Battlebots (and Battlebots Bounty Hunters reruns) returns Thursday, 1/6/22!

[pendell]

Spoiler: Controversy

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I have two thoughts:
1) A lot of these controversies center around the upper deck; Cobalt vs. Whiplash, Witch Doctor vs. Minotaur, perhaps others all involved the other deck somehow. It needs to go.

2) There was a lot of ambiguity from the refs in the M vs. WD match. If you watch the replay, you'll see the Minotaur ref continuing to go to his countdown pose, then coming out of it again when Minotaur showed JUST enough
controlled movement to avoid the count, then going right back into it. WD's ref saw this happening and kept warning WD off, but the countdown never came.

Maybe there should be a timeout in situations like this , say about ten seconds, and give the ref the chance to make a call, unambiguously. Right or wrong, make the call. Then let's either get on with fighting or KO the bot, not have bots driving around the box asking where the countout is while the timer clicks down.

There was a lot of confusion here. It might also be appropriate to separate the ref from the teams to some extent. I don't want to accuse Team Minotaur of deliberately interfering with the ref, but they are an exuberant, passionate team and that may make it hard for anyone in the box to keep a clear eye on what's going on.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Traab]

Personally, I say so long as the bot still functions, even if by spinning in place on its single wheel, that should be close enough to keep the fight going. Give the participants a chance to surrender if they want to keep their bot more intact, but otherwise, until the bot is shut down, or utterly unable to move, its game on. Yes it doesn run the risk of the winner taking more reciprocal damage but thats a part of the competition. Have to be tough and deadly. Might see an advent of more flipper bots then as they tend to take less recoil damage than say, spinners.

[tomandtish]

Personally, I say so long as the bot still functions, even if by spinning in place on its single wheel, that should be close enough to keep the fight going. Give the participants a chance to surrender if they want to keep their bot more intact, but otherwise, until the bot is shut down, or utterly unable to move, its game on. Yes it doesn run the risk of the winner taking more reciprocal damage but thats a part of the competition. Have to be tough and deadly. Might see an advent of more flipper bots then as they tend to take less recoil damage than say, spinners.

Sounds like you and I are on the same page.

[Olffandad]

Pendell did such a good job that I don't really feel the need to comment on any of the matches specifically. i will address the controversy however.

Spoiler: Controversy

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There are at least two issues to address regarding this situation.

Stuck bots: I’m honestly of the belief that a bot that gets stuck should be counted out. Part of this is the low ground game. As bots try and get lower and lower to the floor, it’s more likely you’ll get stuck on a damaged piece of flooring or under a rail.

And if you get stuck you should get counted out. I’ve never been clear on why a bot that gets a fork stuck under a rail gets reset, but one that gets a fork stuck in a kill saw gets counted out. You go with low forks you’ve made a choice to run that risk.

Movement: “Controlled movement” is way too subjective. I’ve seen bots that were counted out showing more horizontal travel than Minotaur, and ones showing less that kept going. Simple rule: If the bot has drive movement at all it is still an active bot. Honestly, not only would that improve the rules, nut you’d get more aggression since one now knows that their match won’t end while their opponent still moves.

Thoughts?

Spoiler

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Maybe a stuck/disabled driver should be able to give consent, so if he or she says "Hit me!" then the attacker is obligated to hit them to continue the match. It's already a desperation play, giving the enemy bot a free hit with plenty of time to line up a perfect shot.

It could have also played that way in WD/Minotaur, if the ref can ask "Are you good?" when a bot is stuck or flailing around. If the stuck bot feels they have some chance, like Daniel screaming "HELL YES!" then the battle continues to a total KO (like Minotaur being shredded into metal shavings).

Otherwise, if there's nothing to be gained and no feasible chance of victory, then the stuck driver can accept the KO and save their resources for another fight.

Also, kudis to Pendell for great insight and commentary!

[tomandtish]

By the way, for those who are unaware there's a new app called Mech+ that you can download for Apple or Android. It has all 7 seasons of Robot Wars.