Tribot Sumo and others...

Beside building Bulldozer-based sumo robots, the "Robotics Posse" also built a few other sumo robots during our sumo event, starting with a speed Tribot build-off. LEGO claims you can have a working robot in 30 minutes... so we tested that. The fastest Tribot build was Steve Hassenplug, with a time just a shade over 10 minutes... and everyone in this picture completed a working Tribot in 20 minutes or so. I'd say the LEGO claim is a fair one. In case you think this was stacked in favor of adult builders, the young man in the background is my son: Ben is 10 years old, and had never put the Tribot together before.

Once we had five brand spankin' new Tribots, we immediately reprogrammed them for sumo, and did slight modifications to them, adding front attachments or modifying the back caster, but that was about it. "Semi-stock" Tribot sumo was actually a very good time - some had wicked-looking front weapons, some tried to flipped the opponent, and some actively looked for targets. But of course, we didn't stop with Tribots. How about Tribot vs. Alpha Rex? Or Tribot vs. a Bulldozer? Or other odd match-ups? Well, here's a video, showing the results of some fun (if chaotic and always unpredictable) NXT-based sumo:



Steve Hassenplug will be putting some more up about this event on his website here over time. Perhaps some of you will be inspired by this to enter the NXTlog Sumo event as well. I certainly am...

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Brian "Cameraman" Davis