Robot Riots - Aug 24-25, 2002

We went to Robot Riots in Toronto on August 24-25, 2002. The event was held at the Ontario Science Centre and was put on by the Robot Fight Club in Toronto. There were two classes of robots at this event: Antweights (1 pound or less) and Featherweight (up to 12 pounds).

The robot we used was called "General Mayhem". Peter, Chris, Stephen and I all attended. Chris,Peter and I were the developers of the robot.

Event
Contestants
Day 1 - Preliminaries
Day 2 - Finals
Day 2 - Grudge Match
Day 2 - Antweight Rumble
Robot Zoo
Summary

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Event

The events were held in the Standard Oil Auditorium in the Science Centre. Two arenas were provided. The Antweights fought in a 4" by 4" arena with openings in each corner. The Featherweights had an 8" lexan cube as an arena to protect the spectators from flying debris. A pit room weas provided for servicing and repairs.

The pits had closed circuit TV so we could watch the bouts while doing repairs.

Tables and power were available for competitors.

There were two arenas. The antweight one was 4" by 4". the featherweights used an 8" lexan cube. Cameras displayed the action on the large screen overhead, as well as transmitting it to the closed circuit TV in the pits.

Contestants:

Antweights:

Name	Description	Picture
General Mayhem	Our bot. A dual motored wedge design using a composite paper, styrofoam, and nylon mesh armor.
PuckBot	A puck shaped bot with a lifting arm
One Night Wonder	Another wedge bot. Supposedly built overnight by an experienced robot builder.
Emma	Another dual wheeled wedge design. This one used a small saw blade as a lifting arm.	No picture available
Shade Skink	An unusual pair of robots. There was a light walker bot that had limited mobility and a relatively fast wedge.

Featherweights

Name	Description	Picture
Hurricane	Designed as a Sumo bot, the designer still did a good job of fighting against other opponents
Buck Wild	The designer of this bot has competed in BattleBots, so it is a very professionally designed and well driven machine.
UTRA - University of Toronto	A spin bot developed by University of Toronto students.(The picture was taken after a couple of rounds against the other featherweights.)
Low Rider	A lexan covered wedge with a lifting arm
Obelus	A plywood covered wedge. As the tournament went on, there was less and less armor left with each round.	No picture available

Some facts about the competitors:

We were the only American entry at the event.
This was supposedly the first robotic combat event to take place in Canada.
This was the first time this particular event was held.
All of the antweight builders were teen-agers.
There were supposed to be more bots, but several cancelled during the week before the event.
For some reason, we were the only bot running on 49 Mhz. Because of this, we avoided the interference problems that plagued some contestants.

Day 1 - Preliminaries

Emma vs PuckBot Low Rider vs Hurricane

Gen Mayhem vs Shade Skink

Low Rider vs Buck Wild Low Rider vs Hurricane
Gen. Mayhem vs Emma

Gen. Mayhem vs One Night Wonder

QuickTime Movie of General Mayhem vs Emma

At the end of day 1, we had 2 wins (Shade Skink and One Night Wonder) and two losses (PuckBot and Emma).

Day 2 - Finals

The finals were on day 2 in the morning. PuckBot faced Shade Skink. Shade Skink won that bout.
We faced Emma to get into the final bout:

After beating Emma by a KO, we faced Shade Skink in the finals:

The bout went the full three minutes, so it came down to a judges decision:

We won with a score of 11 to 4.

Buck Wild won the featherweight portion of the tournament.

Day 2 - Grudge Match

There was some extra time left, so we signed up for a grudge match against PuckBot. (We didn't have a grudge against PuckBot, but really wanted to try Gen. Mayhem against it in a rematch.) Peter drove for this event. We lost when PuckBot got his flipping arm under our bot and turned us on our side.

Day 2 - Antweight Rumble

An antweight rumble was held with most of the antweights competing. Emma's creator made a new robot and brought that in. The new bot was armed with a spinning disk to cut armor. (It did not work well. When the disk hit General Mayhem, it broke. PuckBot then picked the spinning disk off the bot.)

Rumble Movie 1
Rumble Movie 2
Rumble Movie 3

Robot Zoo

The Science Centre has a set of exhibits called the Robot Zoo. Robotic versions of animals are set up in the main hall. In addition, other robotic event, such as the Robot Riots, have occurred during the last few months.

Solar powered robots

Robot Zoo

Summary

We had a great time at Robot Riots and plan to return next year. Everyone was a good sport about the bouts and we learned a lot from our fellow competitors, such as:

The best structural material for a robot is duct tape.
The best armor for a robot is duct tape.
The best way to fasten parts to a robot is duct tape.
If there was a way to make duct tape conduct electricity, it would be used as part of the electronics too.
Styrofoam/paper/mesh composite armor looks goofy, but it can snap off a spinning disk.
The ideal camouflage for a white arena is NOT olive green/brown/black.
Always change your batteries between bouts.
Always protect your on/off switch.