Rampage (1996)

For other uses of the name "Rampage", see Rampage (disambiguation).

Rampage
Participation Information
US 1994-1997 Events	1996
Team Information
Team	Team UCSB
Team Members	Jason Bardis
From	California
Other Entries	P.A.T. (UCSB, 1996) The General (UCSB, 1996) Bot Will Eat Itself (1997) Webster (UCSB, 1997)
Robot Statistics
Weight	14lbs
Power	14.4V drill batteries
Drive	Tamiya Frog RC powertrain
Weapons	Spring-loaded cutting disc arms
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

"Rampage, my first combat robot, was created for and competed in the 25lb weight class at Robot Wars 1996. Backed with a shoestring budget from our department, I built Rampage and advised a group of 10 University of California Santa Barbara Mechanical Engineering undergraduates with their 2 combat robots. Footage of my robot and interviews with me appeared on a segment of The Learning Channel's Amazing America program. Let's just say that Rampage was a learning experience..."

— Jason Bardis on Rampage

Rampage was a featherweight robot which competed exclusively in the 1996 US Robot Wars competition. The first robot to be built and entered by Jason Bardis, as one of three student projects representing University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), it was eliminated in the first round of the Featherweight Face-Off by Yo Mama!, after suffering drive issues within the opening moments. Rampage also appeared in the Featherweight Melee tournament, but would be eliminated in the first round as well after suffering radio issues and getting pinned by Arsenic. Highlights of its preliminary Melee would be featured in the American Robot Wars 1996 VHS release.

The UCSB team participated with multiple robots throughout the 1996 and 1997 competitions, including P.A.T., The General and Webster. Rampage itself would later form the basis of Jason Bardis' featherweight entry for 1997, Bot Will Eat Itself, which reused its weaponry and bodyshell.

Design

Initial version of Rampage's powertrain, including a mechanical speed controller and 7.2V battery; the final version incorporated a Novak ESC and power drill batteries rated at 14.4V

Built on a small budget, with partial funding from UCSB's own Mechanical & Environmental Engineering department, Rampage was a four-wheeled robot based around a Tamiya Frog RC car owned by Jason Bardis. Hence, it featured front car-like steering and a 'motor driven rear axle'. An early iteration relied on a mechanical speed controller setup and a 7.2V battery pack, matching the designed output for the Tamiya-sourced drive motor. However, these would be substituted on the finished machine by a Novak Rooster ESC and 14.4V battery packs sourced from power drills; the doubled voltage provided by the latter would cause the motor to experience severe reliability issues mid-competition.

Rampage's weaponry also utilized drill components, with 14.4V Craftsman motors powering a pair of Makita circular saws. Each 3 3/8-inch saw - along with its attached motor - was mounted on 'spring-loaded' arms on the front and back, intended to damage opponents from either end. The design of the arms enabled Rampage's saws to remain level with the arena floor in normal operation. Once they made contact with opponents, the arms would be thrown upwards, inflicting further damage from above. Most of Rampage's construction, including the weapon arms and double-wedged bodyshell, utilized 'aluminum sheet metal', with its fixtures and components being riveted to a stainless steel baseplate. To aid with cooling for the ESC, an 'air scoop' was integrated into the left-hand side of the shell.

Rampage featured an all-over dark green paint scheme, with the robot's name in white (top) and UCSB logos in yellow (sides).

Robot History

1996 US Championship

Upon their arrival for the 1996 competition with Team UCSB, Jason Bardis and Rampage quickly became the subject of interviews conducted by film crews from The Learning Channel. The interviews were filmed as part of a segment for Amazing America, covering the event and a selection of its competitors, including Rampage itself.

Rampage's competition run began in the Featherweight Face-Off, where it fought Bob Schneeveis' Yo Mama! in the opening round. This was one of a number of 'Dual Matches' to take place in this category, occurring at the same time as Spike vs Edgar the Hate Bug. Both battles would also serve as the very first to be held across the entire 1996 competition.

"My robot, Rampage, was scheduled to be in the very first fight of the whole competition. No pressure. I made sure everything was working fine, drove Rampage around in the pit area, tested the weapons. All systems go. Because there were so many featherweight competitors this year, they actually had four robots running at a time, paired off on either half of the arena. I was up against Yo Mama, a flat little wedge-like thing with a couple of big circular saws screwed onto its top for armor. We set up our robots, they did the big countdown, and we were off."

— Jason Bardis, on the lead-up to Rampage's first battle

Rampage began aggressively, immediately charging towards and driving its leading saw into Yo Mama! Sparks flew as the saw made contact with the latter's shell, impressing the audience. Rampage's strong start was not to last, however, as the drive motor - overworked by the robot's higher-voltage batteries - had 'cut out' entirely. It was therefore incapacitated as Yo Mama! proceeded to push it across the arena and into one of the arena flippers. More sparks were kicked up in the process as Rampage's saws struck the concrete floor. Once pushed against the flipper, Rampage took several hits to its side from the hazard's paddle, sustaining damage to its 'air scoop'. After around a minute, Yo Mama! was declared the winner, eliminating Rampage from the Featherweight Face-Off.

"Oh well, blew it. Something came loose in the first whack. The front wheels would still steer, so I assumed it was my wiring to the motor that came off. Of course, the guy from the Learning Channel was right there in my face as I [w]as carrying off my dead robot and he was pestering me about what went wrong. Of course, there were a whole lot of other slow and lightly-armored robots in my weight class that I would've fared much better against, but... I didn't have time to take it apart and check it for a while, because we needed to make sure that P.A.T. and The General were ready to go."

— Jason Bardis, on the aftermath of Rampage's Face-Off defeat

In the pits, Rampage's problems were traced to the motor, which was found to have 'shorted itself out', as both the robot's wiring and ESC proved to still be in good condition. During a subsequent test, the motor began functioning normally again; the doubled voltage provided by the drill batteries had otherwise generated 'all sorts of sparking and electrical arcing' inside. Ultimately, despite not posing an issue during testing, the internal damage caused had resulted in the motor cutting out within five seconds of Rampage's first battle.

Alongside P.A.T., Rampage was repaired in time for the Featherweight Melee event, occurring the next day. In the first round, it was drawn against Red 2, Triple Redundancy, Arsenic, Slomo 3, Spiny Norman, Roach and Snickers for a chance to qualify for the overall final.

"I was up with Rampage in one of the early bouts, up against 8 or so other featherweight robots in the big free-for-all. Everything tested out and was working fine before the match. However (see a trend here?), as soon as the match started, my radio wasn't working for several seconds, then it was working, but intermittently and randomly. Somebody else with a conflicting radio channel was probably testing their robot over in the pit area. Instead of going after the slow and poorly-armored robots in the fight, I ended up  next to one of the solid robots, which easily pushed Rampage against a wall. "

— Jason Bardis on Rampage's Melee

A slow-starting Rampage (center-right) is approached by Spiny Norman

Yet more problems would affect Rampage from the beginning, however, as radio interference issues caused it to intermittently lose reception to Jason Bardis' transmitter. A ram from Spiny Norman finally prompted it to move around at high speed in circles, then back away towards the upper mousetrap, while Triple Redundancy's segments began deploying their tape traps. Moments later, Rampage turned and attempted to attack Arsenic, only for Arsenic to push, lift and pin it against the wall near the mousetrap itself. In exchange, it cut into Arsenic's shell with one of its saws, while also dealing similar damage to the wall with the other.

At this point, one of Rampage's saws jammed, causing the wiring for it to melt. Smoke poured through a hole within its bodyshell as a consequence, after which Arsenic released Rampage upon completing the 30-second pin. With Slomo 3 also investigating, Rampage was eliminated from the battle at this point. Ironically, it would begin moving again shortly after, though Jason Bardis opted to keep Rampage away from its surviving opponents for the remainder of the match. Rampage, needless to say, played no further part in the Featherweight Melee competition, its last before being rebuilt for 1997 as Bot Will Eat Itself.

"So, that's about it. No awards or medals or national fame, at least until we show up on cable. Essentially, we didn't do enough testing to get the bugs worked out in time, but it shouldn't bee [sic] too hard to spruce them up for next year..."

— Jason Bardis

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 2

Series Record

Events	Rampage (1996) Event Record
1994	Did not enter
1995	Did not enter
1996	Featherweight Face-Off, Round 1 Featherweight Melee, Round 1
1997	Entered with Bot Will Eat Itself

The above record reflects that of builder Jason Bardis only.

Outside Robot Wars

• Bot Will Eat Itself
• Hot Air
• The Missing Link
• Tesseract
• Slugger
• Mini Inferno
• Dr. Inferno Jr.
• Towering Inferno
• Hell on Wheels
• Disko Inferno in RoboGames
• The Disk-O Inferno in BattleBots ABC Season 2

1/11

The InfernoLabs have created and competed with many robots in multiple competitions, with a total of twelve different robots having been created.

• Bot Will Eat Itself - A Featherweight for the 1997 Robot Wars, a repainted Rampage.
• Hot Air - Clusterbot that fought in BattleBots, Long Beach 1999
• The Missing Link - Lightweight that fought in Long Beach 1999 and Season 1.0 of BattleBots.
• Tesseract - A robot made of LEGO that fought in BotBash.
• Slugger - A Heavyweight that was lent from Team Coolrobots and fought in both 1999 events BattleBots.
• Mini Inferno - A robot that fought in Robotica.
• Dr. Inferno Jr. - A lightweight BattleBots competitor that fought in all five of the Comedy Central era season, winning both Season 3.0 and Season 5.0.
• Towering Inferno - A Heavyweight that fought in the final three Seasons of the Comedy Central era of BattleBots.
• Hell on Wheels - A lightweight that fought in the Steel Conflict.
• The Disk-O-Inferno - A heavyweight that first fought in RoboGames but appeared in the second season of the reboot of BattleBots.

Jason Bardis used to judge for BattleBots, first appearing in Discovery Season 4. When World Championship VII aired on Discovery+, Former builder of Mouser Mecha Catbot, the trendy Fon Davis replaced Jason Bardis in the judging panel. Jason continues to watch BattleBots in his spare time, albeit retiring as bot builder and judge. All of his robots are either scrapped or sold to other BattleBots fans.

Trivia

• In American Robot Wars 1996, Rampage was the only robot not addressed by Paul Vallis during the Featherweight Melee highlights.

External Links

• Rampage on the InfernoLab website (archived)
• Rampage on the official US Robot Wars website (archived May 2 1997)