Australian Robotics Championships

Sumo Wrestling Event Details

The Robots

The event had eight contenders, all from Brisbane.

• Juggernaught - 2800g, Privateers Cameron and Bruce McNaught. Powered by twin windscreen wiper motors and a lead acid battery. Used bump sensing to slap its opponent out of the ring, and IR sensing to avoid the edge.

• It Happens - 2950g, Uni of Qld, Elec and Comp Eng. Powered by twin RC car motors and NiCads. Had several bump detectors and ultrasound sensors to find the opponent, as well as downlooking IR to find the edge. Very soft grippy tyres gave this beast good traction.

• Insomnia - 2950g, Uni of Qld, Mech Eng. Powered by twin DC motors and NiCads. Had an effective ultrasound sensing system and a most attractive "stealthy" case. Down looking IR found the edge. Had six wheels driven by a chain drive to provide traction under a variety of loading conditions.

• Sumocidal - 2900g, Uni of Qld, Mech Eng. Powered by twin RC car motors and NiCads. Appeared to use little sensing other than its down looking IR. Caterpillar tracks provided excellent grip.

• Toranaga-san - 1850g, Privateers Tracy Lightfoot and Anthony Engwirda. Lightweight and slowmoving, yet attractively housed in a lunchbox, Toranaga-san relied on stealth and cunning to avoid aggressors.

• Sam - 600g, Privateer Owen Byrnes. A minimalist entry built from LEGO, Sam was able to avoid destruction by moving randomly about the ring without falling off the edge.

• The Crawler - 1200g, Privateer Ivan Barron. This Fischertechnik device was built the night before the contest and named on the day for its speed across the ring.

• D-9 - 2500g, Privateer Harry Shortt. D-9 was the only entry to have a lifting device for flipping its opponents, however it suffered a fatal power supply overload during the round robin.

The Competition

First the robots competed in a round robin contest for points. Based on the round robin, the robots were placed in the order of merit shown above. The quarter finals were then:

Juggernaught (3)	v	D9 (0)
D-9 forfeited, as it had lost too much smoke.
It Happens (3)	v	The Crawler (0)
It Happens did a lot of dancing around the ring, until the front sensor locked on and anhilated The Crawler.
Insomnia (3)	v	Sam (0)
Despite Sam's gutsy efforts in the round robin the little fella was quickly dispatched by the much larger Insomnia in the QF match.
Sumocidal (3)	v	Toranaga-san (0)
Sumocidal's head down and charge tactic did not leave Toranaga much of a chance.

With all the top seeds through the quarters, the semi finals seemed to be a much closer contest.

Sumocidal (3)	v	Juggernaught (0)
The score line doesn't reflect the closeness of this contest, with both contenders locking on and pushing hard. However, the Juggernaught's tendency to turn into its opponent proved its undoing -- the temporary loss of shove left it open to a quick strike from Sumocidal.
Insomnia (3)	v	It Happens (0)
During the first bout, It Happens lost motor power and couldn't restore it in time, handing a grand final spot to Insomnia.

The GRAND FINAL was undoubtedly the match of the day.

Sumocidal (2)	v	Insomnia (1)
Round 1.	Both robots quicky hit head to head in the centre of the ring, with Insomnia seemingly having the upper hand as it pushed Sumocidal back and to the side. However Sumocidal found traction against a weakening Insomnia and slammed it back over the side.
Round 2.	Insomnia attacked with renewed vigour, and managed to hit Sumocidal hard enough to lift the front of the robot. This temporary loss of traction left Sumocidal scrambling, and it was never able to recover traction as it was dismissed from the ring.
Round 3.	This was the deciding round. On the start signal, Sumocidal charged quickly ahead while Insomnia inexplicably turned to the right. Presented with a side-on attack, Sumocidal quickly dispatched Insomnia.

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