Servo - July 2009

amazing time at the event. We brought all our team members: Colleen Shaver, Brian Loveland, Elizabeth DeZulueta, and myself. The event location of Vallejo, CA brought back special memories for me because it was the same venue as Battlebots IQ II. The pits were held outdoors in a large tent. It got quite cold because the location was right near the water and there was a significant windchill factor. Our team was used to the cold weather because we come from Worcester, MA, but we were hoping for more traditional CA sunshine.

The arena looked fantastic! I have competed in every large combat event in the nation, and this one was the best. The arena hazards were not kidding around, they were even upgraded from the last BattleBots event. It was an

honor to have our three “celebrity” judges of Mark Setrakian, Peter Abrahamson, and Frank Jenkins. The pits were filled with impressive robots of both new and old design; seeing our old friends was the best part of the event. It was especially fun to see robots such as Surgeon General come out of retirement and fight again without having been touched since season 5.0. The fights were very exciting in all three classes — lots of destruction and excitement.

Our pit crew worked very well together in preparing our Heavyweight robot, Brutality, for every match (Photo 2). We had a good time talking with the high school students there about attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute where they could earn the

PHOTO 2

first ever undergraduate degree in Robotics Engineering.

The scheduling of matches went smoothly and we finished all of the fighting by Saturday night. Our team spent all day Sunday riding the cable cars of San Francisco and filling up on crabs at Fisherman’s Wharf — a great way to end our vacation. We have photos of our robot build up at www.paulsrobotics.com. We’ll soon be adding some pictures from the event. SV