electric lifter. Sproing is quite a
unique bot, built largely from a
car window winder and 7. 5
meters of mattress springs.
Orbit, a vertical disk
spinner, was the first to
bounce an opponent off the
roof and kept the crowd happy
by destroying old appliances
between rounds.
PHOTO 3. Scissorhands
vs. Inspector General.
Day 2
After much overnight repair
work, combat resumed with Round
4. Scissorhands had better success
but finally had the weapon shaft
bent and retired. Marauder, the only
pneumatic flipper at the event, did
very well and christened the roof a
second time. The vertical disk
spinners Orbit and Demon
continued their path of destruction
towards the finals and even the
wedges were entertaining.
The crowd on Saturday really
built up by lunchtime, with a large
section of the seating filled and
spectators crowding around the
pits. It soon became apparent that
a three day event required real
endurance, with many bots
permanently retired by the end of
day two.
Day 3
The organizers decided to cut
the final day short due to the high
attrition rate after the first seven
rounds. The top eight bots started
out the day with the semi-finals;
Orbit vs. Demon was a highly
anticipated match between these
best two vertical spinners. It was
a one-hit wonder with an epic
explosion of sparks as the bots
collided head-on. Unfortunately for
Orbit, both bots landed inverted and
only Demon had a self-righting
mechanism.
Another stand-out match was
Demon vs. Bender, a horizontal
spinner that had already trashed
many other bots. Bender was tossed
across the arena, had its armor and
wheels shredded, and lost some
frame parts — check the video link
given here, it’s simply brutal!
The grand finale of this
marathon event came down to a
pair of wedges: Cobra and Stainless
Steel Rat. The match was very
balanced with neither bot gaining
much of an advantage until Cobra
slammed SSR into the arena wall
hard enough to flip it over, getting
PHOTO 4.
Demon vs. Bender.
a huge cheer from the crowd!
Summary
The first bot competition at
Ideas Festival proved to be the
most popular and well attended
part of the event and with similar
attendance this year, we are assured
of an invitation to come back in
another three years. It’s just a long
time to wait! SV
Web Links
● General video link:
www.youtube.com/user/kkeerroo
● Highlights video:
www.spikedhumor.com/Article.
aspx?id=178557
● Some stand-out fights:
Demon vs. Bender
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGQQ
4irVTO0&feature=channel_page
Orbit vs. PyroBot
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pah5s2
sEkkw&feature=channel_page
PARTS IS PARTS:
Integy iNDi 16x4 Pr
Battery Charger Review
Most chargers designed for
the NiMH and NiCd battery
packs used in R/C cars and
aircraft (though the latter are rapidly
● by Pete Smith
moving to the lighter LiPo cells)
operate from a separate 12V
supply. This is so that you can
recharge your packs out in the field
by attaching the charger to your
car battery.
For combat and other indoor
types of robots, this is a nuisance as
SERVO 07.2009
29