Battlebots 2023

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

Just in case Twitter dies between now and then (or if Elmo bans the Discovery network), the new season starts Thursday, January 5th on Discovery. 

[bernorange 8362]

Didn't see this thread, but just saw an ad on the TV.  In.

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

Sorry for the multiple screencaps (I initially tried just one long one, but it was hard to read/manage), but there's a lot of information here, including some new rules - I love the "any movement is movement" change, as well as programming and other event details. 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Prepuce of Doom

[bernorange 8362]

New this season p#2: excellent

New this season p#3-6: awesome

How are they going to show every fight?  Are they just going to show 5 fights a night and have a really long tv season?

[bernorange 8362]

Found a couple of cool videos while searching for some Battlebots info:

and...

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

Bump - season starts tonight. 

I'm on a work trip so will be watching over the weekend. 

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

Bump - season starts tonight. 

I'm on a work trip so will be watching over the weekend. 

Tonight's fight card. 

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Prepuce of Doom

[bernorange 8362]

7 matches.  I wonder how they fit them all in with the new, expanded format.  

Witch Doctor v Ribbot - great match to start things off.  I hope team Ribbot prevails.

Shatter! v Huge - Sounds like a snooze fest.  Shatter gets weapon caught in Huge's wheel and they dance in circles for 2 minutes.

Glitch v Riptide - could be another fun match.  I wonder if Glitch fixed their shit.

Minotaur v Tantrum - sounds like another fun match.

[bernorange 8362]

That was a fun season opener.  I didn't notice any bot builders in the broadcast booth as mentioned in the changes list.

I do like this new format where every bot is scheduled for 4 fights and they are publishing the full fight schedule up front.

Regarding my match comments...

Spoiler

WD v Ribbot - oops.  WD looked legit

Shatter! v Huge - whoa.  Huge is vastly improved.

Glitch v Riptide - looks like Glitch has not sorted their shit.  Riptide is legit

Minotaur v Tantrum - the Brazilians are on a mission from God.

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

Tonight's fight card. 

 

[bernorange 8362]

Fusion v Emulsifier and MadCatter v Whiplash were fun fights to watch.  Several judges decisions tonight, but they didn't show score cards for the decisions (boo!).  I was really curious about one of them.  Jamison Go from team Sawblaze joined the booth for the Madcatter v Whiplash fight and had some fun but he was being too polite to give us some real thoughts/analysis.

* last night I guess, but I watched it tonight...

Edited January 14, 2023 by bernorange
Typo

[NoName 16354]

On 1/13/2023 at 10:11 PM, bernorange said:

Jamison Go from team Sawblaze joined the booth for the Madcatter v Whiplash fight and had some fun but he was being too polite to give us some real thoughts/analysis.

i think this is the reason they haven't had a bunch of builders in the "booth" generally? they all like each other, interact a ton and have for years in some cases. even Ray Billings isnt a bad dude, he just accepted the heel role and has been pretty vocal about how he knew someone had to be the villain

[bernorange 8362]

Cobalt was decent last season. I know nothing about Death Roll.

Claw Viper sucks ass.  I know nothing about Ominous.

Copperhead v Bloodsport could be a fun match.  Good drum v decent horizontal blade.

LockJaw v Malice could be interesting, but both bots have disappointed in the past.  Lockjaw is usually surprisingly durable.

Lucky is so-so.  I'm interested to see how Triton works.  Their horizontal blade weapon is asymmetrical.

Scorpios v Jackpot could be another fun match to watch.  Both are decent bots.

Hydra v Rotator could be a fun fight too. 

 

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

The whole Malice gang are a bunch of bumblers. More concerned with projecting their Hot Topic edginess than building and operating a solid robot. 

Death Roll was around a year or two ago, but I think that they missed some time recently due to the pandemic. They're an Australian (ir New Zealand?) team, and the bot has (had?) a severed arm holding a knife on the self-righting mechanism. Cobalt can get off balance easily (or at least it could last season), so I expect Death Roll to roll. 

I think Rotator's versatility is its biggest strength and its biggest weakness, as odd as that may sound. 

[Captainant 27680]

I saw some of the end of pool play, 2-1 and 1-2 matchups, when I saw this live a few months ago! I'm enjoying the season so far, and it should be a hell of a playoff bracket 

  

5 minutes ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

The whole Malice gang are a bunch of bumblers. More concerned with projecting their Hot Topic edginess than building and operating a solid robot. 

And yeah I definitely got this vibe from seeing their team - they had the most freebies and stickers and stuff to throw out into the crowd, and all sorts of custom art of their lead chick. Fun team for fan engagement, but not great builders

Edited January 19, 2023 by Captainant

[NoName 16354]

14 minutes ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

Death Roll was around a year or two ago, but I think that they missed some time recently due to the pandemic. They're an Australian (ir New Zealand?) team, and the bot has (had?) a severed arm holding a knife on the self-righting mechanism. Cobalt can get off balance easily (or at least it could last season), so I expect Death Roll to roll.

https://battlebots.fandom.com/wiki/DeathRoll

Quote

Returning in 2019, DeathRoll had been totally redesigned, looking sleeker and far more compact than its previous build. Upgrades included, but were not limited to a bigger flywheel, a new self-righter designed to look like a severed arm holding a knife, chunkier wheel protection, smaller hinged wedgelets, greater weapon reliability and aesthetic details such as red teeth and no tail. These improvements and overall look gave it a greater resemblance to its King of Bots counterpart, and this showed in the arena. DeathRoll earned a mighty 4-0 record through three knockouts and a judges' decision in the opening stages of the tournament, becoming the first robot to be undefeated in the fight cards. After notching up a further two wins, six in succession, DeathRoll lost out to Witch Doctor in the semi-finals. DeathRoll was highly praised for its reliability throughout Season 4 of BattleBots, due in part to the multiple weapon belts. This gave the robot greater redundancy than several of its fellow vertical spinners, which could lose functionality of their primary weapon after losing a single belt.

Either that they were accepted but COVID restrictions meant they couldn't be there in Season 4 or Season 5

from that wiki

Quote

The robot is a refined version of what the team planned to enter in 2020, now utilizing chains as opposed to toothed belts to drive their weapon. Unofficially dubbed DeathRoll 3.0, the robot is now also slightly faster, and its vital components are shock mounted more efficiently to help it survive impacts such as the blows which led to its 2019 semi-final loss. Unlike many other vertical spinners in the field, the team have opted against using forks or wedgelets for the final build of DeathRoll 3.0. Team captain Steven Martin believes that the robot operates better without the risk of becoming caught on the arena itself.

 

[NoName 16354]

On 1/19/2023 at 10:52 AM, bernorange said:

Cobalt was decent last season. I know nothing about Death Roll.

Claw Viper sucks ass.  I know nothing about Ominous.

Copperhead v Bloodsport could be a fun match.  Good drum v decent horizontal blade.

LockJaw v Malice could be interesting, but both bots have disappointed in the past.  Lockjaw is usually surprisingly durable.

Lucky is so-so.  I'm interested to see how Triton works.  Their horizontal blade weapon is asymmetrical.

Scorpios v Jackpot could be another fun match to watch.  Both are decent bots.

Hydra v Rotator could be a fun fight too. 

 

 

Claw Viper comments spoilered below:

Spoiler

i now want to see a bot as strong as duck and as fast as claw viper. that was impressive how fast they were.

but they didn't really do jack shit outside of driving around at a hundred miles per hour and hit him as hard as they can

 

[NoName 16354]

here is some guy who is doing battlebots ELO:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTU5VncbtsiSlUOxnNsJfgSOxIjQduW1X0sgGbAlEDnjKB4y4avMgTBmAeFg-On7Gbs9qoHnl-qhvsM/pubhtml#

big takeaway? bite force is an all time monster. top 30:

[bernorange 8362]

If you watch the first video I posted in post #5, you would understand why that ELO doesn't really make sense.  The rules have changed over time.

[bernorange 8362]

We watched Thursday's show last night.

Spoiler

Copperhead v Bloodsport was awesome.  Short, but awesome.

Triton did not impress me.  Maybe they just need a better driver.

Skorpios changed configuration for vert. Spinners seemed like it was going to be a mistake.  But it seemed to work well.

Aggressive Hydra was fun to watch.

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

11 minutes ago, bernorange said:

We watched Thursday's show last night.

  Hide contents

Copperhead v Bloodsport was awesome.  Short, but awesome.

Triton did not impress me.  Maybe they just need a better driver.

Skorpios changed configuration for vert. Spinners seemed like it was going to be a mistake.  But it seemed to work well.

Aggressive Hydra was fun to watch.

 

We watched last night as well, and I agree with your comments. 

Our household each got only three picks correct. Remind me to never pick Triton again. 

[Captainant 27680]

1 hour ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

We watched last night as well, and I agree with your comments. 

Our household each got only three picks correct. Remind me to never pick Triton again. 

Those little dinky wheels on Triton were surprisingly effective up to a point

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

8 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Those little dinky wheels on Triton were surprisingly effective up to a point

Yeah, but its weapon had all the power of one of those cheapo $15 "hand controlled" drones sold in the impulse purchase section of the line to proceed to the next available cashier at the drugstore. 

[bernorange 8362]

I credit Lucky's armor wedge for that.  I kept waiting for Triton to land a blow on Lucky's unarmored back to see what their weapon could do when it wasn't dinking (langing glancing blows) really strong armor.

[NoName 16354]

23 hours ago, bernorange said:

If you watch the first video I posted in post #5, you would understand why that ELO doesn't really make sense.  The rules have changed over time.

Totally agree the rule changes and everything else aren't perfect but you can't really do ELO on a tiny sample size of like one season? Just found it interesting 

[bernorange 8362]

Monsoon v Black Dragon - I don't remember Monsoon.  I remember Black Dragon as mediocre (not terrible, not great), but capable of working while on fire for 2 minutes.

Malice v Emulsifier - Malice sucks.  Is Emulsifier the unbalanced flywheel (off center vertical spinner) bot?

Starchild v Overhaul - Who?  Starchild looks like a Huge clone.  Can it perform better than Huge has?

Gruff v Quantum - This could actually be an interesting fight.  Gruff's strong armor vs. Quantum's industrial press piercing tooth.  I wonder if either bot damages the other or if one just pulls a Pain Train to lose.

Kraken v Beta - Not sure why either bot is still in the field.  Both should have retired ala Rusty, Pain Train, Smeeee, etc.

Horizon v Shreddit Bro - Not sure I've ever seen either bot before

Whiplash v Hypershock - Whiplash's weapon looked really weak in their last match.  Hypershock has a real weapon.

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

On paper, that looks like a dreadful fight card aside from the main event. But perhaps that means the likelihood of outrageously uneven matchups might be higher. 

Monsoon was around a year or two ago - real big, burly, loud dude is the captain. 

[NoName 16354]

5 hours ago, bernorange said:

Monsoon v Black Dragon - I don't remember Monsoon.  I remember Black Dragon as mediocre (not terrible, not great), but capable of working while on fire for 2 minutes.

Malice v Emulsifier - Malice sucks.  Is Emulsifier the unbalanced flywheel (off center vertical spinner) bot?

Starchild v Overhaul - Who?  Starchild looks like a Huge clone.  Can it perform better than Huge has?

Gruff v Quantum - This could actually be an interesting fight.  Gruff's strong armor vs. Quantum's industrial press piercing tooth.  I wonder if either bot damages the other or if one just pulls a Pain Train to lose.

Kraken v Beta - Not sure why either bot is still in the field.  Both should have retired ala Rusty, Pain Train, Smeeee, etc.

Horizon v Shreddit Bro - Not sure I've ever seen either bot before

Whiplash v Hypershock - Whiplash's weapon looked really weak in their last match.  Hypershock has a real weapon.

re: off center bot i thought was Emulsifier as well  but that is Triton

Spoiler

here is emulsufier:

Spoiler

*

Starchild looks fucking dumb too. same team as RIPperoni.

same wheels and material as Huge, but vertical spinner?

Quote

A collaborative effort from team members of P1, Uppercut and Valkyrie in seasons prior, Starchild is an upscaled version of Brandon Zalinsky's beetleweight robot of the same name.

and

Quote

 

Starchild is a "thwackbot", that means we drive forward with the weapon dragging behind us, then slam the drive into reverse when we reach the opponent, swinging the weapon arm overhead for a devastating strike into their top armor."

— Brandon Zalinsky on Starchild.^[1]

 

in what is going to, with 100% certainty, be a trash fight this bot and Huge fight each other in the 4th round of their pool plays basically.

*

Kraken and Beta are both in it because they aren't spinners - I thought Beta was trash as well but they went 3-1 in Season 2 of the ABC reboot, went 3-0 in Discovery S5 before losing to Ribbot

Kraken went 1-2 in S4 Fight Nights, then 0-3 in Exhibitions, 1-2 in Season 5 Fight Nights then lost to SawBlaze, then 0-3 in Season 6

*

Horizon is the dumbest looking robot maybe since Shmeeeeeeeeeee. that thing is going to break into a million pieces i bet.

Shreddit is a "direct successor" to Pain Train from the same team.

Spoiler

Quote

SHREDDIT BRO! is an upscaled version of the team's highly successful 3lb robot of the same name. Unlike its smaller version, however, SHREDDIT BRO!'s 250lb build is four-wheel drive sporting large rubber wheels to keep the robot invertible. These wheels are unprotected, lacking the wheelguards seen on the 3lb Shreddit Bro. Evan Arias cites weapon reliability as one of the biggest improvements between it and Pain Train, and the weapon itself is a 60lb eggbeater drum spinner spinning at 190mph.

I am assuming something crazy happens

[bernorange 8362]

36 minutes ago, NoName said:

re: off center bot i thought was Emulsifier as well  but that is Triton

Triton has asymmetrical horizontal blade.  The bot I was thinking of had a vertical spinner that was off center.  It had a flywheel in the back to counter gyroscopic procession.

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

11 minutes ago, bernorange said:

Triton has asymmetrical horizontal blade.  The bot I was thinking of had a vertical spinner that was off center.  It had a flywheel in the back to counter gyroscopic procession.

Maybe you're thinking of Ripperoni? It's stupidly off-center and asymmetrical and also a complete piece of shit. 

[bernorange 8362]

That sounds right.

[NoName 16354]

16 hours ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

Maybe you're thinking of Ripperoni? It's stupidly off-center and asymmetrical and also a complete piece of shit. 

 

15 hours ago, bernorange said:

That sounds right.

 

16 hours ago, bernorange said:

Triton has asymmetrical horizontal blade.  The bot I was thinking of had a vertical spinner that was off center.  It had a flywheel in the back to counter gyroscopic procession.

yup, that's it

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

@NoName  just FYI, some (but not all) of your pictures in this thread aren't loading. In case you're using imgur, they hate us because they think we're a commerce site and won't host images here, so don't use them at all. 

 

 

[Captainant 27680]

52 minutes ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

@NoName  just FYI, some (but not all) of your pictures in this thread aren't loading. In case you're using imgur, they hate us because they think we're a commerce site and won't host images here, so don't use them at all. 

 

 

I think he's got some extra stuff on the end of the wiki link that's breaking it. If you get rid of everything after the ".jpeg" in the URL it'll render properly, but tiny

And yeah, Horizon looks like it'll be a spectacular fight just for the confetti show lol

[NoName 16354]

1 hour ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

@NoName  just FYI, some (but not all) of your pictures in this thread aren't loading. In case you're using imgur, they hate us because they think we're a commerce site and won't host images here, so don't use them at all. 

 

 

 

36 minutes ago, Captainant said:

I think he's got some extra stuff on the end of the wiki link that's breaking it. If you get rid of everything after the ".jpeg" in the URL it'll render properly, but tiny

And yeah, Horizon looks like it'll be a spectacular fight just for the confetti show lol

damn, thanks guys. i am pulling them from the BB wiki and will do a better job of pasting images over here

[bernorange 8362]

Just watched.  A few good fights, a few cripple fights, a miscarriage of justice, a judge's decision that could have gone the other way and some laughs.  Fun episode over all.

Spoiler

Emulsifier should not have freed Malice.  What a tragedy.

Starchild and Overhaul both suck.  How boring was that?

Quantum looked legit, but have yet to face a good weapon.

Rebuilt Kraken has a weapon now and looks to become a legit contestant.  Not sure I agreed with the judges on this one.

Horizon was so dumb it hurt my brain.  Shreddit made by Pain Train team and gave a Pain Train performance.  It was painful to watch this fight.

Whiplash v Hypershock was entertaining.  

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

Four robots (Horizon, Shreddit Bro, Starchild, and Overhaul) are all complete garbage and they all somehow played each other this week so now two of them lucked into a win. I haven't even looked at their schedules but I'm predicting that none of them wins another match. 

[bernorange 8362]

Minotaur looked really good in their last match.  Barring some glitch, I think they have a very good shot to make the final this season.

Ribbot was amazing last season.  I'm not sold that they still have the magic this season, but even so, they should handle Claw Viper, which is dumb (no damage weapon).

Sawblaze v Lockjaw could be a fun fight.  I expect Sawblaze to triumph.

Huge v Blip could be a hilarious (and/or boring) cripple fight with neither bot being very successful in attacking the other.

Fusion v Witch Doctor should be a snoozer.  Witch Doctor should prevail easily.

Double Tap v Doomba - What?  Who are these bots?

Riptide v Madcatter sounds like a fun fight.  Both bots looked legit in their last fights.

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

50 minutes ago, bernorange said:

Minotaur looked really good in their last match.  Barring some glitch, I think they have a very good shot to make the final this season.

Ribbot was amazing last season.  I'm not sold that they still have the magic this season, but even so, they should handle Claw Viper, which is dumb (no damage weapon).

Sawblaze v Lockjaw could be a fun fight.  I expect Sawblaze to triumph.

Huge v Blip could be a hilarious (and/or boring) cripple fight with neither bot being very successful in attacking the other.

Fusion v Witch Doctor should be a snoozer.  Witch Doctor should prevail easily.

Double Tap v Doomba - What?  Who are these bots?

Riptide v Madcatter sounds like a fun fight.  Both bots looked legit in their last fights.

I generally agree with your assessment, but I think that Huge may be better suited for this match than Blip, assuming that its weapon can reach down to Blip's level. If not, then the only way this doesn't go to the judges is if Blip somehow manages to get one of Huge's wheels outside the area and it gets stuck. 

[bernorange 8362]

Well, that was entertaining.  Some good fights, a split decision and, for me, a surprise result.

Spoiler

Minotaur looking like a champ.

Claw Viper managed to damage Ribbot without a weapon.  Crazy fight and kudos to Claw Viper.

Sawblaze also looking very good.

I did not expect to see Huge impale Blip.  Very cool that Huge can reverse the spin direction of their weapon mid match.

Fusion put up much more of a fight than I was expecting.  Fun fight to watch.

Doomba was Dumba.

Riptide looking beastly.  I'd love to see them vs another drum beast like Minotaur.

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

I am having a hard time figuring out how much of the Riptide guy's televised persona is a deliberate heel act, and how much is just his natural spastic, awkward, boundary-ignoring self. 

That dude who drives Fusion cracks me up. 

[bernorange 8362]

Both of the Ewert brothers crack me up.  Fusion Ewert (Reese) refuses to smile and talks so Canadian that if he weren't actually Canadian, people would think he's making fun of the Canadian stereotype.  He plays coy at being stoic.  Hydra Ewert (Jake) is unapologetic in giving his ego free reign / tooting his own horn.  He's brash and relishes boos from the crowd.

I don't think Riptide guy is really much of an actor.  I think his ego was definitely challenged by team MadCatter's criticisms on design theft.  When the match ended and we could see both teams interacting for the post game interviews, there appeared to be legit bad blood between the teams.  It was mentioned that the issue had been manifest in the pits for some time.

[Captainant 27680]

On 2/4/2023 at 7:23 AM, bernorange said:

Both of the Ewert brothers crack me up.  Fusion Ewert (Reese) refuses to smile and talks so Canadian that if he weren't actually Canadian, people would think he's making fun of the Canadian stereotype.  He plays coy at being stoic.  Hydra Ewert (Jake) is unapologetic in giving his ego free reign / tooting his own horn.  He's brash and relishes boos from the crowd.

The Ewer family is battlebots royalty, Son of Whyachi was a hell of a bot back in the day. I'm about 75% sure that Hydra Ewer is playing up the heel persona, but the fusion Ewer may just be awkward lol. 

Surprisingly good matchups this week though!

[bernorange 8362]

End Game should destroy Ripperoni

Switchback is dumb.  I don't remember Deathroll.  <shrugs>

Hijinx sucks.  Captain Shred sucks just a little bit less?

Rotator v Jackpot could be a fun match.  Both are decent bots.

Big Dill is Big Dumb v Skorpios

Banshee v Valkyrie.  I don't have any insight on this one

Tantrum v Hydra could be a fun match, but if Hydra performs like it's last fight, Hydra wins easily.

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

7 minutes ago, bernorange said:

End Game should destroy Ripperoni

Switchback is dumb.  I don't remember Deathroll.  <shrugs>

Hijinx sucks.  Captain Shred sucks just a little bit less?

Rotator v Jackpot could be a fun match.  Both are decent bots.

Big Dill is Big Dumb v Skorpios

Banshee v Valkyrie.  I don't have any insight on this one

Tantrum v Hydra could be a fun match, but if Hydra performs like it's last fight, Hydra wins easily.

There's a bunch of previous reminders about Death Roll just up the page! 

I wouldn't be surprised if End Game wrecks Ripperoni so badly that they just turn tail and leave. What a garbage robot. 

Hijinks doesn't have the power to meaningfully damage Shrederator, but both are vulnerable to mechanical failures - might be a fight that comes down to reliability. 

Banshee is affiliated with Malice, so automatic no-confidence vote against them from me. 

I think Tantrum caught lightning in a bottle last season, and expect it to come back to Earth, which, not coincidentally, is probably going to be a major theme of their fight against Hydra... 

[BamaATL 16593]

I've always liked the general design idea with hijinx but its never really panned out.  I wonder if because all the motors are housed in the top bar, they are too small and just generally under powered.  Caveat - I know generally nothing about this stuff beyond basic mechanics and physics.

If I were designing one of these I'd try to use proximity mines, and seeing as though I have all my fingers, I haven't been working on it. 

[Prepuce of Doom 21079]

Pretty lousy night of fights. Rotator vs. Jackpot was really the only good one. 

Spoiler

Boy, I'm glad that we can't wager on Battlebots, because I would have lost it all on that first match. 

 

[bernorange 8362]

Upsets, cripple fights and scorecard leaders that just inexplicably die.  There was a lot of WTF? in that episode.

Spoiler

I maintain that forks, 99% of the time, are dumb (esp against any bot with a spinning weapon).  Lol @ Endgame impaling itself on a saw hole in the floor 1 second into the match.

Switchback is indeed dumb, but Deathroll legit earned their win.

Hijinx v Shred was a cripple fight.

Big Dill's forks worked for a little while, but Skorpios' driver must have been high with shrooms because that was some bizarre driving "strategy".

Banshee v Valk was another cripple fight.  Valk would have won easily if they had a self righting mechanism.

Tantrum's forks were a rare example of usefulness.  Good win for them.  I did not expect that.

[bernorange 8362]

Also, I had meant to mention last week, that smirk Faruq made after introducing Huge made me legit lol.

[bernorange 8362]

Bloodsport v Gigabyte might be a fun match.  Horizontal blade vs. full body spinner.  We'll see if Bloodsport can keep their blade intact and if Gigabyte can stay working for more than a minute

I've been dismissive of Claw Viper in their first two matches.  This round they face a similar styled bot.  I have to think CV is better engineered.

I expect Horizon v Monsoon to be a yawn inducing minute or three of TV.  Will either bot manage to damage the other?

Starchild v Mammoth could bring some lulz.  Will one of them get a lucky hit in before self destructing?

Triton v Copperhead should be a massacre with Copperhead barely breaking a sweat

Lucky v Kraken seems like another silly match.  I expect the new, improved Kraken to shine

Minotaur v Cobalt could be a fun match.  Cobalt can hit hard.  Minotaur always hits hard.