48 replies to this topic

[KBarker]

For those who are interested, I just got back from the biggest fighting robot competition in the world. Here is a video of my bots kicking ass. There are 3 of my bots in the video, 12 pounds, 60 pounds, and 120 pounds. The 60 pounder took 2nd place. There are lots more videos on my youtube page.

Edited by KBarker, 16 July 2007 - 12:41 AM.

[six-five-two]

I am guessing that crazy kickass flipping wheel robot carmobile thing is the one kicking ass? Holy crap those flew high.

[nerfer34]

Wow! You know how to build those things?!

Man one of those things were going fast! What are they powered by? Is that electricity powered?

That's cool. I like your design weapon on the one that pops other bots up.

[stewy]

Man, thats crazy. I got to start building those!

[NerfFreak]

It's amazing what a simple wedge can do.

Along with a high-powered rotary saw.

Nice work on the bots man!

[baseballnolan5]

Thats awesome. I used to watch battlebots all the time and ive always wanted to do that. It would really suck if yours got completly destroyed though.

[Flapper12]

That was awesome. Nothing like robot flippin action.

[KBarker]

These 3 are mine, if you couldn't tell in the video.



Yes, they are electric. Damage does kinda suck when it happens to your bot, my biggest bot was damaged pretty badly. I had my titanium blade trashed and a $350 weapon motor destroyed. They are almost never a total loss however. Usually most of the expensive stuff is still in one piece and can be carried over when the bot is rebuilt.

[Rambo]

Does the one really weigh 120lb? Or is it like fighting weight classes - up-to 120?

[baseballnolan5]

Is the weapon on the big one just a big piece of metal or is it sharpened? How much does it cost to make one of these and where do you get the parts?

[nerfer34]

I really like the wedge and rotary saw combo. I don;t particularly like the "120" pound one. I also noticed you had some trouble driving it.

But do you win money in these tournaments? How much did you win for second?

[b00m13]

What are the prices for them? (Not for sale, but I mean how much did it cost to make, including your reserved spare parts)

[Substance Abuse]

I used to watch the TV show on Spike TV. It was very cool and I loved the "referee" bots that shot fire at other bots that crashed into them...

Also does anyone remember on that Bots show when it landed on the x mark and got flung like across the ring? This intrigues me.

[b00m13]

The three shows that come to mind are Battlebots, Robot Wars and Robotica. Maybe one of them had an "X", it's hard to remember which is which since they're all so similar, I do remember that one of them had a "nice" house bot called "Sir Killalot" (my favorite).

[Substance Abuse]

The three shows that come to mind are Battlebots, Robot Wars and Robotica. Maybe one of them had an "X", it's hard to remember which is which since they're all so similar, I do remember that one of them had a "nice" house bot called "Sir Killalot" (my favorite).

ROBOT WARS!!!! Thats it. Yeah Sir Killalot was good.... Forgot other referee's names.

[KBarker]

Is the weapon on the big one just a big piece of metal or is it sharpened? How much does it cost to make one of these and where do you get the parts?

The weapon on the big one is a titanium bar with S7 tool steel teeth. The teeth are not really sharpened to cut, they are more a blunt impact weapon, with the corners left square to get a bite on the opponent. This design didn't work, becuase as you can see in the video the titanium cracked in its second match. I am going to use a simpler one-piece design next time. My bots have cost me quite a bit. The 3 bots cost roughly $3000, $2000, and $750 from largest to smallest. I get the parts from a wide variety of sources, a good place to start is www.robotmarketplace.com

The weight classes work just like you would think, for example a "middleweight" can weigh between 60 and 120 pounds. Naturally you try to get as close to the limit as possible to cram the most power into your bot. My biggest bot weighed exactly 118.5 lbs. at the event, and my other two bots were really close at 59.5 and 12.0.

[Rambo]

I'm assuming you have something along the lines of sponsors?

[z80]

God, I used to love battlebots. Me and my friends always wanted to make one. A very nice bot you got there. I probably have my old designs in my room somewhere....

[b00m13]

How smart do you need to be to build one of these, please pick the minimal requirement from:

Mad Scientist
Mechanic with knowhow of eletric/gas powered appliance to cars, etc.
College geek that has a basic knowledge of remote control vehicles, and a ton of spare time on is hands.

Also, how long did it take to make those guys?

[six-five-two]

The three shows that come to mind are Battlebots, Robot Wars and Robotica. Maybe one of them had an "X", it's hard to remember which is which since they're all so similar, I do remember that one of them had a "nice" house bot called "Sir Killalot" (my favorite).

ROBOT WARS!!!! Thats it. Yeah Sir Killalot was good.... Forgot other referee's names.

I used to watch that so much when I was a kid. Which one had the flamethrower again? And I think they were called "Housebots"

[Shralla]

Any chance Ziggo, Nightmare, Biohazard, or any of the Scrap Daddies were there?

[b00m13]

Sergeant Bash was the flamethrower one.
The other most memorable bot was most likely Shunt. He wasn't on my list of favorites, in fact, I think I remembered hating him because he was always released during battles while Sir Killalot was caged up.
It wasn't fair, locking him up just because he ends all of the competitors whenever he's unleashed, they should have just had more competitors.

[Uncle Hammer]

Son of whyachi should have been caged up in battlebots. He like invulnerable.

[frost vectron]

The most memorable battlebot was Mechadon, for me.

The six legged design and un-flipability was unique and stands out in my memory.

[KBarker]

I'm assuming you have something along the lines of sponsors?

Nope, no sponsors, sadly. My bots are entirely self built and financed. As you can imagine it eats up most of my expendable cash.

"Any chance Ziggo, Nightmare, Biohazard, or any of the Scrap Daddies were there?"

Nope, these bots haven't competed in several years. However, Carlo (builder of Biohazard) was there with Jamie Hyneman (Mythbusters) promoting some really lame boxing robots they made.

"How smart do you need to be to build one of these?"

I started building bots about 5 years ago, as a freshman in high school with no experience at all in electronics, machining, or metalworking. It took me a full year to get my original 120 pound bot done. I've since learned a huge amount and my latest bot (the 60) I designed fully in SolidWorks and did the entire assembly and wiring in 3 weeks. Anyone can learn to build a bot by learning from what has been done before and a lot of trial and error. Much like nerfers, bot builders are very open with their designs and are quick to help another builder.