Servo - January 2007

Entering Combat Robotics at a Young Age ● by Aaron Taggart

So, you may have seen the show Battlebots on TV, or heard about the Robot Fighting League (RFL) or the North East Robotics Club (NERC) in the local news or on the Internet and liked what you saw. If you were like me, you probably thought to yourself “Hey, that looks like fun, I could do that!”

The first time I saw Battlebots on TV I was 11 years old and flipping through the channels one day when I was bored. I became hooked on the show, and followed it from then on until its final season on Comedy Central in 2002. Around 2000-2001, I started to get more interested, looked around online for more information, and found the Battlebots Forum on Delphi. I lurked around for a while before becoming a member in late 2001. I casually chatted with other builders in the chat room, who were very helpful.

Around 2002 I discovered the North East Robotics Club, which was composed of smaller events primarily based around the Pennsylvania–New Jersey area with weight classes ranging from 1 lb to 30 lbs. In June of 2003 when I was 13, I went to my first event, 12 lbs of Pain, hosted by Pound of Pain and the NERC in Concord, NH. I went to watch, and to see what going to an event in person was like, since I had only seen videos online and Battlebots on TV. The fights were great and the builders — some of which I had talked to previously online — were friendly. I then competed at my first event in August of the same year, in Syracuse, NY that was hosted

Author and Vadim Chernyak setting up the arena at the House of Slackers event. Photo taken by Ray Barsa.

by Team Infinity, the builders of the Super Heavy Weight robot “Final Destiny,” who had appeared on TV on Battlebots. I did pretty well for my first time, placing 3rd with three wins and two losses, losing to the 1st and 2nd place robots.

Since then, I have competed at 20 events and attended 23. There have been times when I was frustrated enough to think about taking a break for a while after doing poorly at an event, but then I bounced back and did well for the next few. As of this writing, I have the #1 ranked active 12-lber, according to Botrank (an online robot ranking service), and the 3rd ranked 12-lber historically. There is no limit to what you can do if you apply yourself and are willing to learn.

The best advice I can give to young people is to look around. Look at people’s websites, read build reports, and watch fight videos. This will help you get an idea of what is going on, and also give you some ideas of your own. Be prepared to learn a lot. There are a lot of tricks you can pick up by watching what others do. There are no real “tricks to winning,” but there are plenty of ways not to lose. If you find an event going on near you, go check it out. You will have a good time, you will get to see the robots in person, and you will meet the builders. Do your best to make some friends in the community, which will help you immensely in the future; a good friend goes a long way. I would not be nearly as successful now if it

From left to right: Brad Handstad, Chad New, Darci Trousdale, Aaron Taggart, Jon Durand. Photo is from 2005 RFL Nationals in San Francisco, CA.

Resources

RFL — www.botleague.net NERC — www.nerc.us Botrank — www.botrank.com BuildersDB — www.buildersdb.com

weren’t for the advice given to me by friends Jr. of Team Mad Cow, Jon of Team Anarchy, and James Arluck.

With their advice, tricks, and general knowledge I was able to learn a lot of things I would never have thought of on my own. The best part of going to an event is that you can see first hand what works and what doesn’t. There isn’t really anything to be taught in a classroom about this, as it is more of an acquired skill/understanding. You will pick up many skills that can be useful later in life if you decide to pursue a career in engineering, manufacturing, or machine work, and it also looks good for college applications as an extra-curricular activity.

One important thing to remember is if you come off as a jerk, people will generally react in an according manner. (Don’t be the person who gets ribbed on all the time, you want to be with the in-crowd who does the ribbing.) The easiest way to get on the nerves of builders is by asking questions that have answers that are easy to find. When online, poor spelling turns off a lot of people — so use some kind of a spell checker. When you go to your first event as a competitor, remember to