Servo - November 2015

box rush me, and that we would be fighting out in the middle of the arena, not in their corner.

Olin: Did the damage from this match affect your next match?

Billings: We had all the damage repaired, which was really fairly minimal. I usually have several sets of batteries. I used different batteries in the Bronco match and the Biteforce match.

The Finals

In the finals, Ray's Tombstone faced Paul Ventimiglia's Biteforce — a bot with magnetic tank treads giving him extra pushing power, lifter forks on the front, and a heavy steel wedge on the back. The match started with both bots attacking aggressively.

Biteforce's wedge took hit after hit from Tombstone's big blade. Just as it seemed the wedge was starting to fail, white smoke started pouring out of Tombstone, and Tombstone's big blade stopped. Biteforce dominated the rest of the match and won a judge’s decision and the championship.

Olin: What was your strategy for the Biteforce match?

Billings: There wasn’t any wild strategy going on in either camp to be honest. Just me trying to hit him any place other than the wedge, and him keeping the wedge pointed at me. I just ended up with an internal short in one of the battery packs which took out the rest of them.

When you are drawing the amount of amperage I do, this is always a possibility. Paul did what he had to do, and I didn’t. The match would have gone much differently without the battery failure.

Olin: How was this BattleBots tournament different from past ones?

Billings: For this event, there was simply fewer bots involved. The BattleBots events in the past were epically large — 500+ big bots all in the pits — whereas this time we had less than 30. But the action was awesome, and the box was nicer than ever before. The production values of the TV part were much better this time too.

Olin: What was your most memorial moment for this event?

Billings: I think my most memorable moment was when I won the award for the “Most Destructive Robot.” I was at a loss for words, which doesn’t happen often for me. SV

We asked some of the BattleBots' top builders what advice and tips they would give to aspiring bot builders.

Here are their answers.

Ray Billings from Team Hardcore Robotics, builders of Tombstone:

Start small. There are combat events all over the country and the world. My first combat machine was a

120 lb middleweight, and I wish I had someone tell me to start out smaller back then and move my way up. You learn so many skills and go through lots of design phases much cheaper and easier with the smaller weight classes. By far, the best way to learn is to go to an event and interact with the builders. Find an event that is local to you, go there, and watch and hang out/ask questions/get ideas. That is much more informative and inspirational than any other resource available.

Dan Chatterton from Team Wrecks, builders of Wrecks:

Find the Combat Robotics Facebook group and ask lots of questions! You will always get answers. Also, see if any builders live near you and would show you some of their bots up close or help with your design.

Figure out what your main attack will be. Then, design the body around that item and add armor where needed. Titanium is great, but steel alloys and thick aluminum fit a budget easier while still making good armor.