We took a trip to York at the weekend to compete in our first official event as a full competitor. Upon arriving at the venue, we realised we would have had no chance of finding it if we didn't have Thomas Yau there to point us into the right building! We were among the first to arrive, so we had time to set up and grab some space before the rest of the competitors, and spectators, arrived. With a total of 31 antweights and 12 beetleweights, there was barely enough space for everyone to work on their robots. The competition format was a sort of group stage format so everyone got 4 guaranteed fights but could have more in the form of playoffs.
Fight 1: vs Baby Dead Bod
This was an absolutely terrifying first fight to have, Baby Dead Bod is an immensely powerful horizontal spinner so I was not happy to face it this early on.
That was quick! A single hit on the weapon was all it took to flex the weapon into the pulley, sending it flying and completely shearing the motor shaft. This was particularly unfortunate because we didn't have any way of fixing this damage. After a couple more hits, it was clear that I had no chance of winning, and since it was the first fight, I decided to tap out. This meant that I could continue the competition, albeit without a weapon.
Fight 2: vs Little Grey Fergie
I was fairly confident about this fight, and it was going well in the first minute. However, I made an error and drove into the wall, and the forks got stuck in a gap between the wall and the floor. We later found that the forks had lifted under the robot, so we fixed this issue by shaving the corner of the robot so that the wheels would contact the ground when in this position.
Fight 3: vs Chucky
I came into this fight doubting that I could win, and this was proven to be true. Chucky pushed me around the arena for the first half of the fight before propping me against the wall of the arena.
Fight 4: vs Bby Shrekt
We decided not to do this fight, as there was no point getting absolutely destroyed when so much of the frame was perfectly okay and could still be used.
Even though the weapon was destroyed almost instantly, I really enjoyed this event. Everyone was very kind and welcoming, especially Sam Price who gave suggestions and let us look inside his robots to get inspiration for our necessary design changes. This event showed us plenty of ways in which to improve the weapon system of this robot, and I think with the upgrades it will be a lot more reliable and a lot more competitive!
Our Hardox order also arrived during the time we were in York, so we have test mounted the new forks and weapons. I am especially loving the look of the disk!
We competed at Battle in the Burgh on Sunday! Here's how it went... My first fight with Exposure was against Wee Twosers, a two-part cluster armed with vertical spinners. This fight was fairly simple, I picked a target and hit it, then they both ended up upside down. However, both outer forks were damaged, so they were not used for the rest of the event. Fight 2 was against Ultros. The first hit exposed Ultros' internals, so I backed off until I got the confirmation that we could carry on. The second hit left Ultros stranded over by the pit, where it was counted out. Exposure's final fight night fight was against Speeny. From the start I managed to smother Speeny, and give it lots of good hits before it stopped moving. This is one of the best, most consistent flurry of hits I've given out so I was very happy! On to the round of 16, I would be facing Limiting Factor. The left side drive was binding a bit, so when I got the first hit I was unable to capitalise and got st...
We took all three of our robots to York for our second RoboDojo event. Exposure Exposure's first fight was against Percussive Maintenance XL. As the fight started, I got a good hit and flipped him over, however the belt once again snapped. This left me to be bullied around the arena for the rest of the match and the judges decision obviously went to PMXL. We rejoined the belt for hopefully the last time, and waited for the second fight. The second fight was a rematch against Little Grey Fergie. The fight started with me getting a good hit, then another, the another! The belt stayed on for the entire fight! I did have a bit of a scare when one of my wheel guard screws came loose and high-centred me, but I just managed to wiggle free and give a few more big hits before my opponent tapped out. The third fight was another rematch against Chucky, and like last time, I was bullied around the arena and pitted. However I was very happy that the robot managed to self right on the wea...
This weekend we traveled down to Newcastle so my dad and I could help out at the Extreme Robots shows. This was such an amazing chance to meet the builders and learn how events like this work. My job for the three shows over the weekend was to help Dave Weston run the antweight arena, which was a lot of fun, and I was driving one of robots for a lot of time, so it was great to practice my driving skills with more control-based robots in the antweight class. We met lots of very nice people who were more than happy to talk about their robots, and give advice for our own robots. I was also interviewed for Extreme Robots TV! It was amazing to see all three shows and be able to go backstage and see damage up close. Special thanks to John Findlay for allowing us to come and help out!
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