Check out this fight in the Battlebots: Vengeance in Vegas Youtube special, or the fight itself embedded below:
After a 2-3 run in the Battlebots World Championship + the Battlebots: Champions spinoff show, we felt that HUGE still had unfinished business in 2021. The power, speed, and fast spinup of HUGE was really uplifting for us after a tough 2020 season, and we finally felt like the robot was starting to scratch at the limits of its real potential. Plus, we were itching to fight a normally-sized robot after three straight fights against tall, body-threatening opponents. We wrote our name on the big “Grudge Matches” whiteboard, with a slight “no more tall verts pls” message alongside, and waited for someone to volunteer to fight us. In the meantime, repairs were made from our fight with Deep Six.
By the end of the day, the name “Captain Shrederator” popped up next to ours, and we got confirmation from the Battlebots producers that we were on the fight schedule for the next morning. Good Stuff! Captain Shrederator is a longstanding, super hard-hitting opponent who gave us the opportunity to test many fresh aspects of HUGE. This one fight represented a test of:
Testing fresh tegris wheels against a horizontal spinning weapon
Testing weapon to weapon hits against a super hard-hitting opponent
Testing driving while spinning downwards, à la Gigabyte
Not fighting a 4ft tall vertical spinner
HUGE was repaired by changing out damaged weapon and drive hubs for new components, and by repairing the wheel that Deep Six hit repeatedly. This used wheel (and another fresh heavy defensive wheel, to replace the lighter weight-saver wheel from the Deep Six fight) were mounted to the bot, along with our longest, heaviest, single-tooth weapon. Our view was that Captain Shrederator’s all-steel construction would require HUGE to be hitting as hard as possible, to have a chance of damaging the shell.
Captain Shrederator countered by mounting a new configuration, designed specifically for robots like HUGE, Sawblaze, or Shatter. This shell was a modification of their original cylindrical shell, with steel panels fully welded across the top to protect from downwards attacks. It also featured an array of wedgelets, static lower armor (the shell was only half as tall as normal, to divert weight into top armor), and lengthened sharp teeth.
Captain Shrederator’s “Killdozer of Freedom” configuration
This fight started out poorly, as it was our first time driving HUGE while spinning downwards with the new more-powerful weapon. The test box isn’t large enough to really get an idea of how a robot as big as HUGE will control, and this strategy resulted in an uncontrollable amount of gyroscopic forces. After around 30 seconds of handing free hits to Captain Shrederator (including one massive one, timed right as HUGE tipped over), we flipped off the reversing switch to start spinning upwards again. Suddenly driving right, HUGE landed a massive shot through the side of Captain Shrederator’s shell.
The consequences of this hit were massive.
On HUGE: Blade bent, weapon hub bent, weapon motor axles bent, and consequently the now-crimped bearing began to overheat.
On Captain Shrederator: A chunk ripped from the shell bounced around inside their frame, disabling 3 of their 4 wheels. The hit also forced them into the shelf the Upper Deck walls, breaking free one tooth and destabilizing the shell.
From here, both bots were dragging to the finish line, trying to outlast each other. We were landing as many soft hits as we could, because HUGE’s blade would no longer spin up to full speed. At the same time, Captain Shrederator was feathering their weapon throttle to avoid destabilization, while also crab-walking around the arena. After a hit later in the fight, Captain Shrederator suddenly ground to a halt, and the fight was finished at that moment.
To illustrate our blade damage, the final spinup of HUGE (around 2:30 in the linked video) was a full-throttle spinup attempt, and things were not looking good for our offensive capabilities.
Overall, this fight showed us a number of areas in need of improvement on HUGE, all to help us improve our reliability and longevity in fights. The 2021 season overall was a year of growth for Team HUGE, as we transitioned into an offensive strategy, rather than a defensive strategy. From the high-point of HUGE’s win over Retrograde, we fought reliability issues for the rest of the season that kept HUGE from working at 100% deep into fights. We were overjoyed to finish the year with a win, and this fight reaffirmed our belief that a high-octane, all-offense HUGE could be effective in the modern day. Our focus in the coming off-season would be on reliability and preparedness, and we were determined to bring the best HUGE yet for 2022.
As much of a hit as we ever got while spinning in reverse. Captain Shrederator was well-driven in this fight, and we couldn’t adapt fast enough while dealing with the heavy gyroscopic forces of the new weapon.
HUGE tips over, and is about to take a massive hit, as all 250 pounds compress and pre-bend our left wheel…
…leading to HUGE flying much farther than usual, and actually gyro-standing up on the support pole for a half-second.
After reversing spin direction, this was our first real offensive hit of the match.
Later in the fight, as Captain Shrederator destabilizes, they actually land a surprise hit at body-height. Glad they hit the wheel first!
Right side drive chains, missing an axle and half a sprocket.
Left side drive chains, missing a sprocket and with one very smooth, very scrubbed, presumably overheated/jammed front wheel.
The major hit through the side of Captain Shrederator’s shell. This produced a crack that went down to the floor of the shell, and also traced the newer top weld seam all the way into the central hub area. Pac-man time!
Captain Shrederator’s detached tooth, and the big chunk of shell that came with it.
Another bent weapon hub, this time stretching itself until it cracked.
The damaged wheel! This luckily was the same wheel that had eaten Deep Six’s suplexing hit, so it was already well-used. We think that the stiffer repaired portion around that hit helped to give Captain Shrederator more bite, allowing them to damage the wheel further than normal. Most of their hits resulted in HUGE bouncing away, but this one was the most damaging hit we’d taken since Icewave. Still round, and still turning though!