BattleBots 2016: The Competitors

For today's quick little housekeeping bit at the top, I'll say the last post took ages to write because it felt a bit... sterile. And because I was trying to avoid spoilers. I'm going to go with a bit of a different format this time. Enjoy!

The filming of this year's BattleBots competition is right around the corner and almost all of the teams have been building the hype by releasing tantalising teasers and, in some cases, whole pictures of their brilliant creations. There'll be a whopping 56 competitors, more than twice what we saw last year, with some designs so terrifying my microwave shuddered at the sight of them. 56 is a lot of bots to cover, so I'm just going to go through what you need to know, and what you want to know.

For a full visual list of the competitors, have a look here. This, by the way, is the source for most of my images. The rest have a source given.

Is Tombstone returning?

Be honest, this is what you want to know most. Tombstone was absolutely devastating last year, living up to expectations and beyond. Team Hardcore Robotics won the 'Most Devastating Bot Award' last year and will most definitely be back to wreak (and reap) havoc.

"One more?"

Source: http://makezine.com/2015/08/03/6-life-lessons-robot-combat/

Team Aptyx and Bite Force will, of course, be back to defend their title. Also returning is the fearsome flipper of Bronco and Team Raptor's Ghost Raptor (which hopefully won't need a new weapon for every battle). All of the other 8 quarter-finalists will also be back.

Team Raptor still don't know that a sabretooth cat is neither a ghost, nor a raptor

In fact, almost every team from last year is returning for another shot. Only 4 or 5 won't be back: Counter Revolution likely won't which is a shame because I love the double-headed Nightmare thing they've got going on. They've been given a place as a 'back-up reserve', so they'll only get a place if all of the 4 official reserves have to drop out (or more than 4 robots do). Sabotage, anyone? Team Make Robotics also won't be back, focusing on their Robot Wars career because Radioactive was more than a bit rubbish. Sweet Revenge won't be there either because, well, they were somehow even worse. Finally, the veteran teams behind Complete Control and Lockjaw have both been silent, which is very weird.

Splatter, a reserve from last year, is also competing this time. They will hopefully be joined by beta which has so far been in 2 BattleBots tournaments 13 years apart and never fought competitively, after a bag of parts got lost in transit last year. The other reserves, Chronic and Bulldog, will sadly not be returning, though their teams will.

Will a disk on a lifting arm really make a good combination?

A lot of last year's bots are getting rebuilds, as I mentioned in my 'BattleBots 2016: Applicants' post. Most notably, Nightmare is getting a secretive rebuild so that it will be less easily toppled. No idea what the changes are but Nightmare has been completely stripped down, so it seems to be a pretty major alteration. Overdrive 2 will also be there as a successor to Team Cool Robots' last entry. It has been completely changed and is now fitted with a vertically-mounted bar, perhaps to get revenge on Witch Doctor for tossing it like salad last year. Speaking of, Witch Doctor's sidekick Shaman has been given a second flamethrower because the team want it to be a literal fireball on wheels. Finally, Overhaul 2.0 has been built with a more effective lifter, though as a trade-off the crusher is now blunter and more of a clamp. Mohawk hasn't seen much of a major redesign but the flame-injecting crusher has been given self-righting arms. Oh, and in an unexpected turn of events Chomp now has an axe. Less Chomp and more Chop, will it be a chump or a champ?

Overdrive 2, looking intimidating. Already doing a better job than the first one.

Are any other veteran bots going to be there?

Definitely. Team Whyachi are back but instead of Warrior Clan, they're bringing a true legend. Son of Whyachi is back! And you know what else? Plan X was a little... rough around the edges, so Lisa Winter has gone and built a giant Tentomoushi called Mega Tento! Will it be competitive? No. Will it look good as it gets flung across the box? Yes. Will it be a crowd favourite? Definitely.

Ooooohh....

A new heavyweight Mobius Resurrected has also been made, with a conical spinning shell and enormous mash-don't-cut teeth. Ultimo Destructo, the successor to Techno Destructo, will also be there to fight for the under-represented flippers. Team Inferno of Dr Inferno Jr fame have also built a new bot (and I like to think a comment I left on their YouTube channel might have helped). Imagine if Hypno-Disc was built in the what the 70s thought the future would be like, and there you are. Disco Inferno. Team Half-Life of Atomic Wedgie fame are also returning, not with the mad concept described in an earlier post but with HellaChopper, sporting extending overhead spinning flails and a very confusing drive set-up.

It looks like Tony Stark tried to build a BattleBot but gave up half-way through

Megabyte is a lesser-known veteran BattleBots competitor, fighting as MegaBite in 5.0 before taking the live events by storm. It was partly responsible for the retirement of both Biohazard and Typhoon 2. This really was the Tombstone or Last Rites of its day and now its back as Invader, themed around a UFO. The team has been out of it for a little while now and the design is pretty old but this is not a robot to be underestimated.

Chinkilla is still hoping to be accepted as well, though things aren't looking too hopeful.

Will there be as many minibots as last time?

Yes, yes there will. Many bringing a whole new dimension to robot combat.

I've already mentioned Witch Doctor & Shaman. Ground Control is another clusterbot (multibot to you Americans), consisting of a big flipper and a smaller full-body spinner. It's a strange combination but I guess they could tip something over and hit it as it self-rights. Free Radicals is a 50/50 clusterbot, with two equal-sized units, each sporting a wedge on one side and a horizontal disc on the other. For a long time, it looked like they hadn't made it but surfaced images of a frantic build mean the Radicals are in!

They're called Talon and Velociraptor
Because Team Free Radicals don't know what a theme is

The British team Creepy Crawlies (which includes the builders of previous reserve Bulldog) appear to be taking the piss a bit, bringing along not one, not two, not three but five robots along to fight under one name. I hope they've all had some driving practice because they will either show amazing tactical synergy or get strewn to all four corners of the BattleBox and probably caught in the lighting rig.

Now, that new dimension thing. Remember when I talked about a team wanting to use a flying drone way back in my 'BattleBots 2015: The Aftermath' post? And then talked about Team Torch Bears' drone in a later post? Neither has come to fruition. Don't worry though, because some other teams picked up the idea.

The new Son of Whyachi will have a flamethrowing flying drone called Warrior Dragon, the Chaos Corps' Bombshell is joined by the cleverly-named Short Fuse, the flipper Mecha SubZero will be joined by an as-yet-unnamed flying accomplice, the latter half of Basilisk & Afterbyte will be a drone and Caustic Creations' Poison Arrow decided to join the drone party for the hell of it. That's 4 flying drones in the competition. Hopefully, at least two will meet up so we can get some epic flaming dogfights!

The two-headed Warrior Dragon spits flame from both ends

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Whyachi/

What about walkers?

Still holding on in there, the walker design has two representative this year. The first is Wrecks which we saw last year and which has been given one or two modifications, hopefully to make it quicker to turn. Looks like it might be invertible too, which would be a world first. They are joined by Skorpios, about which I know almost nothing. Honestly, I'm still not completely sure it's a walker. The team insignia showed a scorpion tail, so maybe an overhead weapon, like an axe? I'm excited to see how this turns out!

Are there many foreign competitors this year?

Yep, even more than last year. From America's northern brother Canada comes Lycan, a 35mph rammer with clamping jaws, chunky drum Bucktooth Burl, the aforementioned combination of Basiisk & Afterbyte and the very secretive CM Robotics who haven't even released a name for their entry. And possibly Complete Control but we'll have to wait and see about that one.

The team called this a beaver. I don't think they know what beavers look like.

Weirdly, the United Kingdom is bringing more robots than Canada is. Of course, I'm not going to be biased or anything, but we're totally gonna kick ass this year. The Brits are bringing the ferocious 5-way cluster Creepy Crawlies, the world-infamous beta, an all-star cast from Team Storm, Team Tornado and Team BlazerBotics with Photon Storm, the devastating bar-wielding Carbide, a monstrous 'evilved' Warhead from Team Razer and finally the mind-boggling Obwalden Overlord.

Australia is competing in BattleBots for the very first time this year, too, with the gorgeous crocodile-themed Deathroll. Seriously, this thing looks so good. It even has a working tail. Brazil will also be there, represented by Team Riobotz who disappointed many by not entering last year. Their creation, Minotaur, is likely a bigger, harder version of the biggest of the famous Touro line of robots and last year's Robogames heavyweight champion, Touro Maximus.

It's gharial deal

What is the Obwalden Overlord?

If you've followed this year's line-up closely, you'll have seen this question a few times. The Obwalden Overlord is a collaboration between builders in the UK and France and is named after a place in Sweden. Finally, common ground for the British and the French. This is also France's first foray into fighting robots, as far as I'm aware.

The team have built up some brilliant lore behind their creation. It was supposedly build as part of a train to carry world leaders between North America and Europe through underground tunnels during the Cold War.

Hold your spades up, like the arena can't hold us

The robot itself is 5-foot tall and pretty humanoid as far as combat robots go. It's armoury isn't quite clear yet but involves two lifting arms extending from a torso. These arms intrigue me because at each elbow is a wheel. I thought it was a pully at first but no, wheels. And what do you use wheels for? Riding along the ground. Why have wheels on its elbows then? Is the Obwalden Overlord secretly a transformer?

How many axes are there?

Fine, maybe you haven't been asking this. It's a question worth answering though, because there are a good few. Last year, there was only one axe and it was Radioactive, whose axe flopped onto its opponents and probably couldn't decapitate a fly. Not encouraging then? Actually, it seems teams have taken up the challenge of showing that axes can be potent, after all.

I've already mentioned three of them. beta (yes, it is meant to be a lower case b) is swamped in hype, many wanting merely to see it hit a robot just once, to see how earthquake-inducing it really is. Personally, I imagine the hammer fall happening in slow-motion, with an explosive smash so powerful it shatters the ground and opens a crevasse under the opponent, sending it down to be crushed and melted in the bowels of the Earth. It probably won't really be like that. Probably.

No kitchen appliance is safe

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Betarobot/

Bombshell's axe is also reported to be extremely powerful, but considering it is one of three possible weapons, I can't help but feel the robot's design might be too generalised to suite any one piece of its armoury really well. Chomp has also been given an axe and, once again, I don't know how well it'll perform. If it gets one hit in, Chomp will at least have done better than last year.

There's two other axes/hammers in the competition. One is Blacksmith. Not much confirmed here but it will likely be a bigger version of the team's powerful featherweight. Finally is the oddly-named Road Rash which looks like one of those pecking birds you used to see in offices, but attached to a car tyre. This is a complete unknown for me, though its shape should help reduce blows from horizontals and it looks like it should self-right could and quickly.

Anything else we should know about?

Well, I'd like to talk about all of the other entries but then this would be a looong post, so I'll keep it to the most interesting entries.

The Ringmaster is a sequel to the old robot of the same name and is an invertible ring spinner. Its ring is huge, very heavy and features an enormous tooth. I fear for anything which faces this bot, including the BattleBox walls. Team Artifist and Clockwork l'Orange also deserve a mention for their steampunk-themed creation. Going by their application video, this will be a hugely-characterful team and a potential crowd favourite.

Finally, Red Devil (with a last-minute name change from Hyperactive), which seems to have been built using a suggestion box. The designers just did not know where to stop. From a pair of tracks protrudes a 360-degree lifter, attached to which are two independent clamping jaws, between which sits an actuating arm on the end of which is a circular saw. This thing looks absolutely incredible, like something I'd have drawn in a schoolbook when I was 8, except far better designed and even more bonkers.

...

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Update: An image of Team Razer's entry has been released. It's Warhead, but also not. Seriously, I think the boys went a little beyond mad with this one. I'm pretty much speechless right now. If they hadn't had to de-face Warhead to build it, I'd have been really excited but I actually preferred the old one.

I... what?!
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BESOmAiySQd/

Robot Wars 2016: The Arena

Before I start, I want to say thanks to the BattleBots subreddit for being my number 1 source of info and a great community for building up the hype, getting excited and geeking out about robot combat. Thanks also to the brilliant Dracophile, creator of the side-splitting satirical BattleBots Update which inspires me to keep going with Blogbotic in the hopes of becoming as good as he is. You should totally go check both of those things out, but only after reading my stuff first because screw you, I worked hard on writing this.

Right, back to business as usual. The filming for the new series has already come and gone and a very lucky few (of which I, alas, was not one) got a look in at the arena and saw the fights live. Of course, the audience were all asked not to take photos and told not to spoil anything before it all goes out on TV. This here is why I like the BBC: they have faith in people. They shouldn't, though, because pictures immediately swarmed Facebook and Twitter. Not that the BBC seem to mind - they're actually posting spoilers all over the place themselves. I'll say that I will not be talking about the competitors here so don't worry about spoilers in that regard.

The Structure

The leaked images got a lot of people worrying about size, including me, because it looked tiny. A small arena would mean the robots would be stuck near each other, with little room to escape, manoeuvre or take run-ups. It would also mean they'd be closer to the hazards at all times. Basically, a small arena is a bad thing. Turns out it will actually be 22 metres squared which is not too bad.

The colour scheme in the arena has changed from the classic warning colours of yellow and black to a mean-looking red and black. A new look for a new series. I'm OK with this.

The floor is steel this time, compared to the wood of old which would catch sharp wedges and get gouged up by spinners. Landings will be heavier (wood soaks up impacts a little more), it should make good sparks and it allows for a feature we've yet to see in British heavyweights: magnets to effectively add weight and pushing power. It won't be all one big slab so hitting seems is a possibility but it shouldn't happen too often, if at all.

The walls are taller, thank Christ, so flippers shouldn't have too great an advantage but they are still just short enough for robots to get thrown out with a very powerful, well-timed flip. There are also lowered sections half-way along each wall which will give flippers, and even powerful vertical spinners, a chance to throw a robot out. Hopefully OOTAs will be rarer and feel more like an occasion again.

A great view of the new anti-flipper walls
Source: https://twitter.com/robotwarsuk

The walls are also angled outward at the base, meaning heavy impacts will be deflected upwards, which is a nice touch. I'm also assuming these walls are much stronger than the old ones which couldn't even withstand the stronger spinners from back in the day, meaning their power had to be limited and letting the Americans pip us there. It'll probably take a little time before we catch up but at least we have the opportunity for these designs now.

The shorter wall sections I mentioned earlier double as gates which lower before a battle to let in the competitors and close up again before the fighting starts. Behind them are walkways which extend to the arena like drawbridges over a moat, with a sizeable drop either side. This 'moat' is probably a channel along which the cameras can run. One of the lowered sections looks static and holds the pit release button which, to my delight, is a ol' big tyre, even bigger than before. The more astute of you will realise this means the pit is back, as I'll get on to.

There doesn't appear to be any kind of plinth or balcony for the presenter to stand on, interestingly. The driving bays are big and face into the arena, much like those of the new BattleBots arena. On the opposite side is the judges' booth, allowing the competitors to sense the critical, judgemental glares and musings which may well decide their fate in the competition.

The arena is surrounded by the spectator stands which are so close to the arena some of the audience members could probably spit on the outer wall if they were particularly able.

Robot Wars mosh pit
Source: https://twitter.com/robotwarsuk

The Hazards

A hazard, in case you don't know, is an obstacle or damaging feature of the arena. Stuff like the Pit, the Floor Flipper, screws, killsaws, that kind of thing.

Four hazards are present in the new arena, one in each quarter. The first is the famous Pit of Oblivion which appears to be substantially bigger than the old one, as well as shallower. We might just get to see the first robot to fling itself out and back into the fight - a trick I've seen many times at the live events but that's never been seen on telly.

Opposite the pit is a new Floor Flipper, more rectangular than the old one and angled to face the arena centre. It is also a bit slower this time around and will likely play a more active role, instead of just throwing robots which are already dead.

The Flame Pit, still not actually a pit, is back too. Two columns of fire rise 5 feet into the air through a pair of holes in the arena floor, which will look bad-ass even if it won't really affect the competitors.

Here's the floor flipper, with the flame pit just beyond and to the left
Source: https://twitter.com/robotwarsuk

Finally, there are floor spikes. Floor spikes don't do anything and never have done. These ones aren't even able to flip robots over, so they're basically a downgrade from the Third Wars. All they will actually do is jar up the fight by lifting a robot off its wheels or getting in the way. Fucking floor spikes. I can't believe it.

The House Robots

I was so sure they wouldn't bring the old house robots back. They're icons but they're also a bit past it and, more importantly, probably worth a lot. Like an integral piece of a set from a famous Harry Potter movie. No one in their right mind would put those Mona Lisas of the robot combat world out into the arena, right?

Well, yes and no. The BBC released four teasers (only four) each showing a different house robot being unveiled from under a bed sheet. They looked great, as they should. You could tell they were originals from little details, like the gash in Shunt's scoop inflicted by Hypno-Disc many years ago. Well, I thought, it's great to see them but I guess they won't be around for much longer. Not in one piece, anyway. Technology has come a long way and those old robots would be flung, axed and torn apart by modern machines. Even worse, the competitor weight limit has gone up, putting some of the old house robots under weight.

Shunt's tell-tale scar
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdnVCHefNuE

In fact, as with the arena everything has changed. They may go under the old monikers but these are not the same house robots. They are clones, like the stubby Matilda of the Robot Wars live events.

Tragically, only four of the house robots are returning. They are Matilda, Shunt, Dead Metal and Sir Killalot, all rebuilt and looking... different. Sergeant Bash won't be joining them, sadly, nor are Mr Psycho, my personal favourite Growler or the mighty Cassius Chrome. In fact, even Refbot has been let go.

Now, I don't want to give away the looks completely, which is why I've decided not to include images of the house robots in this post. I will, however, give you a brief run-down. Matilda looks less like a boar and more like the unholy offspring of a Triceratops and a forklift, Dead Metal will make you crap your pants with simultaneous fear and excitement, Shunt appears to have been draped in grilled cheese and Sir Killalot has become a Sci-Fi villain, complete with triangular death treads, huge back spines and Bane-esque face pipes. All of the house robots also weigh three times as much as they did to stop them getting thrown around too much, though we can expect them to end up on their backs occasionally.

The corner patrol zones are back as well, indicating the area in which a competitor can be mercilessly attacked. Two house robots will patrol per battle. Hopefully the producers will stick to this instead of attacking whichever robot looks less exciting. They're bigger than they used to be though, leaving a fairly small area which isn't hazard-filled.

The Judges

There will be 3 judges, as is standard. One of these is back from the old Wars: Professor Noel Sharkey. It seems he's just the right mix of intelligent and eccentric to be given back his rightful place, giving out points to men with death robots. He is joined by Sethu Vijayakumar, Professor of Robotics at Edinburgh University who's name I had to retype twice, and Dr Lucy Rogers who actually wrote the book on rocket science. Well, a book, anyway, which is a damn sight more than I've ever done. She's also a member of various astronomical and engineering societies.

The 3 judges squirming around in the new pit

Source: https://twitter.com/robotwarsuk

Will they make good judges? Yes, I reckon so. Noel Sharkey, we know, will be great. It may have been a while ago now but he was impresive in the old Wars and on TechnoGames. He'll probably be able to teach the others a thing or two about how to judge a battle. Prof. Vijayakumar has published all sorts of sciencey things which I don't understand, except that some of it involved Honda's ASIMO robots and some more of it had something to do with NASA. Dr Rogers is also a rocket scientist and the fact that she writes books suggests she knows how to talk to people, and hopefully the camera.

Does this mean they will be able to make good, fair decisions? Like I said, Sharkey will probably help point them in the right direction. Anyhow, the bar of fairand honest judging wasn't exactly set very high from the old Wars, now was it Typhoon team?

Oh, one last thing. The judging crieteria has changed ever so slightly. It seems they've finally realised that style as a criteria makes very little sense, especially in terms of competitive ability. Dropping that shows this series is going to be all about substance, not just style.

The Pits

Hidden behind the arena, the pits are not too greatly changed from their old appearance. But then what's to change about a bunch of tables?

This area is of course smaller than it was in most of the old series because there are fewer competitors. It appears that the tables are now divided with tall scaffolding arches to which, for whatever reason, television screens can be attached, as has been done with one table, openly displaying one of the competitors. Maybe this is some elaborate way of doing introductions - show a
robot in the pits but away from the others, with stats up on the screens?

The only shot of the pits I could find that isn't full of pesky tinkering teams

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/48ibl3/battles_are_won_in_the_arena_championships_in_the/

The pits area also has three modes when it comes to lighting. The first is actually useful, with good lighting for tinkering the bots and filming things. The second is lit up with great big neon tubes which are brighter than the surface of the sun and the other is dingy and overshadowed by the epileptic-unfriendly lasers and lights streaming out from the arena area.