Servo - January 2014

year, and Upchuck had little more luck at Franklin. This time, it took two hits, and the damage was not quite so bad (Figure 19) but the result was the same — a quick win for Fiasco.

Upchuck had won handily against Flatline in their first fight but without its weapon working properly. Possibly due to undiscovered damage, it was dominated by Flatline in the loser’s semi-final, so the wedge advanced to the finals.

In the finals, Flatline won the first round after Fiasco’s weapon drive failed, but with double elimination a bot has to lose twice.

In the second fight, a good hit by Fiasco distorted the rear panel of Flatline enough that it lifted both drive wheels off the ground to reduce the wedgebot to near immobility. Fiasco won on a judge’s decision.

There were only two 30 lbers, so there was only one fight. It was the very destructive full body spinner Tetanus (Figure 20) against the "built at the last minute" wedge Re-Enforcer (Figure 21).

It turns out that the latest Harbor Freight drill motors — while fine in a 12 lb Hobbyweight or in a 15 lb BotHockey bot — simply are not suitable in a 30 lber.

Re-Enforcer had a 1/2" thick steel wedge but with the drive already not working properly, it was unable to keep it facing its opponent and one good hit from the spinner immobilized the wedgebot and a second ripped off a wheel. Re-Enforcer tapped out.

The last class to compete at Franklin was the 30 lb Sportsman. There were five bots competing, and since damage is unusual in this class they fought round-robin.

There was a hammer bot, M.See.Hammer; two pneumatic flippers, Phoenix (Figure 22) and Upheaval (Figure 23); a bot with two clamping arms, Creebot (Figure 24); and the uber cool kinetic flipper, Jack Reacher (Figure 25).