Build Your Own Combat Robot

220 Build Your Own Combat Robot
FIGURE 10-7
The overhead
thwack bot.
Strategy
the damage done to an opponent, but will also make it harder to strike an opponent
accurately.
The overhead thwack bot is a difficult design to make work successfully. The
prime advantage of this design is its inability to be disabled by being flipped over.
Lifters and wedges have a hard time getting a grip on this highly mobile design.
However, even the best overhead thwack bots lack sufficient power to strike a killing
blow, instead having to hit repeatedly and hope to win by judges’ decision.
The most successful overhead thwack bot designs have been those that combined
the conventional overhead hammer with a freely swinging wedge. The
wedge must pivot on the axis of the wheels, a tricky mechanical bit to pull off,
which can allow the overhead thwack bot to push an opponent around the arena
or pin it in place before reversing to strike with the weapon.
Spinner Bots
A spinner bot was first used on The South Bay Mauler (Robot Wars, 1994). Hazard,
Odin, Ziggo, Tortise, Turbo, and Blendo are spinner bots. These bots feature a
heavy spinning bar or disk, possible with hammer heads, chisels, maces, or other
protrusion pieces attached.