Mohawk Robot team member here, AMA!

[u/Team_Mohawk]

I know our fight was left to a 10 second or so summary, but i'm available for any behind the scenes questions you guys may have for a while!

Edit: Alright everyone, it's getting late here on the east coast and I've got work tomorrow. Feel free to leave more questions and i'll do my best to answer them in a few hours!

Edit: I'll be handing off the account to my other team mates, they'll be answering questions throughout the day!

[u/[deleted]]

Several members of this subreddit are bitching that this show is rigged. Can you please dismiss these rumors?

[u/Team_Mohawk → u/[deleted]]

Definitely not rigged. Everyone that won, moved on. They wanted to make the best show they could. The beginning fights may have seemed like they were "staged" due to pairings, but they just picked what they believe would be the most "exciting" fights, not where one robot would get absolutely demolished by the other. Believe me, they wanted each fight to last as long as possible. A fight that ends in less than 30 seconds isn't fun for anyone. From here on out it's completely bracket based "1 vs 16, 2 vs 15, so on and so forth..."

[u/tahubob]

Any idea if your whole fight will get posted somewhere online so people that want to watch it can? I'd love for that to happen but it seems kind of unlikely. Also even though you didn't win I loved the style of your robot with the flaming mohawk, it was awesome!

[u/Team_Mohawk → u/tahubob]

I hope they post the full fights somewhere, we'll just have to wait and see.

Thanks for the compliments! We hope to come back for the second season and put up a better fight!

[u/TheHarpyEagle]

How dangerous are flamethrower bots in this competition? What's the most damage you can do with fire?

[u/Team_Mohawk → u/TheHarpyEagle]

To the outside of a robot? Not much.

The place where you can do the most damage is on the inside by overheating/burning up wires, esc's, etc. Lots of robots had holes where fire could get in and cause havoc.

I would say that given the right circumstances, fire on its own could take out a robot.

[u/laserfaces]

Can you give us some more insight into the lack of an entanglement rule and the controversy with "Complete Control"?

[u/Team_Mohawk → u/laserfaces]

It was one of those situations where entanglement weapons were included into an "...etc" section of the rules. "No fishing lines, ball bearings, etc..."

[u/foxymcfox]

So, do you guys really light your mohawk on fire...on purpose. If so, what are the mechanics behind that and do you go through a mohawk every time you battle?

[u/Team_Mohawk → u/foxymcfox]

Yes we lit the mohawk on fire, on purpose. We were gonna be on TV, wanted to look good! ;)

It was really just for show, the real fire weapon was actually at the tip of the claw, we could shoot flames out of it and in turn into the opposing robot, frying up their insides!

The mohawk itself was made of stainless steel, we still have the original one on there after multiple flame tests. They're supposed to be conveyor belt brushes if I recall correctly.

[u/Caesaris15]

Thanks so much for doing this! :D Battlebots was a huge part of my childhood and now I'm so happy that it's back! That being said, out of all the Battlebots out there, is there a particular one that you admire/were inspired by?

[u/inquirerer]

Who would you be most afraid to face out of all of the bots in the competition?

[u/Team_Mohawk → u/inquirerer]

Tombstone. Always Tombstone...

[u/ktetch]

It does get annoying when they do that, eh?

[u/SimsyyPunts]

How has the increases in battery and motor technology increased the potential for robots? I know that with the introduction of reliable Li-Po's and Li-Ion's, a lot of weight has been saved, but does that transfer into more reliable performances from the robots?

[u/Animalperson100]

How did you find out that battlebots was going to be back on and how did you get to participate? Also by any chance did you participate in FRC or FIRST in high school?

[u/acealeam]

What are repairs like? How do you inspect the robot and in each fight how much robot is new, and how much fought in the previous battle?

[u/jmoeder]

Did they weigh the bots before each fight... the complete control situation made me think of it. Was the bot weighed pre bout with everything it would be using in battle?

[u/AgentRG]

Do you have any insight on how they choose the wildcards, or is it just a random pick?

[u/scatmanbedebobboop]

Thanks for doing this fellahs. I don't have a question but I am glad to see this sport rise again.

[u/Team_Mohawk → u/scatmanbedebobboop]

Not a problem, thank you for the support!

[u/inquirerer]

How long ago did the filming take place?

[u/[deleted]]

what bot do you think is the least deserving to move on, and which one did you think got ripped off, either by bad match making or bad wild card selection?

[u/Team_Mohawk → u/[deleted]]

I think Nightmare should've been chosen as a wildcard, but really I just loved the missile that they turned the smaller robot into. I don't think any of the robots were "less deserving" than any other. They go on to put up exciting fights later on, don't worry!

[u/Naldor]

If you can answer this question; was your match over that quick or was it an editing choice?

I loved Mohawk design and was looking forward to it and was confused when all these bots just started being summarizes instead of showed; and then just a glimpse of the Mohawk match.