April 25, 2003

Robot Rivals Episode 2: Robo Tree Loggers.

University of Washington vs. Purdue

Both teams built very different and capable robots but good driving won out in the end. The saw blade of UW's bot breaks free from the washer that connected it to the output shaft of the motor and loses the torque to power through the tree. The linear actuated tree grabber was left on and pulled the cable from the brake caliper which meant the the UW bot could no longer grab a tree and deposit it into the holding area.

Purdue had a very solid bot and a great driver that won the competition in sudden death. They move on to face the winner of Utah vs. Clemson which airs in one week.

Episode 2 breakdown from the diynet.com website:
Meet the teams
Surprise household item
Building the bots
Building continues
Final preparations for the competition
Contest and wrap up

April 18, 2003

Robot Rivals finally hits the air waves!!! The first episode pitted Virginia Tech versus Georgia Tech to build a soccer playing robot. Virgina Tech edges out Georgia Tech to win and advance with a bye in the next round.

Episode breakdown from the diynet.com website:
Intro to Robot Rivals
Meet the teams
Design and Construction
Building continues
Final touches
Competition and wrap up

April 9, 2003

I was thumbing through the latest PC Magazine while on my way to BattleBotsIQ and I turned to page 28 and what did I see? An article about our new television show Robot Rivals! Be sure to go out and pick up a copy.

Just a reminder that Robot Rivals starts next week, April 18th 2003 at 9:00 PM EST. It is already listed in TV Guide online listings and is available on digital cable or digital satellite systems.

April 9, 2003

What a great weekend! I was fortunate enough to be a part of BattleBotsIQ II. It was held on Mare Island just north of San Francisco. There were some great bots and even greater sportsmanship. It was not not open to the public which is a shame because it was inspiring to see the students interact not only while competing but in the pits.

The winner was a pneumatic flipper named Definistrator and the runner up was a titanium rammer TItan. For more information on the BattleBots IQ program check out the official website www.battlebotsiq.com.

April 1, 2003

We have archived all of March's news items in the Archives page. If there is anything that you missed then head there to find them.