Saegertown’s robotics team competed in the annual Battle Bots competition at Meadville Area High School on Saturday, April 5. There were three groups for this year’s team, including the senior high team Ice Cream Men and their bot Ice Cream Truck, a second senior high team Skyknights with their bot Terminator, and the junior high team Battle Buddies with their bot Buddy.
The first rounds of the competition were exciting and eventful, starting off with Ice Cream Truck against Cambridge’s bot, Neil. The fight began with good hits from both Ice Cream Truck and Neil, but as the fight went on, Ice Cream Truck started to have electrical issues which made them unable to drive. The team was forced to tap out.
Continuing the battles, the Terminator came next. Their battle also started out aggressive but ended in a loss for Skyknights. They landed hits against their opposing bot leading further into the fight; however, with ten seconds left, they had to tap out due to the battery disconnecting.
“Because of the timing, I figured I’d tap out,” says John Childers. “I didn’t know we had ten seconds, but even if we continued the fight, it would be up to the judges. Along with that, our bot would’ve taken those ten seconds to get back up and go again.”
After this, Buddy competed against Conneaut Area Middle School and their bot Flipping Out. Buddy took a dominating lead as he was built for durability and strength against opponents. Buddy took a win for Saegertown in his first battle.
The second round of battles is where it got a little hectic. Ice Cream Truck was sent into the losers bracket due to their first loss and now had to make their way out of it. Terminator didn’t have enough traction and had a few complications, and, therefore, it couldn’t battle because of this. Buddy was once again reigning with victory; he won his second battle due to the opposing bot not passing tech inspection making it an automatic win for Buddy.
Overall records of each bot came out to the following: Ice Cream Truck had 1-2, Terminator was 0-2, and Buddy was 2-0.
After the regional Battle Bot competition at Meadville, the national competition will be held in Ohio at the Warren County Fair. The requirements for this battle consist of having a bot that doesn’t exceed the weight limit of 15 pounds. Additionally, a new option has been added allowing Lithium Polymer Batteries (LiPo) batteries in the competition. This will add another level up to the makings of the bot itself by slimming off a few ounces of weight.
The Ice Cream Men and their bot Ice Cream Truck will be going to nationals and “serving up nothing but hard serves” (as their team says) for their opponents.