Vancouver Area Robot Combat

[Rob_MacKenzie]

I’ve always wanted to build a bot with a certain control mechanism to give it a strong advantage. And when that inevitably fails leaves me as a sitting duck
I’m interested!!!

[Rob_MacKenzie]

@Retro_Bot

Wow, I’m surprised at how fast the interest is appearing

You mentioned fighting robots. That’s like crack for this group

[Janet]

@retro_bot as Rob says - you had us at “Robot Combat”. You’ve definitely come to the right nerds.

[Retro_Bot]

VARC Website is coming along (I haven’t made a website in 20 years, so don’t expect too much). So far it’s just a rough main page and a page of links to helpful resources.

I’m glad I finally found the right nerds. I’ve been kicking this idea around for a few years now but haven’t found a crowd of like-minded builders until now. I figure we need at least a dozen teams and 3-5 people willing to help out for a first event to get things going. Hopefully if we get enough public interest, things will take off once people see how much fun it is.

[Backwoods]

Definitely interested in Combat Robots. Please keep me in the loop.

[Retro_Bot]

Will do. I hope to get the first event together for mid-late August if everything goes smoothly. To begin with the box will be suitable for 1 and 3 pound bots, so if you want to start building with those targets in mind…

There isn’t much on the VARC website yet, but one of the first things I’ve done is to gather a collection of useful links. Also, if you haven’t already seen them, the videos over on the NHRL youtube page are a great place to start getting familiar with the Beetleweight class. They have the most competitive environment in the world for Beetles and do a great job of filming, editing etc. No flamethrowers here though (the top video on their youtube right now is an amazing flamethrower bot literally lighting their opponent on fire).

I’m also happy to answer any questions or provide feedback on designs. I won’t claim to be a master builder, but we did go 5 and 2 for a 4th place finish in Seattle against some of the best in the world (all but one opposing team was from the BattleBots TV show, and one of our losses was to a Giant Nut winner).

[Jarrett]

Posted a workshop that can be a start to getting into this.

Remote Control Car Workshop - Wednesday, May 11th, 6pm

Hi all, I’ll be running a workshop for custom RC cars. You will be provided with all of the basic components - A microcontroller, motors, and everything to join them all together. The idea here is to get a basic RC car platform in everyone’s hands, just the boring stuff, so that we can build upon it and let our creativity go wild in unexpected ways. The hope would be to see anything from desk-sized Roombas, to racing leagues, to tiny Battlebots, to autonomous sumobots. [image] It is intentio…

As-is, it certainly wouldn’t be competitive if you want to win, but it could be fun as hell, and will certainly whet the appetite

[Retro_Bot]

Hey, winning isn’t everything. Lots of serious battlebots competitors will bring a ‘joke’ bot to some competitions just for fun. Ray Billings, who runs Tombstone, probably the most destructive battlebot of all time runs a smaller bot called The Great Pumpkin, which is basically a plastic pumpkin with wheels. Its only purpose is to get destroyed and provide some entertainment for the audience.

There’s also the famous Norwalk Havoc competitor, Milk Tank, the team wears cow costumes and the bot is decorated in a cowhide pattern. The main weapon on Milk Tank lately has been balloons filled with glitter. In the past it’s also brought a bubble blowing machine as its main weapon. It’s very rare that it wins any matches, in fact it had a streak of four fights in a row where it burst into flames, but it’s a fan favourite and the team seems to have great fun with it.

Here’s a great Milk Tank fight to give you an idea.

[Metal_Janet]

So… as a practical SPFX technician, and former theatre nerd, I have some fire performance expertise, including how to get the appropriate permits for fire at public events. I’m also certified to load propane cannons by Technical Safety BC. (Kind of an inside joke… TSBC just brought in a new mandatory certification course for the film industry, and the instructor got eviscerated by the students, all of whom knew more than he did.)

If people are interested in involving fire, involve me in the early stages of your planning, please.

[Retro_Bot]

Sorry, I should have been clear, it’s very unusual for an event of this type to allow fire. NHRL is really the exception here. They’re the first real semi-professional league for combat robotics in the world as far as I know (BattleBots hands out money, but even with sponsors teams inevitably spend more than they get in return). We also won’t be handing out $10,000 cheques to the winners of the annual finals either (maybe one day, but that’s a long way off).

I just posted some NHRL videos because they’re the best quality examples I can find of robot combat in these weight classes.

Thanks for the offer though. We absolutely do need volunteers to help with safety inspections and such so if you’re not competing your expertise would be most welcome! It sounds like your experience would be a great asset if you want to build your own bots as well.

[Metal_Janet]

Copy that. I would imagine that you’re going to want a fire fighting plan regardless, given the possibility of a battery puncture, and I can help out with that.

I definitely don’t have the bandwidth to field a robot this year, but I’ll think about it for future. Robot fire beaver, anyone?

[chadleaman]

Well good ideas are contagious, flaming fighter bots are the cover of this quarter’s Make magazine!

[Retro_Bot]

Dragon Princess (the flame bot) nice to see Norwalk Havoc getting some more recognition. They’re doing a great job of mainstreaming Robot Combat. If anyone is interested, the highlights of the May Norwalk event are up on youtube.

I have to say they keep getting better every event. Pretty soon they’ll be overtaking BattleBots for premier robot combat show. May is an especially fun event there because they only accept new bots in the Beetleweight category so lots of new builders, lots of experimental builds.

If anyone wants to see the fight the above pic is from, I believe it’s this one. Also, fun fact, the driver of Dragon Princess is a 9 year old girl, and it finished second in it’s weight class at that event.

[Backwoods]

Anything happening with Robot Combat in Vancouver?

[Retro_Bot]

Things are still on track, though it looks like it will be just antweight bots in the beginning. An ant arena goes for around $2,000, whereas a beetle arena costs 6-8k and that’s too rich for my blood.

So the plan is to build the Ant arena, hold a few events with either a $20 entry fee, split the fees between paying off the arena/saving for a second arena and prizes for various categories (trophies, tools, gift certificates at relevant shops etc.) If we get consistently good numbers at events it should mean we can build a second arena by next summer or so.

I’m still figuring out where I’m going to build it, but it will get done. Jarrett has kindly offered some space at VHS, so I’ll have to work out some details with him, I really want the event to be open to the public, and I’m not sure if VHS is okay with that. I also need 3-5 volunteers to help with running the event.

I guess I might as well ask a few questions here, Jarrett.
Is there enough floor/bench space for an arena, 20-50 spectators, and at least about 3 square feet of bench space for each participant, hopefully with power (planning for 12-20 entries, I’ll probably be bringing three myself)?
I don’t know how workshops at VHS work, but is there a chance for me to go there some evening to talk with interested builders, run a workshop on how to put a bot together, and perhaps a follow-up session where they can bring their bots and test them safely in the box (the test session could be the night before, but I think it might be fun to have some impromptu matches a week or so before an event so everyone can get the kinks worked out)?

Also, for everyone here, how many of you are planning to bring bots (and how many bots are you planning to bring)? If you’ve got friends who aren’t on here but are planning to build a bot, can I get those numbers too?

Thanks!

[Jarrett]

@Retro_Bot

I guess I might as well ask a few questions here, Jarrett.
Is there enough floor/bench space for an arena, 20-50 spectators, and at least about 3 square feet of bench space for each participant, hopefully with power (planning for 12-20 entries, I’ll probably be bringing three myself)?

I’d strongly recommend you come by for an open house and evaluate these answers for yourself.

@Retro_Bot

I don’t know how workshops at VHS work, but is there a chance for me to go there some evening to talk with interested builders, run a workshop on how to put a bot together, and perhaps a follow-up session where they can bring their bots and test them safely in the box (the test session could be the night before, but I think it might be fun to have some impromptu matches a week or so before an event so everyone can get the kinks worked out)?

That sounds very plausible, here is an old thread that gives some hints on how it works:

You should run a workshop!

This was a great post by @funvill in days long past that is no longer searchable I was looking for it recently, because it’s very positive and addresses some common questions about workshops. Just a Good Post. Hello tl;dr: You should run a workshop or night at VHS on a subject that you are enthusiastic about! We want to know more about what you love to do! Have you considered running a workshop/night/class at VHS? Its easy! Just choose any topic, Make a small post about the night and se…

[Retro_Bot]

Anyone interested in getting together with other local builders to chat about building up Vancouver Area Robot Combat, whether you want to build a bot or are interested in helping out as a volunteer, we will be meeting on Zoom later this week. Looks like meeting at around 4:00 between Wednesday and Saturday works best for some people. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll forward you the Zoom link. I’ll also post it here once we have it sorted out.

[rsim]

I could do 4 on Wednesday.

[Retro_Bot]

Great! If you want to sign up for the mailing list, you can use the link on the Varc.tech website or e-mail me at Mark@VARC.tech so you can be sure to stay in the loop. I just sent out an e-mail to the others, suggesting Wednesday for the meeting and I’ll let you know when I’ve heard back and got the zoom link set up.