Okay, so same vein of engineering as Andy's 1:1 RC car...but I think we should make a Humboldt Maker's Team Battle Bot!
The show is currently hosted by Discovery but the fights happen in Vegas as of this last season. The show was started WAAAAY back in the year 2000 and ran for 5 seasons before getting cancelled. It was picked up again by ABC in 2015 and revived into a bigger and stronger version of itself.
In addition to getting to watch robots fight, teams get to learn and exercise engineering principals and physics in action! Battle bots are typically about 250lbs for ground bots and up to 10lbs for drones or flying bots. Weapons are kinetic, typically rotary impacts, but some other options are available for additional flare. You can include a flame thrower if you like, but rules prevent it from being effective weapon, especially considering you're fighting another robot! A big part of battle bots is not just making the most destructive bot possible, but rather making one that can destroy with style. This is what appeals to me the most, making an visually interesting and exciting bot! A great example is Witch Doctor which won last season's tournament.
This would be a very long term project or goal, it is not recommended to start building a bot until you're actually accepted into the tournament. Building a bot is no small feat and would definitely require Sponsors to help fund it. Some battle bots cost $25,000 and some are much more reasonable depending on material and design choices. Common sponsors include Autodesk Fusion 360, Solidworks, and many other engineering software companies though any business can be a sponsor!
The show is currently hosted by Discovery but the fights happen in Vegas as of this last season. The show was started WAAAAY back in the year 2000 and ran for 5 seasons before getting cancelled. It was picked up again by ABC in 2015 and revived into a bigger and stronger version of itself.
In addition to getting to watch robots fight, teams get to learn and exercise engineering principals and physics in action! Battle bots are typically about 250lbs for ground bots and up to 10lbs for drones or flying bots. Weapons are kinetic, typically rotary impacts, but some other options are available for additional flare. You can include a flame thrower if you like, but rules prevent it from being effective weapon, especially considering you're fighting another robot! A big part of battle bots is not just making the most destructive bot possible, but rather making one that can destroy with style. This is what appeals to me the most, making an visually interesting and exciting bot! A great example is Witch Doctor which won last season's tournament.
This would be a very long term project or goal, it is not recommended to start building a bot until you're actually accepted into the tournament. Building a bot is no small feat and would definitely require Sponsors to help fund it. Some battle bots cost $25,000 and some are much more reasonable depending on material and design choices. Common sponsors include Autodesk Fusion 360, Solidworks, and many other engineering software companies though any business can be a sponsor!
