Robo Challenge International Championships, Insomnia61, 25-28 August 2017
Straddle’s first ever fight was a three way melee, against Blunt Force Trauma (BFT), a vertical spinner and Impact, a flipper. Shortly after the fight started, Straddle managed to land its first, big hit on BFT, disabling it. After a few more hits on Impact, the weapon unfortunately broke down, and the fight eventually went to Impact on a judges decision. This ended up being a recurring theme throughout the early fights frustratingly. It was a similar outcome again, against Explosion (built by the team behind Eruption).
Straddle’s next fight was against Mantis, a grab and lift type robot. Even though the weapon was yet again broken, Straddle managed to outlast Mantis and eventually Mantis ended up in the pit! This was Straddle’s first proper win, and secured its place in the final 16 knockout stages. Its first fight was against Shrapnel, another vertical spinner. As Shrapnel had a smaller weapon than Straddle, Straddle was always getting the first hit – until it broke down! Straddle ended up placing 13th in the tournament.
Even though we were out of the main tournament, we still had the opportunity to have several “whiteboard” fights. These are friendly fights that take place purely for fun. We ended up taking part in a 6-way fight, and the weapon actually worked for a lot of it! Straddle eventually won the fight on a judges decision!
The next fight was to be a big one. As is tradition at the featherweight championships, all remaining (working) robots go into one final, giant fight known as the gladiator. Straddle was one of 20 (yes, 20!) robots that took part in this no time limit, no holds barred battle. The fight ended up being over 5 minutes long, and we came in second place! You need to see the video for this one, have a look here.
In general, it was a good first outing for Straddle. I learned a lot from the event, with what works and doesn’t work. All things to upgrade for the next one! And if the next series of Robot Wars includes a featherweight division, I’ll certainly be applying with Straddle!
For videos of all Straddle's fights at Insomnia61, see the Live Events page.