Build Your Own Combat Robot

214 Build Your Own Combat Robot
FIGURE 10-4
How a
launcher-style
robot works.
Strategy
height to which it is thrown determine how hard it strikes the floor. The height at
which the opposing bot is thrown is, in turn, determined by the energy developed
by the launching mechanism. So, the more energy you can get into your launcher,
the higher the opponent will reach, and the harder it will strike the ground.
Like the lifter, the launcher works best against wedges and rams. It can also make
a great weapon against slower lifters—even if a lifter can self-right, being hurled
repeatedly into the air and slammed against the ground can eventually break it.
Using a launcher against a spinner is tricky because, while most spinners will be
broken or disabled after being flung into the air, getting a firm hit on the spinner
with the flipper arm takes skilled driving, and surviving the hits takes a solidly
built flipper arm. As with lifters, a thwack bot is a very difficult opponent; the
launcher will have difficulty getting in a position to flip, and most thwack bots can
run just as well upside down.