Check out this fight in BattleBots Season 5, Episode 8, or in this unbelievably viral Tiktok.
At 0-2 and with an undamaged robot, we were simultaneously on the back foot and very prepared for this fight with Kraken. Kraken was coming off an amazing win over returning runner-up Witch Doctor, as well as a razor-thin split-decision loss to the incredibly tough Black Dragon. We knew they were an extremely durable robot, and figured that they would be impossible to knock out. It was great to meet Matt and his team, they were a ton of fun to chat and hang out with and it really brought our spirits up after the prior fight’s drama. Learning about the tech inside of Kraken and how the airbag system works was also a really fun time! We did a little more tuning of the weapon controllers to eliminate the overheating seen against Hydra, and got ready to head in for fight #3 of the season.
The only configuration change for this fight was a pair of steel top plates (with fairly wet paint upon entering the box) that were brought out due to the strength of Kraken’s jaw. Matt told us before the fight that he was going to bite the frame of HUGE. He was confident, he said he had a plan, and we didn’t believe him in the slightest. But not wanting to doubt his confidence, we made sure everything was armored as well as possible to prepare for a biting attack.
So anyways, Kraken immediately bit the frame.
At this point, it felt like our season was over. We knew Kraken would hold us for the full 30 seconds, as that was his winning strategy in the last two fights. Because each pod has redundant and separate electronics, we knew that HUGE couldn’t be killed in a single bite. But we were very afraid for the soft small rubber belts that power our weapon. It is in that moment, when you realize that you never looked too deeply into what “Heat-resistant” really means when it’s printed on a V-belt.
We patiently waited for the release, and paused for a few seconds afterwards to hopefully let the belts cool. And somehow, by some miracle, they were still functional! Our strategy shifted from here, towards spinning downwards and doing anything we could solely to disable the airbag. After our second hit, we heard a loud whoooosh, signifying that the system was leaking and therefore disabled. From there we were back to swinging upwards and trying to control the fight, hit the body/wheels of Kraken, and really damage any components that we can. We even threw in a pin for good measure! We were luckily able to turn the fight around, and ended up winning a judge’s decision.
This fight gave us some unique damage to repair, as we had to swap out a lot of burned parts in the weapon area. There was also a deep gouge in the top plate to fix, as well as a handful of gouges in our wheels from the harpoon. Otherwise, we were left to wait for the release of the Top 32 bracket, in anticipation of our next match!
Photo Gallery
Kraken’s configuration for this fight, with the “harpoon”
Kraken with a perfect 30 second hold and flamethrower burst
Before the hit that disabled Kraken’s crusher…
…and during the hit
Kraken stayed really aggressive with the harpoon
The airbag starts to sneak out the side of Kraken’s head
At some point, HUGE ripped the top plate off of one side of Kraken
Very burned belts
As well as burned weapon area. Everything non-metallic here had to be replaced.
Damage to Kraken’s airbag support plate, head, and electronics bay
Kraken’s top plate that was ripped off
A cut in Kraken’s airbag support plate
Photo Credit: Dan Longmire, the Kraken team