38 SERVO 09.2015
Carolina Combat Robots (
www.carolinacombat.com) and the Schiele Museum in
Gastonia, NC (
www.schiele
museum.org) held their sixth Clash of
the Bots event on June 6, 2015.
The event has been growing, and
a good turnout of bots and a really
first class venue makes it one of the
best one-day events on the East coast.
The museum provided a large space
for the event, and a free lunch, soft
drinks, snacks, and coffee for
competitors.
There was plenty of space for the
pits, the Insect class arena, a 75”
touchscreen TV for displaying the
brackets (Figure 1), the Bot Hockey
arena (Figure 2), an outdoor area for
drilling and grinding (Figure 3), and
even space for me to set up my photo
light tent (Figure 4).
Carolina Combat (Chuck Butler
and his family) had set up the arenas
the day before and the venue opened
up for competitors at 8.00 am. The
bots went through safety and fights
got started around 10. 30 am. Four
different classes of bots were
competing: the 150 g Fairyweights; 1
lb Antweights; 3 lb Beetleweights;
and finally, the 15 lb Bot Hockey.
Teams came in from as far as the
West and Gulf coasts.
The fights of the various weight
classes were mixed up throughout the
day, but for simplicity’s sake I’ll cover
them one class at a time starting with
the Fairyweights. There were only
three entries this year, so they fought
round robin style, with each robot
fighting each of the other’s, and the
bot with the best record winning. The
three bots were Pissed off Unicorn
(Figure 5); Krabby (Figure 6); and
Mini Stumpy (sorry no picture, but it
was a 2WD wedge). Unicorn’s
spinning weapon dominated the class,
tearing Mini Stumpy apart in their
match. However, Unicorn’s drive issues
meant that all three bots had the
same record after the initial round of
fights. The winner was decided in a
rumble where all three bots took part.
At the start, Unicorn again dominated
but with the rumble lasting five
minutes rather than the normal (for
this event at least) two minutes, his
batteries could not last and the
judge’s decision went to the
aggressive and still mobile Mini
Stumpy.
Eleven 1 lb Antweights competed
and fought full double elimination
brackets. In double elimination, each
Figure 2. Bot Hockey arena.
Figure 1. Arena and brackets display.
EVENT REPORT:
Clash of the Bots 2015
● by Pete Smith
