8bean builds bots IRL

[8bean]

Hello everyone! 4 of my friends and I got together and decided to build two bots. We had limited resources and time so neither of them came out as expected.

The first bot is Sean.
 

Sean is a beetleweight wedge powered by 4 22:1 silversparks by a 3c 12v lipo. It was originally supposed to have a servo lifter but due to weight constraints it had to be removed.
 

This caused Sean to have a lot of excess space and be way too large.

The second bot we made is named Vaughn.
 

Vaughn is a mantisweight thwackbot that was made at the last second with spare RC parts. Rushing this bot out was a poor decision on our part because at the event we had a full electronics malfunction and had to forfeit it from the tournament.

Sean fought in three matches. This first match was against a plastic coffee cup and would determine our standing in the tournament based off of the damage we had done to it. Needless to say our wedge could do very little against it so it basically became a game of ram the cup as many times as possible.

Unfortunately, after this match we discovered that both of our back motors had become disconnected from the gearboxes. We spent an hour and a half troubleshooting these motors but couldn't get them to reconnect correctly to the gearbox.
The second match it fought in was against a very small overhead bar spinner named WISPTEC. Prior to this battle, WISPTEC had shredded its weapon bar mount when fighting the cup. Since the bar couldn't be repaired in time, a wooden ruler became its primary weapon for this match.

Our third and final match was against the feared Rapid Unscheduled Dissasembly. Lets just say that we came out of this match much better than expected.

Since Vaughn forfeit its match, the very generous host of this tournament provided us with an RC car toy named Sacraficial Lamb. It fought valiantly against the destructive American Banshee.


This event was a great experience and was very fun to participate in. We are certain that we will come back next year with something much more planned out and will hopefully take home a trophy.

also here's a pic of Sean and the meaty gash it received on its rear courtesy of RUD
 

[Somebody]

Looking good! I would say more bolts will probably be needed as you guys progress onwards.

[8bean]

Hey chads I'm back with an all new bot (and this one actually has a real weapon)

 

Introducing H5N1 from Team Plague! A beetleweight vert that we just competed with at NRC.

NRC was a 3 day event that was a blast to participate in and spectate. No combat matches were scheduled on day 1 so we got to walk around the pits and talk with builders from all over. One of the combat teams stationed next to our table was having several driving issues so we helped them out and got it up and running again before inspection. Several other robotics competitions were running here as well that were fantastic to watch. One of which that was scheduled day 1 was the extremely competitive bot hockey and was fun to watch.

As day 2 came along, our fights began.

Round 1 was the first combat test of the weapon and needless to say we were happy with the result. After we flipped the opposing bot I planned on asking them if they would like to be flipped over so that we could keep going but they tapped out before I could say anything.

Our second fight was against the feared horizontal spinner Conquistador. The shock of the first impact was so hard that it stripped the screws holding the bottom panel in clean off and removed 5 of the teeth off of our weapon belt. However, since we won we were guaranteed a spot into tomorrow so we started on repairing that bottom panel. After a quick Lowes run we attached a brand new bottom panel with JB plastic weld and let it cure overnight.

Day 3

The opponent we faced in this round had an extremely tough front plow but was slammed into the glass and flipped on first impact. The team replied that they did want to be flipped over, but by the time I had gotten into position to hit them on the solid front rather than the fragile polycarb back the buzzer had already been sounded.

This fight quickly turned tides after the opposing team agreed to be turned back on their wheels and got a quick charge on our back, pinning us against the wall. Thankfully we spun around and got a hard hit on the wedge sending them into the roof of the arena and onto their top.

The finals were a rough match up against an extremely talented college team. The JB weld we used to fasten a new bottom panel on ripped clean off exposing our electronics once again. This time however, after an unfortunate flip, our battery ended up outside of the bot. Fearing the destruction of our power source, we took it extremely careful to ensure the blade wouldn't be able to reach it. The horizontal blade came close to slicing into it a few times but since we had bent their bar up it was angled barely above battery. Near the end we became stranded on it and were nearly counted out. Thankfully the opposing team gave us a good shunt on the back and the fight was on again. Afterwards, they showed us the damage that they had sustained throughout the fight.

 
This fight was truly the pinnacle of NRC for our team and was amazing to participate in.

We had made it to the grand finals! After scrambling like mad to fix our bottom panel and any of the other damage we had sustained with duct tape, H5N1 was up against a wedge that had dominated the competition with superior driving throughout the event. This wedge wasn't just any wedge though. Remember how I said at the beginning that we helped a team get driving again and pass tech? Well that was this bot. It was insane to be fighting them in the grand finals of all places. However, it was not a peaceful reunion because we were able to rip off the top panel and flip it, spilling its electronic guts all over the floor

Overall it was a fantastic event that was extremely fun to participate in. We even came out with relatively minor damage.
 

We all hope to return to another event soon and can't wait to get back into the arena!

[Billy5545]

Awesome

Congrats on winning the event 8bean

Also, I like your RL team name and logo, as well as that VS itself

[8bean]

Thanks. We hope to be able to bring it to HORD in June and then head off to NRC at the Ohio State Fair in August.

[Redalert]

Your robot-fighting career already looks very promising.
I really like your VS. 

[8bean]

Made an event overview/build thingy because why not

[8bean]

Its been a bit since the event but here's an overview of HORD 2019.

Since the beetleweight category had completely filled up, the team decided to sign up for the mantisweight class. We competed with the multibot Dual Disease which sported H5N1 and a modified Sean.

 

H5N1 is completely unchanged since the last event. Sean on the other hand now utilizes 2 of the kitbots 1000rpm metal gearmotors rather than silversparks and is running on a 4s lipo.

Our first match was up against the 4wd titanium block named T-34

Right as this fight began, we realized that not changing anything on H5N1 was a horrible mistake. The left drive motor locked up immediately after the first hit making it impossible to chase T-34 with both bots. When H5N1 got flipped over though, the drive kicked back into gear for some reason. I was able to get a few good hits off, one of which causing the weld holding the middle of T-34 to come clean off. The triumph was short lived though because the drive became locked again and we were pushed around for the rest of the match. After the fight when we opened up H5N1 the locked up motor had become extremely hot and nearly melted several of the wires inside. We were lucky to get away with minimal damage and moved into the losers bracket.

The second match was versus the powerful steel wedge of Piece by Piece

Both bots did exceptionally well in this fight. My teammate driving Sean was able to pin Piece by Piece several times which allowed me to get in there and do some serious damage. One of the issues we had was that many of the teeth on H5N1's weapon belt had been stripped during the fight against T-34 so the weapon refused to spin up sometimes. The clutch pit by my teammate at the end really saved the day as we could've been completely knocked out of the competition at this point.

Afterwards, we fought the menacing drum spinner American Banshee

Yeah we definitely didn't deserve to win this fight. After a hit on the side, one of banshee's screws came unthreaded and caused it to become semi-beached on itself. The ref was about to count them out but both us and him said that banshee was stuck. He stopped at first but then deemed it as a "stack" which can be counted out for. Other than that the all new wedgelet attachment for Sean worked good durability wise as taking direct blows did absolutely nothing to them. Unfortunately we weren't able to see how effective they truly were due to how quickly it lost drive. H5N1's wedge was completely bent up at this point and rendered the weapon unusable. The bottom panel was also completely shredded as well as the tires on both bots. There was a lot of repair work that needed to be done before the next fight.

Finally we fought the expertly driven wedge Derpy

Derpy's excellent driving certainly showed in this fight. The driver, being the builder of mondo bizarro, certainly had experience on his side and it showed. Banshee also got its revenge this round. Since we had to hammer down the wedge as best we could, it was very weak. This caused H5N1's wedge to jump back up right into the weapon and immobilize it once again during the fight. Now stuck as two wedges, my teammate and I desperately tried to do anything to get Derpy under our control. However, the weight and driving ability was too much for us to handle and both of us ended up in the pit.

This was the best event we've been to by far. The whole area was packed with spectators and everyone was into it. We also got to see plenty of amazing designs and brutal bots. I know we will certainly be making a return next year.
Oh yeah and here's some post event pics of the bots
 

 

[8bean]

Back again with another event overview, this time we're back at the Ohio State Fair.

We showed up with H5N1 which now sports a pair of D2 wheels (for weight saving purposes) and a smaller wedge. We initially planned on using the other wedge but during a pre-event spinup it got caught on a seam in the floor and the weapon cracked it right in half. Not having enough time to angle grind a new one, we just used this backup.
Also entering was Sean V2, completely unchanged from HORD and ready to rumble.

 

The first fight of the event was between Sean V2 and Pamela

This was our third teammate's first time driving and he did pretty well. He drove very passively at the start because Pamela would lift its wedge off the ground anytime it accelerated/

After that it was Sean V2 vs Honeycomb

Honeycomb's chain driven drum and wedge combo was really good at getting under Sean but with a little bit of strategic driving and luck that their wheel fell off we were able to pit them.

Next up H5N1 took on Rebecca

I was worried about Rebecca being able to get underneath H5N1's wedge but after one good pop on the front I was able to get underneath easily and flip them

Afterwards, Sean V2 took on Voxel

Voxel was a very impressive 3d printed bot, however after its first two fights it started to have technical problems which can be seen here. We were lucky that we didn't have to face it at full power otherwise Sean might've not come out in one piece

H5N1 then took on A new DIG

a single pop to the side caused A new DIG to flip over, the second impact caused the transmitter inside to disconnect and made the weapon shut down

Now in the winners finals we were against ourselves

both bots were working fine at the end, we had just decided before the match that Sean should tactically tap out to minimize damage

In the losers finals Sean V2 was up against Honeycomb for the second time

After some excellent driving and good hits from Honeycomb, one of Sean's drive motors completely locked up. This became a huge problem when we had Honeycomb right next to the pit and didn't have enough power to push them in

It was grand finals time with H5N1 up against Honeycomb

This was an outstanding fight. Honeycomb was extremely aggressive out the gate and I was just trying to keep the front pointed at it. When the wedge got ripped off, we ended up going weapon on weapon and Honeycomb came out on top. The huge shot didn't break anything surprisingly but one of the wheels wasn't getting any traction on the floor. I was able to move forward in circles but as soon as I began to drive out of the corner the pit opened and blocked my exit. Thankfully I wasn't counted out so Honeycomb came over and gave H5N1 a shot on the front that freed it. At the end Honeycomb tapped out due to the plastic back panel starting to break and spill guts out.

After a quick turnaround on both of the bots, it was rumble time

Unfortunately all other beetles had either become non functional or left the event center so it was just a battle between 3. We decided to go ham on each other right out the gate because we didn't get a real good fight in the winners finals. I also flipped A new DIG back over because the rumble would've been lame if it was just the two of us duking it out. By the time the pit had opened both of us had locked up a drive motor and pretty soon we found A new DIG pushing us in.

It was really fun to return to the first tournament we ever competed in and take first and third. Also, we've already got another project in the works that is hopefully bigger and badder than H5N1 so stay tuned 

[SKBT]

you've done a good job learning from your prior builds.

where does one get the tiny beacon lights? asking^forafriend

[8bean]

thanks! there's a bunch of chinese ebay sellers for the lights but we usually get them from here

[8bean]

Finally decided to sit down and type this event overview for MakerX Columbus Combat 2020

Now that our new beetleweight is fully under construction, we decided to bring back H5N1 for one last hurrah before being replaced. After a full year of fighting it was starting to really show wear on a lot of the components, especially the frame and weapon.
Also, we brought Sean V2 as well because why not.

 

Right after passing weight during inspection, H5N1 refused to turn on. We quickly went back to the pits and swapped out the battery only to find out that it refused to work again. After heading back for the second time we checked the voltage of all three backup lipos and every single one gave readings of only around 3 volts, meaning that all of them were completely toast. This meant that we had no working batteries for H5N1 and were going to have to forfeit all of its matches. Thankfully, the driver of Honeycomb graciously let us borrow one of his 3s lipos. This meant that the robot would run at a lower voltage than usual but it could at least compete still.

The first fight was H5N1 vs Sweaver

Due to the lower voltage there was a noticeable difference in the power of the weapon and the speed of the drive. At one point the weapon did get lodged in a speed hole on Sweaver which worked out pretty well for driving it around but the ref had me back up due to a risk of entanglement. 

Then Sean V2 had its first fight against the drum of Snowfire

This was a really close match but after getting stuck in the corner with the pit open there was nowhere to go but down. Despite the large hit early on, nothing broke on Sean throughout the whole fight which was pretty impressive considering all other robots that faced Snowfire came out in pieces.

After getting its eyes ripped off during this match Sean was pissed and was determined to enact its revenge upon all other robots in the tournament.

 

Next up was a rematch from the Ohio State Fair this summer, H5N1 vs Honeycomb

The all new Honeycomb is a huge upgrade from last year and truly is a tough bot. After a few nasty exchanges Honeycomb nipped one of the plates holding our top armor on. This caused the loaned battery to pop out the top and eventually spill out onto the floor, ending the match. The battery actually did suffer a small tear from Honeycomb's drum during the last impact but a few patches of duct tape later it was good as new.

Afterwards, Sean V2 fought Sweaver

Unfortunately, the camera footage got corrupted and all of this fight was lost. It wasn't too particularly interesting of a match anyways. The two wedges just pushed each other until both of Sean's gearboxes finally gave way, most likely due to the impacts from Snowfire. This loss eliminated Sean V2 from the tournament.

Then H5N1 fought Ripper

Ripper's foam wheels allowed H5N1 to push it around very easily. Since we were unable to deal any damage, this was crucial to us winning the fight. Ripper's weapon also had a very long spinup time so we weren't in too much danger when both bots came face to face.

After that, H5N1 faced off against Sweaver once again

This match was dumb. Right after hitting Sweaver at the perfect spot to make it stand up, I drove over to knock it back down and continue the fight. Unfortunately the left drive wheel decided it was time to liberate itself from the drive shaft and popped right off. The rest of the match I spent hobbling around while Sweaver got KO'd

It was now the semifinals and H5N1 was facing Honeycomb again

This was another match lost by the camera. It started out similar to last time with both of us exchanging blows but then the drive motors failed once again causing us to be counted out. The power light was also ripped off and got stuck inside Honeycomb's drum which stopped working after several impacts. However, it stayed connected by its wire even though both bots were tugging against it. This was the first and only time out of the whole event that one of our cheap chinese parts refused to fail..

Finally after Snowfire was crowned champion, it was time for the beetleweight rumble.

Once again the footage for this fight was lost. This was one of the best matches of the event and I hope somebody else will be able to upload a video of it. The match was going very well for us early on with H5N1 taking on Snowfire and SeanV2 pushing Honeycomb around. Then suddenly Sean's drive totally failed once again. After I tried to come push it with H5N1, Snowfire landed a huge hit on the right side, causing one of the wheels to fall off and completely ripping the frame apart at the front. Honeycomb ended up winning the rumble by hitting a sweet 3 point shot from downtown when it collided with Snowfire drum on drum and launched it into the pit.

This was a great event overall and was truly a grand sendoff for H5N1... because its completely toast. Even with all 3 batteries dying and systematically destroying 7 gearmotors throughout the course of the event, we still took home a third place trophy.

 

Another special thanks to team Bloomington Sting with Honeycomb. Without you guys we literally wouldn't have been able to compete with H5N1 at this event. Hope to see you again at Ohio State Fair so that we can face off once again, this time with our new machine

[8bean]

coming soon...

 

 

p.s. the bolts were slapped on last minute and im too lazy to make them flush in this model