DAY 2

Most of the morning was spent chatting to teams about the night before, and both Barróg’s were in a good position to continue fighting. For the first time, both machines were able to enter the arena together for the first time at 100%, in a melee with just a single spinner compared to the other fights with multiple.



Some observations from this fight:


  • Within the first 5 seconds, Barróg ends up on its side. I would have been terribly disappointed for my dad given he’d be stuck on his side right at the start of his first fight, but fortunately the machine was tipped back over 2 seconds later, so everything worked out in the end.
  • My strategy for this fight was to survive until the pit dropped, then see if I could get Get Shrekt in there, giving me 90 seconds to get used to how the machine handles. I was very happy with how it drove, though decided to use the lifter only sparingly.
  • Dad was getting used to driving Barróg around for the first time in a proper fight. He found driving and turning together to be very hard to do, as well as which way to turn the machine when it wasn’t in line with him. Fortunately he ended up improving very quickly, which is always great.
  • Once the pit goes down, I go for Shrekt, a move I almost immediately regret as one hit shatters my front end, rips the bungee cords right out of their hooks, and leaves me upside down. The machine self-rights despite the damage though, something I’m very proud of finally achieving!
  • Less than 10 seconds later, Barróg then collides with Shrekt, splitting the top into two very busted pieces and disabling the main weapon, something that takes me a few seconds to grasp if the audio from the video is to be believed (I was next to the camera for this fight).
  • At this point, I just go hell for leather at Shrekt. The machine takes a few more whacks at the front, but asides from the front piece and a chunk from one of the side pieces nothing else seems to be getting damaged, and I’ve self-righted multiple times without losing the fuse on the lifter.
  • After a few attempts of pitting Shrekt, the bot flips me one more time, where I get stuck on top of another bot after self-righting. Unable to move, attempting to wriggle free with the lifter finally blows the fuse in it, rendering me immobile at last with 10 seconds to go. Also somehow Barróg made it to the end of the rumble as well!


POST-FIGHT:


Ow

Well, suffice to say, that fight was the most damaging fight I’ve been in so far. For Barróg Doom, I’d lost the top and front piece, the latter of which was divided into four pieces, the steel wedge was written off completely, both hinges for the front piece, one corner at the front, both bungee cords, and the lifter fuse. For Barróg, the front corner was nearly coming off, and the front piece was also broken into four pieces, tearing out the linear actuator in the process and breaking it (again). So like any sane person, we decided the best course of action was to try and repair the machines for the final melee.


The top piece on Barróg, there was already a crack near the top, but this hit just absolutely totaled it.


The actuator gearbox casing was utterly destroyed as well, splitting my weapon into two for the second event in a row.

For Barróg Doom, I took a template of the cuts on the broken pieces, and made spares at the event outside with a jigsaw, while Dad went to get new hinges and bungees at the nearby hardware store. For Barróg, we took out the remains of the actuator, and opted to just have the pre-cut horizontal config front piece fit in place to save time, held down again only with bungees. Plastic wedgelets were fit to each machine quickly, and somehow after a quick battery charge both bots were ready to go back in! Helping all the construction efforts was the fact that our pit neighbours left on the Sunday, giving us a whopping two full pit spaces to work with. Perhaps a bit overkill for two featherweights, but if any two feathers needed the space then it was these two!


The impromptu cutting station set up outside the event to get two new tops installed.

With a final congratulatory boastful expletive directed at Sam Price (Shrekt’s builder), both bots were ready to go in to the final melee, hoping to get as much field data as possible.


Both bots (somehow) ready to go back in.



Some observations from this fight:


  • Though you’d think I’d have learned a lesson from the previous melee, my targets again are the spinners in the melee. Unfortunately, staying in too close, along with the plastic wedgelets getting worn out quickly means that I can’t quite get under any bot with enough force to push them like I love to do.
  • After a minute of driving around, I seem to lose one of my wheels on the right side, affecting my driving, the first wheel failure I’ve had since Manchester last year. The extra pressure put on the remaining right wheel followed by the massive landing from the floor flipper seems to end the remaining wheel, and I’m now driving on one side of the bot.
  • Ultimately not much else interesting happens in the fight, Barróg is pitted shortly after the halfway point of the match, and Barróg Doom joins it with 30 seconds to go in the fight.


POST-FIGHT:

Overall a fairly average fight, and I was just happy to make it into the arena at all with both bots. The wheels were the biggest mystery to me, I was not used to them failing at all. Outside of a crack on the top piece of Barróg Doom no other major damage was sustained, so at this point we just watched the remaining fights, said our goodbyes, and packed up for the ferry ride home.


POST-EVENT THOUGHTS:


  • The biggest letdown of the event for me was the HDPE chopping boards. Previously I theorised that the plastic would only chip away upon hits, but both bots had their tops rendered useless after one hit from Shrekt. I always knew this plastic wasn’t proper HDPE, but I always thought its unique properties would have some useful applications at least. A new, different type of plastic was ordered after this event.
  • I massively underestimated the amps the lifter would draw, leading to me blowing weapon fuses constantly. A new weapon ESC was needed before the weapon would be able to do anything at all.
  • The Spektrum Dx6e was a challenge to set up, but once it was working the machine handled beautifully, and I really prefer driving with it over the Devo 7E thanks to its larger size and stiffer resistance from the sticks.
  • The wheels on Doom performed well for the most part, but two were lost in the final fight, and I had to retighten some retaining screws among the other wheels. Steps will need to be taken to make sure that my wheel arrangement will work better in the future. No damage to Barróg’s wheels though, they seem to defy all odds by continuing to work at this point.
  • The steel wedge got too beat up while trying to get underneath things, and took too much off with it upon nasty hits. The HDPE wedgelets can be effective, but get damaged too easily, and will almost never win a fight against another bot with a ground-scraping wedge. A better option is needed for events in the future.


Bolton was nonetheless a great event, and like always, thanks to the community these events are fun no matter how well the bot performs (special shout to George, Sean and Alex for the drinks). I’m guessing most people reading this already saw how I did at the FRA FW champs only a month later, but I wanted to go into detail here about exactly what went right and wrong with the new build. I don’t necessarily see myself as an amazing bot builder, but I feel at this point I have a good sense of what needs to be fixed and how after an event, which in my opinion can be just as valuable.


Barróg Doom after the event, with plenty to work on.