Check out this fight in BattleBots Season 4, Episode 12.
We got to exist in the happy glow of beating Gigabyte for all of a few hours. Soon after, we were informed that our next fight would be the next evening, against none other than Bronco. And not just a fight, but a Main Event! Our first! Their sixth! The only real damage HUGE still sported was a new Harry Potter scar from getting caught once on Gigabyte’s broken pole edge as we flew over the top. We had fixed the broken motors and swapped back to our normal wheels soon after fighting Gigabyte, and the weapon mounts still looked solid!
We were plenty nervous here. For the second time this season, we have toys from our early childhood of the robot that we’re about to step into the box with. We were hopeful at least that it would go better than the first time. They’ve been building flippers since we were 6 years old!
We knew that we would need as much control as possible for Bronco. We screwed in as much bike tire as we could, and turned up the power on the drive a bit, as we finished our fight with Gigabyte with some capacity left in the packs. Ready and waiting, we took some time to watch previous Bronco fights, trying to glean anything we can to give us an edge in the fight. Bronco is not an opponent to be taken lightly. Suddenly, we start to hear word that Bronco has sprouted a few new… appendages?
We had expected Bronco to come at us with the armor that they used against Sawblaze last season. We were mentally prepared for that. A strategy was in place. We were not prepared for Bronco’s wizard hat. This is the first time we’ve seen anything like this, and it was an unexpected twist for the fight. We weren’t sure how well it would work, if we’d be able to bend it over, or if our blows would just glance off. For sure though, it changed our strategy much more to go for the sides, rather than trying to damage the flipping arm itself. The fight was chaos, where giving Bronco an opening for just a second led repeatedly to HUGE getting thrown and controlled. On the one hand, it’s cool to see your robot fly 8 feet in the air and land, bounce back up, and head on the attack. On the other hand, it’s cooler to not get thrown 8 feet in the air, in the eyes of the judges.
This fight was too close to call for the majority of it. They got in some great flips and controlled us a lot. But HUGE also got in strong hits, broke some of the overhead armor, controlled a lot of the fight, and we were able to peel a good sized hole into the side of Bronco. Suddenly with about 15 seconds to go, Bronco slows to a halt after a good hit from HUGE. Knowing this is our opening, we drive straight back to the hole we’d started to open up, and dug as deep inside as we could in the few remaining seconds. It was so loud in front of the driver’s box that I couldn’t even hear the buzzer go off! The hole looked massive, and their control lights were flashing like crazy.
By the time we were done, we had a good feeling about the fight, and about the cantaloupe-sized hole in the side of Bronco. Plus, the flipper was stuck upwards in some way. But as the minutes ticked away, we got nervous that the judges may not have agreed. Compared to most decisions we’ve had, this one had a LONG wait. They did get some good flips in, we thought. They controlled us for a lot of the fight, we worried. They were functioning until right near the end. Could the judges still score it for Bronco?
Nope!
We lost our minds when we won this match. 3-1! We’re looking great to make the Top 16 from this! Beating Bronco and Gigabyte within 36 hours, with minimal damage! We came into this season looking to prove ourselves against tougher competition, and definitely think we earned our record. No easy fights. We’re never a robot to blow someone to pieces within 10 seconds, but seeing our strategy of wearing the opponent down over 3 strong minutes work against new, stronger, and more varied opponents gave us a massive dose of confidence. Best of all? The motors seemed happy, we didn’t run out of battery, and took no damage from flips that no-doubt would have split 2018’s version of HUGE. Wins all around!
We took the robot back to the pits to gear up for the tournament push. We inspected it top to bottom for signs of wear, and prepared our spare frame pieces to be easy drop-in replacements. This included hammering the dents from part of the frame which fought Son of Whyachi, and re-welding cracked welds (big thanks to the Hypershock and Witch Doctor teams, and Lincoln Electric for their help!). It’s definitely still a spare, but one we were comfortable running if need-be. Otherwise, we organized our pit, and took a well needed break. We’d earned it. Now to wait and see how the selection committee sorts it all out...
(Photo credits: Dan Longmire, Tony Woodward)
Photo Gallery
We don’t really fit through the tunnel pointed forwards. And our cart can’t be used easily when pointed that way either. So we have achieved the first sideways tunnel run, a win for big bots everywhere.
Smiles gone. “Oh man I hope we don’t wheel it off the side of the ramp” ringing through all of our heads.
Except for Maddie. She’s always smiling.
A good look at the big attachments. Big and pointy, with a smaller rounded tail at the back.
Hey, I found a penny!
This should answer the question of if Bronco can reach our body. We knew we'd need some careful driving this fight.
Strategy: Run away from the door corners as quickly as possible. 4 seconds seems fast enough, right?
Lucky to get a good hit in early and loosen up that overhead armor. Who would have thought thick titanium is that springy!?
Speaking of springy, the support leg working perfectly and bending out of the way on this missed flip from Bronco.
Bronco gains a drone, as we set the majority of their right-side top armor free.
Bad
Real bad
Didn't hurt the bot much, but these flips make great photos. We're figuring 8-10 feet of height to the top of the bot here, certainly a record for us!
HUGE off the top rope!
Bronco isn’t the only bot in this fight that can get a flip or two in.
Sparks, brought to you by Mouser.com
This appeared to be the last life in Bronco’s drive. That hole in the side just kept getting bigger and bigger through the fight. As soon as we got a bite in, we just kept aiming for that spot. No idea what happened internally, but the orange light originally inside seems out in this photo.
HUGE leans over to take a peek.
The best team I could ask for. A great season so far, and let's keep it going! Featuring an amazing memento, thank you Inertia Labs!
The damage from their pointy flipper attachments jumping into our weapon hub. Bronco scary.