Last weekend, the 2009 Sumobot Competish went down at OCAD. Amazing! There is something weirdly exhilarating and nerdy about cheering on burning-smelling, 5/8" galvanized steel contraptions push each other out of a circle surface area.
I noticed a few things during the 3.5 hour competition:
1. The underdog-bots were always the crowd favourite. There were certain robots that were actually pretty well-designed and hardy, but for some reason the more nice welds a robot had, the more villian-like they became to the audience. In fact, so villianous, that the ref had to request that the audience stop throwing debris at "E is for Epsilon" bot (even though he deserved it).
2. The heavier the Sumobot, the more sumo-force. I guess this applies in real life sumo-wrestling, but its a factor that is also helpful in bot-life (although fast maneuveurability and strategy is also helpful.)
3. TRACTION! So many bots had trouble with traction on the plywood ring, they had the heart and the lube, but just not enough traction!
4. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! Many of the robots were either one of two forms : a cheese-wedge form or a cube on wheels. Although both forms have their sumobot-ing advantages (where a wedge form was good for getting under the opponent's wheels and pushing them out, and a cube was good for brute force and hiding wheels against the wedge), it would have been nice to see more interesting forms that counter-acted these popular sumobot forms. (Although I do enjoy how the cube is basically a sumo-bot in its purest essence.)
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5. Carnage is a crowd-yes. There was only one sumobot last weekend that had the right guts/gears/idea to cause damage to their opponent. Especially 'tastic when the opponent was a huge hundred-something pound wooden wedge by the name of "Splinter". Splinter indeed....
Unfortunately, no one submitted an entry for the Dancing Bot competition. If we had known, we surely would have brought Mr. Roboto along for the trip.
Next year, there will be dancing!
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