Servo - August 2016

32 SERVO 08.2016

I’ve ever seen. It weighs only a little more than a conventional drive, leaving a lot of the 50% weight bonus for use on the weapon and armor.

These new bots together with two-time champion, Triggo with new teeth; Glasgow Kiss, the bot that had knocked the old ones off at Franklin; and ring spinner, Cathii meant that some serious damage would be done.

Glasgow Kiss hoped to repeat its success in knocking teeth off Triggo, but instead had a catastrophic failure in the welds that held the two main tubes together which brought its event to a premature end.

Wedge/lifter bot, Omega survived its first fight against Big Ripto by quickly stopping to work and then tapping out, but had less luck against SS Impact suffering greatly before again having to tap out. Triggo was knocked down to the loser’s bracket after a tough match against Styx. It mangled MegatRon, then came up against Big Ripto.

This was possibly the most violent of all the fights this year. Big Ripto delivered three big hits, the second of which threw Triggo across the arena into the wall of the arena, cracking the first layer of the Lexan.

A final monster hit gave Triggo a lot of air time and left him overturned. Big Ripto lost to Also Riptoff in a short sharp fight, who, in turn, lost to Styx in the final.

We had nine Sportsman ( 30 lb) class bots this year; down two from last year. Missing were last year’s winner, Power of Metal, and Über flipper, Überclocker Advance. Swordfish 2 was back with a shorter sword.

There was a new flail bot, Morrigan; drill bot, Drill Master Drill Massacre; and hyperactive axe bot, Iron Golem.

Being the Sportsman class, there isn’t much (if any) damage to report, We had some celebrities with us this year: part of Team JACD, the “Kids from MIT” whose bot Overhaul did well in last year’s revival of the Battlebots™ TV show were there. The show is back this year and JACD will be back, along with some other competitors who have been regulars at NERC events.

Sadly, again we had to head home to North Carolina straight after the event, missing the arena strip down and post event dinner, but this year the competition was over and the prizes awarded by 5. 30 pm — three hours earlier than last year.

It was a great event despite the disappointing performance of Glasgow Kiss and Isotelus Rex. I’m likely rebuilding or retiring Isotelus Rex but Glasgow Kiss will be re-welded and be back in the fall for the Franklin Institute event. (Be sure and read the final part of Andrew Smith’s series on Glasgow Kiss, also in this issue.)

Thanks to everyone that helped set up and tear down the arenas, organize stuff, judge, bot wrangle, fire fight, take videos, etc., for making this excellent event happen every year. SV