Badger

Badger
Participation Information
US 1994-1997 Events	1997
Team Information
Team Members	James Bloeman
From	Fort Collins, Colorado
Robot Statistics
Weapons	Clawed wheel spokes; ramming power
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Badger (sometimes referred to as The Badger) was a heavyweight robot that fought in the 1997 US Robot Wars Heavyweight Face-Off where it lost both of its matches.

Design

Badger was an invertible box-shaped robot that had a unique way of offence with its wheels being clawed spikes that can serve as both locomotion and weaponry, driving onto robots and clawing opponents. The robot bared a striking resemblance to future BattleBots competitor Ginsu which was built by show creators Greg Munson and Trey Roski.

Robot History

1997 US Championship

Z fires its weapon into Badger

Z pressures Badger in the arena corner

In the first round, Badger faced Z. Z started the faster of the two heavyweights, while Badger struggled for traction on its treadless wheel spokes. A tentative early phase resulted in Badger nudging Vic Lang's machine from the front, prompting the latter to fire its spring-powered spear. The spear, however, was at the wrong angle to pierce through Badger's front armor, scraping it and bending on contact. With its weapon now unable to retract, Z resorted to pushing Badger into the upper spike trap, right flippers and wall using its wedge shape and powerful drive.

Badger left side stranded by an attack from Z

Badger, unable to resist, was turned onto its side following the collision with the lower-right flipper. It balanced on its left wheels as Z briefly pinned, then retreated to track its movements as it tried to keep driving. From that point, Z kept tentatively pushing Badger in order to re-right it; smoke occasionally bursting from behind its compromised spike mechanism. One push sent Badger towards the other side the arena, close to an arena flipper. Z finally shoved Badger back into a fully driveable position while ramming it into the wall nearby.

Badger stuck on the arena flipper

Again Badger struggled to escape before two of its wheels got caught by the flipper paddle. Z charged in, but missed, after which it proceeded to gently nudge and push James Bloeman's entry across the nearby arena space. Despite some brief resistance, Z pinned Badger between the flipper and the wall. Following another shove, Badger stopped moving after taking another swipe from the flipper paddle, though its wheels tried to keep turning for a while. During the final moments, it briefly crept along the upper-left corner, by which time Z had become fully immobilized due to overheating batteries.

Though neither robot could properly drive by the end, the battle still went to a Judges' decision, ruling Z as the winner.

In the loser's bracket, Badger faced 1996 veteran Prometheus 2. Both competitors met in the center of the arena, where Badger briefly made contact with the side of a turning Prometheus II. Prometheus II, undeterred, rammed the front of its opponent, but with minimal effect. A driving error from Richard Brull's machine also saw it take a couple of stabs from the upper spike trap. In spite of this, Badger's 'claw wheels' again prevented it from getting enough traction to avoid a push from Prometheus II. The two heavyweights found themselves between the spike and the upper-right flipper; Prometheus II began firing its 'jackhammer' spike, but without being able to cause any noticeable damage.

As before, Badger tried to push Prometheus II, this time from the left-hand side, but again could not find the traction to do so. In response, Prometheus II rammed and pinned it against the lower-left flipper, starting a tentative pushing match between the duo. Prometheus II, while initially struggling and crashing into the hazards, won out, eventually cornering Badger against the upper-left wall sections. The back-and-forth tussle continued from that side of the arena until time ran out. Prometheus II emerged as the winner on a Judges' decision.

Badger wasn't finished however as it fought in the Heavyweight melee, its melee qualifier it was against La Machine, Gut Rip, The Mauler and TallyWhacker. La Machine immediately scooped TallyWhacker up, while Badger initiated its own duel with Gut Rip. TallyWhacker lowered its arm in a bid to swipe the latter two, only for La Machine to push it around in circles. The Mauler, having initially hung back, began whacking TallyWhacker with its spinning flails; Badger pushed Gut Rip blade-first into Klaas Langhout's machine, which had become immobilized as a result of The Mauler hitting its control system.

Badger stopped short, allowing Gut Rip to push The Mauler back and attempt to cut the shell of the South Bay Warriors entry. As this happened, La Machine rammed Badger into the upper-left flipper, then pushed the immobile TallyWhacker across the center. Trey Roski and Greg Munson's machine next separated Gut Rip and The Mauler with a violent slam. The force of the impact flipped Gut Rip over, leaving it vulnerable as La Machine pushed it into the upper-left flipper and left wall bumper.

La Machine rams Badger towards an arena sidewall

La Machine bulldozed The Mauler and Badger apart, steering and scooping Badger up against the bumper on the opposite side. Badger's clawed wheels proved an unlikely hazard, however, as one of them tore La Machine's top panel upwards from the front-right corner. The damaged La Machine backed out, with both robots taking turns to ram the otherwise-passive Mauler. These attacks slowed The Mauler's flails down to a crawl, eliminating the danger present to La Machine as it collected and almost threw it over with a ram. La Machine followed up with a second ram and push into the left-side wall bumper, but was again unable to turn The Mauler over.

Badger, meandering across the perimeter, caught the upper-left flipper as it drove towards The Mauler once again. At that moment, La Machine finally turned The Mauler onto its side against the wall, eliminating the Tilfords' machine from contention. La Machine resumed its earlier pushing attacks on Badger, eventually sending it over the left bumper. James Bloeman's machine, stuck in the bumper mechanism, was unable to escape, as the crowd began chanting the name of the victorious La Machine.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 3

Series Record

Events	Badger Event Record
1994	Did Not Enter
1995	Did Not Enter
1996	Did not Enter
1997	Heavyweight Round 1