Although I didn't finish Drop Test in time to attend this event. I remembered that I had prepared much better for November Necrosis the year prior and had over prepared for the event. I was planning on bringing both Hercules, my ant-weight lifter, and Drop Test, my brand new ant-weight spring flipper. Due to the large number of entries to the event, I could only bring one robot per weight class. This meant I only brought Drop Test, but Hercules was ready to go. I'd stashed it on a shelf in my garage. I was so close to selling it. With the number of new people getting involved in the hobby, prices for pre-made combat robots, especially kits, are in high demand. If I learned anything from selling El Tigre, they sell fast too. But I never got around to it. Partially because I never prioritized it over building the robots for the competition, and partially because deep down I didn't want to.
Hercules was my first real successful robot. It had gone through so many iterations, and had been so successful by being so durable, I couldn't let it go. I was actually pretty excited to drive it. I had no real expectations for it. But it was such an established design at this point, it practically couldn't do poorly in my opinion. It had fought in Motorama 2019, and done okay. But I didn't love the opponents that I fought, and lost twice by decision. Hercules came out essentially unscathed, but left something to be desired. I wanted to see it reach its potential. Plus it was just so pretty.
Hercules
Chopper was the sons robot, and done well, but simply out matched by Hercules. He didn't get any significant hits in and the design, while innovative, is rather unstable when flipped. Leading to Hercules controlling the whole fight.
Butcher
Butcher's first fight was against Washed Up. A drum spinner from a local robotics club that was attending the event. Great bot for a high school aged student to have designed and built. But it was clearly un tested as these things go. It takes a lot of time and resources to prepare long enough before an event to test everything out safely. The new, battle tested Butcher took it out with one enormous hit on the corner. Winner by knockout.
Overall I was very happy with all of the new upgrades to Butcher. It was immensely more durable and reliable in the box. And that was really my intention with Butcher from the beginning. I wanted to make a horizontal spinner that was capable of dealing out big hits, but keeping on going. That hasn't been the case most of the time as it has been plagued with reliability issues, especially in the weapon. But I made great strides towards that goal with these upgrades.
Additionally I'd like to try and rework the armor somewhat. The drive wheel shaft support blocks I made, did little to nothing. The wheels didn't really need to be supported, but I was hoping it would provide some stability and armor during big hits. Instead it shattered on impact and threw my expensive bearings on the floor. I'll likely get rid of these and take that weight to add some thicker armor around the wheels. Maybe even a plow/wedge on the back of some sort to slow down Whomper should we meet again.
Overall I had a great event and am really excited that events are coming back slowly. I'll continue to work on these bots when I have time. Hoping to get Drop Test up and running first. Then focus on these upgrades for Butcher. I'll continue to post updates here when I can as well. Until next time.