Our NodeBots Hackathon
I discussed the plans for our “Battle of the NodeBots” Hackathon project a couple of weeks ago. The outcome was much better than I had expected. The creativity unleashed for that one day was enough to fuel us for months.
We had offensive bots using spinning bashers, propellors, flippers, and quarter dumping. We had agile bots, employing wireless communication and sophisticated control mechanisms. We had defensive bots which used a 5 pound weight to increase mass. We had a sabotage bot which created electromagnetic fields to disrupt their oponents’ electronics. We even had an “Empirial Walker” style robot which slowly approached its opponent with friction on its side.
In all, we had 16 people building 8 robots with Arduinos, Johnny-Five, wood, hot glue, and all sorts of random components.
The rules of the game were simple:
- Build your bot however you want, but use the two continuous servos as your primary drive mechanism
- The is a hexagon, approximately 4 feet wide on carpet
- You are given 3 1-minute rounds to knock your opponent completely out of the arena. A successful KO will win the match and the bot moves on.
- If after 1 minute, a KO is not achieved, the bot with their Arduino closest to the center dot gets 1 point.
- If after 3 rounds, nobotty has achieved a KO, the bot with the most points wins a “Technical KO” and the bot moves on.