Battlebots Championship VII Returns January 5, 2023! Also NHRL and more!

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Battlebots Championship VII Returns January 5, 2023! Also NHRL and more!

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

MikeNCR posted:

Given that this is the defacto robot combat thread on here, I'd feel remiss if I didn't post the new 1lber I'm bringing to Dragon Con this weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1Lom4jwVCQ

0.050" heat treated 4130 steel chassis on a 1lb bot because I make terrible decisions. Higher voltage than a lot of 3lb bots and all brushless for good measure.

Dude.

Great hype video.

That looks fuckin dope.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2023 02:47

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 00:20

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

I believe. I'm calling it.

Shreddit Bro over Skorpios in Round 1.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2023 01:54

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

dwarf74 posted:

I believe. I'm calling it.

Shreddit Bro over Skorpios in Round 1.

Wow

I was only half kidding. And I undersold it. Holy poo poo what an episode.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2023 02:44

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

MikeNCR posted:

Just imagine you're Evan and had to sit around during all of WCVII seeing all the crap thrown at the team knowing this episode was coming.

I really can't. It must have been killing the entire team, sitting on that for drat near a whole year while they're widely considered the worst performing bot in the league.

But I understand the sly smiles and swagger on the NHRL streams and podcast a lot more now, lol

# ¿ Oct 7, 2023 04:06

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

drat, I feel bad for Hijinx with that fuckin gauntlet.

With that said, if Shreddit can turn their entire reputation around in a single episode, so can they! I love the team and want great things for them.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2023 01:47

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

In so loving glad we paid a few extra bucks for ad-free.

The ad frequency and positioning feel drat near abusive.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2023 16:44

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Borsche69 posted:

i was afraid discovery+ wasn't going to have the vod up before the episode airs and i was gonna be forced to watch it live. but thankfully at like 8:01 PM EST it finally popped up. its funny starting an episode the same time as live viewers, and then finishing up the episode and going into the subreddit only to see that theyh ave like 45 more minutes of show to watch

It was wild when we had Faruq announcing the final, straight into a commercial, then into a hype reel, into another commercial, and finally we got the fight.

Now - the commercials were purely hypothetical for us - but it just made me feel bad for the folks who can't skip them. With commercials that would have been like 10+ minutes.

Great fuckin episode otherwise, don't get me wrong.

Edit - terrible post for top of the page. Wow.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2023 19:07

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

PostNouveau posted:

I can't recall it ever mattering.

Also, I thought teams got one free "unstick" from the battlebox architecture?

I think that changed after nerds threw a fit about Witch Doctor getting an unstick. (Because it apparently happened all the time, but they decided to show it happening this one time, so clearly it was somehow favoritism.)

# ¿ Oct 22, 2023 17:24

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

SLICK GOKU BABY posted:

Yea 100% they are some form of attempt at having forks for a ground game that got bent back or maybe articulate and got stuck back.

Yeah - it looked like they were hinged to try and stick low to the ground, but there wasn't anything substantial to prevent them going all the way under the robot.

That's what it looked like anyways.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2023 14:51

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

PostNouveau posted:

If a robot is on the Upper Deck, they have 20 seconds to get off or they're counted out.

I thought they ditched that particular rule?

# ¿ Oct 28, 2023 02:33

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Was I dreaming or was there a legit NHRL name drop during the Starchild introductions?

# ¿ Nov 4, 2023 17:58

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

PostNouveau posted:

They've mentioned NHRL a few times.

I think the Battlebots people know it's good for them to have NHRL out there. They have the big name in robot combat, so it's good for them to have another player out there growing the size of the pie overall.

If NHRL didn't exist, Battlebots would need to invent it themselves.

I've seen them refer to lower weight classes, like about Shreddit Bro and Evan, but this is the first time I remember them being specific about it. Maybe I'm just unobservant though.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2023 19:01

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Also, fire looks cool and exciting.

Less effective at 250 lbs than against 3D-printed 3 & 12 pounders, sure, but it's good TV when it seems like it's working.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2023 22:43

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Nodoze posted:

Here is the schedule for NHRL finals this weekend:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...570&single=true

Jamison Go has 3 #1 seeds. Wow. He's gonna be kinda busy that day!

e: oh and a 20 seed.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2023 23:54

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Enjoying the stream so far!

Hope they get the audio synced back up!

# ¿ Nov 11, 2023 16:55

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Nodoze posted:

Should be fixed now, I think

Yeah they got it

Really entertaining so far. Though I have been blocking about a billion Brazilian fans just because I don't speak Portuguese and they're so enthusiastic. I think it's awesome, I just found it made the other chats hard to follow.

dwarf74 fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Nov 11, 2023

# ¿ Nov 11, 2023 17:45

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

SLICK GOKU BABY posted:

Chrome at least will translate the chat to English. Not sure how other browsers can handle it. Also Rip to Lil Rip

I'm just in the YouTube app on my phone and/or fire TV. Neither is doing it. Oh well!

Ricky winning all the style points.

# ¿ Nov 11, 2023 20:12

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Goddamn

Supreme Ruler disqualified?!

# ¿ Nov 12, 2023 05:04

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

SLICK GOKU BABY posted:

Although the speculation on what happened with Jeff Waters / Supreme Ruler getting disqualified before the finals seems pretty toxic for NHRL at the moment. Hope they can clear it all up in the coming days. He did an interesting and telling interview during the stream about the refs having it out for their team though prior.

Possibly also related to Jamison Go's attitude after losing to them way earlier?

Uh yeah it was getting bad even on the chat. Apparently this is from Austin McCord -

"I just wanted to provide some clarity on the end of our 3lb bracket. We unfortunately had to DQ Supreme Ruler because a member of their team made a member of our staff feel unsafe. This decision was unrelated to match rules or bot driving conduct. A welcoming environment for everyone, sportsmanship and competing as friends is the key to everything we have built at NHRL. The decision was clear I needed to disqualify the team and ask them to leave. I understand tempers get heated and people have a bad night. Supreme Ruler is an amazing robot we really do hope they compete at NHRL again sometime in the future."

and

"Today at 11:54 PM Folks seem to want more clarity here: This was not a tough call by any means. It was clear their tone and actions were well over the line of sportsmanlike behavior and it took other members of the team to calm them down. I told them them that sportsmanlike behavior is essential to what we are building at NHRL. With that in mind I gave them the option to fight Booty Brigade for no winnings, just for fun. They declined."

Reposted from a Reddit comment, so take that for what it's worth. This definitely doesn't jibe with a permanent ban so .... :shrug:

dwarf74 fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Nov 12, 2023

# ¿ Nov 12, 2023 06:28

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

I mean. Much as I've usually loved Behind the Bots, the stream, and the hosts - I feel like Luke harping on Full Court and Supreme Ruler during the stream turned from funny and entertaining early on to... Well, mean-spirited and driving negativity... by the finals. I like opinionated hosts, but there's a time and place.

Like - the kid who won with Full Court deserves to enjoy his victory. And it was clear he was nervous as hell. Luke having complained about his bot for the whole competition and being clearly, if more silently, exasperated about the win, was fueling the toxicity in the YouTube comments, from what I could see. Up to and including some rear end in a top hat buying a Super Chat about how the victory wasn't earned.

Maybe I'm dreaming - but if the hosts had all been more positive about these meta-breaking designs yesterday and pushing for changes when in the off season, the whole thing may have gone down differently. I dunno.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2023 15:02

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Two sides to every story. Here's Jeff's.

https://imgur.io/a/cZ4rx0K

He's likely leaving off why his teammate got expelled, though. Just not sure if that was before or after being disqualified.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2023 16:17

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

RBA Starblade posted:

No dog in this fight but who told them they were disqualified for threatening and unsportsmanlike behavior then asked to do a exhibition lol

Event sounds like a shitshow on the coordinators' ends

I'm guessing it goes like this -
* This one guy is expelled from the event
* You're responsible for him, so this disqualifies your team.
* The rest of you can stick around if you want and do this exhibition thing.

Step 3 feels kind of out of touch, lol

# ¿ Nov 12, 2023 17:07

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

is pepsi ok posted:

Because it's an inherent part of competition. Like I'm sorry but the notion that nearly every sport has a hosed up culture because competitive people get heated is just silly.

Edit: or I guess you can just DQ any team that has someone get emotional and see what kind of culture that gets you

Most participants describe it as basically Robot Bake-Off.

Intense competition is the exception.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2023 20:38

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Sorry for the double post. But here's some details.

It deals directly with the "punched badge" issue.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHRL/s/uZ4aKILAHf

quote:

Update posted this morning:
> KellyBiderman — Today at 9:49 AM EST
> Last night, a credible allegation of collusion was brought to my attention after a match involving Supreme Ruler had taken place.
>
> The specific allegation was related to a series of warnings and demerits that were issued to members of the Supreme Ruler team at two separate points in the tournament, and whether or not members of the team had attempted to hide or dispose of a “punched” badge in order to conceal an earlier demerit. A referee and two witnesses recalled Supreme Ruler’s badge being “punched” after its fight vs. Chubby Unicorn. A different referee and two witnesses recalled Supreme Ruler’s badge being punched after its fight vs. Silent Spring. According to our rules, this second infraction would result in a match forfeit.
>
> Per our protocols, the allegation prompted an investigation, which involved pausing any related matches while our team conducted interviews with witnesses and competitors.
>
> Over the course of two interviews, both of which I personally led, and which were also witnessed by members of NHRL’s full-time and part-time event staff, I asked the members of the Supreme Ruler team to confirm their account of their interactions with the referees as they related to these demerits. During the second interview, a member of the Supreme Ruler team made intimidating statements and used threatening body language that was specifically directed toward me.

Up to this point in the investigation, we were still in “discovery” mode, attempting to get an accurate account of what had happened by speaking with all involved parties. Because the investigation was ongoing, we had not arrived at - and throughout the course of the interview in no way communicated or implied - any judgment, decision, or consequence regarding the allegations. The only line of inquiry during the interview attempted to line up witness accounts with the accounts of the Supreme Ruler team. There was no assessment whatsoever about the team’s in-arena conduct or the justification of any demerits, such as whether or not there were any match rule violations. In-match conduct was only indirectly related to this investigation.

That said, the team member’s tone and actions over the course of the interview were a clear violation of the NHRL Builder Conduct Policy. Per the terms of the BCP as well as the waiver participants agree to at the time of registration for each tournament, any attempts to threaten or intimidate members of NHRL staff are prohibited and can result in removal from the tournament and our Discord server. NHRL exercised its right to remove the member of the team from the tournament. We also exercised our right to remove that team member from our Discord server; An internal miscommunication resulted in the captain of Supreme Ruler being removed from our Discord server erroneously, which was quickly reversed a few minutes later.

NHRL’s security team escorted the team member from the premises. I then escalated the situation to Austin, who subsequently managed all interactions with the remaining team member.

While the captain of Supreme Ruler did not personally engage in intimidating behavior and was not asked to leave the premises, as a team captain, they are ultimately held accountable for the sportsmanlike conduct of their teammates. As a result of their teammate’s conduct, Supreme Ruler was deemed ineligible to win the tournament. The investigation into collusion was suspended for the evening. The captain of the team was offered the chance to compete with their opponent, but were informed that they would be ineligible to receive any cash prize or prize donation. The captain declined this offer.

We strive at NHRL to provide a welcoming environment for everyone, and a culture of good sportsmanship is foundational to that mission. We understand the competition is intense and the stakes are high. We have an engaged and opinionated community that feel passionately about this sport, from its top-level philosophies through to its most intricate details. That said, we do not tolerate conduct that threatens or intimidates members of our staff.

We are proud of the members of our community who competed with us in 2023 and traveled from around the world for yesterday’s World Championships. We saw incredible fights and had so many amazing conversations with builders who were in awe of the quality of the competition both in and outside of the arenas. We appreciate your support and look forward to hosting all of you again in 2024.

dwarf74 fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Nov 12, 2023

# ¿ Nov 12, 2023 22:34

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

The Modern Leper posted:

That's helpful. The initial issue was worthy of investigation, but I don't understand how it would have been collusion.

He was apparently crew on another bot so had a 2nd badge? I dunno.

But... Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this sticker covering another hole punch? It definitely looks like it to me anyways.

Or are there other punches for other purposes?

# ¿ Nov 13, 2023 19:48

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

NHRL 2024 rules just dropped. I am not a roboticist but it looks like they're un-loopholing a few loopholes - mainly around weight limit stacking and MAYBE to the not-really-weapons one?

---

Here are the major rule changes impacting bot design for 2024!

These rule changes affect bot builds, so we are releasing them now. We will release other rule changes soon, but none of those changes will affect your bot build. They will be more about how we run registration, qualifying, and tournaments in 2024.

The descriptions below are summaries. For more details, go to the wiki: https://wiki.nhrl.io/wiki/index.php/2024_Bot_Design_Rule_Changes. We will have a new rulebook later in the year, but we wanted to release these rule changes now so that you can build towards them.

We know that we are releasing these rule changes after many of you have begun designing your bots for January. We appreciate your patience, and hope that your design for January is smooth!

**WEIGHT BONUS UPDATES**
* We will still have our weight bonuses for Non-Traditional Locomotion (NTL) and for multibots. However, we are reducing the maximum total weight for each weight class. Even with both bonuses, a total bot entry may not weigh more than this.
* For 3lb, a total bot entry may not weigh more than 5 lbs.
* For 12lb, a total bot entry may not weigh more than 20 lbs.
* For 30lb, a total bot entry may not weigh more than 50 lbs.
* Additionally, some of our weight bonuses are changing.
* For 3lb, the NTL bonus is going down to 1.5 lbs.
* For 30lb, the Multibot bonus is going up to 12 lbs.
* At least 51% of the weight of a multibot must be on bots with active weapons.

**WEAPON SYSTEM WEIGHT DISPENSATIONS**
Any bots with hydraulic-, pneumatic- or ICE-powered weapons systems will be weighed “dry” (without fuel).

**CLARIFY “ACTIVE WEAPON” DEFINITION**
For a weapon to be active, it must be independently operated from the drive system of the robot, and clearly be designed to influence the opposing robot. NHRL safety inspectors will determine whether a weapon is an active weapon as part of the safety inspection process.

**JUDGING CRITERIA CHANGES**
* We will update our judging criteria to specify that multibot damage is averaged across all bots. This is a change from how we currently judge, where we make small modifications for the damage to a multibot.
* If a bot successfully pins their opponent but is unable to release the pin without house bot intervention, this counts against their overall control score.
* In a situation where Bot A pins one multibot segment of Bot B, it would gain control points. If another segment of Bot B were to attempt to pin Bot A into the already pinned portion of Bot B, that does not gain control points.
* If a bot or any portion of a multibot spends a significant portion of the fight avoiding engagement, this will negatively impact the entry’s overall aggression score.
* To the degree practical, the overall aggression score for a multibot should be the average of the scores assigned to each individual segment.
* There will be a few other criteria changes that will be announced along with tournament rule changes.

Here are some other changes that we’re making. Please go to the wiki page to read more about them. https://wiki.nhrl.io/wiki/index.php/2024_Bot_Design_Rule_Changes
* Increased sanctions for deliberate arena fouling. (Glitter/bubbles/confetti are not considered arena fouling.)
* More defined weapon lock rules
* Safety-limited fuels (like flamethrower fuel) aren’t considered damage when they run out
* No more weight tolerance for overweight bots
* Minibots no longer have a special distinction - all bots with minibots are considered multibots

# ¿ Nov 15, 2023 18:30

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

El Fideo posted:

Did they mean to ban Meltybrain bots? Because I feel like that's happened.

Gil in the discord said those remain an exception, as do bristle-drive bots

# ¿ Nov 15, 2023 19:02

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

SLICK GOKU BABY posted:

No, there's more to the rules than what dwarf posted.

"Any bot that uses its weapon as its drive (torque drive, bristle drive, gyro walker, etc.) are permitted, as are meltybrains. Thwackbots are still not permitted, unless they have some sort of active weapon."

I just copied from the post in the Discord :shobon:

# ¿ Nov 15, 2023 19:05

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

AtraMorS posted:

Was there a case of deliberate arena fouling that prompted that change? I remember the Valkyrie driver's bot carved a really rad 3/4 circle in one of the floors but I can't remember anybody messing anything up on purpose.

I remember a compressed canister of insulation foam. Maybe that?

# ¿ Nov 16, 2023 03:00

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Wow.

Vengeance in Vegas made me realize just how important folks like Chris and Kenny are to the show.

It was... Not awesome?

# ¿ Nov 26, 2023 15:21

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Anyone know if NHRL going to put up the full stream from Saturday or just this prime time 4 hour video?

# ¿ Jan 23, 2024 04:08

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 00:20

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

MikeNCR posted:

Here's the earlier part of the day - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C6iSvDtFB4

They're doing a new split now where the first part of the day is gonna be on this channel with a much tighter focus on fights, then they take a short break and do the quarter finals to finals during "prime time" on the main channel.

Oh excellent! Helped by the man himself.

Thanks, man!

# ¿ Jan 23, 2024 04:13

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Battlebots Championship VII Returns January 5, 2023! Also NHRL and more!