Dragoncon: Robot Battles

I realize that I’m beginning at the end of the con–which does seem like an odd direction to go–but this is seriously one of my favorite Dragoncon events.  It makes the ever depressing con Monday a little better; partially because of its sheer awesomeness, partially because when you’re not walking the hallways you cant be sad about how empty they’re getting and all the tired looking people walking around with their suitcases.

Robot Battles are a little different than the Robot Wars/Battlebots/etc. you may have seen on TV.  These battles(no they’re not really robots, but lets not get technical now, thanks) are a little more restricted by the fact that they take place at a convention and have to use the hotel’s resources without doing injury to the audience or setting the hotel on fire.  So, instead of trying to destroy one another(they’d need some sort of protective glass or a cage or something to be able to safely pull that off), they fight sumo wrestler style on a raised platform trying to knock each other off.  For the very last battle they bring all of the robots of the weight class up to the platform and have a wonderful little free for all (see the youtube video below, and maybe fast forward to 2:08 because that’s where all the action is).

You can hear definitely hear the crowd simultaneously shouting “fight!” in the background.  Everyone really gets into it with the screaming and cheering and gasping in disbelief when something unexpected happens.

allthecompetitors

The competitors right before the start.

As you can probably tell, the room is packed.  This is actually the only photo I took of the stage, because unless you’re lucky and sitting on the 3rd row (they close off the first two in case any little bits and pieces go flying) you can’t see the stage.  They project the fights up on a screen from an above-ish angle so you can actually see what’s going on.  We stumbled upon Justin(the only friend I ever seem to be able to run into at a con without trying) in the very very back row and sat there for the entirety of the event.   There was no way I was seeing that stage properly unless I stood up on my chair to do so.  The little kid two seats down was doing it, but I feel like someone might frown upon an adult trying it out.

The two bots above were made by a man named Dale, and the cool thing about the one with the flipper in front was that he made it so it automatically activates when it comes in contact with another bot.  If you get a chance, check out his website.  He’s made many many bots, and he’s posted about most of his projects.  Plus his iroll Ball Balancer gadget made me giggle.

charlesrobots

These two belong to a guy named Charles.  The sticky-outy thingies that it looks like you could roast marshmallows on are actually clamping arms that can grab a hold of the enemy bot.  They had enough strength to get them up in the air and still be able to move to the edge to(theoretically…it didn’t always work) toss the enemy out of the ring.  If the bot tipped over it could used the arm to right itself.  During one of the last rumbles, Kelly Lockhart, the events host,  propped it upside down on its arm in the middle of the stage.  It balanced!

Sadly, I didn’t manage to get pictures of every bot.  What you’re seeing is more of a small selection, because some people started packing up before I could run around to the set up tables.  There’s another clampy bot and a bot that looks a bit like a dustpan(it does to me, anyways).  The wooden one, I believe, was made 8 hours before the event, and it didn’t actually light on fire. 🙁  The bot with the face is Mr. Fun.  I believe Mr. Fun’s description read, “Fun.”  I wish I had gotten a closeup of Dandelion’s Revenge.  I don’t remember the original Dandelion(from what Justin said, there was an original Dandelion), but Dandelion’s revenge made  me giggle.  If you followed instructions and clicked on the youtube video, it’s the weird yellow bot covered with flower stickers.  In the middle they’ve attached a clear plastic dome shaped fisher-price toy that’s filled with multicolor balls.  They added a button on their remote control that makes the balls start popping.  Weird but wonderful.

In summary, I want to build a battle robot…you know…in my ever abundant (sarcasm, sarcasm) freetime.  But one day there will be freetime and hopefully a technologically savvy friend to help me put it together.  Dreams, so many dreams.  Next post will be more Dragoncon, assuming I can collect enough photos.  Pictures were certainly taken, just not on my camera(Which is a good thing.  Quality!).  Hope everyone has recovered from their magical con adventures and managed to not get sick!

Oh, and as a very random sidenote, I finally joined Twitter and have no clue what to do with it (which is kind of the reason I didn’t do it a long time ago).  Anybody on there for me to follow?  Or maybe follow me?  And anybody else think that they’re little sign up thingy was completely obnoxious?  After I followed 5 people I really didn’t want to have to think up 5 more…any-whoooo…till next week!

2 thoughts on “Dragoncon: Robot Battles

    • Hey Brandon, thanks for the info. Your bot made me giggle. We’ve been thinking about doing one since last year when we first attended Robot Battles. Hopefully next year it will actually happen, and if it does I’ll definitely be asking questions…building a bot would be completely new to me, but new is good. Your bots all look a million times more difficult than the dinky pinewood derby cars I built back in the day…probably because they have, you know, motors and stuff…although that wooden bot this year was highly reminiscent. XD

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