In my honor as Grand High Field Marshall of the SDWF with Sugar on Top, I open the bid for SD Battle Bot development.
May your ideas and motives flow forth . .
Tripler
Mean spirited, and ready to mash metal . . .
I’ve a few good ones.
Projectile weapons have been woefully lacking so far. I’d look into crossbows and spearguns. Put a little dab of something soft like wax or putty on the very tips of the arrows to help pierce plate armor.
A design something like a trebuchet could swing a mace with quite some force.
And one combo that I thought of and liked: A forklift with a positionable powerdrill or spike below. Lift them up, and gut the soft underbelly.
Or don’t worry about the drill or spike and just go for a little gravitational assist.
And another one that’s almost certain to be ruled unfair:
Take the klystron out of an old microwave and put it in a metal box with a metal tube “barrel”. Point, click, and fry.
The official rules forbid EMP weapons, and forbid the use of RF interference, and forbid the use of heat as a weapon. This idea grazes close to all those, but isn’t quite any of them.
Yeah, the rules do take out any EMP effects, but what if we put a magnet on a line we can reel in?
Tripler
Just an idea. . .
Good point Trippler. I, too, think projectile weapons have been overlooked, but let’s face it, there’s only so much you can do with pneumatics,and you can’t use gunpowder or the like. I’d be more interested in a railgun type thing, only with a pike instead of a projectile. I like the drill idea too, though it would definitely have to hit in the right spot to be effective, and probably have to trap the opponent to get some good drilling action in.
My idea has been to expand on the rotary saw blade concept. Multiple blades, in different angles, based off a heavily armored, tracked vehicle. Something that could generate the force and control to push the blades through their opponent. Also, they should be diamond coated, carbon disk-blades, without teeth, for some real cutting power.
Another idea I came up with was inspired by the hammer/spike hitting 'bots. Instead of having them move in a vertical plane, have two that hit in a horizontal plane against each other. Picture someone clapping in front and back. Maybe a sledge for one and a double bladed axe head for the other.
How about a forklift like Vlad had, then out comes a rotating saw blade to hack away at the underbelly? Sort of like the killsaws do. another idea, a rotating arm with a saw blade on either end (for ballance), parallel to the floor. Get the whole arm up to really high RPMs, and have the saw blades spinning as well…you could have the whole thing on a hydrolic lift that raised or lowered the entire assembly to attack at different heights…
From watching BB, I am always disappointed by the ineffectiveness of the weapons, some of which just aren’t practical (not that I could do any better). For example, there was that one 'bot (it was black and a sort of walker) that had a spike on the end of an arm that was WAY too long. It’s opponent would have to be perfectly positioned to make that work. Also, kinetic weapons - saw blades and the like - ALWAYS seem to break/come un-belted/whatever. Therefore, elegant weapons don’t seem to be the way to go. Rams and lifts seem to have the most success.
By the way, these guys generally have great websites. I particularly like the one done by the builder of Pressure Drop/Smashy/Son of Smashy - pretty funny.
http://www.gt-electronics.freeserve.co.uk/
This is the site of *Chaos 2 * the current champion of the UK RobotWars. It’s only weapon is the flipper at the front but it can throw other bots out of the ring with that thing so it’s pretty powerful. It also doubles as a self righting mechanism.
Something along this line would be the best way to go IMO.
The Bot that should have won last years robot wars in the UK.
It drove itself into the pit in the final.
a scary bot indeed
Curse you, Tripler, for starting this thread before I had a chance to! Ah, well, as long as it got done.
In last night’s championship bouts, it seems like the ramming bots (i.e. Minion, Hazard), had the real advantage. Though Hazard’s lawnmower blade did work quite nicely. Seems like the simplest designs tend to be the best.
But I definitely second the “pincer” idea. If you could get two ice-picks or facing in on each other, on either side of the robot’s “head,” so that they came together on the other bot, I bet you could do some serious damage. Then, while they’re being held, maybe have the pincers lift them up, and plop em on a kill-saw. Any bot would have to have a low-to the ground design, though, to keep from being picked up by bots with weges on the front.
railguns won’t work, the energy requirements are simply too much. even a low powered one would take more power for an effective shot that the robot itself would consume for several entire bouts.
but with that in mind, you can tweak a paintball gun up to an insane amount of pressure. that and load it with gobstoppers, and you’ve got a weapon that can certainly go through most of the fiberglass and thin metal hides of these beasts. good rate of fire too. the only danger would be that the plexiglass surrounding the current ring wouldn’t do much to protect the audience…
maybe have something that can launch a net or a sticky spray to immobilize the enemy? you know, following in the lines of hte newer non-lethal law enforcement stuff.
Here’s another I dea I had last night after I got out of chat. The body would need to be a wedge type deal, but on the front of the wedge I’m thinking I’d put an escalator-type belt. Obviously, you wouldn’t be able to get under all the bots, because you need some ground clearance for the belt to move, but if you could get some tread on the belts, you could force the opposing bot up on top of your bot. Then, I’d put a catapult-like arm on top of the bot, so that when the other was dragged on top of mine by the escalator thing, I could pop the arm out and fling the other bot across the ring.
One word about projectile weapons: The projectile has to be securely tethered or it is illegal.
I like the idea of a pneumatic ram or spike that thrusts at (into) any bot that rams you. Put one of each side of the bot. I was also thinking that a low to the ground wedge with a circular saw on top of it would work. make your opponent go over the top of you, bam - you’re a rolling kill saw.
Large-bore Hypodermic lance type device with a can of great stuff foam. Nail 'em, inject with foam to gum up the works. I like the forklift units also. lift and drop on kill saws.
does this mena that for my paintball/gobstopper idea to work the gobstopper would have to be tethered to the bot, or just hte gun has to be tethered? actually, i like hte idea of harpooning something, that has a lot of advantages over just shooting it, especially if you have some really nasty close combat weaponry to pull it into.
Yeah, projectiles have to be tethered, and the tether has to be able to survive a complete miss with no damage (and you’re limited to a 10ft range). Which is why I was thinking crossbows and spearguns.
Another consideration that seemed to play a large role in determining robot success is driver control. These things are essentially big remote control vehicles, so when they get turned around, the controls can be confusing sometimes.
It may be possible to mount a small X10 style camera on the bot to transmit video to the driver. Having a first person view available, as well as the overhead view, would certainly help with the steering/aiming troubles. It would probably make your bot quite popular too.
Make sure you read the rules carefully before committing to a weapon. Among the good ideas that are outright ruled out:
Tasers, big lasers, smoke screens, acid, entanglement, liquids, explosives, non-tethered projectiles, and powered flight.
I’ve been thinking more in terms of a bot like Deadblow. Going in with the express purpose of scoring a knockout in the superheaviweights isn’t necessarily the best idea.
I would start with a wedge shape to push the opponent into the walls or onto the obstacles. Optimally, all sides would slope to the floor to hang up other wedgebots or bots that lift. Once the enemy was backed into a corner and/or disabled, I would go in with the sledgehammer and pound away. There’s no shame in winning the bout on hits rather than with a knockout.
For future reference, here are the Battlebots rules, and here’s a link specifically to the forbidden weapons section. Basically, forbidden weapons include electricity, liquids, explosives or flammable solids, lights, visual obstruction, projectiles, heat/cold, and entanglement devices. Magnetic weapons are permitted but discouraged.
I’m still thinking about a thick steel trident powered by compressed air to shoot out about 18 inches or so. The problem is, for maximum “pierce” power, the firing mechanism would have to simultaneously “brace” the bot somehow so there’s little if any backsliding. Hmmmmm…
I firmly believe I’ve come up with the best design, and its specifically conjured to annihilate the wedge/ramp style bots. I’m even a little hesitant to share it because I have dreams of a trip to SF to compete. Of course I neither the money, resources, time or machining expertise to even begin building it.
The weapon I was hoping to use was a pnuematic nail gun, on a actuated arm. This arm would operate just like the nail guns used in construction, it would have a pressure sensitive saftey on it, and the trigger would be activated when the business end of the arm came down on the surface of the bot. Picture this, you trap a wedge against the wall and pop the switch on this puppy, down comes a lightning quick 18 inch hammer, once that hammer hits the top of the bot it pops a spike into the metal. Now, this has be significantly hindered by the fact that all projectiles must be teathered, I however think a stilleto style spike would work just as well, and it’d be loud as shit :).
The opposite end of my monster would have a few laminated saw blades. These weapons are both devastating, but the real genious is in the chassis. Of course the best weapon is useless if you can’t get it into range. If you all persuade me, I might give you some insight into this innovation. Hmmm, maybe I’ll sketch this out in Adobe and share it with you folks 
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I’d like to see a bot based on the giant cranes that I see all over NYC. You could put a claw or a magnet on the end, trap the opposing bot, and hoist him to an insane height. Dropping the bot could flip it over, or you could just drop it on the killsaws.
I also think someone should make use of counter-rotating blades. It seems that many of the bots that use spinning blades don’t cause enough damage because opposing bots are flung out of harm’s way when the blades make contact. If a device could be fitted with counter-rotating blades, it could help counteract the forces involved and keep the other bot close so you could do some real damage.