Luckily Anthony had a much better day than me, in terms of victories, though frustratingly he still didn't quite make it through to the final 16.
Recycler
Our best robot by far, Recycler came to AWS61 with a new drum, sporting a thinner profile and much sharper teeth.
First fight, against 'No1. Best Boi + Virus <3' was one of the highlights of the day for me, with plenty of sparks and aerial action. The little Virus botlet was incapacitated early on when Recycler drove right over the top and nonchalantly removed one of it's wheels. Best Boi proved much tougher though and kept coming back for more, despite losing some bodywork along the way, before eventually rolling into the pit.
The damage wasn't all one sided though; in trying to save weight I'd slimmed down the drum core too far and the 3d printing layers split in a couple of places. Not enough to prevent it working (the titanium axle held everything together) but didn't look like it would hold up for the rest of the day so I swapped back to the old, blunt-toothed drum. The latter is more solidly built but alas far less destructive. Even so, the spare drum proved good enough to incapacitate 'Micronewton' (loose connection?) in round two.
Fight number three was against 'Huxian'; another phenomenally tough little robot and a tribute both to Morgan's building skills and to the durability of Onyx. Huxian got flung up in the air several times and at one point got stranded on top of the spinning drum (which must have been when one of the motor wires was ripped out) but kept soaking up the blows. Recycler didn't have it all his own way - Anthony was struggling a bit with the gyro effects and flirted with the edge of the pit a few times. Eventually though Huxian's luck ran out and with his mobility reduced, into the pit he rolled.
That put us into the Group C finals, against 'B-bot'. Sadly, this one was over in seconds; with a suitably drum-spinner-proof front end fitted, B-Bot caught him almost immediately at the perfect angle and pushed Recycler straight into the pit before he was able to get up to speed.
Fifth and final fight was against 'Veorra'. Again, the different levels of driving experience showed and Recycler repeatedly got trapped against the side of the arena, before eventually being pushed into the pit, though he did have the satisfaction of doing some damage along the way! So, still some way to go with Recycler, but we learn from each event. I think I'm happy with the basic design now - though I have a number of upgrades planned. Key thing is going to be getting lots of driving practice with the 'dummy drum' before the next event.
**UPDATE** Just discovered - Recycler won the "Most Destructive Robot" award. Couldn't be more chuffed!
The Spin Twins
Very much the jokers in our pack, I never expected the spinner cluster to be competitive but as expected, they were fun! First fight was against 'Robox' - possibly the worst opponent for us to be drawn against. The action was predictably short and brutal but at least nothing got damaged.
Second fight was against 'AWG Crimpet' and at least this time we lasted a bit longer. Anthony, driving 'X" (the horizontal spinnner) was pitted first. I almost managed to keep going with 'Y' until the final seconds - but as I teetered on the edge, a wisp of smoke started curling upwards and the fight was stopped as Dave rushed in with his asbestos fingers and emergency LiPO bag. 'Y' then had to sit outside in the smoking corner until he'd cooled off. Luckily it wasn't the LiPO. Post-mortem indicated that the motor had become partly jammed and I must have just fried the wires. I still have one spare 1304 motor so 'Y' may yet fight another day.
Other Way Up
OWU was one of my first antweights and still a favourite. I replaced all of the bodywork after AWS60 but upgraded to a 3S lipo which, with the 4x 1:30 motors, has made it a feisty little character. Anthony's very first fight of the day, OWU against the evil but glamorous assassin, 'Villanelle', was a real 'blink and you'll miss it' affair. Following the principle that you should get in there before a spinner reaches full speed, OWU sprinted the length of the arena and slammed Villanelle against the low pit wall - over which it then gracefully rolled. Watching it again and again on Youtube, I reckon the whole thing lasted about 1.8 seconds.
OWU then made predictably short work of my 'Try Again Flail Again', putting him through to the third round. Unfortunately he was now up against 'Boink', who managed to catch him broadside, front-flipping OWU sideways and propping him neatly against a wall, from where there was no escape.
Final redemption battle for OWU was against the dreaded Yeetus and Retreetus. The fight started well, with OWU's power allowing for some impressive pushing against the fearsome duo. Tragically though, after 20 seconds OWU's electronics died completely and he was counted out. Still haven't got to the bottom of this one (it was working fine again moments later) so I will probably play safe and just replace the Rx and ESC before the next event.
Maxi & Molly
After AWS60, when Molly got terminally incapacitated by RBMK in her very first fight, anything would have been an improvement. In the event our cute cluster did really well, racking up four wins overall.
First fight was a predictably chaotic ricochet-fest vs 'Plank of Wood' (one of Anthony's favourite robots), which after a few jabs and parries, bounced itself into the pit.
Round two was a more conventional contest against 'Poptart & Sprinkle' , who both out-drove and out-cuted us.
Into the loser's rounds then. Next up was the horizontal bar spinner 'Mimas', which was limping along on one motor. Ben gamely carried on regardless and got a good hit on Molly, tossing her into one pit before rolling himself into another and leaving Maxi to claim victory.
Second fight of the loser's rounds was 'Vertigo', now without the front wedge which had handicapped the spinner in earlier rounds. This one lasted a lot longer but eventually Molly managed to flip Vertigo over backwards; the tooth on his disk bit into the arena floor and Vertigo sailed off into the corner pocket.
Next up was 'Sun' - something of a grudge match for us since this was the robot that beat Anthony in his first ever fight (2019 Antweight open). This fight was an enjoyable bit of flipper Vs flipper action as Molly and Sun traded flips, while I tried to confuse the enemy by driving Maxi round and around in random patterns. All ended with a fluky bit of accidental teamwork when Sun got beached on top of Maxi just long enough for Molly to slip in and flip her into the pit.
It was all going so well... but then we came up against Thierry, who charged in
a grande vitesse and pitted both of us effortlessly. Game over for another day! On the plus side, neither of them sustained any damage, though the gears of the Molly's tiny D0474HT servo are still making the painful grinding noise they developed after their first encounter with RBMK, so it may be time to swap that out.
As always, enormous thanks to everyone involved in making it happen and for making us feel so welcome.
