What started out as a 1 week robotic workshop in Phoenix, ended up as a World Championship in Las Vegas!
I signed up David for a 1 week robotic workshop, using Knex parts to contruct K-bots. A K-bot is a 3 pound pushing robot, designed to push the opponent off the table. There's no sensors, programming, or steering involved, just mechanical engineering with weight distribution and proper gear reductions. David competed in both the Division 1 (2-wheel) and Division 2 (4-wheel) formats. Using his years of experience with Lego's and Knex design, David knew how to build a strong durible Kbot, and where to put the weight, and proper grearing for the best pushing power. The competition began and David won the Division 1 class and came in 2nd in the Division 2 class.
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Here's David's Kbot "Bio Hazard" used in the Phoenix Division 1 competition. |
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Here's the pit area with David and James in the back. |
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Bio Hazard is about to claim another victim!! |
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David won the Phoenix Division 1 Championship! |
By the end of the Phoenix workshop/Competition, the instructor had singled David out a good candidate for the World Championship and started talking to me about making the trip to Las Vegas. Initially I told the boys "no", since we could afford to stay in Vegas for a week. Since David won, we only had to be in Vegas for 3 days and when the K-bot organization found out I run the PAReX club, they offered to sponser David's entry fee. Well the trip was now affordable, so I packed up the boys and we were off to Las Vegas.
The Division 1 event had 40 kids entered from around the world, including China, Japan, Vietnam, Canada, and Britain. In all honesty David was one of only a few that really knew what they were doing. He used reduntant gear trains, double-clipped the gears to the axles, etc. In a practice round David easily won, in some cases actually breaking the other Kbots! The final event rolls around and David is 3rd seeded and receives a title of "Rookie of the year". David got a bye in round 1, defeated opponents in round 2 and 3, but in round 4 he went head to head the full 3 minutes and they brought out the ruler to measure the distance from center line to front wheel. Even though Bio Hazard has pushed the opponent over 4", the opponent was 1/4" closer to the center line. So David walked away with a 10th out of 40 and I couldn't be more proud of him. Kuodo's to his brother James for making the trip with David and offering his full support as pit crew and team member.
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Here's the arena in Las Vegas, with the pits behind the screen. |
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Here's Bio Hazard ready for competition. |
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Some serious concentration during preliminary action. |
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David getting interviewed during the main event. |
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Bigger isn't better as Bio Hazard takes down the opponents. |
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A little site seeing while in Las Vegas. |