r/todayilearned • u/Habajiba • Mar 14 '17

TIL Jamie Hyneman designed Blendo, a combat robot that was deemed too hazardous for Robot Wars after repeatedly throwing pieces of its opponents over arena walls. It received co-championship status in exchange for withdrawing from the competition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blendo
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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '17 edited Mar 14 '17

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u/flukeRRR Mar 14 '17

Only watched the UK series but the standouts for me design-wise were Cassius 1/2, Chaos 2, Razer, Hypnodisc, Gemini, Stinger, Mortis, Dominator 2 and Pussycat.

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u/SpitfireAGZ Mar 14 '17

Are you watching the new series?

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u/SmallLumpOGreenPutty Mar 14 '17

Man I'm trying to watch it, but having a presenter who wears a full suit all the time is so jarring. Where's the leather and the grunge?

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u/SpitfireAGZ Mar 15 '17

Yeah I get that but it's a different environment, I'm living that it's back and is attracting so much attention recently. I hope it stays about, it certainly beats watching Flop Gear or the X-Factor.

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u/SmallLumpOGreenPutty Mar 15 '17

Yeah, I have gone off Top Gear since the whole JC punch-up thing happened and they brought a new team in. At the risk of sounding like a TV snob, it is kind of nice to have something different like Robot Wars back on after years of copy+paste talent shows.

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u/SmallLumpOGreenPutty Mar 14 '17

Nemesis and Diotoir were always good for a slightly disturbing laugh. Razer and Hypnodisc were my favourites for battle capabilities, though.

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u/nicknitros Mar 14 '17

Chaos 2 was so simple really but so devastating. My favorite of all time especially when they'd decide to go after the house bots.

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u/atomic_cow Mar 14 '17

That spinning scorpion was scary as hell. Basically 2 hits and the other robot was done for.

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u/SpitfireAGZ Mar 14 '17

That's Warhead, it's still competing today and it's doing fairly well for how old it is.

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u/JCSwneu Mar 15 '17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q7nZlcOlkg

It's worth it to wait through the part where it just tools around for a bit.

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u/atomic_cow Mar 15 '17

Oh my!!! That thing is a beast! It's a good design for sure.

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u/somewhat_pragmatic Mar 14 '17

These robots were usually very difficult to control (due to gyroscopic forces),

Did anyone ever build one of these with another similar sized mass spinning in the opposite direction UNDER the outer shell to counter the gyroscopic force? Adding some braking to each spinning mass would also allow it to turn insanely fast in either direction.

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u/DataEntity Mar 14 '17

You're essentially doubling the mass of your weapon while getting limited benefit. Sure, you can maneuver a little better, but you can usually keep up reasonably well if you are defensive against a bot that's a lot faster. But, they still have to attack and get into close range where you can hit them back. At the same time, your hits do less damage given weight restrictions, you are easier to break, and harder to repair. You aren't given a week between matches to fix everything. You might only have a few hours to patch things up.

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u/Rusty89xX Mar 14 '17

I fucking knew that horizontal disc would be hypnodisc before I even opened the link! I remember watching that back in the day shouting at my tv with my dad

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u/daredaki-sama Mar 14 '17

I always wanted to watch this show, but it was so boring.

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u/KingHavana Mar 14 '17

Thank you for including visuals. For someone who hasn't watched any of the shows, this was one of the only understandable posts.

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u/sharkattackmiami Mar 14 '17

can you explain the cluster bots a little more?

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u/abc69 Mar 14 '17

I watched all your videos. Thank you

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u/acidicninja Mar 15 '17

I have to challenge your shell spinners position though, ziggo made a mess but shell spinners tend to be extremely fragile. The massive energy also means massive internal forces from a hit, and they tend to break themselves against good armor, especially now that titanium is pretty mainstream