Beetleweight (3 lb) Battlebot: (2023)

Finally! We’re machining metal now.

This was my beetleweight battle bot I assembled. It’s a fairly standard “egg-beater” design (the “eggbeater” name comes from the shape of the weapon), but I didn’t venture too far off the beaten path of proven designs.

Looking back at the design, it wasn’t complicated at all, just a couple plates of UHMWPE (ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene), some sheet metal plates, foam tires, etc. I’d make it MUCH different now if I had the time.

First off I’d make it 4WD, the tank-style differential steering was hard to control on this because the third point of contact wasn’t a rolling contact, so I had varying levels of traction depending on the evenness of the terrain, combine this with foam tires and I didn’t have much control in the ring at all.

I still competed and lost, twice. I didn’t verse any rookies, granted all the guys at the tournament were 3rd season veterans at least. I still had fun and it was interesting getting exposure to this kind of sport.

The tournament pictures shown below show the damage done to my bot and to my opponent after the match, the shiny marks were from me, I can’t take credit for all the damage done to his ‘bot.