So, help us out. Post your ideas.
get off the damn chat, already!
post yer idears here, folks
Explosives, guns, lasers, water guns.
Rules? what rules? 
Well, the ones that seem to win have fairly simple designs, but lots of power and low ground clearance. If you can get under the other guy, and have the power to shove him around, you’ll win, regardless of the weaponry on either side.
Maybe some kind of spatula/catapult device that can flip the other robot, or maybe even launch it.
I want to see one that spins like a gyro scope with a very low center of gravity. The edges of this have the circular saw aspect and it is spining at a high rate of speed. Both top and bottom are identical. Both top and bottom of the unit would have compressed air cylindars with sharp steel spikes. Then when the other one is charging at it… it bounces itself directly up in the air (via air compressed cylindar) and lands, with the VERY sharp pointy steel spike (and all its wieght), on top of the competitor. While on on top it would continue to ‘spike’ the other unit.
OK, we definitely need a low center of gravity. A simple, geometric shape would be a good defense, too. Your opponent can’t score points for breaking pieces off your bot if your bot is nothing but a moving square.
As for offense: Do the rules forbid electrocuting your opponent? I figure a couple of pincers with electrodes attached to them… all you’d have to do is isolate your opponent against a wall or something, position the pincers on him, and unleash the juice. Instant incapacitation!
I understand that the rules forbid attacking with anything that isn’t tethered (i.e., bullets). Could we develop a system that would fire a projectile (say, a bolt) that was tethered with a line? We could fire it and then have it attached to a wench or something that could instantly reel it back. Of course, you’d only get to use it once…
That’s all I’m coming up with for now.
I’m kind of partial to a Mauler-like design (as in the BattleBot named Mauler) - rapidly spinning weights which destroy anything they contact. I think the concept is a good one, but Mauler didn’t implement it well, IMHO.
My ideas:
Start with a body that’s like the bottom half of a cone: round, with sloped sides (the cylindrical shape was one of Mauler’s biggest flaws, I feel).
Make it low to the ground, with a solid covering beneath (another flaw of Mauler’s - kill-saws could easily get up into the machinary beneath).
The wheels should probably be solid as well, with thin rubber tires for traction. This way, kill-saws won’t disable it.
The weights would be attached to the top. Possibly just simple sledgehammer heads, attached with chains instead of solid arms (this would probably be classified as a ‘tethered projectile’ under the rules…I’m not sure). Or, mount them to the body, much like the builders of Mauler did. Just make sure they stick out beyond the body itself. With a good rotation and sufficient counter-weight (make it close to the maximum weight for the class), you’d be able to knock your competitors around pretty good, without getting knocked around as much in return.
Of course, you’d need something spinning the opposite direction from the main weapon, probably internally (or you could have counter-rotating hammers-of-death on top…), to counteract the rotational inertia. Otherwise, the beast would be almost impossible to control.
And make sure the casing is sturdy enough to absorb its own blows, especially if the chains are used since they’ll probably get knocked back fairly often.
Perhaps not the most elegant design, but it worked well for Mauler, until it got taken out by kill-saws. It absolutely destroyed Killerhurtz prior to that, however. An improved design could go all the way, I think. You could even knock around Bots like Vlad…