How about rules and design parameters? Just think’n.
I used to love BattleBots. Jamie and Adam from Mythbusters had some great entries. But yeah, wedges made it boring in the end.
With a bipedal rule I foresee low centers of gravity and large feet.
GREENPEACE BOTS
The wedge-style bot killed robot wars because it was invincible, which in the end made it boring. Yesterday SB Nation published a fascinating full history of BattleBots, which is a great, though giant, read.
But the mechanical evil that is the wedge bot deserves special attention. Competitions originally focused on robots using arms and blades and blunt objects to bash and slash and break each other apart. Wedge Bots had one simple, cunning attack: slide a wedge under another robot, flip it onto its back, and watch it flail about like a dying cockroach. Here is the timeline of how it managed to make killer robot duels boring.
I don't remember the wedge-bots being the death knell of the program, although yes they were nigh-invincible. It was the Whyachi 'bots that IMO killed the program. Barely moveable heavyweight "shufflebots" with constantly-spinning hammers that made sure any opposition left the ring in pieces:
Battle bots was alot of fun to watch for awhile.
You get the feeling that there’s an important lesson in this, but I’ll be darned if I can put my finger on what it is.
“Robot Fighting League” is stupid
I loved “Robot Wars”
The wedge won on the even (flat) playing field. Now, bring back the games with un-even playing fields. Also, quad-copters in play; that would be cool..
A Network now only known for smirking, snarky leftists.
Go big or go home.
I remember watching a documentary about a robot battle (the first?) at MIT. It was called King of The Hill. All students had the same parts to work with. There was a hill with two opposing slopes. The winner was “Whoever got the highest up the slope. It was a hoot. They followed a few kids around as they made their robots. They had the competition. Most of the kids tried to build fast robots to get to the top first. Some built tall robots. One kid built a killer robot. The look on the other kids faces when he knocked their robots off the hill was priceless. It taught them to listen carefully and to anticipate what others might do.
I so loved those shows.
They need to totally bring this back with a drone category.
“Razer” huh?
That’s nothing!
Here’s the REAL champion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25zh2Z0Z3JA
Nobody beats MiniFridge!
A lot of the success of the wedge is due to the (at the time) impracticalness of fast walker bots. You can’t tip a 6-leg bot if all you can do is lift one foot. Now that walkers are more feasible, it might be possible to bring back Battlebots. As others mention, varying the arena terrain would also negate a lot of the wedge’s effectiveness. Processing power is also a lot more substantial now, which would make self-righting bots more possible. A bot with a suspension system and the positioning sensors from a smartphone might be able to stay balanced without the need for a really complex controller.