Spinnerproof

Sam Hutchins and Ryan Bratley
  • 4.2 (10)
  • Technology

Spinnerproof is a podcast about combat robotics

  1. 10/28/2022

    91: Legally Compelled To Fight

    This episode is pointless Rules and judging! Yay! Rule changes You should read them and not just trust what we say: Design rules, Tournament rules, Judges’ Guide Safety! Power lights you can see [Design rules: 3b] Cradles that cradle [Tournament rules: 3.4.2] Fires are bad [Design rules: 16] Minibot battery limitations [Design rules: 4b] No more OotA disqualification threat But a higher wall Lifting/pinning/grappling timing changes [Tournament rules: 7.5.6/7/8] Separation procedure [Tournament rules: 7.5.9] Mobility & count-outs If you’re moving, you’re moving [Tournament rules: 7.6.2] Even if you’re only using your weapon to do so Reducing the chances of people getting angry at officials Unsticks [Tournament rules: 7.6.3/4] We won’t see nearly as many unsticks More fights will end early, but they’re more likely to end ‘fairly’ Time savings for production? Minibots get removed after a second unstick Engagement avoidance [Tournament rules: 7.6.7] Judging changes Post-match functionality displays [Tournament rules: 7.6.11] Aggression - circling is more aggressive than staying faced up [Judges guide: Aggression FAQ] Control - Robots which get their weapon and the hazards into play better than their opponent should win a control tie [Judges’ guide: COntrol matrix] Appeals [Tournament rules: 2.4.7] 1 minute window to lodge your appeal, requiring a specific reason for appealing A failed appeal removes your right to appeal Should there be a mid-ground? Sam explains why this doesn’t apply to refereeing decisions Experimental UK judging system The system! Already used at BBB’s ‘Subterranean Showdown’ and in use for the upcoming BBB Beetleweight Champs Intended to give all robots fairly equal access to every category Damage is dead, long live weapon effectiveness! Not all weapon types can be expected do damage, so judging them on damage is dumb. Everyone with a weapon should be able to use it effectively Lifters lift, grabbers grab, flippers flip, spinners do damage just like before Wedges are a blind spot for the system. They were also a blind spot in the existing system, but the name we’ve used makes the issue more visible Active weapon rule? Aggression is still aggression Free a stuck opponent? ALL OF THE POINTS! Control & Strategy Control - control your robot well, get your weapon into play, use the hazards Strategy - make smart choices Think of strategy as a place for judges to add points, but not a place where we really take them away

  2. 05/24/2022

    90: Things that Exist, Exist

    We’re back! Back-ish Editing sucks and we’re not doing it. BEVs Northdown Havoc Sportsman feathers are dope Judging Judging is hard Coin-toss fights Let The Good Times Stroll vs Crossblow III vs Head for the Exit Battlebots… This community sucks as talking about this stuff The system doesn’t seem that ‘broken’ Do we need Battlebots? What now? No Battlebots episode reviews Robot building? Events? Clickbait awfulness? Hoping Sam doesn’t die

  3. 08/16/2021

    89: The Fallibility of my own Everything

    We went to the BBB summer showdown with Split Decision 2 We’re a little rusty, and failed to record a proper outro. I hope you can come to forgive us. Here are the pictures! https://imgur.com/a/TVheEHJ

  4. 03/21/2021

    88: Have My Love

    Follow Up/Front Matter There is a bingo winner. We haven’t worked out who yet A quite vast amount of information about brushless motors and ESCs Sensorless still involves some small degree of sensing/feedback, and this is important Dual brushless hammer fun Stripped grub screw threads Ryan made a fuss Fake spinner test The real testing setup Battlebots and stuff General thoughts A very strong season, especially under the circumstances A slightly underwhelming end result Robot by robot Hydra The journey Vs Gigabyte - a fight for newcomers? Whiplash Mad lifts vs Valkyrie Sam’s sympathy for Valkyrie Ribbot Not a joke bot. Tantrum There are no words. Except the words we speak. Sawblaze Mammoth vs Copperhead Judging… The judging is made of judgment The whole AMA is very much worth checking out Shatter! Making bets Shatter! shirts Since recording this episode, shipping to the UK has been made available. Trying not to believe and believing anyway End Game M E T A Variety and length of forks Not being Biteforce Being Biteforce Aftershow: Sam’s computer troubles

  5. 02/21/2021

    87: Tickling my Eyeballs

    Front matter Lockdown finally made Sam build things More on that later! Ryan doesn’t know what tools he owns Bugglebots 4K special Vote here! (may require time machine) Watch here! 5 episodes of Battlebots 2020 in 40 minutes P1 The robot is very good Accidentally discussing the top 32 selection A hypothetical 0-3 making the top 32? Is 3 wins a lot of wins? Beta The hammer is very good Magnets! E F F I C I E N C Y Firing while moving? What have they actually proven in their 3 fights? Kraken vs HUGE The fight is very good Effective flamethrower-ing Kraken’s forged teeth Tombstone vs Skorpios The countout is very bad Tombstone still seems to have a lot of mobility Tombstone is still being attacked Unaired fights Fights less TV-worthy than Perfect Phoenix vs Extinguisher? Spinnerproof’s robot building exploits Ryan has access to CNC now How and why - work stuff The ‘real’ use of the machine vs the fun use of the machine CNC ant spinner frame Trying to avoid CNC-creep The ease and fun of designing digitally vs designing as you build The satisfaction of taking a hand-built robot to an event The ’training’ given by just watching CNC-based content online Sam has been developing a weapon setup “A more assertive hammer” PVC - prototyping wonder-material Using cogs, because they are cool Initial brushed setup The brushless setup Thanks Joe 3 Brushless motor/gearbox setup Thanks Alex 3 1806 brushless outrunners Adding a gearbox Running multiple brushless motors P R E C I S I O N The power of using the correct screwdriver PoziDriv vs Phillips (Spoiler: Posidriv wins)

  6. 01/14/2021

    86: Shalice

    Front Matter Sliding slowly an inexoribly towards The Fight Bounty Hunters How do you cover something which has no formal air date? Is it good? Bronco the “legend” The team? Yes. The robot? Eh… Lack of attention to spoilers Episodes 4 & 5 Good things! Slammow working Chomp working Gamma 9 working Shatter! vs Malice Short memories Expecting Malice to take the decision Because it deserved it? Because we’re used to spinners winning these decisions? Clickbait Hydra vs HUGE Yes, there are still 45 minutes of the episode left Playing Ultimate We promise this is far more relevant than it looks when you see it written down Sport vs TV The attachment It’s a good attachment Exceptional driving skill Questionable driving choices? Similarities to Warrior Dragon vs Chomp Communication with the ref Timings in the edit 3 seconds in reality -> ~10 in the edit Exploiting the weaknesses of HUGE Are production to blame for the dull fight? The team claim to have warned production about their plans Not using your weapon Ideas for preventing fights like these Time outs to deal with disputes? Forced weapon demo pre-fight? Changing nothing? Ryan did not make the diagram Kraken vs Witch Doctor… …in exactly 25 seconds

  7. 12/24/2020

    85: Stick It In There

    Front Matter How Spinnerproof is covering Battlebots What we want, when we want Fights and topics which interest us, released sporadically Battlebots 2020 - episodes 1-3 Bloodsport vs Skorpios The power of managed expectations Bloodsport’s improvements Shatter! vs Ghost Raptor Shatter! is amazing and if you disagree you are wrong The best hammer? How to use a hammer Shatter!’s driving style distilled Omnidrive all the things HUGE! vs Mammoth The dream match? Are non-meta robots as fun when they aren’t facing the meta? Witch Doctor vs Hydra Long main events are good main events Hydra starting with a flip charged Black Dragon vs Kraken A coin-toss or a theft? Rules not rewarding what fans see as dominating a fight RotatoR vs Beta Decision not rewarding what the rules appear to priorities Enforcing weapon usage? Better hammers firing straight into weapons Shatter! vs Ghost Raptor Shatter! vs Kingpin Blue vs Crossfire Blacksmith vs Biteforce Chomp vs Biteforce Competitors no longer feeling that they can rely on the rules being applied consistently The quality of online discourse How the presentation of the show influences this Robocast #79 - listen to it Listen to it somewhere other than youtube Actually judging the match How the judges scored it The 2020 Judges’ Guide Beta can’t score 5 points for aggression Giving Beta damage points because…reasons? Assumed damage? Penalising RotatoR for their damage being unintentional? Loose rules vs rigid rules Blame falling on people or falling on a system Unnecessary and possibly unhelpful maths Format Bit different, innit Crowd noise Less suppression of audience reactions? Dud fights No basement tapes Generally good handling of the rough fights

  8. 12/05/2020

    84: Heat, Fuel, and Oxygen

    This episode was recorded on November 28th, 2020 The cards can be seen in all their graphic glory here The teams: Mike - Mystrsyko Sam - Robocast Sam & Ryan - Spinnerproof Charlie - Good Robottal Ned - Spoiler Alert & ESC Oliver - ESC and No More Spinnahhs David - David of Smeg Jevan - World of Woodrow & No More Spinnahhs The cards: Mike Puff the Magic Dragon A LiPo fire in the box The Atomic Bomb Atom#94 catches fire Lotsa smoke or visible flames The 2020 Dumpster Fire A returning competitor flops HARD EG Bombshell in 2018, Bronco in 2019, or any robot designed to win fights which fails to Let it Rip! Captain Shredderator vs Gigabyte (1v1) Improvise, Adapt, Overcome Swiss-army bot makes the top 32 Swiss-army bot = multiple weapon types Jumping in the Grave A robot is dubbed ’the new Bite Force' Does not include the new champ once they are champ A Surprise, to be Sure Half of the top 8 are ’new' New = no team members have reached the top 16 before What Would You Like on Your Tombstone? Tombstone loses its first 2 fights Mr Flibble’s Very Cross A team quantining on entry to the USA is mentioned Thank God for the Arena A robot is flung into the Lexan Ice Ice Baby ICEWave tears another robot in half No bonus points!! Close Quarters A fight is restarted due to an unstick Might not be shown in the edit They’re Good Dogs, Bronco The dog from the Pain Train team photo is acknowledged on the show Shocker! A rookie makes the top 16 Rookie = new robot with a new team, even if some members have competed with other teams Crowd Favourite Chomp scores a OHKO ‘OHKO’ = first hit from the weapon Clusterfunk Gemini fails to get a win Sam For Grant Grant Imahara mentioned directly Rocky Balboa Tantrum works Working = weapon spins, hits as well as other similar weapons, and the punching mechanism is clearly helpful Just Like The Simulations An AGWWAPTBABF fantasy matchup happens, and the result is the same David Attenborough Two or more animal themed robots fight (each other) Animal themes must be part of the bot’s aesthetic Absent Audience Attention repeatedly drawn to the lack of audience Repeatedly = at least 10 mentions Lithium Polymer Armament A LiPo fire occurs Old Farm Derby Bale Spear vs Black Widow (1v1) Split Personalities A robot is split in ~2 The Steel Chair Slammow manages a suplex Hammer to Fall Beta vs Chomp (1v1) A Game of Two Halves A robot gets split apart Look at Me, Pa! Two robots with minibotds fight, with their minibots Pink is Sus A predominantly pink robot makes the knockout stages Axolotl, Sporkinok, and HiJinx are all predominantly pink Extinguisher by Name… Extinguisher puts out a fire That’s Not 30 Seconds! A team is reminded they can only hold for 30 seconds Oh Lawd She Comin! Chomp ends the season with a positive record Spinnerproof The Killshot An axe/hammer scores a KO Any big overhead hitty thing, but not a ‘hammer saw’ or similar, and not Rusty We Die Together Gemini only uses the multibot config A Noticeable Absence Bite Force not being present is mentioned Apologies to Craig Danby Slammow makes the top 16 OOTA is OOTA ‘Proper’ OOTA from a non-spinner ‘Proper’ OOTA = not behind the screws or stuck elsewhere BLUE TEAM, READY? Button hit with something other than a finger/hand Non-starters A robot with a website profile doesn’t have a fight Out With Win and You’re In No places in the top 32 are decided by a play-in fight Stop the count A robot comes back to life during a countout My Leg! Chomp loses a leg We Get it Already The cast avoids saying “Covid-19”, “Pandemic”, or “Coronavirus” for the entire season Cast = not competitors LiPo Fire 2 A LiPo fire happens Why Why Whyachi? 2+ Whyachi robots face each other in any kind of match Don’t Bring Wheels Into the Arena A horizontal spinner snipes a wheel ‘Snipes’ = a single hit disabling or removing the wheel Not in my Lexicon The term ‘forward thrust flipper’ is used to describe a front-hinge flipper The Bigger They Are… Chomp’s hammer causes significant damage Charlie Pulverizer Pete Multiple pulveriser hits to one robot in a single fight Be Trans, Throw Hands Sporkinok receives needless online hate We’ll know it when we see it Slammow Fails to Work …as intended, through the entire season The Saviour is Here! Rusty takes a fight to the judges Wee Woo (No, Not That One) Extinguisher puts out a fire The One True Hammer Shatter! outperforms all the other ‘pure’ hammerbots ‘Pure’ hammerbots = Beta, Chomp, maybe Rusty. ‘Outperforms’ = better record and/or lasting longest in the tournament (“down to the second”) Free Parking Non-Bite Force champion Can only be ticked after the grand final The Future is Now No robots from the 2019 top 8 make the 2020 top 8 Tears in the Gears A competitor cries on camera Sorry About Your Bike Jenny Taft segment involves smashing up a household object Double Kill Simultaneous KO Hide and Syk 2 Despite the lack of live studio audience, world-renowned youtuber MystrSyko is somehow still spotted The Bot Whisperer Footage of pre-reboot BB used in reference to Peter Abrahamson Not Even the Younglings Survived Perfect Phoenix doesn’t win a fight Pobodies Nerfect The champ will have lost a fight along the way Lights, Camera, Smash! One of the lights gets broken Ned Everything is Fine An entire episode doesn’t mention the pandemic Spiderman Pointing Meme Sawblaze vs Skorpios (1v1) Hammer Time Two hammers fight each other (1v1) Chomp, Shatter!, and BETA are hammers. Mad Catter & Extinguisher count if they use their hammer setup in the fight. Rusty may or may not be a hammer. Tropical Storm BETA BETA KOs a vertical spinner Hammer saws don’t count. Mammoth doesn’t count Careful, Icarus A previously successful robot crashes HARD Previously top 16/play in, failing to make the top 32 VERTS REEEEEEEEE 4WD verts make up at least half of the top 8 If the website photo is a vert, its a vert. Mad Catter counts if they use the vert more than the hammer Now There Are Two of Them! RotatoR uses the dual disc setup In the Blue Hex A HexBug toy appears in the box for a robot’s introduction Third Time Lucky Whiplash fights and beats Tombstone This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things Someone is seen wearing a mask incorrectly Nose not covered, hanging off one ear, constantly readjusting, etc Screwed A robot is KO’d due to being stuck in/on the screws Up and Away A whole robot hits the ceiling Flawed Floor The new floor still takes fight-influencing damage Proof in the Pudding A new build has teething trouble THAT’S A HUGE HIT Kenny or Chris say ‘HUGE HIT’ Noob Force A new robot takes the Giant Nut Oliver An Open Field A BB rookie makes the top 8 Rookie = new machine, even if the team have experience as a team or individuals The Same, But Different A 4WD vert wins the season Bot 56 A previously confirmed entry doesn’t make TV Confirmed = publicly by the team, by Battlebots (eg. via the website), or by associated media. SUpporter content doesn’t count. Dun Dun Da Da Daaa Daaa Flight of the Valkyries is sung #GetHype Hypershock makes the top 4 Spider Chomp, Spider Chomp Footage of a classic Battlebots walker is used Includes shufflers Always on the Scene Extinguisher puts out a fire Ghost of Toad A Team Toad sticker appears The Future is Now, Old Man Donald Hutson is reminded of how long he has been competing Directly to him, eg in an interview Home Field Advantage No non-US teams make the top 16 Thank You, Johnathan, Very Cool Presenters say something blatantly wrong, or something in a graphic is clearly incorrect You Only Got One Shot A fight is ended in a single exchange Salt of the Fans A JD causes online backlash Maxwell Edison The Pulverisers score a KO Grabbing Defeat From the Jaws of Victory A robot which is clearly winning dies for any reason Wait For It! John Reid says ‘good hit’ David Mortal Coil Ghost Raptor gets split in 2 Large and in Charge All 3 ‘oversized’ robots (HUGE, SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, and Mammoth) finish with a combined win rate of at least 2:3 (0r 66.6…%) The British are Coming BETA makes the top 16 We somehow missed reading this one out… Unprecedented The word ‘unprecedented’ is used to describe the pandemic Armchair Engineer Fan makes comments about how a robot sucks and they could do it better FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! Two robots with flamethrowers fight (1v1) Not in my Lexicon 2 The term ‘drum’ is used to describe something which is clearly a drisc See ’the diagram’, courtesy of Jevan It Is Wednesday My Dudes Ribbot makes the knockout stages Stay Froggy Ribbot’s vacuum-formed top survives a fight Rusty in Pieces Rusty gets a win Spin Dammit! Axe Backwards wins a fight The King is Dead Tombstone fails to make the bracket Derby Match Slammow vs Big Dill (1v1) Ow, My Head! Chomp’s hammer snipes a robot ‘Snipes’ = accurately hitting a critical part which immobilises the opponent Knife Roomba A Mowbot autonomous lawnmower appears on screen Not just in the background, intentionally featured What if its an ad segment? What Other Weapon? A robot with interchangeable weapons doesn’t change weapons Jevan Frenemies Skorpios vs HiJinx (1v1) …The Harder They Fall Chomp’s legs take significant spinner damage Legs are removed or their function is impaired I Don’t Think So, Chief A team refuses a fight EG. Shredderator vs Cobalt The Eyes Have It HUGE wins the Giant Nut Should’a Stayed Electric BETA runs out of gas Weapon stops or

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About

Spinnerproof is a podcast about combat robotics

Information

  • Creator
    Sam Hutchins and Ryan Bratley
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2022
  • Episodes
    91
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2023
  • Show Website
    Spinnerproof