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Battlebots!

polycounter lvl 10
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Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
http://battlebots.com/news/

So Battlebots is making a comeback!

So excited for this, it's been a decade since the last major tv presence, and i was sooo excited for it as a kid.

Now there is no pusher bots, everything needs an active weapon, and electric technology has come in leaps and bounds. This is gonna be AWESOME.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnACo3zgI5k[/ame]

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  • FullSynch
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    FullSynch polycounter lvl 11
    So excited for this :D

    Witch Doctor and Shaman, is a bot duo even legal?
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    As far as i know swarm bots have always been legal, it's just not too smart, as it's hard to make it effective.

    But we'll see how they go!
  • skyline5gtr
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    skyline5gtr polycounter lvl 9
    freaking loved this
  • DanglinBob
    I wonder if Grant Imahara will be competing :D
  • Mstankow
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    Mstankow polycounter lvl 11
    I am excited for this but will we end up with designs like last time? They kind of got boring?

    I really wish there was a quadruped category. I want to see Boston Dynamic robots duking it out. Maybe in a decade or two.
  • Lucas Annunziata
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    Lucas Annunziata polycounter lvl 13
    Awww sheeeeeeit! I was just reminiscing about this the other day. This is great!
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    Mstankow:

    Well there are rules preventing wedge bots this year, so yeah it will be a lot more interesting. Check out the video i posted in the start.

    It's already shaping up to be more interesting with the designs this year.
  • beefaroni
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    beefaroni sublime tool
    Muzz wrote: »
    It's already shaping up to be more interesting with the designs this year.

    The bot with the titanium spinning disk. Shiiiiieet.

    Maybe I was too young to remember but the construction of these newer bots are pretty awesome.
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LahPYo1TfAY[/ame]

    Oh man that little bit of action footage. Looks incredible!
  • Shiv
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    Shiv polycounter lvl 15
    lipos and puncturing weapons is going to be fun.
  • Muzzoid
  • LRoy
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    LRoy polycounter lvl 10
    Pretty cool it's on ABC. I don't know how the first one ended up on comedy central haha
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    Haha no flippin clue. There was an ama with the show creators the other day. They talk all about it though.
    https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3abvqk/we_are_the_creators_of_the_original_battlebots/


    Oh man, this lot of bots is just nasty.

    Ok, just for posterity. Imma put down my top 3, that i think will place.

    Warhead.
    Ghost raptor.
    Bronco
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    What time is it on TV? Any chance it'll be online/streaming?
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    No idea dude, I'm in Australia. I can't legally watch it if you catch my drift.

    Full competitor list. http://battlebots.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Badnik96/%28SPOILERS%29_BattleBots_2015_Competitor_Chart


    EDIT: Hahaha Jay Leno's bot the Chin Killa is competing!
  • Alberto Rdrgz
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    Alberto Rdrgz polycounter lvl 9
    this looks awesome!
    LRoy wrote: »
    Pretty cool it's on ABC. I don't know how the first one ended up on comedy central haha

    Was it really? hahaha
  • Mstankow
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    Mstankow polycounter lvl 11
    Okay. I am excited now.

    Especially for later seasons.
    I want to see missiles, drones, and quadruped robots all fight.

    I want to see MIT Cheetahs fight to the death. (that might be decades away but I don't care.)

    Ohh. Imagine if somebody did a rocket fuel flame thrower. That would be so rad. High powered lasers would be cool though but I see those being banned before explosives.
  • Octo
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    Octo polycounter lvl 17
    I want this to turn into a serious sport.
    Imagine putting in F1 budgets into a bot with world class engineers.
    Maybe in the multi ton class...like a 50ton tank with a spinning disk on top would be pretty rad.
    Perhaps not realistic though, to spend that kind of money on something that will surely get destroyed.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I really like that they are allowing multiple bots as long as they are all under the total weight limit, we might see some really interesting swarming tactics. There seems to be more bot variety than there was at the end of the old battle bots, which I love. I'd really like to see more clases, like a super heavy weight, super light weight, and maybe even a completely AI controlled class.
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    Octo, man it already is a serious sport, it has been going on for years constantly despite not being on tv. There are multiple weight classes and the strategies have changed significantly. It never stopped :)!!!

    One thing to note though that these bots are the heaviest weight class competition there has been yet. Previously i think heavyweight was 220 pounds/100 kg, now it's 250 pounds/113.5 kg.
  • Norron
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    Norron polycounter lvl 13
    These videos got me super excited, lots of cool new tactics people are using now,
  • Mstankow
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    Mstankow polycounter lvl 11
    It would be rad if someone made a battlebot with a little bot that came out of it with a pack of C4 so it was like a little suicide bomber bot.
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    First ep is ou!.

    Is not disappointing. So much destruction!

    Also the last tested feature.
    [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Oi9lSxw50[/ame]
    Man it was crazy to see old favorite warhead get absolutely dominated by amazing driving, i had a feeling that better driving bots because of technology improvements was going to be what dominates the competition, and it seems right. I think the biggest risk to BITEFORCE will be the spinners like ICE-WAVE.

    Wrecks was a sweet idea, but really not a very practical design, it should have dominated plan X if it was actually controllable, which is just a smorgasbord of bad design.

    Also why did the nightmare guy never build in a flipping mechanism...

    And ICE wave. GODDAMN that was some amazing amounts of destruction. Just decimating the machined parts.
  • lamb
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    lamb polycounter lvl 7
    Just watched the first episode.
    Pretty intense fights but some of the designs are so extremely flawed. As you mentioned if wrecks wasn't a sitting duck it would have destroyed plan x, which is absolutely horrible. What is is made of, tinfoil? I also don't get the exposed spots in its armor, I doubt it was due to the weight restriction it doesn't look so heavy. Also the spinner was far inferior.

    The driving is where it's at. Manouverability >> any sort of weapon you have.

    Looking forward to some of the machines. ICE Wave is dominating as far as spinners go so far.
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    Honestly i don't mind that there are some creative designs trying out something new. Just straight spinners get boring, so to see the gyroscopic procession thing work it was pretty cool, i'd imagine if you managed to computer control the walking, and have faster actuators it would be more effective.

    Plan X seems like the worst robot of the competition though, but hell at least they were creative.

    Apparently if the show is successful enough the show will be the last rounds of a larger knockout tournament, which should weed out the weaker bots.

    Also, i just want to point out how fucking cooler the team Whyachi flipper is, it's a kinetic flipper, meaning that spinning ring can dump energy into the flipper, which is why it could fire so fast. It's an ingenious design, you get a really powerful flipper for a fraction of the weight cost of adding pneumatics.
  • lamb
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    lamb polycounter lvl 7
    I fail to see the creativity behind it. Making your robot worse is not creative. Anyone can do that.
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    By removing drive motors you can push more power into your spinner and Armour. Before they built it, it's hard to know exactly how effective it will be.

    Wrecks was based upon an ant weight bot that was VERY effective, so it's not like it's not a battle proven design. It just didn't work as well in this weight class.

    Take Mechadon for example, that bot was so ineffective, but still is some of the coolest battles to watch because of how crazy the design was.
  • DanglinBob
    YAY... just watched episode 1. I missed this show :)
  • Add3r
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    Add3r polycounter lvl 11
    OMG that Warrior Clan VS. Nightmare battle. So far LOVING this reboot of battlebots. Really hope it continues and that its premiere ratings at least secure a spot, even at the worst of broadcast times simply so the series can continue.
    holy shit, when the mini bot from Warrior Clan starts the flame thrower and then gets launched into the screw and explodes, highlight of the entire premiere for me. What makes battlebots so awesome.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    Here's my thoughts

    The presentation: A bit too much reality TV, judges and hosts seem a bit too fake and trying too hard without actually being into it. I'd rather see more details and breakdowns about the bots designs, but instead we get hosts talking about aesthetics and bantering.


    FIGHT 1: Icewave vs. Razorback

    Loved how the teams were basically silicon valley vs military grade. Kinda a bit of awkwardness and confusion at the end because they were both immobile, but it was still obvious who should of won, it just should of been announced sooner and more cleanly. Lots of sparks and butting heads.

    FIGHT 2: Plan X vs. Wrecks

    Plan X looks like a horrible design, but maybe being huge and having bars distancing itself from other bots might protect it more and better than armor? Their weapon doesn't seem to do much, they won purely on mobility, which it seems like they have some of the best speed and turning out of any of the bots. Wrecks just had the worse design out of the two, so slow, no mobility, and no way to actually do any damage.

    FIGHT 3: Bite Force vs. Warhead

    This looked like it was going to be the coolest match, but warhead's primary weapon broke so quickly, Warhead needed a faster turning speed and more mobility as well to even compete. Bite Force's extra traction from the magnets seemed to really keep it on the ground and allow it to really push warhead arround. I'm expecting Warhead will be back.

    FIGHT 4: Nightmare vs. Warrior Clan

    It really looked like Nightmare was going to win, until it got flipped. I'm surprised the didn't have any sort of flip over strat. It's really hard to tell if Warrior Clan is going to be effective against other bots. But he took a beating, and it wasn't an ideal match to show off multiple bots. It'll be interesting to see how Warrior clan does vs a similar sized bot.
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    I find it interesting how everyone is underestimating warrior clan and seem to forget it's a spinner with a 2" thick tool-steel ring that can dump all that kinetic energy into a flipper.

    Here is a better battle with the same bot that shows off it's true power.

    WARNING: turn the sound off... "let the bodies hit the floor plays"

    [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vnh_OjXqfA[/ame]

    Add3r: Over 5 million viewers man, if they keep that up they are sure to get a series 2
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    Warrior Clan didn't need to do much to win, I'm just kinda concerned they ran themselves a bit too thin with their weapons seeing that they have 2 extra bots, a spinner, and a flipper, that's a lot of weight that could of gone into a more powerful spinner. It'll be interesting to see how it does against other bots, that first match really doesn't give us anything to go on.
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    The two extra bots was because of the extra weight allowance of this competition vs usual heavy weight. 250 lbs vs's the standard 220 lbs. You can't just put in thirty pounds of extra gear without a major redesign.

    And keep in mind the kinetic weapon IS the flipper. It's not a separate mechanism. It uses a special groove in the top of the ring to dump the energy in to the flipping. It's probably the most effectively creative engineering of the entire competition, and it has major benefit over pretty much any other flipper, and that is that it doesn't waste the energy when it has a misfire, meaning it's almost an instant reload, and assuming it doesn't get jammed you don't need to worry about wasting all your pneumatics. If you watch the video i linked, you can see that flipper launching a 220 lbs bot 6 feet in the air. (i actually don't understand why people don't think this is cool as hell?)

    The only reason why warrior clan wasn't able to show how effective it really is, is because nightmare has only three small tripod points on the ground, and the more effective strategy is just to flip it over rather than risk hitting that giant spinning disk against their top Armour. Nightmare was probably one of their worst matchups. Nightmare is legendary for how much damage it can output.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I kinda wish the smaller weight classes of Robot Combat got some media attention, there's plenty of weight classes a hobbyist could really have a chance of doing well in without sinking in too much money. Or even a 3d printed Robot combat would be interesting.
  • ZacD
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    I actually kind of prefer the televised one to be one weight class.

    Smaller weight classes constantly have competitions everywhere, and the price point for entry is far lower. But by having the big boys have one weight class that has all the prestige, you get all the best builders actually fighting in the same class.

    Robot combat never stopped happening, it just wasn't on tv.

    If you can't tell i really want to start doing this stuff myself...
  • lamb
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    lamb polycounter lvl 7
    I was referring to Plan X in post #27

    Warrior clan is a pretty cool design. I also liked a few other concepts from the intro. Lockjaw, for example (if it works as intended). Or the "walker" thing. Most of these bot designs have something really smart about them intention wise, mileage may vary in practice though.

    yeah the first thing I did after watching the episode was try and design my own bot.
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