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Aquatic Robotics is a fantasy robot combat team that has been competing since 2015 on both Reddit and ARC. It got its start after the ABC reboot of Battlebots in the /r/Battlebots Hammerfall tournament on Reddit with the heavyweight armored flipper, Undertow. Since then it has competed on and off in many tournaments, though so far without winning any. The team is captained by attackfrog, who is also known for creating quick reference webpages for robots entered in tournaments[1].

The team's robots[2] are all rendered in TinkerCAD (with the exception of the original Undertow, which was rendered in SketchUp) but the team hopes to upgrade to a more capable rendering software in the future.


Tournaments[]

/r/Battlebots Hammerfall[]

This was Aquatic Robotics' first tournament. Run on Reddit after the ABC reboot of Battlebots, the tournament featured many new competitors as well as seasoned veterans. Aquatic Robotics' entry was Undertow, a wedge-shaped rear hinge flipper inspired by the UK combat robots scene. Its distinguishing feature was an armored shield on the rear of the robot intended to counter high-powered spinners. It performed reasonably well, making it to the first round of the finals and ending with a 2-2 record.

FRR: Backlash[]

This was technically Aquatic Robotics' first ARC tournament and first multiple weight class event, but the team withdrew after the first week of competition due to a lack of interest. Its entries were Pelican, a 2WD lifter/clamp (LW); Royale, a mecanum-drive drum spinner (MW), Undertow II, an upgraded version of the original (HW); and D'Artagnan, an omni-drive hammerbot. Each had various design flaws but never got the chance to show their potential due to forfeiting most of their matches.

/r/Battlebots Pressure Drop[]

Aquatic Robotics' entry into the second of the Reddit tournaments was Swordfish, an innovative long-arm mecanum-drive flipper with interchangeable flipping arms. The team felt its design was misunderstood and not given the credibility it deserved, but it was also hampered by several design mistakes. Nevertheless, it managed a 3-3 record, losing in the first round of playoffs (this would become a trend for the team.) This was Aquatic Robotics' first competition as an official, named team.

Fixation: Monkeywrench[]

This tournament's ruleset was completely unsuited to Aquatic Robotics' entry into the tournment, The Angry Urchin, a walking cage spinner. Due to the greatly increased spin-up time required for all spinning weapons and a snail-like drivetrain, The Angry Urchin's weapon rarely reached full power before being stopped by its opponent, and it was unable to out-maneuver its opponents in any way. Despite this, it somehow managed a 2-3 record.

Robot Bastards 2[]

With this tournament, Aquatic Robotics made the full transition onto ARC. It was the first multiple weight class tournament that the team completed (though the tournament itself petered out without reaching the final rounds.) Its entries were Frogbot, a lightweight and no-more-effective version of Swordfish; Water Strider, an undercutter with unfortunately short range, and Undertow III, the next iteration of the team's original rear-hinged flipper. At the time the tournament stopped, they had a 1-2, 2-2, and 2-2 record, respectively.

Armageddon![]

Aquatic Robotics' entry to this short, single-elimination tournament was Disaster, a 2WD vertical disc spinner inspired by Aftershock from Robot Wars. It finished with a 1-1 record, making it to the quarterfinals.

R.O.B.O.T.S.[]

Due to a late entry and a miscommunication about stats at the start of the tournament, Aquatic Robotics entered only one robot into this four weight class tournament. Its entry was The Four Wheeled, Six Toothed Driving Purple Robot Eater, a heavyweight 4WD dustpan lifter. It did pretty well on its own, finishing with a 4-3 record and making it to the first round of playoffs. It was also the winner of the Rookie All-Star award alongside Killjoy's Noothgrush.

The New Blood Tournament[]

This tournament was limited to relatively new competitors, but Feeling Crabby, a 2WD dual-disc spinner and Aquatic Robotics' entry into this tournament, nevertheless faced stiff  competition from some well-designed robots and finished with a 1-2 record.

Cherry Bomb Classic: Season 2[]

This six weight class tournament presented a new level of for challenge Aquatic Robotics, but its premature end left unanswered how well the team's robots would perform. Its entries were Rogue Wave, a hobbyweight 2WD lifting wedge; Solomon, a featherweight 4WD hammerbot; Obsession, an experimental lightweight 4WD sawbot; Mega Frogbot, a middleweight four-bar flipper with a hybrid trackball/regular wheel drivetrain; Undertow IV, a further-upgraded version of the heavyweight armored rear-hinge flipper; and Red Menace, a superheavyweight four-legged turret-hammerbot. CBC:2 is expected to be rebooted at some point in 2018.

The Gentlemen's Club[]

Aquatic Robotics entered one heavyweight robot into this two weight class, double elimination tournament: Trident, a three-wheeled lifter. The robot's third wheel, in the back, could rotate to help with steering and traction, and its lifter was in the form of a long spike attached to a plow. Despite receiving favorable reviews, it ended its run with a 1-2 record.

Ruination: The Upheaval[]

As the first "major" tournament since CBC:2 (which itself ended after only a few weeks) this four weight class, round robin style tournament will be the first in a long time to truly put Aquatic Robotics' robots to the test. The team's entries are Pinstripe, a lightweight mecanum-drive vertical spinner; The Maw, a middleweight tracked power-rammer; Sinmill, a heavyweight horizontal spinner with a sideways-oriented three wheel drive; and Speed Bison, a superheavyweight full-body lifter.

  1. Archive of attackfrog's Visual Guides for past tournments: http://attackfrog.com/fbb/
  2. Aquatic Robotics Render Page: http://s10.zetaboards.com/Drowning_City_Forums/topic/9017841/1/
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