Build Your Own Combat Robot

226 Build Your Own Combat Robot
Strategy
Vertical spinners are good against any opponent that cannot disable them quickly
or outmaneuver them to avoid being struck by their weapon. A slowly moving
lifter, clamp bot, or rammer will be an easy target for a vertical spinner. A wedge
may be a tricky target for a vertical spinner, especially if cone or pyramid shaped,
because the spinner blade works best when it can catch on an edge on the target robot.
A fast-moving wedge or lifter that outmaneuvers a vertical spinner can be a very
difficult opponent.
A fight between a vertical and a horizontal spinner is usually short and violent,
and can go either way. If the vertical spinner manages to bring its weapon into
contact with the horizontal spinner’s body, the resulting impact can damage the
horizontal spinner’s mechanism and disable it or even—in extreme cases—flip
over the horizontal spinner. The vertical spinner can also take significant damage
from the hit; and if the horizontal spinner is able to maneuver to strike at the vertical
spinner’s exposed drive wheels, it stands a chance of ripping them clean off and
winning the fight without taking any direct hits.
Drum Bots
Drum Design
The drum was first used on Gut Rip (Robot Wars 1996). Other drum bots include
Little Drummer Boy and El Diablo.
Drum bots feature a wide drum with protruding, spinning teeth or blades that
are mounted on a horizontal axis across the front of the robot. Like the vertical
spinner, the front of the drum spins upward to lift the opponent on contact.
The design is similar to the vertical spinner; but, instead of a narrow disk or bar
weapon, the drum uses a horizontal cylinder—usually covering the entire front of
the robot, studded with teeth and spinning with the front traveling upward. While
the drum shape carries a lot less rotational inertia than a wider disk, the design
makes up for it with improved durability and a more-compact shape.
Less inertia in the rotor makes for weaker impacts, but it also makes for faster
spin-up time and less impact force felt by the rest of the robot. A drum robot can
typically hit an opponent repeatedly in a short period of time; and with a lower
center of gravity and less gyroscopic effect to fight, it can be faster and much more
nimble than a vertical spinner. Drum designs are also much more amenable to being
run upside down, which is usually accomplished by making the drum diameter
just less than the wheel diameter and using a reversible motor to spin the drum, so
that the weapon can operate equally well either right-side-up or upside down.