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[TC11] Technic Contest Battle Bots - Discussion Topic

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Eurobricks TC11 Battle Bots Contest

TECHNIC BATTLE BOTS CONTEST
This Eurobricks Technic Contest is gonna be a feisty one...Battle Bots!!! For those two people who haven't seen the Battle Bots (or similarly called) TV show, I will explain what it entails. Two robots, one arena, remote controls and a lot of destruction! Since most of us live far apart, and we don't want to actually break our LEGO, this will obviously be a fictional battle. But the challenge is real! 

DESCRIPTION
Design your own Remotely Controlled Battle Bot. Your model should be operated by one or more PF IR remotes or one or more SBricks Apps. Yes, you can use a team mate with a different remote or app to control the battle functions. No, you can't combine PF Remotes with SBricks apps. Why not? More about that later.

Your robot needs to have a badass name. Besides steering and driving, it needs to have at least one motorized signature move. It's a battle bot after all. You can have additional motorized functions. You can use every official LEGO motor available, as long as it can be controlled by either PF IR or SBrick.

The maximum size of your robot is 45Lx45Lx45L. This is the size when the robot is in idle/storage mode. When the robot is in battle mode elements can be outside of the bounding box. Mind you that there's a battle going on in the arena, so you cannot attach or detach things manually. Nor can you operate other functions manually. Everything needs to be remotely controlled. It is allowed to shoot rockets and other stuff, as long as the trigger is remotely operated.

 

UPDATE: Diagonal measurements can be greater than 45 studs.

 

CONTEST CATEGORIES
This contest is divided into two categories, one for PF IR operated robots and one for SBrick app operated robots.

CAT A: SBRICK
Your robot can use any official LEGO motor, but it needs to be operated using one or more SBricks, using the SBricks App (iOS, Android or Windows Phone) Edit: or a game controller.

CAT B: PF IR
Your robot can use any official LEGO motor, but it needs to be operated using the PF IR Remotes and PF Receivers.

DEADLINE
Deadline date is Monday April 17th, 2017. Contest will be closed on Tuesday April 18th, or later.

Disclaimer: I will close the contest when I see fit and when I have the time to process the results. This can be later than the deadline date. Please don't complain about this not being fair and all.

VOTING CRITERIA
Here's a description of the criteria.

A cool looking battle bot with a properly working signature move, which has the best chance to win the battle. 

I know the latter is pretty subjective, but since we don't have actual battles, the voters will be the judge of that. Basically, these 3 criteria:

  1. Good looking
  2. Properly working signature move
  3. Likeliness to win the battle

RULES AND REGULATIONS
The following section describes the contest specific and general rules and regulations. But before that, please take notice of a simple motto regarding the Eurobricks Contests:

CONTESTS ARE FOR FUN!

Of course there's competition, but at the end of the day, LEGO is just a hobby and the main goal for each of us is to have fun!

CONTEST SPECIFIC RULES AND REGULATIONS

  • Maximum size is 45Lx45Lx45L (when not in battle mode)
  • LEDs (and other LEGO lights) ARE permitted.
  • 3rd party strings, hoses and rubber bands ARE permitted.
  • Other 3rd party parts are NOT permitted.

GENERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS

  • The contest is open to all EB members (also new members).
  • Members who joined EB after the start of the contest can be banned from voting (when vote rigging is suspected).
  • Voting rules will be explained later in the voting topic.
  • One entry per member.
  • Entries need to be new (never posted anywhere previously or shown at an event/LUG meeting).
  • Only physical builds, so no LDD or other virtual entry.
  • If you have any doubts about the suitability of your entry contact me, or Milan.
  • All entries are to include only real LEGO. No clone brands, 3rd party parts, or digital entries allowed.
  • Custom stickers are allowed.
  • No cutting, sculpting or modifying parts.
  • Entries are to be placed in the entry topic in this forum.
  • Entries not in the entry topic are not eligible for voting.
  • The entry post may be edited at any time up to the end of the contest, so feel free to make improvements if you wish.
  • The contest might be closed later than the deadline. Don't complain about this not being fair.
  • You have enough time to build. Don't ask for more time.
  • We reserve the right to disqualify any entry that does not follow these rules.
  • These rules can be changed whenever we see fit to ensure that people follow the intent of the contest.
  • Staff members are Jim is not eligible for winning prizes.

WHAT DO I NEED TO ENTER?
All participant need to create a discussion topic and create a post in the entry topic.

DISCUSSION TOPIC

  • A discussion topic starting with [TC11].
  • A discussion topic needs to show some actual progress (i.e. pictures of the build in progress) and should NOT be used to "reserve an idea".

ENTRY POST
The entry post in the entry topic should contain:

  • Robot name
  • Signature move name
  • Short summary of the functions.
  • One or more pictures (max 3)
  • Embedded video (mandatory)
  • Link to the discussion topic

PRIZES
Take a look at awesome prizes, made available by the guys who brought you SBrick! Thanks guys, you really rock!

WINNER CAT A: SBRICK
The winner in this category will receive a Bucket Wheel Excavator!

32221554373_45e62e7031_n.jpg

WINNER CAT B: PF IR
The winner in this category will receive a Claas Xerion 5000 Trac VC.

32910351051_1cee6173af_n.jpg

RAFFLE
An awesome third prize is made available for a raffle among all the contestants, a Volvo EW160E or an SBrick Plus. 

32995471046_afbe3923b0_n.jpg  

MEDALS
The Top-3 contestants (overall) will get the medal tags.

SBrickPlus.png

 

 

Edited by Milan
UPDATE: Diagonal measurements can be greater than 45 studs.

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Just now, Kaanere said:

Should we vote for the most awesome robot or the one we think would win in a combat?

At first I thought "let's focus on building", but you have a valid point/question here. I think the latter.

Most likely to win the battle.

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26 minutes ago, efferman said:

so the bot has only be able to fight, a real fight will not exist?

That's correct, or lets just quote our TC11 Expert Guest Judge:

“The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.”
 

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So, is the weaponry theoretical, or what damage it would actually do?

For example, If I used this with this, would it be counted as how much real damage it would do, or as if it was a high speed bullet?

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4 minutes ago, GroundskeeperWillie said:

So, no BuWizz powered bot? :sceptic:

I guess the sponsor would be at least delighted if not thrilled to see a category with his competitions' product :devil:.

This is the first time I actually saw some battle bots wars on YT, It seems most bots have one or two weapons. Does someone know if that is somekind of rule in real life competitions? As I see it, the more moving and exposed parts the real bots have, the more are they vurnerable to getting "killed". Indeed looks a thrilling hobby, those bots are indeeddeadly!!! And the arena looks very cool (and deadly) as well.

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This is gonna be awesome, no doubt about that.  I do have some questions though. 

1) Are we allow to modify the battery packs to give us more power? Sure we could add another battery pack to the model, but we have a space restriction

2) As "letsbuild" brought up, is the actual damage of the weapons going to be accounted for.  He provided a great example.  

3) I did not catch it in the rules, are videos required? Yes they would be great to add to the discussion topic for the voters to physically see what each function does.  

4) Big thanks to the creators of the Sbrick, but is there a reason my the Sbrick category prize to worth so much more?  I understand why they would want their product to be praised more, but I personally think the contestants using the Sbrick are at an advantage, 4 controls in a unit instead of only 2.  Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, just commenting.  

I can not wait to start, this is going to be awesome!! 

Happy building and may the best bot win. 

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18 minutes ago, MajklSpajkl said:

I guess the sponsor would be at least delighted if not thrilled to see a category with his competitions' product :devil:.

This is the first time I actually saw some battle bots wars on YT, It seems most bots have one or two weapons. Does someone know if that is somekind of rule in real life competitions? As I see it, the more moving and exposed parts the real bots have, the more are they vurnerable to getting "killed". Indeed looks a thrilling hobby, those bots are indeeddeadly!!! And the arena looks very cool (and deadly) as well.

The BuWizz is covered by "Other 3rd party parts are NOT permitted."

The rules for real-life competitions probably exist as far as size goes, but I don't think weapons are limited.  There are bots with flame throwers, drones, giant hammers etc.  The most effective battle bots fall into one of two categories: flippers and momentum wheels (not the technical term - flywheels maybe?).  Flippers use a wedge to go under the opponent.  The wedge then springs up and flips the opponent into the grinders that surround the arena.  Momentum wheels rely on a heavy mass rotating at high RPMs.  Opponents who come in contact with this wheel sustain quite a bit of damage - shields, wheels and weapons are often ripped off.  Both flippers and momentum wheels are quite boring as far as looks go: one looks like a hot iron:

F8IAB5FHDHW4Q1P.RECT2100.jpg

and the other one is basically a controlled spinning top:

ofz3wjmo20hf7xpuk1m4.jpg

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Count me in! I have the perfect idea :devil:

Funny thing is when I first saw battlebots I thought, "I wonder if there will be a lego one"

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This sounds like heaps of fun:thumbup:

Just thinking out loud (what is a competition after all without some hefty discussions about the rules :wink:):

Will there be some virtual competition to determine who will win?
Something like: divide the entries in sets of two, determine the winner of each battle through voting. The survivors get linked again to each other in sets of two to determine the winners of the next round. Etc. ubest ntil one winner remains...
(This scheme obviously only works with 2 4, 8, 16, etc. contestants, so fancier schemes with poules of 3 or 4 can be devised to fit the number of contestants). Hmmm, and then of course, how to determine the best PF and best Sbrick contestant... one is easy (that's the overall winner), but the other one can easily be a tie in the quarterfinals of 4 of the same...

Still... some competition with rounds would be fun I recon... Maybe two competitions, one with only S-bricks and one with PF?

If it is just one competition with the usual voting mechanism you could end up with a highest Sbrick entry at 5th place still winning the biggest price...

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Can I use a LEGO Mindstorms set being remote controlled via an app (I can get a specific link}, as they would be great for this (and I have no S Brick/PF IR. xD), it would basically be a bulky sbrick.

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Just now, Burko-uk said:

Oh, and being new to such things, is the size limit 45 studs? Or 45 inches, centimetres, metres, fathoms?

L = Studs usually, and makes sense for a LEGO Competition.

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10 minutes ago, Burko-uk said:

Robot Wars in the UK has a limit that you can only have one weapon, and it's not a projectile weapon.

I saw a few robots with multiple weapons, a flipper and an axe for instance.

 

Spinners are probably the most effective and the simplest to make, providing you can make them strong enough to withstand the force of their own impacts** so I guess there will be a lot of spinners. 

**maybe it should be a rule that the robot must be built well enough such that it remains fully intact after 10 uses of the weapon against an indestructible object like a house brick or a wall. I would imagine that Lego would have such quality standards should they ever release a battlebot set. EDIT not sure how you'd enforce that rule though :sceptic:

Edited by allanp

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