Wow!!! Another great weekend!!
I checked in, got my pit table and started the safety inspection. The failsafe wouldn't work! Seems the receiver would forget the failsafe settings when it's powered off and it's up to the transmitter to send this info to the receiver. I later found out that the transmitter sends this information every 60 seconds so the safety check will always fail this, unless I manually send the failsafe data. Kram weighed in right at 13lbs so we passed and were ready to go.
Arrived early in the morning to a strangely quiet pit area. Went to charge my batteries and realized why it was so quiet, NO POWER!! So no power tools or all the other cool noises you would normally hear. Seems the generator wasn't working. In addition the arena wasn't quite ready and the software was having problems. So it was around noon before we finally got started.
The arena is a big improvement over last year. Much easier to see into, a big ramp to get the robots into it with, and pit holes that could trap or release the robots. In addition there were soccer style goals that were installed for the KillBall event (soccer).
Oh yeah, maybe I should mention the new formats that were used this year. Every match was 2 on 2, with your partner being randomly assigned by computer. The 2-day event consists of 3 major parts, KillBall (soccer), Capture the Flag, and Annihilator. You compete in each part until you receive 2 losses, or there are less then 4 remaining robots.
For my first match I was paired with Mo-Bot, a spinner made from a cooking pot. Mo-bot wanted to play defense, so I went after the ball and managed to control it several times. Dandelion got stuck under the guardrail, which gave us a 2-1 advantage. On my next run with the ball, I was so busy trying to control the ball I didn't see Dandelion in my path and ran into him, freeing him from the rail (dooh). This match went to a judges decision with Dandelion and Lil Terror winning.
Paired up with Centrifugal Enforcer, Mike's new robot with a lawn mower blade on top. While I was busy trying to get the ball, IO came in from the side and flipped me into the pit. When the pit floor popped back up, I was inverted, but I had enough contact with the rear wheels to keep moving. CE got stuck under the guardrail and I was still trying to figure out how to steer upside-down. IO got the ball and went for the easy goal. So much for killball.
Paired with Voices, which featured a C-shaped lifting arm that can rotate around it's whole body. We decided to go all out and both go for the cone. I ran into Lil AK and we were pushing each other around when I saw Voices over at the opponents side pushing the cone out for the win. Saki had tried to get to our cone first, but voices beat him to it! Wow a win, thanks Ewin!
Remaining Capture the flags were eliminated due to time constraints.
Kram got paired with Lil AK. During the course of the match I managed to back into the pit, which don't pop back up during Annihilator. While sitting in the pit, it occurred to me that if I ran my weapon disk in a forward direction, it could climb up the side of the pit and maybe my wheels could get me out. Since I used a speed controller to run the disk all I had to do was throw the transmitter stick the other direction. I tried about 6 time, spinning up and running into the wall, and I got real close to getting out of that pit, with the front wheels up on the floor. The sounds of the crowd cheering behind me told me that a lot of people were interested in my efforts, but I couldn't get Kram out of the pit. IO and Voices ganged up on Lil AK and he got stuck under the rail, giving the win to IO and Voices.
Kram was paired with Lil Terror, a spinning wedge. We had a major break when AlphaPujo got stuck under the edge of the pit platform. We chased Dandelion around until the pits dropped, or should have dropped. AP was not only stuck, but was preventing the pit lid from dropping. Dandelion tried to chase Lil Terror across the pit, but got stuck, even though the lid had only dropped about 2". With both opponents stuck we got the win!
I was paired with AlphaPujo, a fast very experienced wedge. AP went after Centrifugal Enforcer and I played with Voices. During the course of out struggles, the side panel on Voices came loose. I would like to think Kram's disk chewed into it, but I never got to find out. Next time Voices started spinning in a cartwheel fashion, his receiver battery flew out of the opening caused by the loose panel. AP had just finish putting CE in the pit and started pushing the now dead Voices. I moved out of his way and Voices went into the other pit.
Again paired with AP. Could not steer at all, Kram would only go forwards and back. AP got stuck under a pit lid, but managed to free himself as I was limping over to try and help. AP proceeded to put Dandelion in the pit with a neat little maneuver where he drove under Dandelion, carried him to the pit, and put on the brakes. Dandelion fell off and AP pushed him in the pit. Within seconds Lil AK also went in the pit and we had another win. Thanks Pete!!!
Once again I was paired with AP. Before this match we had a break and I tore into Kram to see what the problem was. Turned out the right gearbox was stripped. I had just reworked these drive assemblies before BotBash to use Molex connectors instead of pushing the wiring into the tube ahead of the motors. This never worked and always messed up the wires. Now I just popped the cables out of the connectors, removed a wheel assembly and pulled out the motor assembly. I popped in a spare and was back in business. That is until I put the teeth covers on the disk and discovered the disk was frozen! Somehow during one of the fights the shaft got bent and the disk hub was bound up on it. I was able to remove the shaft and using a big hammer and a concrete block, I straighten it out.
This final match had Kram and AP against IO and Lil Terror. We agreed to both go after IO and then deal with Lil Terror. I was lined up with IO and went at him. Pushed each other around and IO got stuck under the rail. Now we went after Lil Terror. AP fell in the pit and Lil Terror and I spun around with each other. At one point Lil Terror came at me spinning, I dodged and pushed back. As I retreated, Lil Terror spun over and fell in the pit! Kram was the last one standing!
When the final points were added up Kram walked away with 4th place. Not bad for a 2nd season, and some lousy driving on my part. I must give a lot of credit to Pete Covert, who was driving AlphaPujo. He carried me through one of those matches when my drive train wasn't working and I was just glad to help out in that last match after he went in the pits. With that last win, AlphaPujo took first place, with IO in 2nd, and Lil Terror in 3rd.
Gotta have a rumble don't we. Just like last year I let David drive in the rumble against 6 robots that were left. David hadn't driven Kram since the disk was functional, so he was a little out of practice. He still managed to hang in there and get 2nd in the rumble. Not bad for a 9-year old who doesn't play that many video games.
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Here's Kram ready to go! |
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Yup, another year, another chunk of tire missing. |
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Most of the damage was scratches and nicks in the metal. |
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I did break one set of teeth trying to get out of the pit hole in one of the Annihililator rounds. The bottom 2 are what the holes are suppose to look like. |
Well what's next? The boys want to make a SozBot for next year. Those are 1 lb. fighting robots, in fact a slightly re-worked Mini-Spat would do just fine. So get another radio, a few servos and we're in business. First we have a November PAReX event to get ready for, with an expert mazerunner and another mini-sumo waiting to be built. As for Kram, I'd like to beef up the weapon motor and the drive belt so I can crawl out of the pits. :-)