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The Destructobot For The Man With Everything
bewert writes: "Heavy duty metal-ripping hardware is going up for auction on E-Bay next week. The "Son of Wyachi", winner of the Heavyweight Championship on Comedy Central's BattleBots, will be auctioned on E-Bay. The inventor, Terry Ewert, practiced on old washing machines while developing S-W's triple rotating metal meat grinder apparatus.
With a 12 hp. electic motor driving three hardened tool steel meat tenderizer points spinning at 71 mph, Son of Wyachi quickly renders most objects into smoking ruins. A must have for your next Halloween bash!" Auction aside, this is a scary robot. Do not use near kids, pets, or anything you like intact.
As a proud frenchman I insist that you rude Americans remove your silly "battlebots" from our ebay. This is clearly a weapon of malicious intent that represses innocent robots and gives robots around the world a bad name!
... but it weighs in a 315lbs and has an impact of 10,000 ft lbs... YIKES!
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
What does 71 mph mean? How about RPMs?
I send it to do battle with the evil Hilary Rosenbot of the RIAA! She doesn't stand a chance!
GAME ON.
They were right! You can find almost anything online, from bomb recipes to killer robots - There ought to be a law!
..Although I'm guessing this thing could come in handy with unwanted house-guests..
air and light and time and space
Of course, it is somewhat tough to take the anchors very seriously -- they've got this "God, put me anywhere else, even Fox Sports" look in their eyes the whole time.
It'd be really nice to see them expand the rules somewhat to allow more interesting weapons, however. I'm getting sick of seeing bots push or flip each other -- I want to see sparks and flying metal. Of course, they'd probably have to move that away from the audience, but I think it'd be worth it.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
There's plenty of competition for it that you can pick up on ebay at the same time.
You might want some first aid supplies as well.
Anyway, the auction is here
According to the specs:
71 mph * 5280 ft/m = 374880 fph
374880 fph / 60 m/h = 6248 feet per minute
The diameter of the rotor assembly is 5 ft, and thus the circumference is 5 * pi = 15.708 ft
Therefore 6248 fpm / 15.708 ft = 397.759 RPM
Are you building a Techno Empire again? Or is this your first one?
$25000 starting price and a higher reserve???
They've got to be kidding!
Here.
-l (it's really not ASCII art, filter, really!)
Classified rotating weaponry. Hmmm That must be where those weeks of engineering (which by the way are counted in the total cost of manufacture) come into play.
These are radio controlled cars.
If the machines had to be totally autonomous, now that would be interesting.
I gots ta ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long
If that bot doesn't have a SuperMaxx - 8 Shot or a Bungee Blaster embedded... I don't want it!
42 + 1 = 42
I'm just wondering where he gets 300 amps to drive that 12hp motor. That should drain a deep cycle lead acid battery in a minute and I don't see two automotive alternators listed anywhere. Also whats the difference between the design time of 1 month and build time of 4 weeks?
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
My god if I had the money I would buy this thing. I saw it compete on Battlebots the other night. The other robots never had a chance. Absolute carnage. Their web page says they are building a heavier/faster version. They better reinforce those walls or someone is going to get hurt
Those earlier vehicles with just two opposite rotating wheels that could only spin (and not laterally move) really sucked. They just sat there and waited for the other guy to come over and commit suicide. But then the vehicles like Mauler, this one, and Ziggo came in and showed how to kill! I bet we see a lot more of these types appear -- they're winners.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
The inventor, Terry Ewert, practiced on old washing machines while developing S-W's triple rotating metal meat grinder apparatus.
Just because it was an Old washing machine, does 1) make it his to destory 2) mean that it doesn't funcation correctly.
Grrr, you know how hard it is to get a date when you clothes smell funky?
and while we are on the subject, what about the $250 for his half of the security deposit and where the hell is my dog?
He better sell that dam machine, he owns me a ton of cash that deadbeat roommate from hell.
Grrr
"`Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.'" -THHGTTG
Does the video game come out? I'm thinking a game along the lines of that old (Commadore?) game where you "built" monsters and faught other monsters.
On a whim I did a Google search for a more recent version (kinda like what these two great guys did with Xscorch). Someone seems to have liked it enough to make a GNU version, although there's not a lot there yet.
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
What the hell is the deal with all these robot stories, lately? Is it time for a name-change? Are these robots even running embedded Linux or -shudder- *BSD?
I have slashbot.com, slashbot.org, and slashbot.net available for -free- to anyone who can authoritatively guarantee me that John Katz will no longer have the ability to post his pretentious, pseudo-intellectual rants on subjects of which he is completely ignorant (which pretty much rules out everything he writes, including 'and' and 'the').
If the usual military-industrial suspects were developing robot prototypes and testing them against one another, they would cost the taxpayers $156 million per. But slip Comedy Central a couple of bucks to create a TV show, and folks will dig into their own pockets to build them! What a bunch of saps!
Enjoy the show folks!
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
Anyone who saw the finals knows what I'm talking about here. The refs called a knockout against Biohazard while both bots were still moving. They decided to send it to the judges from there. This would have been fine, except at the time, one of the braces which keeps the pounding mechanisms at constant distances from one another had come off at one end, so the bot was just spinning beneath it's stationary weapons frame. The odds that Biohazard would have been able to overturn it seem fairly likely. I don't know about anyone else, but I would still like to see a rematch, though I realize this is now impossible.
or the film based on it (think it was called 'Shreikers' or some such. Had Rutger Hauer in it)?
When will people learn? It's all in good fun until someone gets hurt...
***Satire***
Maglev is currently being tested against this ---> Maglev trials in japan
I am no longer a viewer of Battle Bots. Post the fiasco with battlebots.org, I can no longer, in good conscience, contribute to their "intellectual property". I doubt that they will notice my small protest, but the principle is still there. BTW, is "slashdot" trademarked? If not, they may decide that they don't like my comment here on slashdot and go register "slashdot" as a trademark, shutting this site down! Heck "slashdot" rhymes with "battlebot," maybe proceedings are already underway to prevent anybody from using a domain name that rhymes with their name!
The Hillary Rosenbot will win, mostly because of the enormous obstinate money behind it. However, it's really a Pyrrhic victory anyhow.
RIAA is ticked off because the whole file-sharing thing is here to stay and *they* didn't think of it first. Add the fact that entertainment lawyers are too flipping stupid to act in anything but a knee-jerk way, and now they need to explain to record execs why they can't be making more money than during the record-breaking year that the industry had right about the time when Napster showed up on the doorstep as the ugly little cousin.
Oh, I'm sorry, we were talking about robots. Non-thinking creatures.
Hey! I guess we haven't gone Off Topic after all!!!
Now there's a match I'd like to see. This looks like an 3vil l33t machine, and the UK's Hypnodisc was pretty bloody useful.
http://freespace.virgin.net/dave.rose/ for more information about the photocopier trashing, breezeblock breaking Hypnodisc.
yes, www.dotcomforwardslash.com is my real URL.
I was gonna post that, Hypno-disk seems to be able to destroy everything in sight, and I'd take great pleasure in seeing it destroy some american upstarts! Gr8... clips on the website from the previous post also, well worth a look!
Set it up against Sony's AIBO petbot - not really a fair fight, but something I'd love to watch.
Are there any streams of this thing in action available?
+++ath0
...puts some tank tracks on it!
watching it inch along while being circle strafed is agonizing...
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& item=1186599868
They're looking for an opening bid of $25,000. I'm sure they'll get it too.
"Chances of RHIC-induced Armageddon are exceedingly rare, but... you never know." - MIT Physicist Bob Jaffe
Of course, you couldn't use it if you had pets or kids, but just imagine... give the thing infrared sensors to find heat sources, radar to keep it from running into cold objects, all the necessary AI to control movement, and an RF on/off switch similar to the keyring unlock switches that come with most new cars now, and you've got the home security system from hell.
;-)
Just imagine the look on your unfriendly neighborhood criminal's face when he breaks into your house or apartment, only to be pursued by a vicious-as-hell robot. The only problem you'd ever have would be explaining to the cops what had happened to the perp after you got home and found the mauled body on your carpet (perhaps the AI would be able to figure out when it "scored" and back off so as to avoid killing the guy?). Actually, cleaning the blood out of the carpet and off the walls would be a bit of a pain, too.
Now if I could just figure out a way to keep it from attacking my Athlon, I'd be set.
That robot had an average KO time of about a minute and a half. It destroyed the other robot in 90 seconds. I watched the semi-finals and the finals of the Heavyweight division and SoW dominated. There were some other robots that had efective spinning disc weapons too. The days of the flip and push battlebots are numbered. It's obvious that the judges and fans like to see physical damage and sparks. More importantly, how do you take out a bot like SoW? You can't get in close enough to push or flip it. Can't add thick heavy armor, because that would effect the weight class you are in. Only thing left is to take it out with a stronger, better weapon. SoW is just the beginning.
Yes and that is why my bot runs 4000 lines of custom code. If it is just a rc car try and build one. I will bet you get humbled rather quickly. Controlling 100s of amps with a pic microcontroller requires a good bit of knowledge my friend. To be a successful builder requires many skills machinist, welder, electronics, programming, mechanical design.
Got Code?
And dear God....what if as they become more advanced one or more of them become sentient?
Yikes. That sure is a $25,000 auction. Massivly over-priced if you ask me... What are the uses for such a machine? 'Bout all I can think of is silly destructive weekend adventures (can be done for cheaper), and competing in BattleBots. However, with this handy clause from the Auction Page:
This offer does not include rights to the name, ranking or image of the bot, therefore it cannot be entered into any future BattleBots competitions.
That kinda takes the competition thing away. But that begs the question, why are the auctioning it, and not competing it next season? I'm taking a guess here, but here's a quote from their FAQ:
5) Why build a walking bot?
The rules for Treasure Island allowed walking bots to be 50% heavier than the wheeled bots in each weight class. If you can design and build a walking bot that is maneuverable and somewhat fast, without adding much weight for the walking assemblies, you end up with extra weight for motors, batteries, and weapons.
...
7) Now that BattleBots changed the walking rules for the next competition what's next?
We were in favor of changing the rules so that there is no weight advantage for a walking bot. The cost of building a competitive walking bot is very high. We have a new design that uses wheels which will be much more destructive.
So, there you are...recouping costs on a robot they can't compete with next time anyway. I'm a bit disillusioned with Whyachi now...it's walker really didn't work all that well, but it gave 'em an extra 50% of weight. I wonder what the bonus is for a bot that doesn't move at all...(a valid strategy for a spinner like Whyachi)
But damn those shirts are ugly. Yeeks!
I'm not about to complain to that robot though.
:wq
PATENTS
Design patent pending on Whyachi and Son of Whyachi including the caged 3 armed spinning weapon. This patent is not intended to discourage any bot builder from using this design. If you are a bot builder, feel free to use any part of the design for nothing (case of beer).
Robot is originally from the Czech word 'robota' meaning compulsory labor, ie slave. So in this sense they are robots - in this case they are modern gladiators, and gladiators if I remember rightly were slaves for the most part.
The online Merriam-Webster is a good place to check your word definitions.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Lend me this baby and two minutes at the local BMW dealer and I'll personally increase the viewing audience of BattleBots by an order of magnitude. Guaranteed.
I wonder if anyone will actually shell out $25k+ for this puppy.
IIRC SOW only hit Bio twice, and while those two hits did a lot of damage IMHO Biohazard did much worse to SOW. Bio stopped SOWs rotors, nearly flipped it, and maneuvered it under the pile driver where it became stuck. Of course, the judges decision is final, but it is hard to argue with the fact that Biohazard had the best showing ever against SOW.
Just for discussions sake, Id like to hear other people s ideas about how to fight that bot. The best that I could come up with is a very heavy detachable mass affixed to the front of a bot. (something like a bowling ball held on with a drop of superglue) when hit by SOW, the mass would absorb the stored energy in the SOWs rotating weapon stopping it for an instant but would not transfer that energy to the attacking bot because the mass would detatch.
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& item=1186599868
They're also auctioning off miscellaneous pieces of him as well.
Let's ship that on a plane over China (a plane that's a clunker but we put "Secret spyplane" in Chinese on it so that they want to shoot it down), and then, they see the weird bot, they try to reverse engineer it, and we turn it on! WOO! See what happens when you mess with us Americans!
...Or it may be that I'm just high on Jolt Cola.
...But seriously, folks, I think we should have some semblance of order in this day and age. How come we have to deal with these sorts of things cluttering up eBay? I mean, this doesn't fall under free speech or anything. I mean, this thing could potentially (if not already) be a deadly weapon. But hey. I guess it could get those cows off of your lawn easily. Hehe.
::bounces off::
It would be cool to go at it in virtual space and see if your favorite bot could win hte match it might have lost in real life(tm) Wait for it it will come.
make Linux, not Microsoft. sin(beast) = -0.809016994374947424102293417182819
if the goal for the form-factor of robots is defined as 'survival of the fittest' - then you will have machines progressively better suited to destroying each other - i.e. battlebots.
but it is the superior machine that can go beyond mere brute force, and is able to improve along the axis of SUBTLETY. i.e. it is the harder task to create a robot with REFINEMENT.
http://home.earthlink.net/~johnrpenner
There's loads of things that could withstand the abuse of a 10kf/p impact at least once. Biohazard lost because it wasn't built heavily enough and it sheared off the armor skirts at the hinge points.
:-)
The impact stops the hammer wheel long enough to buy you purchase to attack the inner part of the bot with a vengeance. There's some design ideas my friend and I ran through while discussing the final match in detail this weekend. Right now, we're in the design/shopping for a sponsor stage (There's no way we could afford the gear we'd need for this beast we came up with...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Just what do those guys have against classw, anyway? "THere will be other losers today, but you're the biggest loser of all?" And then gratuitiously attacking the disabled bots??? Who needs another show for this; you can already watch Raiders games . . .
Overall, I was disgusted. We'll stick to the other two . . .
hawk
Something like that has to be tethered- otherwise it's against the rules.
Now lamelar armor plates that would shear off under SOW's assault but not under anything else, on the other hand...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Has anyone gone to the actual auction and read what it says. It says if you buy the robot you don't have the right to enter it in any BattleBots competitions. So I ask this question. Why would I want something I can't use for the purpose it was intended to be used? It'll just sit there and collect dust.
---- "Excuse me. Where's the children's gun section?"
[Flash back to 5 years ago in the NFL, when the Cowboys fans whined that the 49ers ad tooled the team just to beat Dallas. Well, *duh*. They could thrash the other 28 teams in the league; of course they targeted to remaining team . .
There's a rule about deliberately entangling with a projectile weapon. I'm not sure that that would apply to attacking the hammer system, but the solution is sytraightforward: a secondary weapon, perhaps a small spike, that has the side effect of fouling the hammers as it attacks.
This bot worked because there was no effective defense in the existing pool, and nothing that could effectively foil its weapon. But *knowing* that that weapon is out there, it doesn't look to hard to beat. Could it have taken any damage once you took out the hammers?
hawk
> appreciating it, though. That's what slows me down.
If this is indoors, on the cat's home ground, I think I'[d put my money on the cat. There's only so many times you're going to come home and clean up what the catled it to.
*never* underestimate a threatened cat . . .
hawk
"Revenge of the Lilliputians"!
hawk
it weighs in a 315lbs
That's pretty impressive for one 12HP peak motor, let alone two with batteries and the rest of the robot. I was a skeptic when I read "12HP" in the article, but then I read the motor's current ratings: 300A at 48V. 14.4kW. Since 1hp=746W, and given that the motor isn't going to be more than about 75% efficient, that sounds about right. Urk.
Surfing a couple of links, I've discovered that the motors are Briggs and Stratton Eteks. Very nice; I didn't know B&S were building electric motors at all. Apparently, they're a new generation of high-tech electric motor for golf carts.
The only golf cart motor I've ever played with was a fairly inefficient series-wound universal motor. It ran off 24 volts (very comfortably off two series-wired car batteries) and it certainly wasn't something that you'd want to mount tool steel hammer to. It would be quite terrifying.
Note also that a loaded series motor would tend to be pretty self-regulating in speed - there will come a point where the reactance of the windings will limit the current (and therefore power) as the commutator frequency increases.
Modern motors are electronically controlled, and depending on control, can be more efficient at a far broader range of speeds.
If these Eteks are anything like what Briggs and Stratton claims (and I love Briggs and Stratton, they make terrific gas motors, so I'd be inclined to believe them), this bot must be insanely terrifying.
Does anyone have any links to photos of this thing doing its destruction?
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Now if you think AI design is easy, why don't you go program one?
Heh. I think for something with a high-tech golf cart motor spinning sharpened tool steel anvils, it would be very easy; here's a simple flowchart which could be implemented in the language of your choice:
Just make sure you don't accidentally turn it on when you've got it in the workshop. Or, worse still, when you're enjoying your new-found celebrity by showing it off in a booth at the local shopping mall. Granny probably couldn't out-run it, even with her walker. (Can't you just imagine the CNN coverage for that kind of shopping mall carnage?)
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Just because it was an Old washing machine, does 1) make it his to destory 2) mean that it doesn't funcation correctly
I know the Slashdot article mentions the washing machine carnage, but I have yet to find any references to it on the bot's website.
I wanna see pictures! I wanna see pictures!
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
I'd say the final match between biohazard and SoW was fairly even. Both robots were more or less helpless by the end, and Biohazard was really the aggressor (he just straight ran into SoW, cuz he knew that's all he could do). So, I don't think the wedge is necessarily over yet, especially after I saw Vladiator last night. Power by 2 10 HP motors, this things was so GOD DAMN FAST. The bot did cool skids and spins, even burnout to get itself un wedged from the wall. I say a fast bot like that with some kind of wedge and decent armor might be able to drive at SoW like mad and get thru the weapon.
That, at if you can survive the first blow and be fast enough to attach right after, you've got a chance, cuz the hammers take awhile to get up to speed.
I see a Darwin Award in the future of the winner of this auction.
Well, you know what they say. What do you give the man who has everything? A Son Of Wyachi to smash it all into tiny pieces.
----------
When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer our friend.
Checked the news page for it and the first item mentions how the robot is not for sale.
chuk