With a click of a
radio-controlled switch, the flamethrower ignites, blowing a tongue of
burning propane nearly 10 feet long. Heat beats on faces at twice that
distance as the wave of energy flows into the shaded two-story parking
garage in Oakland.
Faces glow with pride and reflected light as fire climbs a concrete support
column. Heads nod in anticipation and satisfaction. Everything works, the
systems are set and the team seems pleased with the final test.
The focus of everyones attention, a 300-plus-pound robot named Alcoholic
Stepfather, is ready for battle.
While many people are familiar with robotic combat from watching television
shows such as Comedy Central's now-canceled
"BattleBots" program, or the U.K. import "Robot Wars," Bay Area
residents will have an opportunity to see fighting robots first-hand
Thursday, when the second annual RoboGames competition descends on San
Francisco State University.
Billed by organizers as the largest annual robotics competition
and exhibition in the country, this year's RoboGames hopes to bring
together over 400 robots from 12 countries for a variety of mechanical
challenges. Miniature sumo-wrestling machines, a soccer match
featuring Sony Abio robots and the robo-combat challenge are just a few
events visitors can expect to see during the four-day extravaganza.
But building a better combat robot and winning at the RoboGames
won't be easy. Carl Fortney, one of Alcoholic Stepfather's four
flesh-bound teammates, said much can go wrong in a tournament.
"Winning the first fight was tough," Fortney said. "The
tournaments are double elimination or single elimination and we lost
every fight. The first couple of fights, the wheels got knocked off. Several of the wheels broke. That's not very good for survivability."
In many combat competitions, the teams must sign away most of
their marketable rights, which is why Saidin said his team named their
robot Alcoholic Stepfather. It was a name Saidin and the other
teammates agreed no sane marketer would ever use as a label for a toy
or any other promotional product.
But if there's no money in it, why build the ultimate combat robot?
"This is about geek pride - bragging rights among the dweebiest of the dweebs,"
Saidin said.
Yet not everyone on the team seems interested in robo-combat solely
for the engineering challenge. For teammate Frank Chilese, robot
competition is a way to connect with his 11-year-old son Anthony. When
Chilese began working on Alcoholic Stepfather, Anthony decided he
wanted to get involved too.
"What got me interested was the big'bots," Anthony said. "I
thought it would be cute if we could make a smaller version of
Alcoholic Stepfather."
Soon, after some engineering help from his dad and $400 of Anthony's own money,
Alcoholic Stepfather had a 3-pound, flamethrower-equipped companion -
Angry Stepson. With several hours of practice and two previous combat
attempts behind him, Anthony's strategy for winning at the upcoming
RoboGames challenge is simple.
"When they charge at us, we turn on the flame thrower. That's our
main weapon really. The flame's pretty darn hot," said Anthony.
While his father frequently cautions Anthony that the real
win is just getting the robot to work right during a competition, the
Twin Creeks Elementary school student said he's now thinking about going into engineering when he grows up, just like his dad.
"It's probably a great way to bring the family together," said Anthony.
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