Check out this fight in Battlebots Season 3, Episode 17.
Icewave was a veteran competitor in their third season, and had a reputation as one of the most damaging horizontal spinners in the competition. They were riding especially high after splitting Vanquish in half in an earlier fight.
As part of our design for HUGE, we knew that it would be weak to a sideways hit. We also knew that the short blade we brought was designed to spin freely no matter how damaged a wheel became. Because of this, we ran with our short blade and hoped for the best.
Before the fight, our plan was to stick to the edges of the arena and hope for Icewave to miss and hit the wall. But upon Icewave’s initial spinup, the engine stumbled for a second, making us think that it was going to cut out. We turned to approach them as it roared back to full speed, and knew then that we were in trouble. By meeting them in the center of the arena with no approach speed, we had no chance to hit them with our blade. The rest from there was a dismantling for the ages, along with some incredible shots of the chaos. You learn much more in failure than you do during victory! We are a significantly better robot in following seasons because of this fight. In the end, this went about how we expected.
Photo credits: Dan Longmire, JCRB Photography
Photo Gallery
Icewave during the 2018 season
Turning from the edges to approach Icewave
First big weapon-to-weapon hit, surprising that it didn’t split here
Icewave first hit us on the wheel to turn us towards him on the splitting hit, but you can see the center already a bit bent up.
A spark of hope, but this hit ends the fight
The split!
The wreckage after the fight.
When Icewave’s hard blade meets our softer blade, it leaves an impressive mark!
And we had it freestanding by the end of the night! Part of making the playoffs is showing the selection committee that you can repair a robot quickly, and we made sure to have it standing again by the end of the night to show them that we belonged in the playoffs.
….the next morning we tore it apart again to swap blades, replace a motor, and a hundred other tasks, but for a moment it looked right!