BATTLE #3: ROBOGAMES 2005
[03/28/2005]
RoboGames was a major disappointment. I won't even go into all of the hassles that I went
through just to get registered, not to mention the fact that it was scheduled on Easter
weekend. Getting good information was impossible. I have a broken bone in my hand, which
didn't help matters, but I had an appointment to see my doctor on the day I was supposed to
check in, so I inquired about checking in the previous day. I was told that I could do that
(and that was all I was told - I was given no information about when to go, who to talk to, etc.).
Of course, after driving all the way up there, nobody was set up to do anything when I got there,
so not only did I not get checked in, but I didn't even get to unload my gear. It was totally a
wasted trip. I had to return
the next day to get everything taken care of before I had to leave to see my doctor.
I also asked about having an opportunity to test my robot in the arena before the festivities
began, and I was told I would have "all day Thursday" (the day of check-in and my doctor appt.)
to drive around in the arena. Well, the entire time I was there (9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) they
were still building the arena. What you see in this picture is about all I saw the whole time
I was there. Also, there was a big bold block of text in the registration email stating emphatically
that ALL 12-340 POUND COMBAT ROBOTS MUST BE LOADED-IN BETWEEN 10:00 AM AND NOON -- NO EXCEPTIONS!!! A
friend of mine was not going to make it before Noon to check in his robot, so I went to the
coordinators to inform them of this, and they acted like they knew nothing of this mandate, and
treated my like a child, making some comment about it being an "adult decision" to get there
on time (which, actually, was "by 10:00 p.m.")!My wife was the only other member on my team, and she couldn't be there to help on that day or the following day, and there was someone else from CSM that wanted to get in, so I inquired about adding him to my team so I could have an extra set of hands. They basically didn't even give me a chance to explain my situation. They just said no and hurriedly walked off, looking busy. On the weekend, when my wife was able to attend, she inquired as to whether there was a wireless network she could connect to with her laptop, because she had some important business to work on. The answer she got was - and I quote - "I don't have time to answer questions like that" and was totally blown off. We both agreed this person was a Bitch. Getting ANY information of ANY kind out of ANYONE that had ANYTHING to do with coordinating this event was like a one-armed man trying to cut his own arm off. It just wasn't entirely possible.
Then, to rub my nose in it, my robot -- my lowly wedge -- was pitted against three other wedges in my first (and only) three matches. I won the first match and lost the second two (against two nearly identical robots), but whoever, or whatever circumstances, set me up for that line-up seemed to be trying to tell me to just fuck off. Well, next year will be different. I promise. Where there's a William, there's a way.
The icing on the cake was when I returned to the pit area after watching some of the final matches to find that half the tables were gone -- including mine! What remaining items I had were left in a pile on the floor, except for my three-way power adapter, which was nowhere to be found. I had to bring it in, because they didn't even run electricity to my table - the cable ended about a table and a half down. I had to bring in my own power adapter and extension cord so that I could charge my damn batteries after my lowly battles. Good thing I took my extension cord home when I lost my last fight, or I might not even have that!
There were a few other teams there from the CSM Robotics classes. Jim Newton was there with SparBot.
Poor SparBot got beat up pretty badly - it was rather sad, really, as I liked SparBot. You can
see in this image that there wasn't much left of the interior. The motor controller burnt up. And
I mean it completely burnt up - there wasn't much left of it but molten blobs of blackness. You can
see some pretty severe damage to one end of the robot, plus a busted gear box casing on one of
the motors. If you look closely in the large version of this image, you can see one of the capacitors
just laying, loose, among the wires. It desoldered itself from the motor controller board when it
was letting out the magic smoke.
Ed Haas was also there, with his T-34b. He got whacked by a robot called "Toxic" (which had a rather
terminal horizontal spinning weapon), and was knocked out.
He's talking about retiring it and building
a new robot completely out of welded titanium. T-34b has (or had) a pneumatic flipper arm in the
nose, but as you can see, the arm was ripped out at the hinge point, rendering it useless. What
is harder to see in this picture is the battery pack dangling beneath the frame.
Lloyd Stafford was there with Porcupine, a full-body spinner made (partly) from a wok. Its first
battle went up against Terminal Velocity, which has a vertical spinning weapon, and with one whack,
Porcupine was on its back. But, Porcupine survived to fight again. Lloyd repaired the gaping
hole in the spinner wall (that was peeled back, perfectly, like a sardine can) and went on to
compete in the loser's circuit. I watched it get knocked out (also by Toxic!) while I was standing in line waiting
to be defeated by my final opponent. I didn't get a picture of Porcupine with its spinning top on
it (with or without the gash), but here you can see its new innards, with the new spinner motor
and the same type motor controller that was used in SparBot. As you can see, he had to lose some
weight - that's the reason for all the holes in the frame.
Crazy Larry was there - the robot from the class I was in that had the overhead spinning weapon that intimidated me so much. It was knocked out in its first fight, too, and did not return to fight (much like T-34b). It simply suffered more damage than could be repaired in time. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of Crazy Larry. But you can see a picture of Crazy Larry on the Battle #2 page.
You don't need to see my robot. Nothing has changed. It just has a few more scratches on the decorative covering. However, its future is uncertain, as it did not stand up well in the arena. It kept getting stuck on uneven surfaces in the floor (which everyone was complaining about), and it just isn't very fast - not very fast at all. So, I'm not sure what is in store for its future.
It just seemed fitting to include a picture of my broken hand. Yes, there are two pins (presumably
made of Titanium) sticking out of my knuckle. Those two pins are holding my bone together while
it heals. I'm regaining more and more use of my hand every day (I am now able to type again,
otherwise you wouldn't be reading these pages just yet). Perhaps this image will instill upon
you the same feeling I have about my combat robot experience at RoboGames 2005. Although, it wasn't all bad, as I
did enjoy watching many of the battles, and the people behind the machines are generally pretty
cool. And, fortunately, there were other more intellectual robot events to go to when I couldn't
take it anymore.
I'd wrap this up by adding a little more commentary here, but I think I have said all I want to say about this particular event. It is time to move on and put this all in the past where it belongs. See you next year!