"I tinker," said Tony Stark. Any Marvel fanboy will easily recognize that quote from Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark in Iron Man 3. Arguably, Tony Stark is the greatest tinkerer in any comic or superhero movie. What doesn't he make? Hot rods? Yep. Computers. Yep. Robots? Yep! In the real world, tinkerers like Tony Stark (and the team from Phalanx Robotics) love to develop something new and exciting. For tinkerers who are not genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropists, maker spaces … [Read more...]
Building a Better BattleBot – Part Deux
In a previous post, the Samtec blog team interviewed the team at Phalanx Robotics in their quest to win BattleBots in 2020. In this next portion of the interview, Andrew Godfrey from Phalanx adds more detail on that process. Phalanx Robotics Interview Matt Burns: Briefly, what are some of the other more popular styles or designs of BattleBots? Andrew Godfrey: I love how open the BattleBots rules are. Key design concerns are participant safety and maintaining BattleBox integrity. No … [Read more...]
Building a Better BattleBot – Part 1
The global COVID-19 pandemic has delayed many events: weddings, tax collections, sporting seasons and BattleBots. BattleBots? BattleBots! Yes, BattleBots! In most cases, COVID-19 related delays are a negative. However, for Samtec-sponsored Phalanax Robotics, delays in the BattleBots competition have been a blessing in disguise. They have been able to build a better bot. I recently caught up with Andrew Godfrey from Phalanx. He kindly gave details of how Phalanx came together, the type of … [Read more...]