BATTLE HISTORY

Battlebots 

August 1999, Long Beach

Short Version -  Won 2 battles, Lost 2 battles

Long Version 

Day 1, Saturday 

Opponent #1 Win #1: Mouser Catbot 2001, a  Lexan covered shallow dome (2 1/2 ft diameter) with a flipper door on its top. He got under me once or twice but couldn't flip me due to my large wheelbase (3 ft).  I  wailed on him with my pneumatic pick for the whole match, enough to cool off my CO2 cylinder so the pressure dropped way down toward the end.  Unfortunately his Lexan armor was so thin and flexible that  my pick only flexed it and couldn't break through. 

Opponent #2 Win#2: Lock Nut Monster, a wooden black box 1'x1'x5' with a small circular saw blade on the front. This bot was a walker with 3 spindly tubular legs on each side. Lock Nut was slow moving but impervious to Shrike's pick. The pick would dig into LNM's side but not penetrate to the interior. I was having such a good time whacking on Lock Nut Monster that I forgot about the hidden buzz saw in the floor.  The saw came up and Shrike was shot about 4 feet away with it's bottom armor plate all chewed up. Shrike finally attacked the Lock Nut Monster saw and knocked it off it's shaft for a victory. 
 


Day 2, Sunday 

Opponent #3 Loss # 1: Toe Crusher, similar to Shrike, with a pick that swings from back to front. The pick is mounted on the same axle as the two wheels (no body), and when the bot comes forward and stops suddenly, the pick swings from back to front. Good idea, but Shrike had more power and maneuverability. Shrike really clobbered Toe Crusher until it ran out of gas. I had forgotten to turn off the CO2 cylinder Saturday night and the gas all leaked out.   DOH! 

Opponent #4 Loss #2:  Death Trap: a very small, heavy bot with large spikes on the front. Before the match I was repairing Shrike and asked a friend to find out if my opponent was going to be a 'rammer' or a 'lifter'.  He saw some spikes and figured it was a 'rammer'. Unfortunately, he didn't see the arm the spikes were attached to. It was actually like a spiked fork lift. I had put a Lexan ring around Shrike to protect it from the shock of getting rammed. Unfortunately, It was a great handle for Death Trap and he used it to good advantage. DT swung Shrike around like a hula hoop, and around and around and around.  I struck my pick against the floor to show that Shrike was alive, but he had me. He let Shrike go once for some reason, raced around, and somehow ended up stuck half on the floor and half on the wall. Shrike had won, Death Trap was immobile! But I couldn't just let DT sit there without being hit, I had to whack it. As I carefully positioned Shrike to hit DT really good,  Shrike  bumped DT and freed him of the wall. It was hula hoop time again. Oh well.  After the fight, the producer of Battlebots, Trey, came over to me, laughing, shook my hand and told me it was the best fight of the day.  God, I love show business!

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