It's Robot Fighting Time!

Remote Control Robot Combat is a sport where competitors build remote control vehicles, generally with armor and weapons, which then fight against each other in a walled-off arena. It’s a competition based on good design, good construction, and good driving, with all three necessary to succeed in any given competition.

Remote control robot combat traces its lineage back to 1987's Critter Crunch, organized by the Denver Mad Scientists Society at Denver's MileHiCon, conducted on a hotel table which competitors were forbidden from damaging. This ad-hoc competition began a sport that quickly took off across the world, particularly in the Anglosphere (but not exclusively! Brazil, Russia, and China also have vibrant scenes, and India and Pakistan have begun making their way into international competitions). The sport got a big publicity boost in the 90s with the airing of Robot Wars in the UK, and later BattleBots in America, which became the two premiere televised leagues each with their own peculiarities and rule differences.

While Robot Wars has been cancelled, uncanceled, and cancelled again, BattleBots still airs a yearly competition on Discovery Channel, where teams build 250lb machines with hammers, spinning blades, flamethrowers, and other weapons to fight for the coveted Giant Nut. Gone are the hotel tables and ad-hoc rules - over the last 35 years the rules, technology, and metagame has evolved into a stiff competition where teams will put thousands of dollars and man-hours to make sparks fly in the BattleBox.

Don't have thousands of dollars or big business sponsorships that will pay for your bot? While the 250lb heavyweights suck up most of the attention, robot combat happens at many weight classes, with hobbyists also competing at the 150 gram, 1 pound, and 3 pound leagues, with the biggest "insectweight" league being Connecticut's Norwalk Havoc, where 3lb beetleweight robots fight over the course of a weekend, streamed on YouTube for all to see. There are also 12lb and 30lb leagues, but I don’t know enough about them to speak confidently.

New competitors will often start with a robot kit, such as a Fingertech Viper for the 1lb “antweight” class or a BotKits D2 for the 3lb “beetleweight” class. These come with essentially everything needed to compete minus the transmitter (controller), and you can expect to see several of them during any large open event. Of course, if you have a 3d printer and know what parts you need, it can be much cheaper to roll your own. I estimate that an average 1lb bot costs me between $100 and $200 in parts and spares, but that number can increase rapidly with different weight classes or if I get too creative with exotic materials (I love titanium!).

I could talk about robot combat all day, but instead, here are a couple classic fights from each of the major franchises, showing many of the different weapon types you might see in these competitions.

🪚 Carbide vs Eruption 🌋 (Robot Wars 2017)

🔨 Shatter vs End Game 🥝 (Battlebots 2020)

🐸 Polywog vs Silent Spring 🍃 (NHRL 2022 3lb, both drivers also pilot BattleBots heavyweights Ribbot and Sawblaze, respectively)

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  • good [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I’m so sick of the cop culture of trying to catch someone doing any form of supposed law-breaking or infraction that they could possibly find some way to justify. I’m so fucking sick of the liberals who are perpetually in between “yes but that’s a good thing actually” and “the police don’t make that decision it’s the politicians!” or straight up gaslighting.

    Just got my second “talking to” (read: brow beating) about where and how I am allowed to ride my bike. First was for riding on the sidewalk which is legal here and I have since printed out a copy of the ordinance that says so and rolled it up in my handlebars just in case.

    Second was earlier for riding my ebike on a “no motorized vehicles” path, which 1. it’s legal on anyway (capped speed limit), and 2. the battery for it was at home so it’s essentially a regular bike ATM anyway. I printed off that ordinance as well, but why is it my job to keep track of this shit?

    If not for a sense of rebellion this harassment WOULD put me off cycling in my town altogether.

    Oh and for a bonus I just noticed that the almost always empty little skate park has a new “no bikes, no rollerblades, no scooters” sign up that I am fairly certain is not at the behest of the people who actually use it, but I guess I could be wrong. I just can’t see skateboarders giving a shit if someone wants to bring a scooter.

    • good [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I should just go ahead and print out pamphlets of all the local bike-related ordinances and laws and hand them out to other cyclists. I can't be the only one.