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- [00:00]
Evan Rosenblatt
Christine's talking to Corey Nason, David Dreier,
- [00:03]
David Dreyer
and Evan Rosenblatt about their accomplishments at the April NHRL event. On this episode of Outside of the
- [00:08]
Corey Nason
Box, you could consider the drive being a weapon in itself. It has a lot of pushing power. And so I took those lessons I learned in New Zealand and I played with them.
- [00:19]
David Dreyer
All I needed is top four. That's all I care about. You know, anything past that is gravy. So, yeah, I think we. I think we accomplished what we set out to do.
- [00:28]
Evan Rosenblatt
I'm so happy that I got to get that rematch against Turbo Fiend and, you know, get another Golden Dumpster winner checked off.
- [00:39]
Christine
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Outside of the Box. And I am doing something I haven't done in a while. As some that have watched the show for a while know, for a while there with my NHRL recaps, I would have on all of the Dumpster winners from the event. And I kind of stopped doing that just because I wanted to go for what was the most interesting story. But quite honestly, for me, in this event, the most interesting story was the Dumpster winners. And that's why I'm doing it again for this episode. And so for my first guest, I am so excited that one of my best friends in this world, Corey Nathan, who won the golden dumpster with synthesis 30. So I'm just over the moon to talk about this with you. Corey, welcome back to the show.
- [01:38]
Corey Nason
Thank you for having me on.
- [01:39]
David Dreyer
Absolutely.
- [01:41]
Christine
Yes. So, first of all, there's a lot to unpack here because, I mean, you and I have talked a little bit, you know, privately about your win and, like, everything else, but what was your sense going into the event? Like, were you feeling like this was the event? Because I know, you know, getting to go on the trip to New Zealand, like, that was an amazing experience. And I have to feel like that experience gave you a new level of confidence, you know, being chosen for that, having a really good performance against Team Australia. But, like, how are you feeling
- [02:23]
Corey Nason
after December finals? While leading into December finals, I had done a lot of prep because I said, okay, well, getting married next year, I probably want to spend less time on robots and a little more time on other things. When I was asked to go to New Zealand, I hadn't really competed since December. This. So this would have been February, the end of February. So it kind of fell in between February and March's event. So, I mean, it's a once in a lifetime trip getting to go to New Zealand. So, I mean, it kind of trumps everything. So I had the robots kind of all ready to go. They were very fresh going to New while I was in New Zealand. There was so much extra time because we had arrived on Wednesday and we had full access to the arena. Took about a half a day to get all the robots ready. And me and the rest of Team usa, we would spend time just driving around in the test box and I mean the arena. And rather than do what I always did, try something different. Just try to feel. Feel out the robot, see what felt strong, what needed improvements. And facing Team Australia was very different than anyone back in NHRL because they had different building techniques, different styles of driving. And so it got me to start to try to drive differently. One of the key aspects that I've always kind of had was I tried to emulate other people's driving styles, whether it was more aggressive, like emulsifier, tried to drive like jmo, very fast and methodical, and it just, it worked out okay. But it. It never had that clenching fate for me. It would work some, but then I would kind of get caught on the back foot. So I wanted to see exactly what strengths synthesis 30 had so I could use it during my matches. And what I was finding was I didn't need to necessarily rush into every engagement. I didn't need to be the first person at the opponent because it felt stronger to be the person who kind of reacted to the opponent rather than be the person proactively trying to engage first. And this is where I had this idea of being the. The second person, like I said, be the. The responder to the opponent. And as a result, it allowed me to be able to kind of take each match as its own rather than, okay, it's the same strategy every match because not every opponent's going to be the exact same. Felt very solid. There was only. There was small things that I needed to fix. From New Zealand. I had planned on going to April anyways. Said I need to go back. I'm getting the. The crave to compete at nhrl. A lot of my friends go there, so I wanted to go there as well. It was never. I felt like this was my event. It was a very, very strange experience prepping for the event because I did experience a little bit of damage, but not so much I needed to fully rebuild the robots going into April. So usually I'm finishing up Saturday morning before I physically don't get any sleep and I just physically drive to nhrl. So I'm tired, cranky on Saturday and Stressed out. But this time I had all the robots all done the Monday leading into the week before the event and I just made them look good packed and then I went down the day before. Everything felt solid. The all three robots were ready to go. They were set up a little different for each type of opponent, but overall I just, I felt confident, not too overconfident because even though it was a smaller field of 12, a lot of the robots, I mean it could have been anyone's match going in because a lot of high caliber builders, like a lot of team. MIT Colorado brought its own university esque team out, so it wasn't like it was a bunch of pushovers. So it definitely was intimidating. But I wanted to try to play this smart. That's kind of how I felt going into this event.
- [07:15]
Christine
Yeah, and I think that that is important, you know, with thinking all of that through and stuff of that nature. Now, looking at the actual fights, I think the interesting thing for you was your, your day, it kind of went one of those ways where like you had one fight that you would have had to do during qualifiers and it didn't end up happening because of a forfeit, unfortunately. Is that something that like. Because I think some people could look at that differently. Some people might look at that as an advantage because they're like, oh well good, that's one less fight that I have to go through. But then others might be like, well, I'm not fighting all day and have to go into prime time with like no experience for the day. What were you feeling about it?
- [08:10]
Corey Nason
I had a bunch of emotions and feelings leading in, so I had the buy the first round. I was the third, a third seed going into this event. So we're gonna buy the next match. I would have fought hss, which is very scary. Manta esque style, four wheel drive drum. Derek from Gigabyte and Cobalt, He's a very good builder. I mean he fights on BattleBots. I'm not sure if he's the driver of the weapon operator for Gigabyte and now I'm not sure of his role, but he's a, a seasoned builder nonetheless. And I saw what he had done in his first match. I was intimidated. It would have been fun to have the match. Derek and I talk off and on, here and there on Discord. So I'm, I'm familiar with him and it would have been fun to have a friendly match, but I'm not sure if it would have went my way. He has a smaller diameter weapon, I have a larger Diameter. So when we would collide, he would effectively being hitting underneath my weapon. So he would have had the upper hand. So it probably would have gone to him. However, on the flip side, I got to go into the brackets with all fresh robots. NHRL does have a. So the cage that we fight in for the big bots is 16 by 16. Upstairs they have. It's roughly a 10 by 10 test cage. So you can do some driving, some testing. Synthesis 30 is a very fast robot, so I can't really do full driving tests, but I can, I can kind of do the slower corralling, spin up the disc and do a little bit of target practice and whatnot. So it wasn't like I was going in super cold, but nothing really compares to when you're actually fighting a match. My biggest fear was I had all this time got into the brackets and now I had to wait till 7pm and I got in there when the doors opened up at 7am going 12 hours to my first fight and getting blown away or something. Not working on camera. You can even see I brought down a second one. I weighed both of the robots because I wanted to make sure they were both made weight, they were safetied, they were all ready to go. So I want in the event if something stupid happened, I could pull it out and put the backup one. I did ask the pit crew, they seemed fine with it. Evidently it wasn't fine after the fact, but it is what it is. I brought it down just to be on, on the prepared side just because I don't want to forfeit my first match because my robot's not working. I want to do whatever I can. But yeah, no, like I said, it was good fresh robot. It was bad because I had to wait 12 hours for my first fight and it could have been a blowout. The first fight.
- [11:19]
Christine
Yeah, it's one of those things when the, the fight doesn't happen. You never know for sure how it would have gone. And so sometimes it does turn out to be a good thing in the end that you didn't have to to have that fight. Now obviously you, you made the bracket at that point, had a long day, I'm sure waiting for that first fight. And it ended up being against Operation Mincemeat, which did lose to Aries, but had a really tough fight versus Salamander where they kind of did a number on that robot. And I mean Salamander was a robot that had a pretty good day, honestly. So if somebody was able to do something to them, there definitely I'm sure would be at least some like, you know, concern going into that fight. Just to make sure that you're doing all the right things. How are you feeling about fighting them and talk me through that fight?
- [12:18]
Corey Nason
All right. So kind of leading up, I had so much extra time, so I was constantly walking around the pits. One thing about pandas, we kind of like to help out. So I did see the aftermath of Team Salamander against Operation Mincemeat. It's very thin framed and Operation Mincemeat was able to cut through, so I was trying to help them anyway they can, but they didn't end up needing it. Operation Mincemeat is a very intimidating looking robot. It's very large. It's not actually, it looks small in pictures, but it's actually a big robot. It, it matches the size of synthesis 30. And so I don't have that intimidation factor of being much larger than the opponent I had. I had a feeling they were going to make it into the bracket because the driver, Alec, I do follow, he has a YouTube channel and he does drive a robot called Cernick. He's been doing this for a few years now and he, he's definitely getting into the groove of being a very good driver. So I had no, no hesitation or no misunderstanding of his ability to drive. I knew he'd be able to get around. I watched the robot in the test box. The weapon, it would kick over, take an extra second or two. I don't know if they had clogging issues like the motor, it would have slight startup issues, but it would kick it over and it was really, really fast. It was a large diameter, it had two thin blades, so it had a nice cutting edge. So when it would impact things, it would cut in. Really nice. One thing that I did notice. Oh. Going into this event, I tried to be more observant with my opponents rather than go in weapon first for everyone, because that doesn't always work anymore. You have to be more strategic and methodical with your driving. I did notice when they were in the chest box, they would spin it up to max. Their weapon is blasting as fast as it can. However, that will make your driving become hindered. There was two separate times where they ended up actually on the kick plate on the, on the side bumpers. And so I said, okay, well, that might be something I can watch out for in the event if they do get stuck, I can take advantage. So going into the fight, I wanted to be the second person. I wanted to watch what they did and then react. In the test box, they would do box rushing. They would kick the weapon over and then just charge. So I had a feeling they were gonna box rush. I spun it up. My weapon kicks over very fast, just over one second to full speed. But I was only spinning it at about 50% so I could have good maneuverability. I moved out of my corner. He kicked the weapon over, starts to move towards the center and charges. Rather than try to collide, I do a side step. I go to my right, which is his left. And then he, as he's getting towards the end of the arena, he turns and he actually gets stuck in the kick plate. So I said, okay, this is pretty much what I had predicted initially. So I go over. For this match, I have two different set setups. I have metal tipped forks and then I have plastic forks. The metal tip forks work better for wider weapons because they can sneak under like a doorstop. Whereas a thinner weapon has a better chance of catching that, that leading edge. So I went in with my plastic ones like I did over in New Zealand. They were able to take hits a lot better. They're. They're a lot longer, so they're. They're meant to get around opponents. So that way when I do come in, there's nowhere they're going except the weapon. Unfortunately, being stuck in the wall, I wasn't able to fully reach them. I was able to tap them and then they came off the wall. They were having driving issues. In their first match against Salamander, they lost one side of drive. I'm not entirely sure while they had lost it again in this match. So I believe it was. I'm trying to think a right side down, I believe so. They're kind of hobbling. I wanted to see what would happen if I would go in and see whose weapon would hit first. Our discs are roughly this. Even though they're smaller diameter, they could still reach me. So we kind of tap it popped me back, but I was able to regain my control. So I backed off. And playing strategically, I was using my forks to kind of hook it in a certain spot and then try to position them in a way where I'm able to get control on them. I get them to the side,
- [17:29]
David Dreyer
I
- [17:30]
Corey Nason
kind of guide them, and then they kind of back up into the wall. So right now I'm to their side. I'm being patient, waiting for my shot. Then the opportunity comes. They show the back side of the robot, and that's one of the sweetest spots. So crank it up to about 75. I don't want it. I don't want to put it to 100 and then do some damage to my robot. That in one shot, that could be something because of me. So I just start hitting them in the back. I get like four juggling hits. They land upside down. Their chain drive, and they lost three out of four of the chain. So they're not driving. I stay kind of near the front because I want to see what's going to happen. Once I realized the chains were off and they only had one wheel physically working, they were upside down, the weapon was cranking, it was working, no problem. They called for the unstick. As a seasoned builder, what you'll learn is when the house robot is going to unstick you, shut your weapon off because eventually it will ram you into the wall. You don't want to break your weapon while they're trying to self ride you. And the house robot just rammed them into the wall and you just hear a big bang. The weapon didn't die, but I'm sure it was extra damage they didn't necessarily need to take. I could see Alec across the arena saying, hit me, hit me. However, this is a tournament. We're top eight right now. This is my very first match. I don't want to pop you over and then I just somehow die. I want to give myself the best chance I can. Be strategic. Even though he only had one wheel drive, I've seen things happen where a weapon spinning plus one wheel going. They can magically gyro and they have nothing to lose. So it was all on me. I sat there with the weapon spinning. I wanted to show my aggression. I stayed on them. I didn't hit them, but I showed that I was still mobile. The whole match stayed there. They got counted out, and then that was the match. I think it was like a 32nd match. I wanted to be smart rather than go in brute force.
- [19:53]
Christine
Yeah, yeah. And sometimes that's definitely the way to go. Now, winning that fight, you know, put you in the top four versus Hot Honey. And it's one of those things that, you know, as time has gone on, I've seen that it doesn't really matter what version of Kaza it is, as long as there is one Kaza robot, it seems to do well regardless of what it's paired with or even if it's by itself. And, you know, certainly we were seeing that throughout the day with Hot Honey, which was Joshua Reinhardt's collaboration with Team Honeycracked. Not only that, but kind of adding on the extra layer that, you know, it's my understanding that they knew that this wasn't a a collab that they could like qualify with or like, you know, get into to, you know, pros as like that robot. It was kind of the dumpster or nothing. So they were likely going to be a little bit more desperate and aggressive to win than other people may have been. I'll admit during that fight, there was a point where I was very concerned for you. So I'm curious to hear your take going into it and were you concerned at that point too?
- [21:13]
Corey Nason
So I had a feeling. So jaw. I want to point this out. Joshua is a phenomenal driver. I don't think people give him enough credit. I think the stigma of Kaza really puts a negative light on Joshua. I've seen him drive with the multi and by himself with Kazar Hines. He even put up a really great fight against Jameson. Go. One of the best drivers, if not the best driver in the 30 pound weight class. So I didn't want to underestimate his ability to drive. And then team honeycracked all the different iterations that they have between B4S Mining and Plusl. They're getting better and better. So I knew this wasn't going to be a cakewalk. And especially it has fire in it. So no one likes the fire. I'm a plastic robot. However, I fought because I think three times now. I want to say I fought Kaza before by itself. He didn't have the flame really dialed in. I won and then I fought him with Peter. I got beached on the wall, but the fire was going and it roasted me. And then I fought one last time when fire wasn't approved. But I was dominated in the control. But I did damage them, so I won that match. Going into this match in particular, I knew the plastic forks weren't going to be the answer. They may have been fine, however, given their plastic. So they don't really take the ramming impacts very well. They'll start to bend over time and I'm sure getting heat. I'm sure it wouldn't help as well too. So I ran with the steel tipped forks. What I notice a lot of people do is they'll take gold tape or the silver tape, the aluminum tape, and then they'll just cover every square inch of the robot. I don't necessarily think that's the good move because what happens is even though you're keeping the flame out, you're trapping the heat in so you're Effectively turning your robot into a microwave. And then everything internally is just sitting in that heat. So what I wanted to do was the plastic, even though it's. It has, like, it's solid or it has, like, you can't look through it, there's still some holes. So, like, the heat can escape. So I just wanted to get the seams and anywhere where there might have been the ability for the fire to get in. So I didn't really run much gold tape. Kazar doesn't die. So I knew the plan would have had to have been to knock out the honey side, the B force, and then try to survive for three minutes or do the best I can. I had no idea if I was going to win that or not. So I had watched. Usually Joshua comes out first. So I spun it up, got ready. He started to come near me. I went around him, and I was trying to line up a shot with. With the B4 side, the honey side. As easy as robots are to drive, it's the perspective. Just made it very weird and awkward to line up a shot properly. And I ended up missing. Joshua came over. He got right on me. He started flaming me. And I said, okay, this is pretty much it. Probably going to be like every other kaza fight. Fair enough. The 10 seconds ends. He gets off, I get off of him, and then we kind of toss and turn back a little bit. And then a weird thing ends up happening where he gets pushed into me and I get pushed onto the wall. So he's sitting on my front fork, so I can't initially drive off. One thing that they had done differently at this event, I don't know if it was previously because I haven't been. They shaved off the. The leading corner of the kick plates a couple inches. So it made it like a 45 degree angle, like a slope almost. So B force ended up coming in. Honey ended up coming in and knocking hot off of me. The nice part was I was able to turn the weapon off and kick it on a couple times, and it vibrated me off. So right now, I think Josh thought I was going to be stuck, so he started to drive away. So this was my shot. So I went in. I lined up a nice hit. I slammed honey into the wall. Josh turns back around, and then he pins me for a couple seconds, but I'm able to gyro off. Honey is again right near the wall. So I literally drive in, I pop him back. He hits Alexian, and then it sends him forward into my disc. So it's like a Double hit. So it was a pretty effective hit. So he's upside down. Cody's upside down. Across the other side of the arena, the honey. Josh comes in for one more slight pin. I'm able to get off again. And then it. What doesn't get shown on the camera, which you can see from another angle, is I crank it to 100. I said, I need to do this. Now he's upside down. So I go full force right into him. I hit him so hard, he gets roofed. I cut through the front, and then I cut the battery lead. So that robot died, and it started bouncing around upside down, dead. I hit him so hard, my robot did a front flip. It caught the disc, and then it started to tumble and it landed upside down. I'm in a weird position where I can't necessarily get out. Josh comes over and he starts to flame me. I call for my unstick. Then Josh is trying to get B4 Honey off onto its treads, because maybe thinking it's still alive. I don't know if they're communicating undead or not. Again, with the angled kick plates, I was able to just drive right off. One of the improvements synthesis 30 has recently had was I added pieces of my frame that stick up towards the top. We call them rabbit ears. The idea is, when you're positioned on them, your back wheels allow you to still be able to drive even though you're upside down. And I have them in such a way, when I turn my weapon on it, it'll actually hit the ground and pop over. So I get over. So now it's just me and Josh. So we're kind of going back and forth, back and forth. My robot still feels very strong right now, even though I've been sitting in the fire. But the. The heat will start collect, and then it will start to really do damage on you. So right now I go nose to nose with him. I'm actually able to snap one of his. His long forks. He said I was the very first person to every ever snap the fork. And so I thought that was pretty cool. He turns and he has a lot of pushing power. So I'm actually kind of stuck on the top of him. I'm trying to turn off of him. So on the camera, you can actually see I'm like, kind of, like twisting. So he goes to ram me and the. I landed in the perfect position. So he's nose into the wall. I'm to his right side, so I'm facing outwards. So I drive out and I turn back around and he's trying to turn around quick. He's only able to get probably about 90 degrees. So now his right side is to me. Kevin says, let him have it. So I crank it to 100% because there's no driving needed right now. I'm just gonna. So I just keep grinding, grinding, grinding. Josh is able to start to turn around to get to the other side to try to pin me with the steel tip forks. They ride the ground really, really well. I had talked to Matt of Emulsifier extensively about his fork construction, the techniques and just general understanding. I finally really feel I understand techniques on how to use them effectively. So he rides up the fork and into my disc. I hit him so hard. You just see him disappear out of the camera. And then moments later, he comes back down and he cartwheels across the arena. If you watch it from another angle, he hits five out of the six sides of the arena. So he hit the ceiling, the left side, the back, the floor, and then cartwheeled across to the other side. And then he's right there and I'm already facing him. So I just drive straight at him.
- [30:01]
David Dreyer
I hit him.
- [30:02]
Corey Nason
At this point, I start to see the disc is starting to slow down. So I've never really ran the weapon maybe a hundred percent or 75 to 100% for a full three minutes while also taking heat. The batteries, as they get heat, they start to become weaker. And so my disc. I, I'm. I want to say the. The battery was completely dead. So I, I had 20 seconds left. I. I couldn't just stop. So he's right now. I hit him so hard, speculate speculation right now that it dented his frame down. And I don't know if I broke the, the, the system that pushes the flame out or what, because his flame literally wouldn't stop. It was just kept pouring out uncontrolled. Like I said, it's only speculation. And right now he had one side of drive down too. I had both sides right now. So I just go right into him and I prop him up. He's almost against the wall and I'm pinning him. I hold it for 10 and I start to drive away because I was going to line up like just another push. And then I noticed one side of drive is going down and the robot was driving perfectly fine prior. So again, I think the batteries, they were just at their width's end between the heat and just being. It was a full three minutes. Just drive, drive, drive. I don't think I've ever driven harder Than that. So the last maybe five or ten seconds, I'm kind of moving a little bit. The disc is stopped, the match ends. I'm like, I have no idea how this is going to go because there is the prove it period. However, I don't know if they called it or what, but my, my guess is be honey was entirely dead. Wasn't moving at all. Josh had flame, but I don't know if he wasn't able to control it. I don't know if that went against him or what. But he did have one side of drive down and he did have damage to his forks. I looked good otherwise, not really having much power. I stood there very confused. I said, I have no idea if I won. Sure enough, Sam came over and then he said I won and I was over the moon. I said, out of everyone outside of Aries, this match, it, it just felt so incredible. Just, it was just a back and forth. I told Josh and I told Cody. I said, I want a bat 3 minute fight. I don't wanna everyone someone dies in 5 seconds and the match is over. Whether I won or lost, it was just an amazing fight and today was my day. I won that match. I was so proud. And it just, it hit me that I can't believe I just won. Basically that, that's, that's the best explanation I have right now.
- [33:11]
Christine
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean against a robot like that and I like you're the, you know, you're kind of the multi killer. It's just, just the way that things have gone for you. So you know, obviously good job with that. The next fight and the final fight obviously wasn't going to be any easier. Versus Aries, which is a previous Golden Dumpster winner. And just, you know, what, what can you say? I mean Aries is a pretty scary robot. It's definitely, you know, had some amazing fights in the past and you know, a robot that you have fought and I think we're really wanting to be able to take down. So talk about that. And just like the, the process of not only going through the fight, but again, this was another fight. We're at a point I was like, oh no. You know, my heart just was in my chest for you because of like Corey's made it all this way, he's made it to the finals. And then like something happens and I'm like, oh, I don't know how this fight's gonna go. And then you ended up getting the KO in the end, which was absolutely incredible. So talk about that. And Just like how it felt to realize, oh my gosh, I just want a golden dumpster.
- [34:36]
Corey Nason
All right, so leading into this match. So everyone. So because of the amount of prep I did going into the bracket, if you think about the matches, top eight, top four, and then the final. So that's three matches. I had three full robots working. So everyone on Team Pandemonium said, you know what, Corey? You don't even need to do any work. You could literally just drop one robot and go on to the next one. I felt my preparation prior prevented a poor performance the the 5Ps. So this match in particular, I, I had watched all of the Aries fights because I wanted a rematch. He's. Ryan Duarte is a phenomenal driver. He hasn't been in the sport well, he's been in the sport for a while, but wore the 30 pounder. I think this is the second year that they're fighting. He's so good. He's really on top of it. Aries is a very scary robot, very powerful, and anytime you're down, they'll just be on top of you. Like when they fought Dead Rise and Dead Rise was kind of on, on the ropes. Ryan capitalized. So I knew that it wasn't going to be an easy fight. So I, going into this, I had to run the disc. It can take the most hits. It's most more durable than my other blade. So hook. It's meant to cut through things, but it's more for like the plastic robots. Like if you find like a huge or something. And then I have the option of steel forks or plastic ones. In my mind, it was telling me to run the steel forks because the way that they work is they're like a doorstop. So they always ride the ground. And the idea is when you put it into something like a drum or a beater bar, it will stay planted and then the, the beater bar will attempt to bite into it. But because they're so hard, it just kind of slides off and then the robot will slide up into, into the weapon. Emulsifier has shown that they, they work well, but Ryan's gotten better, so it's becoming harder for Matt to do his thing. Not that Matt's a bad driver. My concern was if he caught me on a bad edge, he could break the arm that holds the steel tip. In addition to being forced to getting under the opponent. My disc is set very far forward as a way to maximize the reach of my weapon. As a negative, anytime I hit something, the robot wants to nose dive. So the Forks are set out in such a way that they try to prevent me from flipping forward. So the option was the metal ones. If they took a hit and they got damaged, I may be stuck in my face or I run. The plastic ones, they don't take his hit. They don't take hits as good as. I mean, they won't get underneath the beater bar as good as the metal ones. They can take hits a lot better, and you can hit them and it doesn't really matter. This is foreshadowing. So going into this match, I have nothing but the utmost respect for Ryan. We don't shake hands, we hug. I look up to him very, very much. He's a phenomenal driver. He's a great. He has such a high spirit, and I've never been around him or heard of negative experiences with him because he seems like he has a very high respect and for the spirit of the sport. So going in, I knew this was going to be a very tough match, so I spun my weapon up. I didn't get out of the corner as quick as I wanted to. I think I was more nervous. So I started to drive a little erratic. He took the upper hand. He got some really good hits that started to bounce me over. Over him. He ended up popping me into the. Into the corner, and the back of the robot was up against the kick plate. So when we collided, I couldn't go back any further, so it popped him backwards upside down, and I was able to get a couple hits again. I'm spinning it slower because I want more control of the drive. Not looking for those big hits. I'm looking for the better control. Just. He capitalized on me. I'm trying to get away every. Every chance I can. This is where the match turns. This is where I said, it's all over. I think in the process of bouncing around so much, the. The electronics for the weapon, they just had enough, and you just see a smoke and the weapon stops. One thing I did work on in New Zealand was driving with synthesis. Even though the weapon's down, the drive motors that I use in them, they're effectively just about as large as what some people use for their weapons. So the. If you. You could consider the drive being a weapon in itself, it has a lot of pushing power. And so I took that. Those lessons I learned in New Zealand and I played with them, I just kept trying to stay in him. The nice part is the plastic forks are long, so when we would come nose to nose, they would be underneath them. So when he would hit me. It would only just pop me backwards, not up. He was capitalizing on me. He hit me once, it bounced me, and I was starting to twist in the air. And then you just see him come in for another hit. Previous to this match, he actually shattered one of his beater bars. Team MIT with Aries and shattered their beater bar against Termigator. This weapon shatter wasn't anything like I had ever seen before. When the camera pans over, you just see the entire top half of the weapon just cracked off of the bar. It's broken, like, down towards the mounting point on one side and then cracked off the top on the other side. It's definitely not spinning. I land on my feet, my wheels, and I have full control right now. So now it's a pushing match. I had seen the life come. I felt the life come back into me because every time I've fought Aries, my belts have fallen off, my top plate has fallen off, and my battery fell out or something. So I've always seen the robot die. One of the changes I also made to this version was I have two top plates. I have one that sandwiches everything in, so if the main top plate falls off, nothing is going to fall out. And then I have the thicker top plate. So that way it gives the illusion that there's only one. So it's a kind of a redundancy. So the robot's in full control. Right now we're pushing, pushing, pushing. He's pushing me around. Kevin is like, turn. So as I'm going back, I'm turning. So it's kind of giving me the upper hand. Halfway through pushing, and I notice he's pushing me. I'm realizing I'm not even, like, giving my. Like, I'm only using like 10 or 15% of the drive pushing power. So I start pushing it almost to the full extent, and then that's when I'm getting the upper hand. We go back and forth, back and forth, and I didn't ever expect this to happen. I pushed him and I got him up on the kickblade. Then I see Ryan signal to one of his teammates, get the house robot. I didn't think synthesis was ever going to stop a house robot, but I thought, hey, going to do whatever I can. So I kind of put it in its way. The house robot goes around and hits Aries. Doesn't move. It's trying to come to the backside. And then you just. It looked kind of funny. So you see synthesis with the. The forks, they kind of curled over like hands. So they, I drive into them and it looks like a person's trying to push against a, a stone wall. And then I just get popped backwards. Aries gets off. One thing I never really noticed until I, I watched back the match because the forks had like a hook like this. When I would go into Aries, he has a lot of like, pockets. My hooks actually go. Went inside of some of the pockets. So when I was pushing, I had. It was almost like I was pushing like a shopping cart. So we're pushing back and forth and Kevin said, do it again. So I'm pushing, pushing, pushing, and then I just see him ride up on, onto the kick plate. Then they, they started to count him out because he did. He didn't have the unstick again. And it wasn't setting in right then and there. And then there goes four, three. And then I set my controller down and I'm like thinking, did I just win a golden dumpster? After be. After fighting in the NHL since July of 2020, they counted him out. Team pandemonium celebrated. Sam called me over. I was handed my golden dumpster. It just, it didn't feel real that all this time of watching the robot lose to itself or lose to better competitors, my, my words and my thoughts were, I can finally hold the golden chalice at the top of Mount Olympus, standing next to those that I look so highly at. And now I can say, I'm one of you guys.
- [44:40]
Christine
Yeah, that's. That's awesome. And I couldn't have been more happy and more proud because, I mean, as somebody who's been watching you fight for years now and seeing all of the ups and downs, it definitely had to feel really good to, to, to get that obviously great accomplishment. I guess the question is, you know, going from here, are you planning on going to the pro event? And then obviously there's, there's more opens the rest of the year and you have a lot of robots.
- [45:19]
Corey Nason
I do plan on going to the pro league because so it has its own set of stuff that you winners get this. I'm looking for more data on what I can bring to champs because
- [45:39]
David Dreyer
I
- [45:39]
Corey Nason
wanna, I wanna have a good showing at champs and so I want to find out what doesn't work now rather than later. So I'll definitely be there because a lot of big hitters are going to. As far as. Outside of champ, as far as pro league after that synthesis. He's earned his. He's earned his little, little break. He has fought really hard. He. He's gone to a lot of events last year. I wanna we gonna give him the time. He's gonna hang out. I am going to June with a brand new 12 undisclosed right now you're just gonna have to wait and see what type of sparks and flames and, and whatnot happen. But yeah, no synthesis 30 is gonna hang out and watch the other, the other robots get their shot. Because I spent so much time doing the 30 last year, I do want to try to branch into the 12s again. I don't feel as though I give the 12s enough time and dedication. I did the threes initially, did the 30s. Now it's time for the Twelves.
- [46:55]
Christine
Yeah, I mean, I'm certainly looking forward to that. You have, you know, shown that you've had a number of bots who are apex predators in their respective weight classes. So I'm sure whatever you bring in twelves is going to be very scary. So I'm looking forward to it. And you know, speaking of scary bots and big verts, we're going to be talking to David Dreyer with Xenomorph in the next segment. So as we continue this episode of talking to all of the April dumpster winners. So congrats again, Corey. Thank you for joining me. And I, I look forward to. Forward to seeing more of what you're bringing to the table this year.
- [47:42]
Corey Nason
Thank you for having me. And I think Blunder is a phenomenal robot and Xenomorph has my heart with the big birds. But maybe a little something something coming up down the stream.
- [47:56]
Christine
Well, we shall see. So continue watching this episode and we will keep going with these conversations with the dumpster winners.
- [48:05]
Evan Rosenblatt
Foreign.
- [48:11]
Christine
Now it is time to talk about 12 pound robots. And if you've been paying attention, I think that people know that Xenomorph is quite a force to be reckoned with. And man, did it show some kill power in this event for April. So. So I have David Dreyer here with me to talk about Xenomorph. Welcome back.
- [48:38]
David Dreyer
Yeah, thanks, Christine. It's good to be back. I didn't think I would actually be back so soon, so. Yeah, thanks for having me again.
- [48:47]
Christine
Yeah, for sure. I mean, what can I say? It was quite an event for your robot and I'm really excited to talk about it because it's one thing to win, but I think you went through quite a gauntlet of formidable opponents and still managed like literally tap out or knockout for every single fight. That's crazy. What, what do you think about that?
- [49:16]
David Dreyer
Yeah, I think that's awesome. Somebody actually was on the NHRL Discord asking about that, like, who. Who had won without a judge's decision? And I was like, I actually think I did that. There's nothing I hate worse than going to the judges. So, yeah, I was. If I can help it, I. I try not to let that happen.
- [49:39]
Christine
Well, it's. It's funny because the announcers often talk about that and say, like, hey, if you don't want to have to deal with a judge's decision, don't let it get to that. And you certainly don't did that. So we'll just kind of go through the, you know, the fights to talk about it, because everyone, like, ended in destruction. But I think everyone had its own, like, unique, you know, parts to it. So, first of all, before I talk about any of those going into the day, because when somebody wins a dumpster, I always like to ask them, like, how did you feel going into it? Did you foresee yourself getting that far? Like, how were you feeling?
- [50:24]
David Dreyer
To answer your question, no. You know, I have this bad habit of, like, not being as prepared as I want to be. You know, I say every time going into an event, I'm going to have two copies ready to go, you know, and unfortunately, I only had the one. And so, like, I was like, I had the one ready to go, and then I was. I was prepping the second one basically all day on Saturday, and normally I get there on Friday as well, but I wasn't able to take off a full day of work. So this is the first time I was not there on Friday. I saw. I came in and safety and everything on Saturday. So it was a little bit more hectic. And I actually didn't get a chance to really walk around the pits and say hi to everybody. It was just a really chaotic day. And I don't know, I didn't. Yeah, I never thought it would. Would go that far. I mean, obviously you're hoping for it, but yeah, I definitely did not think. Honestly, I will say going into this, I did not. Like, my goal was not to win. It was just to qualify for finals because in February, I was one win away. And so I really was like, all right, all I needed is top four. That's all I care about. You know, anything past that is gravy. So, yeah, I think we. I think we accomplished what we set out to do.
- [51:40]
Christine
You certainly did. And I think the number of stories that I've heard from people who have said this was definitely not the event where I expected to win. It happens pretty frequently. So I'm starting to think that the less prepared you are, maybe the better you do.
- [51:56]
Corey Nason
I don't know.
- [51:57]
David Dreyer
Maybe that is the winning strategy. Although I will say I came in on Saturday, and I saw, Speaking of Corey nason, he had three fully complete synthesis sitting on the table, ready to go. I was like, all right, this guy is where I want to be someday. And obviously, it worked out in his favor. So.
- [52:15]
Christine
Yeah.
- [52:16]
David Dreyer
Yeah, I don't. I think being more prepared is not a bad plan.
- [52:20]
Christine
It's not bad. Depends on the day. Depends on the builder, but, yeah. Well, we'll talk about your fights. So the first fight was against Caldera 12. And obviously, like, Glenn super dialed in. You know, he's a really strong builder, Great guy. As competitive as he is, he's just, like, one of the nicest people. But, you know, caldera is a pretty scary machine for me. In my. In my experience, like, as a vert, I preferred to actually fight horizontals. I felt like I had better results against them. But how were you feeling about fighting caldera?
- [53:05]
David Dreyer
Yeah. So, yeah, this was actually a rematch. I had fought him in finals or at world champs last year, and I went into it with, like, my normal vert config, which is just the, like, outrunner forks. And I. I only had one secret config, which obviously comes into play later. And so I. I wanted to save that till the end. So I. I figured it worked well the first time with just the regular config because he does hit a little bit higher up. You know, I. I've obviously been having issues with undercutters. I haven't been able to get any kind of bite on them.
- [53:41]
Evan Rosenblatt
But the.
- [53:41]
David Dreyer
The mid cutters, I don't seem to have as much trouble with, so I figured I'll just play it again. And I. I knew I was gonna have to tank a hit because I. I did tank a hit last time where he shredded into the front of the armor, but that is what the armor is meant to do. So I actually was running a set of old armor in that match Because I didn't have a ton of the new stuff with the playing or forks on it. So I'm like, well, I'll use this one up, because I. I know it's going to get shredded. And that was exactly what happened. He got a couple really good hits on me, but the armor, you know, did what it needed, and it soaked up the hit, and I was able to. To. To get that weapon to weapon exchange, and. And, yeah, I I don't think Glenn is used to, like, his matches ending that quickly. You know, usually he's like. He wins by attrition a lot of times, and that's why, like, versus him, I really. You know, you got to end it quick because he'll start wearing you down if you're not careful. So, yeah, just. It kind of worked out. Yeah, I got a couple good hits on the. The drive side, I think, on him. On him. And shredded the. He was actually running Peba in this competition, which is kind of a new material that a lot of builders are trying out. I actually was going to try it out for Xenomorph, but I was having issues with it printing right. But he was able. Actually able to get it printed really good in it. That Peba seemed to hold up pretty well. I mean, it definitely tanked a few hits from Xenomorph, so. But ultimately, I was able to get that KO and move on from there, so. Yeah. And I. That's why, if you look at back in the match, too, I kind of kind of backed off a little quickly, and I don't think the announcers were even ready for it because they were like, oh, something's wrong with Xenomorph. It's like, no, I'm just trying to chill. You know, it's the first match out. You're not trying to go too hard, you know?
- [55:27]
Christine
Right, right, exactly. And that's a really good point, too, about Glenn as a driver. That often it is that kind of attrition where, like, he just keeps wearing you down. So. Good. Good thing that you kind of took him out pretty early and were able to get that tap out. Um, now, in qualifying, your second opponent is Galaxy, which I think is. Is a really solid robot. I think it gets overshadowed on the Georgia Tech team because everybody knows Chonky is, like, the apex predator there, but it's a good robot, you know, And I thought that, like, they're. I believe their earlier fight, it looked good. So what was. What was. What was your thought going into it with Galaxy?
- [56:14]
David Dreyer
Yeah, I somehow didn't know about Galaxy much. Like, I don't know how I was sleeping on it, because I was like, galaxy. Galaxy.
- [56:25]
Corey Nason
Who's that?
- [56:25]
David Dreyer
And then I went over there, and I was like, oh, yeah, I remember him. And I was like, oh, oh, no. Because he's got a vert that's scarily as big as mine, and he does have a shuffler bonus. So I was like, ooh, he's gonna have a little bit of A weight advantage on me. And you know, he's got so much power in that weapon. If you saw in the match, I mean, he just, he just pinballed everywhere. I mean, he's got so much torque in that thing. I was, I was very concerned. I'll be honest with you. The only thing I was hoping for is that, you know, with shufflers, sometimes, not all the time, they, they do hurt maneuverability a little bit. I, I've noticed, especially in the, in the bigger weight classes, maybe when you get to the Beatles, man, the shufflers really move so, so well. You really almost can't even tell the difference. But seems like when you get up to 12 pound, it's, it doesn't quite have that maneuverability. So I was hoping to, to outmaneuver them and just stay super aggressive and that's, that was the strategy going in and yeah, I was able to win those first couple engagements and, you know, Xenomorph's whole strategy is to just kind of stay, stay on them, stay aggressive. You know, kind of like the monster in the movies, you know, it's like you don't want to let them breathe for a second, you know, because when they're bouncing around and they're not planted, then you're able to control the match. So, yeah, after that first hit, I don't think he was on the ground on four wheels, so to speak, for more than 10 seconds. Yeah, he, you know, he was trying, but I don't know what killed him at the end because he doesn't have any bunny ears or anything. So he's relying totally on the weapon to self. Right. And it seemed like that last hit just totally killed him. I actually didn't get a chance to ask him what happened, but yeah, he just seemed to die in that last hit. And so, yeah, I was thankful that I actually didn't really take any damage going into that because like I said, I didn't have a ton of spares of the new armor. So, yeah, I was super pumped that we got another quick KO moving right into the, the bracket then. And yeah, Xenomorph wasn't sweating too much at this point. Yeah, I was starting to feel pretty good at this point for sure.
- [58:35]
Christine
Yeah, that's where you want to be going into the bracket. You know, you want to be feeling good and stuff, not kind of like limping in there and like just getting in and then, you know, you're kind of on the, on the back foot at that point. But your first opponent in the bracket was from another southern college from Florida, which is Steggy. And, you know, gosh, I love that robot. I told. I've told John before, I love that robot, and it is very tough. It has a couple different configs and things like that. So, you know, you kind of have to be on your toes when you're fighting it. But, you know, what was your opinion and how do you feel like that match went? Because it did end in a. In a KO and not a tap out.
- [59:25]
David Dreyer
Yeah, yeah, you're right. I love that bot, too, honestly. It's got a great esthetic, really well built. Yeah, John's a great guy. And, yeah, like, that was my. Actually my first time fighting a modular opponent, which definitely adds a new element to kind of the pit game, so to speak, you know, the config wars. And, yeah, we weren't sure actually what config they were going to run because there were some rumblings in the pit that their undercutter config was having some issues. And that was obviously the one that we were most worried about because it's kind of similar to, you know, buzzkill, especially. And it was, you know, he's been getting us. So I'm like, man, we got to fight another. Another undercutter. And, yeah, so we. We weren't sure. We actually walked over to them and just was asking, and they were like, oh, yeah, we're running the undercutter. So I'm like, oh, okay. I'm like, all right. But, yeah, and then, like I said, we only had one undercutter configuration, and I was really not sure if I was going to run it or not, because I'm like, man, if I don't run it and I lose, then it's like, well, what. What was I saving it for then? You know, I'm out anyway, you know, But I was looking at the bracket, and at the top of the bracket was Maximizer. We. We were like, on the opposite sides of the bracket. So. So as soon as the bracket was posted, I was like, man, if we go. If we go far and maximizer goes far, there's a possibility we might meet in the finals.
- [60:55]
Evan Rosenblatt
A possibility.
- [60:56]
David Dreyer
I wasn't like, you know, I was. This was wishful thinking at the time, but I'm thinking, like, man, maybe there's a chance. So I'm like, all right, we're gonna save the undercutter config and we're gonna gamble. And, yeah, going into the match, I wasn't sure until I got to the weigh in, and I seen Steggy with the undercutter config. I'm like, no, he got it working. And yeah, so I was a little concerned because, you know, going into this competition, xenomorph was like 1 for 5 on undercutters. Basically, we got one win at Motorama on an undercutter, but, you know, other than that, we were really not doing well against undercutters. So I was honestly a lot concerned going into this match. And yeah, at first it kind of was going the same way as, as our Buzzkill matches where I just could not get any bite. I was like ramping over top of him. He's got a very similar front end to Buzzkill with the sloped V shape. And, you know, the, the blade is so close to the ground, so you just. I was struggling to get any bite on it, but, you know, thank. I just kept going head on and I was like, all right, one of us is going to win this exchange for the better. And eventually I was able to get a bite finally. That was like my first bite on a real undercutter. And yeah, like I said, once you get to destabilize, you know, I'm trying to come back in quick. And we were able to capitalize once, once we got that initial hit and he was never able to really get stable again after that. And yeah, we tossed him around. I think we got a really good shot on their top plate when they were like kind of doing a gyro dance, you know, I know that game. And yeah, I saw, I saw that the guts kind of hanging out. I'll be honest, I didn't realize that from my angle, I actually couldn't see that the battery was hanging out. And he, you know, up until like that, like right before I hit him that last hit, he was still moving like his weapon was still going. Like he actually moved himself over to that spot. So, like, I'm like, oh, he's still going. Like, maybe his guts are maybe slightly hanging out, but you know, he's not tapping and you know, the match seems to be still going. And yeah, I, I went in for that last hit and as soon as I did, I was like, oh, we got the battery. So, yeah, that was a little spectacular. I, I do, I little feel bad and I, in hindsight, you know, I, I don't mean to, to try to, you know, kick a dead horse while I was down, but yeah, it did make for a quite a spectacle for sure. And actually looking at the match bag, I don't think it actually really did that much damage. Although I'm sure John will be able to say for sure, it looked like it really just got the battery mostly. It actually seemed like that the hit prior to that was the one that really did all the damage. But I, you know, there's no way to say for sure, but. Yeah, well, especially not counting the battery obviously. Yeah, yeah.
- [64:02]
Christine
I mean, sometimes I think much like many NASCAR fans watch the races for the crashes, I think there's combat robotics fans that watch for the lipo fires.
- [64:17]
David Dreyer
Me, I'm, I'm that guy.
- [64:21]
Evan Rosenblatt
Yep, yep.
- [64:22]
Christine
So, you know, got then into prime time versus Luna, which I believe is a new robot. And you know, when you have a robot that's newer, there can be a lot of like questions because you don't have like prior events to look off of and kind of see what it's done. So how did you approach that one? Because it would have been a little bit different than maybe some of the others where it was more familiar robots.
- [64:53]
David Dreyer
Yeah, that's a good point actually. So, yeah, I believe this is his scaled up version of Comet, basically. So, you know, you see Comet do really, really well in the three pound class. And you know, he's a great builder and you know, just looking at the machine you could tell it's a new bot, but it's definitely not a new builder. So yeah, he's got a lot figured out already. You know, there might still be some new bot gremlins, but he was undefeated at that point going in and his matches looked very competitive. So I was, this was, this was definitely if it wasn't for Steggy with the undercutter config, I was, I was almost just as concerned going into this match. Honestly. He's got, I mean that blade on that thing is, is thicker than Prometa even, you know, and it's like mine looks like a pizza cutter compared to. So yeah, I was, I was really concerned and honestly he was so small that it was really hard to actually even get a bite on him. A lot of times like he was so small he was able to hit my front end and avoid the weapon, especially because he's got kind of, it like tapers, his design kind of tapers, which is kind of unusual build. You know, a lot of people are like flat sided or kind of a square aspect ratio, but he's, he's got a taper to it which lets him kind of get in closer without taking a hit. And yeah, it was really working for him for those first couple exchanges. And yeah, I saw a belt come off early And I'm like, I didn't know whose belt that was. I'm like, oh, is that ours? Is that his? I couldn't even be able to. Sure. Because he seemed to be driving just as good. Like, it didn't seem to affect him at all. And then I got another hit on him and then took a belt off, and I knew that was his belt that time. But even still, that must have been his front driving. His front wheels, he must have that bot weight distribution really well balanced, because even with just being on rear wheels, it honestly seemed to drive perfectly fine to me. And a lot of times when bots lose the front wheels, they kind of. They kind of drag the front a little bit and they definitely lose maneuverability. But, yeah, he didn't. He didn't seem to be hurting for maneuverability at all. And, yeah, so we just. We got lucky again that we were able to destabilize them and then get them on the. What's it called, the kick plate. You know, kind of hate those kick plates. You know, the kick plates give it. Than the kick plates take it away. In this match, they. They wound up helping me a little bit. And he got stuck on there and, you know, I. The first unstick is free, and we got him off that without him calling the unstick, and we got a couple good. Couple engagements back. And then he got back on the. On the kick plate again, and I was like, all right, well, we'll let him call for the unstick this time. Meanwhile, I'm like, you know, maneuvering into the optimal position to get a hit on him. Soon as that light turns blue, I'm like, I'm in. You know, we're back in it. So, yeah, we get a couple good. More hits on him. And again, kind of like Galaxy, it just. It seemed like his bot just kind of died there at the end. And yeah, he. He tapped out and that was another. Another good ko But I'll be honest, definitely felt like we were on the ropes there or, you know, or taking a. Taking a beating back a few times and, you know, it was starting to feel like it was going back and forth and you just. You just don't know. You know, you could come out strong and then they start whittling you back and you're like, we gotta. We gotta rethink this a little bit. But we were. We were luckily able to capitalize on him getting stuck on the wall and just take it from there and get the ko.
- [68:36]
Christine
Yeah, for sure. And I mean, the deeper you get into the Bracket, I think you expect the level of difficulty to continue to ramp up. But that, that win got you to your original kind of goal of making it into the top four.
- [68:52]
David Dreyer
Yes.
- [68:53]
Christine
And of course all that that stood between you and the finals at that point was 12 speed, which also was kind of a robot that had been really kind of kicking button, taking names the entire day. So yeah, I mean another, another scary fight, but Xenomorph certainly seemed up to the task.
- [69:18]
David Dreyer
Yeah, yeah, actually I had seen 12 speed last year at an event. They're, they're also from Gator, I believe. Same team as Steggy. And yeah, they honestly, they got a great looking machine. I really like the aesthetic of it. Kind of like an industrial build kind of vibe with the tracks and everything. Just really kind of a stout looking machine. And, and they had just taken out Lottery which was on like a tear that day and looking really strong. And I'll be honest, I was like, man, if we gotta fight Lottery, like this is not good. Like they're looking really strong. And then I seen 12 speed kick their butt like handedly. So I'm like, well shoot, like if they kicked Lottery's butt that bad, then we're gonna be really struggling, you know, like we're gonna be in for a tough fight. And yeah, like, I mean they got a great machine. Now they did have some issues, I think with, with weighing in. They were slightly overweight. They weren't sure why they, you know, it was the same config that they always run. But you know, I, I don't know, I've ran into weird, weird stuff like that, you know, like I've even had like my 3D printed material. You know, it soaks up moisture over time and that'll add weight and everything. So you just don't know why. But they were a few ounces under, so. Or over, so they had to actually pull some screws out, which is never ideal going into a match when your front wedge is held on by like three screws. I think it was. But even still, I mean they, they were looking really strong. And yeah, I mean it was a, it was another match where we luckily kind of got that first engagement. You know, I, I don't know, I'm not like one of these guys that tries to get fancy with the driving. I probably should, but I'm more of a like, all right, we're gonna send it in, you know, and just see what happens and then go from there. It starts, stuff starts going bad, we'll dial it back and change Tack. But usually my first strategy is just to go in and hopefully win that first engagement and, you know, capitalize on that. And yeah, we were able to do that, but, you know, they've got a really well built machine and they were, they were taking the hits and for a while there, I mean, they were taking the hits, but they kept coming, you know, they kept moving and they were still trying to engage. And at one point they even actually, at one point I actually got stuck on the wall that kick plate again. I'm telling you, man, that thing is brutal. I've actually, I lost a match to that, so I'm like really freaking out. And luckily I hadn't used an unstick or anything at that point, so I called for my unstick and, you know, luckily I had that in the bag because actually I would have. I would have lost that match because I was stuck on that kick plate pretty good. I like, meant to turn a little bit earlier, but I turned too late and I just gyro right on top of it. And luckily Brett was right there and he was able to get us free. And then meanwhile, 12 speed, I think was having a little bit of mobility issues, but they were still moving somewhat and they actually called for an unstick themselves. I saw the blue lights. I'm like, all right, we're gonna keep. They want to keep it going. They're not, they're not. I didn't hear no tap out, you know, and yeah, we, you know, it kind of went sour for them real quick after that. Their unstick was called and yeah, I actually, I'll be honest with you, I even what myself wasn't ready quite for the destruction that followed. I know they probably weren't as well. I, you know, I do kind of feel bad. I, I probably went a little. A little hard there at the end, but it was, you know, you're. You're coming in. This is the fight leading up to the finals. You know, you're not, you're leaving nothing on the table. They were still in it. I'm like, all right, we're. If you're in it, I'm in it. So, yeah, it turned. Turned ugly kind of quickly there at the end.
- [73:03]
Christine
The adrenaline just takes over sometimes.
- [73:06]
David Dreyer
Yeah, yeah, the, the xenomorph blood was definitely running deep in that. That was final moments for sure.
- [73:13]
Evan Rosenblatt
For sure.
- [73:13]
David Dreyer
Yeah, I know I've been on the receiving end of a beat down myself, so it comes around, goes around, I guess. But yeah, I do hope that they're able to get 12 speed back because as you said, they, they as well qualified for finals and Pro Tour. So I do hope that they're able to. To get the bot back in shape because they got a great machine there. And if they continue to improve it like they did, they. I mean, I don't see why they can't be in the finals as soon as. Well, yeah.
- [73:41]
Christine
Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure. Now, you know, obviously Xenomorph was on a tear, but, you know, there's. There's Maximizer, who. It's one of those things that, like, I think the last time that Jake won a dumpster, it was one of those days where I just kind of watch throughout the day and you can just tell when somebody has, like, the eye of the tiger. And it's like, you know that, like, almost nothing is going to stop them. And I really felt like I was seeing that from Jake in this event as well. And I was like, oh, man. Like, Xenomorphs looking really solid, but this is going to be a very tough fight. And, you know, it was like, in the beginning, it was a little bit back and forth, but Xenomorph obviously, at a point kind of took over and was able to get the K.O. in the end. So talk through that a little bit. Like how you were feeling, you know, going into it against Maximizer.
- [74:41]
David Dreyer
Yes.
- [74:42]
Christine
And then like, how you felt through the match and obviously getting the win in the end.
- [74:47]
David Dreyer
Yeah, yeah. So actually the story kind of begins, like, immediately after that 12 speed match. So, you know, we. I had never been to this point in competition at Norwalk before. I. I had been as a partner, like a pit partner with Brendan with Slam Plan when he went and won his Dumpster. So I kind of had a. I knew what was coming, but I still wasn't ready for it. And they. They are so tight on that schedule at the end, man, you have to be dialed in. And, you know, we. We didn't even know if we were going to be fighting Maximizer at first because we were the. We were the first quality semifinals match. And I was thinking, like, man, this is actually not a good position to be in because we're not going to know who our next opponent is, like, until like, 15 minutes later when Maximizer starts fighting Supernova. So I, I had somebody watching the, the stream while I'm, like, charging my batteries and stuff, because I. I didn't want to commit to a config yet because it was really going to take some time to swap everything over. So he's like, I'm like, all right, how's Maximizer doing? How's he doing? I'm like, oh, I don't know yet. He's. There's some back and forth. And he's like, oh, supernova's on fire. I'm like, all right, that's all I need to know. That's all I need to know. We're prepping for Maximizer. So, yeah, like how I alluded earlier, I had. I come up with this. This config for undercutters. You know, I'd been getting my butt kicked by these undercutters time and time again.
- [76:23]
Corey Nason
And I.
- [76:24]
David Dreyer
And I tried a small little D2 wedge at fine. What was it? Yeah, I think it was at finals. Yeah. No, was it at. I think it was February. Yeah, I had that little D2 wedge and. Versus Buzz killed, man, he ripped that thing off in one shot. You know, I was like, well, that didn't do any. I was hoping for one hit. That's all I was hoping for. I didn't even get that. It got ripped off without even getting a hit. So I'm like, all right, we got to come up with something different. And my. I had two plans. I had the plan that you saw with the baleen, and I also had, like, a dead ride, dead rise style plow, like, up out front, kind of outriggered out front, because that seemed to be very effective as well. The only issue with that is, man, that's a lot of titanium. And, you know, that was going to be a sizable amount of investment into making a bent, huge bent titanium plow that would be able to encompass the whole front of Xenomorph. So I'm like, all right, we're going to try the cheaper option first. And I'm like, all right, I seen it worked on. That's a lot of TPU against Grim Ripper. He had the. The baling. And I'm like, you know, that could work. You know, it might slow him down and. And jam them up, and then I'd be able to use it as a ramp. So I was going into that, and, yeah, we were prepping the config. It also meant that I had to swap the blade to a. A less weighty blade. Like, it's the same diameter, but it's a bar shape that's about a pound less. Way less moment of inertia, which allowed the weight for the baleen. And it also had the very nice advantage of not gyroing nearly as much. Like, so we're prepping for the Config, and I mean, I'm so locked in trying to get this thing on there. I could hear Jake because he was pitted like a table away from me. He's like, what is that? That's diabolical. I'm like, yes, that means I'm doing something right, because he's. He's starting to freak out. And I don't know, though, I was still going into that match, I was still really nervous, you know, because he's Jake and like you said, he gets locked in, and he was definitely locked in in that event. And so, yeah, going into that match, I'm like, all right, it's going to be 50. 50. Well, I was like, we're going to know right away whether or not this bailing works. And yeah, thankfully it. It freaking worked, man. We went in there, I think one of the announcers said it was like a fortress in the arena. I mean, with. With the gyro being so much less, I was able to just turn as much as I wanted and be able to stay squared up with him. And it basically just negated his whole strategy because anytime he's trying to attack, he's swinging into my front end and just riding right up the front end. Excuse me. We were able to just, yeah, get like, hit after hit and. But I'll tell you what, Jake's got a strong machine, though, because, I mean, yeah, maybe the blade wasn't hitting quite as hard because of the less weight, but, I mean, he was just tanking hits. I mean, we were giving out some really good hits, and it didn't seem to be phasing him at all. Like, obviously it was send him up in the air and, and getting them messed up. But, like, he, he seemed to be coming back down and was still driving, was still spinning, so I'm like, well, shoot, how are we going to beat this guy? You know? And, yeah, he's got such a sharp blade that he got it caught in the kick plate. He got caught once and I, I got him free that, that time I was like, all right, the first time's free, you know, and he got caught again. And this time I let him use the unstick. And again, like, I was like, ready? They're waiting. I. I was. For a moment, I thought about playing that jam up the house spot kind of move, you know, But I'm like, all right, I don't know if I have the. Have the power to do that, but what I will do is just start hitting him as soon as it turns blue and just block the house spot from even able to get to him. If I'm in front of him hitting him, the housebot can't save him. So, yeah, we just, we just came in there and I think I was the one that actually unstuck him. I don't even think Brett actually even did anything in that unstick. I think that was me that unstick him. And then, yeah, after that we just kept wailing on him for a little bit more. And yeah, the kick plate gods giveth again and he gets stuck for the final time with no unstick left. And for a moment I was like, do I go in for that hit again? I'm like, no, no, no. I'm like, this is the finals. We're just gonna let him sit right there and get counted out. And yeah, and honestly, in that, that count out moment, it was so surreal because I was like, oh my God, I. I think we're gonna win. Like, I've never, I've never been here before. Like, this is weird. Like, I can't believe we're actually about to win this whole thing. And it was like in that moment, it like sucked sunk in. And I was like, oh man, I was overjoyed. I don't know who was higher, the crew up on the. In the Orion capsule or me at Norwalk.
- [81:22]
Christine
Valid point. Valid point. Yeah, I mean, it was an amazing run, you know, an amazing win in the finals over just an insanely good robot. Now, I. I believe I heard that you are bringing Xenomorph back to, to the May event or June.
- [81:42]
David Dreyer
Yeah. So I did qualify actually for the Pro Tour event back in February, and I had gotten the invite and I wasn't sure if I was going to go or not. It actually kind of depended on how well I did at this event. I was like, well, if I qualify, then I'm not going to Pro Tour because I'm like, I don't really see the point. But I. I wound up winning. I'm like, oh, wow. Okay. And then so I was like, really on the fence about going to Pro Tour, but it kind of just worked out. I. I was able to get that day off from work and I don't know, it just. I didn't want to miss out on the fun, you know, it just. It's something different. I'm really hoping that Norwalk does something special for the event. They've been kind of light on details. I know a lot of people are kind of still waiting on details if they're gonna come or not. There's they're saying that they're gonna like give a stipend per match. I'm not really sure how that's gonna work. I, I'm, I'm just really in it for the fun, you know, I don't know. You know, you talk to any builder, they're not in it for the money, you know. So, yeah, I am. I, as of right now, I am currently signed up for the Pro Tour event in May. And so, yeah, I'm hoping that's gonna be a, like a fun special event and that should be a fun time. Now, obviously the level of competition is going to be a lot higher than when you're at like an open event, so we'll see how Xenomorph does. You know, it might be a good opportunity also maybe to test a few things, you know, because actually my whole goal for getting Xenomorph qualified is I, I wanted to get it qualified early in the year as I could because I actually, I really want to try to get a Beetle qualified at Norwalk. I, I know that's kind of a tall order, but I figured maybe I'll just rest Xenomorph then for the rest of the year and then take either my existing three pounder or I'm maybe working on a new one to bring there and maybe qualified. But you know, God, there's, there's three pounders that have been high level three pounders that have been going there for years that haven't been able to do that. So we'll see.
- [83:47]
Christine
You never know. Sometimes it's just who you get matched up against. But yeah, that would be exciting to see if you bring anything like that. Well, I'm sure we'll all be excited to see Xenomorph at Pro Tour and whatever other events you might go to throughout the year, but just amazing run and obviously big congrats on the, on the dumpster win.
- [84:11]
David Dreyer
Yeah, thanks. Yeah, I appreciate it, Christine, for having me on. And yeah, it's been a, it's been a blast. And yeah, the perseverance, perseverance finally fade paid off and we got the Golden Dumpster sitting there and yeah, maybe there'll be more in the future. Who knows? I don't know. Like, it's going to be tough to catch up to someone like Jamo. You know, his wall is probably, probably getting full of him by this point. He's probably ran out of room and he's just chucking them in drawers somewhere at this. You know, he's like, what am I gonna do with all these. I'm content with just the one right now. If that's all I get, I'll be. I'll be happy.
- [84:46]
Christine
Yeah, for sure. For sure. Well, for those that are watching, keep watching this episode. We have more. We're talking to all of the Dumpster winners from the April event, so. So stay tuned. All right, we are back for the final segment of this episode, and I'm kind of doing this in reverse order from the way that I normally do. But, I mean, realistically, when you look at the Beetle Bracket, there's a lot to unpack. It's a lot of fights. And, of course, it was an exciting day for. For this guest, which is Evan Rosenblatt from wpi, who I have not had on the show before. So I'm so excited to welcome you to the show.
- [85:35]
Evan Rosenblatt
Excellent. Thank you. I'm honored to be here, and I'm excited to run through some fights and give some insight.
- [85:41]
Christine
Yeah, it's always a good thing. I mean, I know that for me, I watch as much of the entire day as I can, but of course, there's so many fights, they don't show them all in the mainstream. It would probably take a long time to just sit there and watch every single one from the Brett zone. So I learned a lot by, you know, by hearing this in the interviews as well, before I get into the fights, you know, because you haven't been on. Something I really want to kind of dive into real quick is just talking about your robot and your experience in combat robotics. This wasn't Blunder's first event, but I do want to talk a little bit more about it, just for the viewers and listeners who may not be as familiar with you or Blender.
- [86:33]
Evan Rosenblatt
Of course. Yeah. So I'm a current senior at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, so we have a pretty big scene here at wpi. I'm sure most people have seen the team around at least once before, but I officially started with the team back in my sophomore year. So we have a lot of people that compete in smaller weight classes. So we do Internal competitions for 1 pound plastic ant weights all the time. And like all of our other team members, that's how I got my start, too, with plastic ant weights and just learning the basics of combat and how to not make things explode. You would think it's pretty easy, but as everyone knows, it's not as easy as it sounds. But I started just trying to get something fun. I'd been very focused on all of my classwork. Starting my sophomore year is a Big jump. I was living off campus, so I needed something to tie me in, bring me back in. And that was combat for me. So I started my first ever robot and I knew I wanted to do something strange, something a little goofy. And that to me was shufflers. I know people have their opinions on shufflers and weight bonuses in general, and for the most part I agree, Nerf shufflers.
- [87:53]
David Dreyer
But
- [87:56]
Evan Rosenblatt
I do think that, you know, for a person that was starting out for the first time, it was a good challenge to get me interested into combat Robotics and give me something to hyper focus on. So I started with that. You know, I made my first ever robot was a shuffling drum named Whoopsie Daisy. At the time, you know, it did, it did fairly well. But most importantly, I learned a lot and eventually that robot evolved a couple times and is now a two time event winner. So, you know, it's come a long way. And from that I decided, you know, why not take the ridiculousness and step it up to three pounds? So that is what Blender is, you know, my first ever attempt at a three pound robot. And it's been quite an adventure so far. It's never what I expected, but it's been a lot of fun. I've been to so many different events. My first ever nhrl back in February of last year, I made it into primetime, which was incredible. And to think that that was my first event ever is still quite ridiculous to me.
- [89:05]
Christine
Yeah, I mean, sometimes you have good circumstances happening in that first event and it just works out. You, you know, obviously, like prime time is great. Probably like most builders I think, would just love to make prime time and they'd be happy for the rest of their lives with doing that. So, yeah, that's wonderful. And I think it's kind of a cool like thought process to have an idea and then continue to iterate on it and evolve it into something different and then see that like reach the pinnacle essentially of what three pound combat robotics is at this point point. So given all of that, you know, because certainly like Blunder had, you know, a pretty good, you know, record showing and everything. Before this event, what were you feeling like looking at the, you know, the field, the competition, what kind of shape your robot was in? How were you feeling coming into this?
- [90:06]
Evan Rosenblatt
Well, I was feeling pretty bad personally. You know, the robot on Thursday night before the event, still in a ton of pieces. I was still making parts. So, you know, the classic procrastinator ways, but I got it done and that's what matters. But my team, you Know, especially Ben Howard of Showtime. He's been putting in my head for the last, probably month before that, ever since, ever since he got that dumpster in hand. He, you know, the first time I saw him after that, he came up to me and said, you're next. So, you know, the team's been super supportive and they had much more confidence than I did. And I'm glad they did because it definitely pushed me a lot harder than I think I would have pushed myself.
- [90:51]
Christine
Yeah, for sure. And that's a good point because I mean, like, I think WPI has always been, you know, at the top in terms of teams. You know, you see a lot of wins and things like that with the folks that have come out of there. But I think that it's been a little while, especially seeing like back to back dumpsters. So I don't. Maybe there's a WPI resurgence going on right now. I guess we'll, we'll see how that goes moving forward. But yeah, so. Well, that, that's good. It's so funny that you say like, you know, you weren't necessarily confident because I would find most of the time when I talk to people who won dumpsters that eventually didn't necessarily feel good or prepared going into it. So I, I don't know what, what that says about what happens, but. But yeah, yeah, it's kind of a theme now for the first, like the qualifying fights. I mean, you were, you know, it was kind of fortunate that you ended up against a couple of robots with less experience. That doesn't always equate to a win, but you know, it does give you typically better chances because new robots, 95% of the time have some kind of gremlins going on. But let's talk about, you know, briefly those qualifying fights versus Sir Nigel and divergence and like what your takeaways were from that going into the bracket.
- [92:23]
Evan Rosenblatt
Yeah, I mean the first fight for me is always quite nerve wracking. Getting into the box for the first time in the day is always terrifying. And you know, if you watch me before that fight, I'm sitting there like unable to sit still, ready to get going. And you know, the first fight takes the jitters out of me. But it was, it was so much fun. The first fight, Sir Nigel, they're such a nice team from I believe Rutgers. They have, I believe it's supposed to be four wheel drive. I don't, I don't know their listing said four wheel drive, but the robot looked two wheel drive to me. But it's a vertical spinner. I believe they had a flywheel on it as well, which they chose not to run against me, which I, I think I agree with. I don't know. But it was a lot of fun. The team was super nice and you know, the match ended pretty quickly. We really got only one good hit on them and apparently their robot shorted and turned off the, the receiver. So it was, it was a bit of, you know, a letdown unfortunately. You know, I wish I could have kept going, but it does, it does make me feel good. You know, first fight, a day going well and I believe once the wiki, the NHL wiki gets updated, that should be on the list of fastest KOs. So that, you know, that's something. It feels fun. It feels fun.
- [93:46]
Christine
Yeah, for sure. And then you, then you fought Divergence.
- [93:50]
Evan Rosenblatt
Yes, Divergence, you know, another four wheel drive vert. I feel like that's my bread and butter at this point. That's what big beaters are meant to fight. It's, it's a super fun time. They were super nice team. You know, the goal as always, just keep on them, try not to, you know, go head on and then see what happens. So we had, we had a nice little engagement right at the, right at the start of the match, you know, front on front pretty much. And from there they just spent the whole match upside down. And I was trying to line up good shots, get a little bit of drive, practice in, see what I could do.
- [94:29]
Christine
Yeah, and I mean really, I like honestly I enjoy the qualifying round because especially like if you're going in and even if you're feeling pretty good, it does give you a lot of data about your robot for the day to kind of give it a little bit of a test and see how it does going into the bracket. And that can kind of like either assure you, hey, I feel like I'm in a pretty good place or maybe if those fights don't go as well, then you're like, oh, I have some stuff that I need to work on, you know, kind of moving forward. So it's a good trial period. But luckily going to an OH and qualifying, that put you in a better place in the bracket, not having to go through the play in round and everything, which, you know, you know, you never know who you're going to get matched up against there. But in, in the bracket, your first fight was against Camino and Aaron Taggart, which that is a bot that is older than this podcast, I'm pretty sure. But yet, I mean, talk about it, you know, tap out. That's tap out or KO I think is the best you could hope for. And you did get the tap out on that one. So. So how do you feel you were able to accomplish that?
- [95:49]
Evan Rosenblatt
Well, this one was quite interesting. I mean, before the match we were talking and just comparing our bots a little bit. My teammates always make fun of me because Blunder has kind of a ridiculous battery capacity for £3. I had some battery issues back at some previous events and went, ah, it doesn't matter. I'm just going to put the biggest one I can fit in. And so, you know, people make fun of me for that, but, you know, I think it paid us off. So this was the match I was scared about. And, you know, it kind of didn't live up to the hype. We had really two fantastic hits in the first maybe 20 seconds of the match, which were fantastic to watch. You know, on the first hit, we go opposite ends of the arena. I'm on my head for basically the next five seconds trying to, you know, get back right side up and he comes in and gets a perfect hit while I'm upside down, sending both bots across the arena. If you're gonna watch the fight, do it. Watch the first like 30 seconds and then you'll see because unfortunately Camino loses a drive side after that engagement and I get maybe about another 10 seconds of driving before I then lose a drive side. So, you know, it was a tough fight. Both of us spent about 2 1/2 minutes just kind of crab walking, trying to get near each other at all costs. And, you know, it didn't happen, unfortunately. Yeah, there was one little engagement right at the end where I got maybe like, you know, I maybe got a half an inch off the ground and that was it. He did end up tapping out, but he told me that it was unintentional. He meant to call for the unstick. So that is tough. That is unfortunate. You know, the NHRL boxes at the cages are, you know, not always the nicest things to engage with. But thankfully I don't think it changed the outcome of the fight because his battery was entirely dead by the, you know, like 20, 30 second mark left in the match. So, you know, I don't feel too bad about it, thankfully. You know, I would feel awful if, you know, there was, there was still life and he had accidentally tapped out. That would have, you know, been awful for me. But I don't, I don't feel like it changed the outcome. So thankfully that, that was not the worst ending for me.
- [98:27]
Christine
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I, I agree with you there. I, I would think that if I was in a fight and somebody accidentally tapped out, I would feel really terrible. But, but like, like you said, if the outcome wouldn't have changed, which I would agree, it doesn't seem like it would have, then it doesn't really change anything. So. Yeah, well, I mean, good, good first win in the. Back in the bracket and, you know, going out of that your next fight was against Jackalope. And I mean, I. I love Gwen. That's a fun robot. I think, you know, Gwen has done a phenomenal job with it, obviously, and had a lot of success. I would say that, you know, it's. It's one that a lot of people now are afraid of if they see themselves matched up against it, because, you know, it can do quite a bit of damage and it, you know, it's pretty durable too. You were able to get the knockout there. So let's talk through that.
- [99:33]
Evan Rosenblatt
Yeah, I mean, Gwen is amazing. I've talked. I've talked a lot with her, and she's just fantastic. She's a WPI grad student now, so, you know, I guess you could call her adjacent team wpi. You know, we. We still, we still care for her. She's still part of our umbrella. But, you know, she. She was logs long successful before officially becoming a student here. But I, I'd seen Gwen a couple times throughout the day, and, you know, she loves to trash talk. I. I enjoy a little trash talk too. So we'd been. We'd been, you know, you know, button heads like friends do for pretty much the whole morning, which is a lot of fun. We knew that we would end up matched up against each other if we continued to win. So, you know, this. This was a super fun match for me. You know, I really respect Gwen, and Jackalope is a fantastic robot, so it was an absolute blast as, you know, someone who drives a robot with a really large beater. The point, the goal of the game, always just stay pointed and, you know, don't show your back. And for the most part, that worked. Jackalope's forks were very good targets for me, unfortunately, which was fantastic. I was able to, you know, get bite on them most of the time, keep throwing her around. She did get a couple good hits on me, flipping me over, but for the most part, I was able to keep control until eventually the back plate of her robot started to come open and then eventually fully removed and the battery came out as well. So, you know, it was a lot of fun, and I. You know, I wish I could have thrown a layer of duct tape on there before the match and kept going.
- [101:14]
Christine
Yeah, yeah, it's a very. It definitely is a tough robot to fight, and I. I have to feel that someday Gwen's going to get that dumpster, too.
- [101:22]
Evan Rosenblatt
Absolutely.
- [101:23]
David Dreyer
For sure.
- [101:24]
Christine
So, yeah, definitely a good fight going out of that. The next fight was against Turbo Fiend, although for this event, driven by Julian, normally driven by Dima. So, you know, how was that for you? I have to, like, obviously. So there was one time, one event where I almost thought I was going to have to fight Julian, and I was terrified. Fair, but. But I also feel like. Like, that would be a really fun fight. How was it for you?
- [102:01]
Evan Rosenblatt
Yeah, I mean, I was super excited for it. I fought Turbo Fiend back in April of last year when Dima was still driving it and, you know, got pretty handily beat. I was having a lot of issues that event, and it was kind of no contest. They blew me out of the water. So I was glad to get a rematch, get a second shot at redemption there. So I was super excited. And Julian is friends with quite a few of the team WPI people here, so I've had quite a few conversations with him. He likes to poke fun, so I was super excited for it, and I felt like it was a really good matchup for me. TPU is kind of the enemy of beaters, and it's very hard to do cutting damage when you're just hitting with a big blunt object. But as far as Turbofiend goes, there are a lot of juicy points for me to catch, and that was the name of the game. Aim for the edges of the forks, aim for the sides of the uprights, anything that's not his weapon. And for the most part, that worked, but it didn't seem to work too well. We had a lot of good engagements. He ended up winning the first couple, and then I decided, hey, I have so much battery capacity, why not use it? And spun up to the fastest I could and just, you know, tried pushing it as hard as possible. He ended up giving me the blade from the fight, which apparently was new at the start of our fight. So, you know, the dulling on this is pretty impressive for just a single fight. It was an absolute blast. About a minute or so in, I ended up taking out his weapon. I never was able to ask what happened with it. I don't know if it was something just got unplugged or maybe. Maybe Some magnets broke, but I'm curious to know, but it was a lot of fun, and it was a good, real test of me, my driving skills, you know, trying to get juggles and hit a robot twice or three times before it, you know, gets a chance to sit. And, you know, I felt like I finally got a hand to the driving. It's been. It's been a long time that, you know, blunder has been kind of questionable to drive. You know, getting. Getting shufflers tuned is quite annoying, quite frustrating. And so this was. This was kind of the moment where I went, okay, I finally have it down. I'm finally feeling good. And, yeah, I'm. I'm so happy that I got to get that rematch against Turbo Fiend and, you know, get another Golden Dumpster winner checked off.
- [104:39]
Christine
Exactly. And, Julian, I'm sure you're watching this. Please get in the comments and let us know what happened in that fight.
- [104:47]
Evan Rosenblatt
Julian, invite me to your live stream.
- [104:54]
Christine
Yeah, so, I mean, with. With that fight, you know, you knew that you had made the top four, which is amazing, and that's. I. I believe that's what qualifies you for, like, the. The pro event and everything. So there's a lot.
- [105:09]
David Dreyer
Yeah.
- [105:09]
Evan Rosenblatt
Top top fours for world champs.
- [105:12]
Christine
Yeah.
- [105:12]
David Dreyer
Yeah.
- [105:12]
Evan Rosenblatt
All the way in December.
- [105:14]
Christine
Yeah. Yeah, that. That. I mean, that, like, that's great to get to that point, but you were up against Usagi, which I can honestly say I've watched that robot fight a lot, and at no other event, like, I don't think it had ever looked better than it looked at that event up to that point. I mean, Alexandra was just wrecking it.
- [105:39]
David Dreyer
Yeah.
- [105:39]
Christine
So, I mean, I'm sure you had to at least feel some level of, like, trepidation going into it, because it's a scary bot. It's a scary robot.
- [105:51]
Evan Rosenblatt
Absolutely. And, I mean, the Black Cat Club, they're. They're a pretty elite group of builders at this point. So every. Every fight that I've had with them is always a scary one. I fought Usagi back in February of last year in my. On my way to primetime, which was a lot of fun. That fight was terrifying. I did end up getting the judge's decision win, which felt great. And going into this fight, I had to remind myself, you know, I won this matchup last time. I shouldn't be afraid of them. They should be afraid of me. So that was my. That was my mantra going into the fight, you know, trying to get myself out of my own head. But I. I felt a lot better about the matchup this time, you know, I had transitioned away from my different top armor. You know, back in February, I kind of had a hodgepodge solution that didn't really work. And now I have full 2 millimeter AR top and bottom plates. So I was feeling that my electronics were impenetrable, but I knew there were a lot of weak points still, and it was still quite nerve wracking. This fight was, you know, a classic hammersaw control fight. You know, the hammersaw config that I run has a lot of drawbacks. You know, these. These AR plates are super heavy. You know, top and bottom. The robot's really large, so I end up having to run a slightly smaller battery in this setup. I go back to my original batteries that I was having issues with. So you'll notice that a lot of the hits in this fight are very wimpy, which is not what I like to do with blunder. I like to. I want to get big hits. That's the whole point, you know, massive weapon mass. But I have to spin slowly against hammer saws. You know, you want to make sure you get full bite so that you're actually, you know, picking them up and throwing them away from you. And.
- [107:43]
David Dreyer
And I don't have.
- [107:43]
Evan Rosenblatt
I don't have enough battery to spin fast enough to really roof shot every time. So this was a very strategic match. The forks on Usagi are very scary, so trying to get around just a little bit to get the sides of them instead of, you know, getting face on is difficult. And Alex is a fantastic driver, so it's never. It's always easier said than done, but for the most part, I was able to keep them on their head, keep flipping them over anytime they try to get back up, right? And it wasn't really until the end that they got a couple good shots on me. One of the shots hit. It's quite difficult to see one of the shots hit right above my motor there. You might be able to see a little tiny dent. That's what happens when a hammer saw hits AR500. It's really, really good for me because I'm going to continue to use that plate for probably my entire life. But that hit ended up bending Usagi's blade enough to the point where it contacted their arm and stopped the motor from spinning. So, ladies and gentlemen, if you're struggling against hammer saws, just add another one and a half pound of robot and get some ar. But, you know, there. There's a lot. There's a lot more to it than that, you know, the. This match could have gone their way easily. You know, any single mistake is easy enough to, you know, let my robot kick the bucket. And it was a lot of fun, and this fight was super stressful for me.
- [109:29]
Christine
Yeah, I'm sure, like you said, like, Black Cat Club, that, like, they have some really, really fantastic robots, and it's a difficult matchup no matter what robot you're facing, so.
- [109:44]
Evan Rosenblatt
Indeed. I feel so bad. I feel like I'm. I don't like terrorizing or beating up on cats, but, you know, I've. I've fought them quite a few times now, and, you know, I. I promise I'm not. You know, I don't like it either, but, you know, fights. Fights are a lot of fun nonetheless.
- [110:01]
Christine
Yeah, exactly. You got to do what you got to do. So that put you in the finals, which is wild. And you were up against Mark and Steagall Sting Operation. And I mean, I remember talking to Mark long time ago, back when he was primarily competing at G Scroll, and, like, he has come such a long way with this robot. So I thought that it, like, just the story in general of both of you in the finals was amazing to have, you know, two builders who have this bot that they've been working on for a while and just, like, got it to the point where it can reach the finals and, you know, be up for a golden dumpster. I mean, you probably weren't that excited to fight another hammer saw, right. Right after the previous match, but through that, it was. It was a really, really good fight. So talk about. About that one.
- [111:05]
Evan Rosenblatt
Yeah, I mean, Mark is an amazing guy. It's. It's funny to mention that all of my fights during prime time were rematches, which is. Which is super interesting, but it just shows that, you know, it. It takes about a year for things to get, you know, really locked in and dialed in to the point where you can make these deep runs repetitively. And yeah, it was a lot of fun to get the chance to fight all of them again. And, you know, coming out on top's always fun, but, you know, it's. It's more important to get that experience and show what's improved. But I was. I was super excited to fight Mark and Sting Operation again. Last time we fought back in February of last year as well, he kind of got a quick, quick knockout on me, you know, cutting right through my bottom plate. At that point, I didn't have any armor there. So, you know, it was a. It was a great job by him and you know, it pushed me to innovate and pull my robot, you know, up to the next level. And I actually got to pit next to Mark last summer at a Maker Battle Connecticut event, which was a lot of fun and we, we got to chat a lot and he's, he's a fantastic guy and amazing builder and sting operation is scary going into that fight, you know, by mantra of I, I won the match last time. They should be afraid of me. Doesn't apply because he totally kicked my butt last time. So this was, this was quite scary. And finals is a lot of pressure, of course, but I'd been kind of preparing for the Hammersaw matchups last week before the event, I created a whole second chassis for my robot just to swap everything into so that hammer saws weren't as scary and I didn't spend all of my repair time preparing for them. So I was ready for this match. I, I knew what I needed to do and I knew what needed to happen. I'd beaten hammer saws before and yeah, Mark is just terrifying to fight. But this match he was actually running a center fork that had, I believe it's S7, an S7 toe on it, which, you know, is what you want to fight beaters. You want something slopes that, you know, they can't bite on it as easily and you want it way hard. So much harder than their weapon just so that you know, they can't grab it at all. And I would say it worked pretty well. You know, I have my own trick up my sleeve. I have a special extra hard beater just for matchups like that as well. So I wasn't going in fully unarmed, but I was definitely still nervous about it. And if you watch the match, you'll see for a lot of the time, every time I go head on head with him, I'm just, I'm bouncing up, I'm bouncing back, never getting him up unless I'm coming in at a slight angle. So it clearly works super well. In the first couple seconds of the match, he was pushing me around. He had a really good box rush, got me pinned up against the wall and took a, took a pretty good swing, just scratching the top of my right over where my battery is. And thankfully I was able to escape without a second shot during that pin. And from there the goal is just to get to the side a little bit. You know, any little bit helps. Any small edge is all I need. And thankfully I was able to get a couple hits like that. And his drive side ended up going down. So a pretty, pretty early drive side loss. And it's unfortunate. I wish we had. I wish we had more of a fight and, you know, maybe if you all get to grudge Mark or see him at a. At finals, who knows? But yeah, it was, it was quite surreal. I don't know if there's a better word for it, but seeing that, seeing his drive go down was absolutely wild. I didn't even think that was a possibility. You know, sting operation has been so reliable pretty much forever that, you know, it's really unfortunate, but at that, at that exact moment, I couldn't help but feel just, you know, absolute, you know, elation building up inside of me. I was so, so excited that, you know, I was finally doing the thing.
- [115:32]
Christine
Yeah. And not, not the bad thing, the, the good thing.
- [115:37]
Evan Rosenblatt
No, I fixed that issue. That. That doesn't happen anymore. But, yeah, it was absolute blast. And he was kind enough to give me his weapon from that fight, which he got a. One really good shot on me, and it's got a little bend to it, so I am now very confident in my hammersaw armor, which, thank goodness, because it seems like there's going to be a lot of them at both Pro Tour and finals. So I need to be ready, that's for sure.
- [116:07]
Christine
You know, obviously you came out the, the victor in that match. Just talk about, like, the, the feeling of that, like realizing you won the Golden Dumpster. Did you, you know, did you go to bed and be like, I guess you told me so.
- [116:26]
Evan Rosenblatt
Yes, I did. You know, going up onto the. The stage to hear the judge's decision and whatnot. You know, seeing all of TWPI spread out behind the camera, it was such a wild feeling. And, you know, Ben, Ben comes up, you know, rushing the stage after the presentation, and he's. He's like, I told you so. Which, you know, he did. He did tell me so. But it's. It was honestly, it's still kind of unbelievable. You know, I've been to many prime times before this, and each one coming up just short of even qualifying for championships. So it was ridiculous that I even made it that far and then also won the Dumpster. Like, you know, it still, it still doesn't feel real, but, you know, I've. I've been having an absolute blast showing this off at accepted students days here at WPI and, you know, getting a picture with Ben and our dumpsters together. It's been absolutely incredible. And I'm so thankful for my team and for everyone that's helped me get to this point. It's been quite a journey. And yeah, I don't think it could have been planned any better.
- [117:46]
Christine
Yeah, it certainly sounds that way. Now, what's next for blunder the rest of the year? Now that you know, like, this is done, obviously you're going to be at finals. So do you. Are you planning to going to other events?
- [118:01]
Evan Rosenblatt
Well, yeah, indeed I am. At the very minimum, I'm signed up for May nhrl, so that'll be a lot of fun. At the moment, I'm signed up for rce, so I don't remember what they're calling the April event, but the April event at RCE in Fitchburg. That. That one I think I'm gonna end up going to. And it's right after one of my big senior capstone projects deadlines. So we'll. We'll see how ready the robot is in the next day or two, but we'll be going to that. And I'm still. I'm still iffy on the pro tour at this moment. You know, I graduate from college, you know, having the ceremony literally the day before. So we'll see. Maybe. Maybe if NHRO has a really good pay scheme, I'll think about it. Maybe it's worth getting up at 4am after spending all day out.
- [118:57]
Christine
Yeah, that. That sounds like a busy time for sure. Yeah. I mean, either way, I'm sure that, you know, we'll be excited to. To see you back at the. The next event and everything else like that. I mean, I guess it. I don't know if it puts the pressure on or takes the pressure off to have been the. The former dumpster winner coming back. And then like, I. Everybody wants to take you down. I don't.
- [119:22]
Corey Nason
I don't know.
- [119:23]
Evan Rosenblatt
I know. I mean, the pressure is definitely on. But I'll say I feel really good. I. I can't say there's anyone I'm really scared of. Okay, I take it back. There's one I'm scared of, and that's Clyde.
- [119:36]
David Dreyer
Don't.
- [119:37]
Evan Rosenblatt
Don't put me near any flamethrowers, please and thank you. I love Gabe and Alex. They're awesome builders. But Clyde is scary. But, you know, the confidence is there at least. So if I have confidence, who knows what'll happen?
- [119:51]
Christine
Well, see, now you've spoken this into existence.
- [119:56]
Evan Rosenblatt
I've been speaking it into existence for the last, like, two weeks.
- [119:59]
Christine
Yeah, we'll. We'll see. We'll see what happened, like, if that. If that occurs. You know, I mean, if you find yourself towards the end, there's a pretty good chance that you could have to face Clyde, so.
- [120:12]
Evan Rosenblatt
Absolutely.
- [120:13]
Christine
Gotta, gotta prep for those flamethrowers for sure. But, yeah, well, would be exciting, you know, either way. But looking forward to seeing the next event. Obviously, big congrats to you for your, your big win in April. And we'll, you know, we'll see how the rest of the year goes. But thank you. Yeah, yeah. But for anybody that's watching, please make sure that you, like, subscribe, Share, comment, All that good stuff. We're definitely in the swing of things in Robot Season here, so there's much more coming your way. And we'll see everybody next time on the show.
- [120:57]
Evan Rosenblatt
Thank you so much for having me
- [121:02]
David Dreyer
sa.