Build Your Own Combat Robot

166 Build Your Own Combat Robot
Stephen Felk and Voltronic (continued)
“I was about to join another band when I drove byFort Mason one Fridaynight
and saw a sign for Robot Wars,” says Stephen. “I bought a ticket and went in. I knew
I was in trouble as soon as I walked in the door. It was the perfect combination of
wrong elements. It had the engineering side, the sculpting side, the competition side,
and some reallygreat camaraderie. I knew I had to do it.” So addicted was he, Stephen
tried returning on Sunday. “I got there late and it was already sold out. I kept badgering
the guy at the door, and finally, he says, ‘I’m going to turn my back. Whatever you do
is up to you, but just leave me alone.’ So I snuck in—I’d never done anything like that
before. But I watched the whole event, and couldn’t sleep for like a week afterwards.”
Stephen started working on his first robot shortlythereafter, beginning with a
wheelchair he managed to pick up second-hand for just $100. “In this sport, sometimes
the robot guys shine on you and I got off to a great start. I had no experience at all with
the electrical/mechanical thing. But I thought about wheelchairs, and realized they’re
designed to do basicallythe same thing as these robots. They’re designed for the same
power-to-weight ratio, carrythe same weight, go about the same speed.”
Unfortunately, Stephen underestimated the time needed to build his creation;
and while he worked obsessively right up until the weekend before Robot Wars ‘97,
he simply couldn’t get his creation completed in time. “I got in completely over my
head. It was way too complicated, I had to learn too much, and a few days before
the competition I thought, ‘My god, I’m not going to make it.’ Nothing could ever
be as terrible as that.” The following year wasn’t to be either; but by 1999, he and
Voltronic were ready to rumble.
“My very first match was against Razer, a really famous English robot, and it
was far and away the best match I’ve ever been in. It was a really, really great battle.
There were four or five major turning points, points where we switched superiority,
and it was incredibly exciting.”
Unfortunately, at its debut, Voltronic had a sheet metal skirt, a design element that
Stephen describes now as “a really stupid idea. Razer comes slamming into me and
rips the sheet metal right off. I’m driving around with these three pieces of sheet
metal skirt just flapping in the wind.” The fight turned around, though, and Stephen
says, “It ends up with Voltronic picking up Razer and slamming him into the wall. And
that’s how the match ended: I had him two feet up in the air, pinned against the wall.”
Despite the triumphant ending, the winner was declared by audience vote—and
Voltronic officially lost to Razer. “But it was so exhilarating,” says Stephen, “going
through this three-year ordeal, all that frustration, maxing out all my credit cards,
and the battle was so incredible and so addicting, it was such a great reward and
a vindication that this whole thing was really worth it.”
Stephen adds that he understood—even at that moment—whyhe lost. “He had a
great-looking robot, and I just had a simple wedge. Worse, the entire time we were
fighting, he was tearing off great sheets of sheet metal. It looked like I was torn up even
though he didn’t reallyhurt me. But I was so proud to have this great fight against these
great guys. They were great competitors, great sportsmen . . . and that first match
instantlyjustified all the work that I’d put into it. It erased anydoubts I ever had.”