Combots
Today I went to see Combots at Fort Mason. It’s basically a robot wars where competitors design remote-controlled bots that destroy other people’s bots. The rounds are 3 minutes each and end when a bot cannot move for any reason (damage, getting stuck, etc) or is thrown from the ring. If the clock runs out the judges allocate points to each bot based on damage and aggression. Other than that it’s basically a free-for-all.
I’ve never been to one of these before and had no idea what to expect. I can say that it was pretty awesome and a bit scary when some of the bots exploded all over the inside of the arena. Some of these bots are just over 300lb and pack quite a punch when they’re spinning at high RPM. To give you an idea of the energy in these bots, they used standard steel I-beams to ring the floor of the course. Many of the I-beams have gashes right through them and are bent in various corners. The 1″ lexan window plates have to frequently be replaced, and one robot nearly blew one out when it went flying into the side wall. I was definitely shaking a bit after one of the rounds with the 300lb frisbee when it started bouncing around inside.
All in all it was a great time and highly recommended if you ever get the chance to see one of these events. I’ve posted pics and videos.
