Monster

Monster
Participation Information
US 1994-1997 Events	1997
Team Information
Team	Team Monster Robots
Team Members	Kevin Knoedler
From	Ventura, California
Other Entries	Melvin (1996)
Robot Statistics
Power	4-wheel electric drive
Weapons	Spike
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Monster was a heavyweight robot that competed in the 1997 US Championship where it got to the third round after initially losing against then current heavyweight champion BioHazard before winning its next match against Hercules and finally being defeated and eliminated by DooAll.

Design

Monster's internals

Monster was an invertible four-wheeled, powered by four electric motors from a lawnmower, rambot armed with a single spear at the front. The robot was armoured with 1/4" lexan sheets and a steel chassis. The robot was covered in advertisements with promotions for C&H Sales and Teradyne .

Robot History

1997 US Championship

BioHazard lifts Monster

In the first round, Monster faced the reigning heavyweight chammpion, BioHazard. Both robots rammed each other in the opening moments, with a second ram from BioHazard flicking Monster onto its left wheels. The defending Heavyweight Face-Off champion pressured Monster into an arena flipper, before getting underneath, pinning and lifting it with its arm. The attack appeared to leave Monster still for a few seconds, until it jerked back and forth near the flipper and lost both of its right wheels in the process. According to Team Spike's Andrew Lindsey, the torque in Monster's motors was enough to cause the wheels to become dislodged from their axles.

BioHazard throws Monster out as its wheels fall off

Pinning Monster against the corner, BioHazard turned it end-over-end onto the wall bumper. Kevin Knoedler's machine attempted to escape, but got stranded between the corner bumpers with its left wheels suspended in mid-air. A knockout win was quickly declared for BioHazard, marking the start of Carlo Bertocchini's title defense.

In the loser's bracket, Monster faced Hercules. In preparation for this fight, Jim Smentowski created a homemade speed controller to replace the one damaged by Blendo in Hercules' first battle. While enabling it to be ready with ten minutes to spare, the new arrangement provided Hercules with limited steering, while also forcing Smentowski to remove one of its batteries to provide space for the control box.

"This battle lasted no longer than the first. I wanted to keep Hercules' sides away from that spike on the Monster, to avoid getting rammed by that thing, but because I could barely steer, and was running at about half power, it didn't take long for the Monster to catch me off guard."

— Jim Smentowski

A tentative start saw Hercules dodging Monster's first charge, though the internal alterations meant that it could not keep up with Kevin Knoedler's machine. While both robots also narrowly avoided the spike traps, Monster gained the upper hand by spearing and pushing Hercules from the left-hand side. Monster smashed Hercules into the upper-left wall and flipper; the impact was enough to not only cut a wire powering the latter's lifting arm, but also shake one of its battery terminals loose. The latter immobilized Hercules as it tried to drive away and was whacked multiple times by the flipper paddle.

Following communications between Jim Smentowski and the Judges, Hercules was declared to have been eliminated by knockout. However, a miscommunication by Kevin Knoedler resulted in Monster driving up the front wedge shape of its defeated opponent. According to Smentowski, Knoedler believed that Hercules had merely become stranded, and attempted to free it so that the match could continue. While Monster's late attack was met with a negative audience response, Knoedler would apologize to Smentowski not long after.

In the loser's bracket second round, Monster faced DooAll. Monster, starting the faster of the two, charged into the front of DooAll while careering into the wall. Kevin Knoedler's machine missed its next ram, before taking a direct hit to its front-left wheel from DooAll's saw. Both robots exchanged several rams, shoves and weapon attacks, including two head-to-head collisions. The second collision immobilized Monster completely; DooAll shoved it into the wall while grinding and cutting into its front armor. A final attack from DooAll saw Scott LaValley's entry drive over the top of Monster, before grinding into it again and retreating as Michael Meehan declared it to have won.

Monster wasn't finished as it fought in the heavyweight melees, in its qualifier it faced DooAll again as well as frenZy, Snake and tazbot. With Snake taking up most of the inner-left perimeter, frenZy - equipped with one of its bladed axe arms - drove around into the wall. Monster headed into the center, while DooAll and Tazbot engaged in their own separate duel. frenZy began attacking Snake, its axe managing to damage the armor and weapon wiring of Mark Setrakian's machine. Snake was left without a functioning set of jaws as a result, coiling inwards as DooAll proceeded to ram the pair. In the background, Monster sped into the wall, keeping out of the picture as Tazbot tried to force its lifting arm underneath DooAll's right track.

frenZy self rights after being toppled as Monster attempts to ram it

Snake kept writhing and thrashing around its part of the arena, while lifting its head and tail up. An armor panel, which had been pulled open seconds earlier, exposed Snake's internals as it crashed onto its side under pressure from Tazbot. Meanwhile, DooAll bulldozed and turned frenZy onto its back, negating the 'anti-wedge skirts' that had been specially added to Team Minus Zero's machine. frenZy immediately levered back onto its wheels with its axe, becoming the first combat robot documented to self-right using an overhead weapon. Monster rammed Tazbot, just as frenZy began attempting to axe DooAll and was pushed into the back of Snake.

Again, frenZy was toppled over through a combination of DooAll's pushing and the force of its own axe. Monster smashed into the tail of Snake, which frenZy hooked as it self-righted a second time. DooAll turned its attention towards fighting Tazbot, surviving attacks from Donald Hutson's machine while pushing it around. frenZy, after hesitating for a few seconds, briefly considered attacking Snake again, but backed out before it could be wrapped within Snake's coiling body. Instead, Patrick Campbell's entry started attacking DooAll and Tazbot, landing axe blows on each of its opponents' weapons.

Tazbot also succeeded in hooking and lifting DooAll by its plow, but started overbalancing as a consequence. Once both competitors separated, Tazbot exchanged swipes with frenZy; DooAll nudged frenZy once more as the Melee reached the two-minute mark. Monster shuttled back and forth between the left wall and upper-left flipper, again suffering from control and reliability-related issues. DooAll caught a charging Tazbot with its plow, holding it in place as frenZy landed another axe blow on the Donald Hutson entry. Tazbot became separated a few seconds later and engaged in a tussle with Snake, resulting in frenZy axing DooAll's front-right corner.

Having been unable to trap Tazbot, Snake found itself being pressured by both the former and Monster. Tazbot was the more aggressive, whacking, lifting and ramming Snake through multiple attacks, as more of the latter's armor panels started to come loose. By this point, Monster was crawling alongside the upper wall, and was pinned and lifted by Tazbot as DooAll took its turn at attacking Snake. Tazbot whacked and engaged in further combat against an approaching frenZy, hooking it with the lifter while surviving more axe blows. Direct damage to the weapon actuator, however, prevented the arm from being raised at all.

In the end, Monster was eliminated from the melee.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 1
• Losses: 3

Series Record

Events	Monster Event Record
1994	Did not enter
1995	Did not enter
1996	Entered with Melvin
1997	Heavyweight Face-Off, Loser's Bracket, Round 2 Heavyweight Melee, Round 1

Outside Robot Wars

Monster in 1999

Monster in Season 1.0 of BattleBots

Wireless Wonder

Cyclone

Monster continued fighting for a few years, in 1999 it fought in both the Long Beach and Las Vegas BattleBots events, in Long Beach it fought and won against Bad Boy and Crock but losing to BioHazard and Rhino. In Las Vegas it lost in the first round against UK competitor Mortis. In Season 1.0 of BattleBots, an upgraded Monster first battled UK competitor Killerhurtz where it lost.

Afterward, Monster was retired and Kevin Knoedler created a new superheavyweight called Cyclone, which fought in Season 2.0 and 3.0 of BattleBots , it forfeited before fighting S.L.A.M. in Season 2.0 while it lost to a judges decision in Season 3.0 against OJ. Kevin Knoedler then fought in the final season of the original BattleBots with a new lightweight rambot called Wireless Wonder, it performed well where it beat Blood Moon, Evil Squirrel, Swinger and The Cast-Iron Pig before losing to Wedge of Doom.

External Links

• Monster (BattleBots)