User:ToastUltimatum/Prince's Trust Robots

Thanks to the Prince's Trust, I, along with my girlfriend, was able to enrol on a robot-building course in Middlesbrough on the first week of February, 2016. The course was led by none other than John Findlay, meaning I got to spend the week with Ripper and Halo, while learning from the very best. Over the course of the event, I made my first three robots. The first two were meant to be in the "super-antweight" division, which is limitd to 250g, though all teams were given a maximum of 275g and 300g on their machines.

The course is still ongoing, so there'll be more details to come.

These are the three robots I built with my team, and how they fared in their events.

Snout Special
"Snout Special", for this piggy truly was nothing special in combat, but was a first attempt I was very pleased with. It competed in the sumo, at first without any sort of wedge, then for the second day, it grew tusks to form its plate wedge.

Dumbot
"Dumbot", after Disney's elephant, Dumbo. On the second day of the course, we were introduced to weapon motors, so it was time to gut the pig for her components and start afresh. Although Dumbot runs on the same internals, it's otherwise a new machine, with weaponry, new wheels, a new chassis, and an elephant motif. My working name was "Eleph-Ant", based on its super-antweight weight class, but Dumbot suited the rest of the team better. We were quite miffed when someone suggested "Elecopter" and it was already too late.

Dumbot's weapon is a helicopter blade, somewhat like Paul Bunyan. If I were to guess, it only span at 30RPM, a speed which would decrease as each battle went on, nothing lethal at all. Regardless, it could still do some damage to the cardboard of other robots with its sharp blades, or by pulling at their internals. Dumbot had to compete in two events; the football, and the combat. For the football, Dumbot would be equipped with two halves of toilet roll on the back for steering the ball, which would then be moved to form two curved wedges for combat.

Roundabout
Work in progress

The Opposition

 * Mario - A sumo bot with a large, flat wedge. Combines the logo of Mario, the colours of Luigi, and the spikes of Bowser.
 * Mini Mario - The football and combat upgrade to Mario, Mini Mario brandishes a pair of scissors, which it can use as a drill, or to self-right with. Can run on its back wheels, like Pussycat. Drove in a manic way, it wouldn't stop throwing itself over.


 * The Emperor - An invertible sumo bot with a rounded wedge.
 * Pyrus V2 - The football and combat upgrade to The Emperor, Pyrus had a fully functioning scoop, which could flip other robots over effectively.


 * Dyson - A sumo bot with a long wedge, made out of the packaging for a Dyson vaccuum.
 * Dyson Fury - A clever pun on Tyson Fury, Dyson Fury was built for football, and also competed in combat. By wrapping string around the weapon motor, The team could lift up Dyson Fury's front wedge, and trap the football inside its body.

Sumo
Sumo was held at the end of Day 1, and the start of Day 2. This was Snout Special's only event, where it got to fight each robot in two separate best-of-three sumo bouts. The first bout would be a face-to-face stand-off, the second a side-by-side, and the third a back-to-back.


 * Vs. The Emperor - Going into the event, The Emperor were favoured to win the whole sumo contest, so I was certainly surprised when Snout Special pushed The Emperor off in all three bouts on Day 1! We weren't as lucky on Day 2, because The Emperor had gained a new front wedge. However, our new wedge helped us out. It didn't mean we were lower than The Emperor, but it meant we could push from further away, so we won once again.
 * Vs. Mario - We didn't stand a chance on Day 1, as we had no wedge, so we lost all three bouts. Adding the plate wedge on Day 2 helped, however, because the length of it kept Mario at a distance, but it didn't lead to an overall victory.
 * Vs. Dyson - Dyson became the overall sumo champion very quickly, as it clearly had the lowest wedge. Snout Special won a side-by-side contest, but we lost the face-to-face due to ground clearance, and the back-to-back due to lower power/traction.

On both days of Sumo, Snout Special picked up 3rd place.

Football
Like Sumo, Football was held over two days. Dumbot was perfectly ready for it on Day 1, being equipped with toilet roll halves at the rear to control the ball. However, these were turned into wedges before the combat round, so Dumbot could only play football using plastic cups on Day 2. Dumbot was decent at football, as the blades could kick the ball, while the rear end could control it.


 * Vs. Mini Mario - As Mini Mario was constantly tumbling itself over, it didn't pose much of an opposition in football. We collected the ball inbetween the toilet rolls, and scored a goal to take the win. On Day 2, however, we had to replace our toilet rolls with plastic cups, which were unfortunately larger than the goalposts. A very large oversight indeed. Even when pressed right against the goal, we couldn't score, meaning it was 0-0 on Day 2.
 * Vs. Pyrus - Being armed with a flipper and higher speed, Pyrus was clearly better-equipped for football, so we instead tried to hold our ground, kicking the ball away with our blade. In that regard, we were successful, holding our opponent to 0-0 on both days.
 * Vs. Dyson Fury - Dyson Fury was the undisputed champion of football with ease, its ball control was remarkable as it slotted the ball underneath its lifter, between two prongs. Dumbot lost 1-0 on both days, though that was a fairly light loss compared to some of Dyson Fury's other wins. A video of Dyson Fury scoring a goal in practice

On Day 1, by scoring a goal, Dumbot earned a clear 2nd place. On Day 2, as only Dyson Fury could score, we held a joint 2nd position.

Super-Antweight Combat
Combat was where Dumbot truly excelled. Its helicopter blade may have been slow, but it could tug at internals, and earn points in both style and aggression. One could say that our chances were held back on Day 2 of the football by turning our loo rolls into wedges, but it really helpled out in combat, there was many a time when a robot would attempt to get under us, but we'd be lower to the ground.


 * Vs. Mini Mario - Mini Mario was the only robot that could really beat Dumbot on style points, its constant self-righting/tumbling around was much fun to watch, though it also made Mini Mario easy to push around, and lift with the helicopter blades. On Day 1, Dumbot won on a Judge's decision (the judge being John Findlay), while on Day 2, Dumbot achieved a pitting in under 10 seconds. Mini Mario was fished out of the pit for the sakes of entertainment, after which they clearly lost the Judge's decision.
 * Vs. Pyrus V2 - I was very impressed with the functional flipper of Pyrus, but Dumbot's wedge was lower to the ground. Add to that Dumbot being the biggest competitor, Pyrus was unfortunately left without many opportunities to attack. We inflicted some minor shredding damage to their wheels and flipper, and Dumbot won the Judge's decision on Day 1. On Day 2, we pushed Pyrus V2 over the floor flipper, which tossed it over, where it could not self-right.
 * Vs. Dyson Fury - Dyson Fury couldn't be more impressive in football, but combat proved a tougher battle for them. With many elastic bands exposed, Dumbot stuck its blade in and pulled at anything exposed, winning a Judge's decision. However, things took a turn on Day 2, and the lifting mechanism was removed in favour of a battering ram. This proved effective, as Dumbot was pushed down the pit, on a day where Dyson Fury won all the 1v1 battles.
 * 4-way Melee - Although Dumbot excelled at 1v1 combat, neither of the melees went its way, as we were pitted both times. They were still great fun though, as Mini Mario managed to win both, despite not having a single 1v1 victory to its name. Both times, it used the floor flipper to overturn its foes, while Dumbot sat in the pit.

On Day 1, Dumbot won all 1v1 combat battles, while on Day 2, Dumbot came 2nd to Dyson Fury.

A video of Pyrus fighting Mini Mario can be seen here

Battle Ratz Combat
Upcoming

Images
Images will be uploaded soon, though a couple of short videos and images can be viewed on the Roaming Robots Facebook page.