Team Health & Safety - First Time Builder

[Zenith]

Dutch Robot Games @ Bright Day 2017 - 18th & 19th of November 2017

Day 2

I must say that going to the venue in the early morning I was nervous. Bequinox is a machine that's vicious and fills people that have to face it with nothing other than sheer dread. This was also the case for me.

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I'd pondered what to do – TINAD's front mounts were barely hanging on on one side, so going for separate wedgelets would most definitely be suicide. I decided to go full on Sewer Snake and try and break its fist with my face – I screwed on the plow I'd brougt 'just in case'. Originally it was made for Mk1, but as it was only used in 1 fight at the Euros it was still pretty much unmarked. I'd made sure the mounts had the same width as on Mk1 so the plow would fit and now, it was time to see whether my franksteined little warrior could hold on against the worst.

Now I have a secret to tell you – going into combat robotics there's one thing I've always dreamt of experiencing myself, and that is my own 'Hypnodisc v Bigger Brother' fight. When that particular fight happened I was actually there, and I'll never forget the beating Bigger Brother took before proving to everyone that even if you lose your weapon and your body gets ripped up, you will still have a chance if your drive keeps going.

Unbeknownst to me, this fight was about to bring me awfully close to make that a reality for This Is Not A Drill.

Despite being afraid of the plow getting ripped off I decided to just plow straight into Bequinox and see what would happen. I had sacrificed the lifter to make it just a self righting arm, and straight from the word go, Bequinox seemed to have trouble with getting around the plow. Sparks were flying throughout all of this but before long, Dennis caught an edge and in a huge release of energy sent TINAD flying.

TINAD narrowly avoided flying out and landed upside down. I tried to selfright, but before I could do so Bequinox attacked again to turn TINAD into a UFO. Coincidentally he also turned TINAD right way up and turned itself over through the impact. TINAD's mascot flew out of the arena, with the flag even dropping outside of the main arena's polycarb (!). Knowing how awfully Bequinox drives wrong way up I decided to raise the selfrighting arm slightly and try and control Bequinox to where I wanted it to go.

And where was that? The side wall. And that's where it ended up eventually, lying on its drum, seemingly stuck and unable to move. The countdown was started... Bequinox tried feverishly to release itself. 5.... 4..... 3..... 2..... 1...... cease. And that was it. This Is Not A Drill had seemingly done the impossible and was crowned the victor against a robot widely feared for its ferocity and precision engineering.

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I was shaking, actually. TINAD was not at full strength prior to going in, and had Bequinox caught the edge of the plow again during the fight the bodged mount surely would've come loose again. Bequinox had chewed up one of the wheelguards and damaged the other, chewed the hell out of the plow but it was not enough – This Is Not A Drill was in the final against The O'Neill.

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I decided to have fun, try something different, and removed the wedgelets altogether. Probably not the best decision, but the final went the full 3 minutes. I wasn't able to lift The O'Neill though – with much of the weight removed from the front I struggled getting the lifter underneath, and when it did, it didn't seem to have the power. I suspect the contacts of the lifter motor to have become a tad dodgy, but it also reminded me to switch to 4S for future tournaments.

Anyways, I lost, and The O'Neill deservedly won the Beetleweight crown. I'll get you some day, Cosmin!

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The rest of the event was basically spent having a look around, and decorating Dennis's toolboxes. Ralf had suggested to have a fun match of This Is Not A Drill against two of his 500g antweights, one of which was fitted with a drill. Why, ofcourse!



I went into the ring once more up against Orbit and The O'Neill. Cosmin helped me put the plow on again for this fight seeing Orbit is pretty much one of the most powerful beetle spinners out there. The fight was quite fun and the plow seemed to hold on fine...but when Orbit turned TINAD over with a huge hit I found out I probably should've checked the leads. I am usually able to selfright, but now I couldn't do anything other than show the bellytext scribbled on.

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In the end, it was a great event where the new This Is Not A Drill surprised not only me but also all of the onlookers. What was most surprising to me was that not only did it manage to beat two fearsome spinners, the mascot is STILL MYSTERIOUSLY UNHARMED. I originally put it on for the Euros so that it could get splintered to pieces (I hated Playmobil growing up, as it is far inferior to LEGO), but by now, after having done 10 fights with it, it seems the little action figure is here to stay. You can bet your ass I'll be putting it on Mk3.

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I aim to take my time for the next incarnation, but rest assured that when the new build starts, I'll keep you guys posted.

Here's all the fight footage - TINAD's fights are at 00:00 (v G2 ), 01:09 ( v The O'Neill), 06:23 ( v Anxt ), 08:50 ( v Bequinox ) and 10:33 ( v The O'Neill again in the final)



Lastly, the Event Compilation! It's the entire run-up to the event including a best-of from the event itself.



Enjoy!