Why do these fools think a solitary spike on the front of the robot is going to do anything? With my 16 years radio control experience and my 5 years hobby shop experience I could whip one of those out in half a day.
I need to do this!! 
OH!!! Tazbot vs. Vlad the impaler was awesome! Vlad flipped Tazbot over 3 times and could have won the first time if he didnt want to inflict more punishment and end up right siding him! good fight… though I had Tazbot as my favorite.
Hey Whammo, where are you at? I have wanted to build one of these buggers ever since I saw em on Blender E-zine, like 3-5 years ago. We could get together and build a Straight Dope battlebot. Coldfire, Dropzone, Gunslinger, think of the possible names on the SDMB alone, Even Whammo would work, kinda cheesy, but I can just pucture it with a 25 pound slegde going Whammo on top of some poor little robot.
Are you in the southwest? Cause I am living in Las Vegas right now. If your close to KC missouri that might work too. OHHHH and my hobby shop coworker from that time would help too… me and him built a walking 6 legged radio controled insect… and he was accepted to MIT too… but he chose not to go there. Ohhhh… the possibilities!!
I’m agreeing with Whammo that the last fight was by far the best, so far, of the series. As for the spike, you don’t necessarily have to inflict damage, you can just poke them. I still say that fight was questionable and the spikey guy actually one. All the stats pointed to him. Yeah, he didn’t do a lot of damage, but he was quick and real annoying. My kinda robot. Not very creative, I might add, but with the right hit, you can do some damage.
Battlebots kicks butt! It is a fine tribute to all of the alpha-geeks out there. I am very happy to see it on American television.
The first time I saw it, I saw the British version. It was hosted by one of the guys from Red Dwarf (can’t remember his name). My husband, myself and my young (3 and 5 years) nephews then played battlebots for a few hours (we pretended we were the robots and basically crashed into each other–loads of fun and earned a lot of cool points for Aunt and Uncle).
I’ve been surfing the ‘bot’ sites for a week or so now… I most definately want to build one of these buggers. Mine would have a 12 gauge duct-taped to the top… ok, maybe not… but it would kick some ass. And I am going to build one.
Would a bot that dropped an oil slick onto the playing field be legal?
Yes it would. I actually downloaded the rules from their website. I so want to build one of these things. One weapon I was considering would be an electromagnet on a boom to pick up another robot and lower him onto the killsaws. Of course, they have a rule about that too (can only hold for 30 seconds). I am still gonna build one.
Actually, I meant to say is dropping an oil slick is illegal.
Whammo, unfortunately I reside in northern California.
My idea for a weapon was gonig to be a powerfull stun gun, ot a 1 farad cap, your opponent completes the circuit, and BZZZZT he cant move anymore.
The stupid rules say taht EMP weapons are illegal, but does that just mean a nuclear warhead is, or any electrical discharge? Maybe if I had a capacetor wired up not as a weapon, but an integral part of the machine, just as a ballast or something for extra weight, but had it fully charged and wired up so if a kill saw went through the outer skin, it would cut the powerline to the cap therefore relasing the energy grounding through the skin?
Xizor, maybe you can help me out with the legality of that.
Some of those spike-bots can be pretty darn effective. Look at how rapidly Grey Matter wiped out Minion’s weapon in last week’s match. Awesome. Plus, that long spike would be mighty useful in keeping a blender-bot like Mauler at a distance, where he could do no damage.
Were I designing a bot, I’d use twin circular sawblades, mounted horizontally and spinning in opposite outward directions. Should be pretty effective, but then, you never really know until you try it out.
And if we’re gonna use SDMB names for Battlebot names, may I not-so-humbly suggest my own? hehe…