these robots actually are.
So, its totally awesome that someone involved in this is here but... how did you find this forum? Do you just Google Gearcrow to see what the buzz is?
Improvolone on
Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
lol, maybe I like to read the Penny Arcade comics, and one day decided to check out the forums...
Or maybe I just ran a google search for BattleBots CBS to see if there's any type of promotional material out there. Apparently, there's quite little.
Buy yeah, I got to help set up Gearcrow in the arena. We needed to use a modified engine lift to move it into place. Unfortunately, it was just for the exhibition part of the show, so it didn't get to fight any other robots.
So our mentor made a really successful robot called Diesector, which used a powerful jaw to dominate its enemies. Building on the effectiveness of those jaws, which is also his signature design, he decided to spend a couple of years constructing the walking behemoth.
Since it hasn't actually seen any battles, it's hard to say what it's capable of, but yeah, the primary design is to eat the hearts of its enemies.
Is that just a spinning drum?
I've always wanted to see a battle bot that was shaped like a giant pill. It would win on points because it would just drive over the opponent. It wouldn't be able to be flipped or anything.
Improvolone on
Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
EDIT: Okay, these are a combination of footage from the 2009 Pro, College, and High School matches (and some interviews), with highlight matches from the old show in high quality.
Why does it look like every other robot is controlled by someone with MS?
I'd imagine it's from a combination of finicky, over-responsive controls, receivers and speed controllers that have been exercised well beyond any manufacturer recomended limits, an unfamiliar driving surface in the box, and the drivers experiencing that special kind of adrenaline rush that can only come from burning a thousand dollars for the entertainment screaming hordes of fans.
You should watch Living With Ed on Green Network, Bill Nye is his neighbour (I would buy a house just to say that) and they are always getting into these little competitions on who can be more green. Its hysterical.
Improvolone on
Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
Well, that would happen if they got the Weaponizers desert bunker/arena thing all to themselves. It would actually kinda suck, because then just about every robot would cost $10,000 [armor piercing weapons wouldn't be cheap], you couldn't directly watch any of the matches, already stringent safety standards would get even more restrictive, etc. In fact, I'm pretty sure the competition would still be dominated by something that didn't use guns - a robot with a spinning drum and a good all terrain drive system would probably trash anything with a turret.
Technically you can make one if it's in the "innovative class," but there's no way you could make an arena safe enough to actually let it use its weapons.
Well, that would happen if they got the Weaponizers desert bunker/arena thing all to themselves. It would actually kinda suck, because then just about every robot would cost $10,000 [armor piercing weapons wouldn't be cheap], you couldn't directly watch any of the matches, already stringent safety standards would get even more restrictive, etc. In fact, I'm pretty sure the competition would still be dominated by something that didn't use guns - a robot with a spinning drum and a good all terrain drive system would probably trash anything with a turret.
Depends on the terrain and the size of the engagement zone. The battlebox is an arena. Surprise is impossible to achieve and flanking is difficult.
In the real world, the Boyd (or OODA) Loop is incredibly important.
* Observe: make use of the best sensors and other intelligence available
* Orient: put the new observations into a context with the old
* Decide: select the next action based on the combined observation and local knowledge
* Act: carry out the selected action, ideally while the opponent is still observing your last action.
In the battlebox, the loop is often irrelevant. You can see your opponent, the only question is how to approach and how they will respond. In some cases, like with huge spinners like whyachi, even the question of how to approach is irrelevant; the warriors just clash like gladiators and the audience cheers. Expand the size of the engagement zone and suddenly the battle ceases to be about weapons and starts being about information.
I think there used to be a robot that had a huge gun on it, unfortunately it only had 1 shot. It was dangerous to the point that Battlebots had to ban the use of gunpowder.
Eventually, they had to limit projectile weapons to tethered items that can be reeled back in.
But yeah, I think for robot combat, guns are less interesting than melee weapons. Watch any Gundam series and when it comes to guns, it's just a matter of who has the bigger one. With melee stuff, there's at least a dynamic battle going on.
An exposed rubber belt was transfering power? Doesn't that sound like a bad idea?
Yeah... that not how I would do things, if I were on that team. lol, I guess it's ok, considering most contestants are just low to the ground spinners, so the chances of the belt getting cut is low-ish.
I actually heard run-away drones are not rare at all in the US military... Often pilots have to shoot down unresponsive drones before they fly into diplomatically unstable airspace.
It's just a matter of time before they turn around with glowing red eyes, now.
The little ones (3 lb weight class) are the largest size that full autonomy is explicitly allowed (as far as I can remember) - I've never seen a match between two of them though. I have seen some other non-battlebots autonomous fighting robots though. It's a very new competition called Mech Warfare.
An exposed rubber belt was transfering power? Doesn't that sound like a bad idea?
Yeah... that not how I would do things, if I were on that team. lol, I guess it's ok, considering most contestants are just low to the ground spinners, so the chances of the belt getting cut is low-ish.
I'm curious as to how you would do it?
Putting armor around the belt would increase weight in a place that's really unlikely to get hit (really, how do you hit around the big spinny bar without taking it on the chin yourself?). It would also give you another piece to take off and replace when doing repairs. I seem to recall that repair time was often quite limited in the old Battlebots competitions. I'd think that anything you can save time on while not building in a severe weakness is a good thing.
Using a chain system you run the risk of breaking the chain if the gears get even a little out of alignment, something that a belt allows you to have a bit of lee-way with, as well as increasing weight (though less then the armor).
A straight gear system would seem to be even heavier and more requiring of precision then the chain drive would be. Considering the knocks that this bot was dealing it seems likely that it could knock it's own weapon out of alignment just hitting the opponent.
An exposed rubber belt was transfering power? Doesn't that sound like a bad idea?
Yeah... that not how I would do things, if I were on that team. lol, I guess it's ok, considering most contestants are just low to the ground spinners, so the chances of the belt getting cut is low-ish.
I'm curious as to how you would do it?
Putting armor around the belt would increase weight in a place that's really unlikely to get hit (really, how do you hit around the big spinny bar without taking it on the chin yourself?). It would also give you another piece to take off and replace when doing repairs. I seem to recall that repair time was often quite limited in the old Battlebots competitions. I'd think that anything you can save time on while not building in a severe weakness is a good thing.
Using a chain system you run the risk of breaking the chain if the gears get even a little out of alignment, something that a belt allows you to have a bit of lee-way with, as well as increasing weight (though less then the armor).
A straight gear system would seem to be even heavier and more requiring of precision then the chain drive would be. Considering the knocks that this bot was dealing it seems likely that it could knock it's own weapon out of alignment just hitting the opponent.
You get +1 Comprehension of Engineering Points! That belt is in a place that is very, very hard to hit. You don't really want to waste weight by adding some kind of armor around a belt like that. Besides, if you did add the armor, and it was hit, it would be that much more of a bitch to fix the belt because now you don't just have a damaged belt but also a nice big piece of crumpled metal that is blocking the belt entirely. (An equally valid series of events is the belt shield gets dented all the way into the path of the blade, and the robot's own weapon either locks up or tears the plate off)
Isn't there a japanese contest for humanoid-robot fighting? I seem to recall some video where someone was doing quite well by way of his control system (g-gundam style).
- I'd probably go with polycarbonate covers, rather than metal ones for the belts. They're lighter and whatnot.
- It's a pretty disappointing how the show got canceled just a couple of days before it was going to air. Ah well, at least it's upgrading itself to a bigger network, which is nice.
Well, despite the show being delayed I was still able to get to a premier party - and I've got to say, the show is awesome. Among other things, you will see the first Ring-Out in the history of televised BattleBots. You also get to see a little more of the pits & the behind-the-scenes work that goes on at each competition.
Posts
So, its totally awesome that someone involved in this is here but... how did you find this forum? Do you just Google Gearcrow to see what the buzz is?
Or maybe I just ran a google search for BattleBots CBS to see if there's any type of promotional material out there. Apparently, there's quite little.
Buy yeah, I got to help set up Gearcrow in the arena. We needed to use a modified engine lift to move it into place. Unfortunately, it was just for the exhibition part of the show, so it didn't get to fight any other robots.
Since it hasn't actually seen any battles, it's hard to say what it's capable of, but yeah, the primary design is to eat the hearts of its enemies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd7bUqwxGH0&feature=related
I've always wanted to see a battle bot that was shaped like a giant pill. It would win on points because it would just drive over the opponent. It wouldn't be able to be flipped or anything.
And yes, a giant pill robot does exist. It's name is ROFL. It doesn't win many points because it can't do damage, but it's fairly difficult to break.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kx3K52dKGY
http://www.youtube.com/results?uploaded=d&search_query=battlebots&search_type=videos
There's more in the AutodeskMFG's channel.
EDIT: Okay, these are a combination of footage from the 2009 Pro, College, and High School matches (and some interviews), with highlight matches from the old show in high quality.
I'd imagine it's from a combination of finicky, over-responsive controls, receivers and speed controllers that have been exercised well beyond any manufacturer recomended limits, an unfamiliar driving surface in the box, and the drivers experiencing that special kind of adrenaline rush that can only come from burning a thousand dollars for the entertainment screaming hordes of fans.
lol, that's us.. and I think Autodesk was totally not supposed to leak these out this soon.
God damn, I love Bill Nye (THE SCIENCE GUY) too.
Check out my art! Buy some prints!
It'd be awesome to see two remote controlled tanks going at it. Ablative armor, machine guns, mini rockets, etc.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
Technically you can make one if it's in the "innovative class," but there's no way you could make an arena safe enough to actually let it use its weapons.
Depends on the terrain and the size of the engagement zone. The battlebox is an arena. Surprise is impossible to achieve and flanking is difficult.
In the real world, the Boyd (or OODA) Loop is incredibly important.
* Observe: make use of the best sensors and other intelligence available
* Orient: put the new observations into a context with the old
* Decide: select the next action based on the combined observation and local knowledge
* Act: carry out the selected action, ideally while the opponent is still observing your last action.
In the battlebox, the loop is often irrelevant. You can see your opponent, the only question is how to approach and how they will respond. In some cases, like with huge spinners like whyachi, even the question of how to approach is irrelevant; the warriors just clash like gladiators and the audience cheers. Expand the size of the engagement zone and suddenly the battle ceases to be about weapons and starts being about information.
Eventually, they had to limit projectile weapons to tethered items that can be reeled back in.
But yeah, I think for robot combat, guns are less interesting than melee weapons. Watch any Gundam series and when it comes to guns, it's just a matter of who has the bigger one. With melee stuff, there's at least a dynamic battle going on.
Yeah... that not how I would do things, if I were on that team. lol, I guess it's ok, considering most contestants are just low to the ground spinners, so the chances of the belt getting cut is low-ish.
I actually heard run-away drones are not rare at all in the US military... Often pilots have to shoot down unresponsive drones before they fly into diplomatically unstable airspace.
It's just a matter of time before they turn around with glowing red eyes, now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb7raS9WjOk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMhrvKEmyTY
The X-Brat is pretty cool, judging from the videos. It seems like it turns really slowly, but I think some additional programming can fix that.
Is this going to be avilable online, like through Hulu? Also, will it be available on DVD at some point?
Putting armor around the belt would increase weight in a place that's really unlikely to get hit (really, how do you hit around the big spinny bar without taking it on the chin yourself?). It would also give you another piece to take off and replace when doing repairs. I seem to recall that repair time was often quite limited in the old Battlebots competitions. I'd think that anything you can save time on while not building in a severe weakness is a good thing.
Using a chain system you run the risk of breaking the chain if the gears get even a little out of alignment, something that a belt allows you to have a bit of lee-way with, as well as increasing weight (though less then the armor).
A straight gear system would seem to be even heavier and more requiring of precision then the chain drive would be. Considering the knocks that this bot was dealing it seems likely that it could knock it's own weapon out of alignment just hitting the opponent.
You get +1 Comprehension of Engineering Points! That belt is in a place that is very, very hard to hit. You don't really want to waste weight by adding some kind of armor around a belt like that. Besides, if you did add the armor, and it was hit, it would be that much more of a bitch to fix the belt because now you don't just have a damaged belt but also a nice big piece of crumpled metal that is blocking the belt entirely. (An equally valid series of events is the belt shield gets dented all the way into the path of the blade, and the robot's own weapon either locks up or tears the plate off)
On another sad note, the show is now delayed.
- I'd probably go with polycarbonate covers, rather than metal ones for the belts. They're lighter and whatnot.
- It's a pretty disappointing how the show got canceled just a couple of days before it was going to air. Ah well, at least it's upgrading itself to a bigger network, which is nice.