Servo - September 2016

28 SERVO 09.2016

EVENT REPORT:

Seattle Bot Bash 2016

The summer of 2016 started off with a literal bang in the Seattle Center Armory in downtown Seattle, WA. Back in June, Western Allied Robotics (WAR) held Seattle Bot Battles 14, and with a record breaking 58 robots entered across four weight classes, it was WAR's biggest event yet. It feels great that the event and participation has grown. The event started at 11

AM sharp, and provided a full day of metal on metal action and mayhem with no downtime.

Featuring guest judge David Calkins, founder of RoboGames, the double elimination event featured Antweight, Beetleweight, Hobbyweight, and a relatively new weight class currently still exclusively being run in Seattle area events: the plastic Antweight class. The concept is to introduce more people to combat robotics who have access to 3D printers. Currently, PET, PTG, ABS, PLA, and PLA+ must be used for the weapon and chassis.

“It feels like a Sportmans class. Since the kinetic weapons aren't super powerful (yet), there’s a lot less pressure since you most likely won’t end up with a bot broken in half if you drive poorly,” commented Emmanuel Carrilo, builder of Plastic Fork and winner of the plastic Ant weight class.

Overall, the class has been growing and has been a success, bringing one of the more memorable moments of the event when Carrilo's Plastic Fork lifter was able to grab the spinning drum of Hiller Volt and move it over towards the arena's pit during the final.

Before Alex Conus' Hiller Volt could make it to the final, he had to go against (and defeat) his own dad! Hiller Volt beating Adam's full body spinner, Plastique was pretty memorable for the father and son duo. “Alex making it to the finals was by far my favorite part of the event. Of course, he had to eliminate his old man on Father's Day to get there. I'll get him next time.”