Bone Dead Robotics

Introduction

It’s time for another trip to the west! Much like last year’s trip to the RCL Championships it is good to move outside of just the eastern U.S. bubble. Besides seeing different people and keep up friendly connections, its important to keep your experiences flexible and test your robot’s metal. To this point Phenomenon has not had a strong year. Beyond V2’s troubles, V3 has had a harsh start in the May Pro Tour with two of its hardest counters being its first fight and its misfortune in the June NHRL event. When looking forward to the NHRL Finals, this is not the momentum you want going.

Vecna had proved itself well at the Hive Hysteria event. Though it lacked in true piercing power its drive train and control were sufficient to handle most concerns. While not a flawless machine it had all the potential to do well at a given event. With Phenomenon being the only team bot at NHRL Finals it would be good to get Vecna in as well to double the chances.To work out the kinks in both it was crucial to get practice in and few places offered such good practice outside of NHRL like SCAR at Orange County Maker Faire.

SCAR at Orange County Maker Faire is reminiscent of the majority of robot events: local builders still learning the basics alongside local veterans mixed with the occasional out of towners who shake things up. For the 30lbers, the local legends were HSS and Lil Lash who both made the long journey to NHRL. Much like their journey east, my journey west is always more complicated than local events: limited packing options, jet lag, and lodging are all tricky but it is still incredibly rewarding. Before the travel, its time to prep the bots!

Event Prep

Vecna

Vecna’s preparation was a bit more intensive after Hive Hysteria. Due to a screw being trapped in the drive motor, the handy welder trick of “weld steel to the screw as a lever arm” worked and it was freed. This was important as one of the great upgrades for Vecna would be drive speed. After being outsped by Psycho Smacky at Hive Hysteria the goal was to get faster. The 1860kv motors should help it zoom along. The blade was also replaced with a more bitey” shape designed to dig into the opponents. The blade was also thinned to 3/16″ thickness instead of 1/4″ for less load on the hubmotor for spinups.

Phenomenon

Due to a disappointing time at June NHRL Phenomenon was in pretty good shape with both copies being fully functional. Besides more spare wedgelets, and aluminum forks for billet tips the big upgrades for SCAR were wheelguards. The front wheels are naturally vulnerable from a side shot which is very bad for how important drive is. At the same time, the robot’s shape did not lend itself for a good mounting points for the wheelguard. To compromise, the top of the front mounting bolts was used alongside the two normal side points. This 3rd bolt makes overall mounting much stiffer than just one side. To keep the robot stable but not interfere with the wedgelets a small “foot” was designed into the guards then heat bent downwards ensuring it had constant pressure on the ground making it “ground scraping” as well. Unfortunately since this was all printed in a rush the TPU wasn’t fully dried leading to the grainy finish. The next ones will be better! But for now, off for a trip to California.

Event

Its good to see more local events like SCAR around hosting things. Like Hive Hysteria, MACRO, GSCRL, or other local things it reminds us the roots of robot combat and lets you know people more. SCAR in particular with its steel arenas could reveal unique issues in robots that may not be seen in wooden arenas; the steel forces your robot to handle its own power. If your robot (and your ears) can handle the power then it gives great confidence when going back to softer places. Like a trainer going to a new region in Pokemon, its time to earn a gym badge!

Vecna

Manta Ray

Vecna was one of the first fights of the day against a new robot. Unbeknownst to me this new robot just happened to be one of the fastest robots at the competition with a robot able to target one of the few items there were not spares of: wheels.

Due to the drive giving out too quickly (potentially ESC breaking) it was a rough time for Vecna. This was further exacerbated by the sniping of the hammersaw pulley and chewing on the wedge. With no spare wheels and critical damage to the hamersaw it was decided to retire Vecna for the event and focus on Phenomenon.

Phenomenon

GigaWatt

GigaWatt was a new machine from Tijuana, Mexico. The builder, Luis, had been on the NHRL Discord asking questions and gathering the information to get together his machine. It was good to see the patient growth and humility to learn paired with the fortitude to compete with it.

For Phenomenon it was an important step to gather information. As any builder would tell you, there’s always a risk until the robot begins to fight. Any number of little things could have been missed in preparation and the brief tests before a fight can only help but so much. It isn’t until the robot could take the hit that you really know what went right. There was the risk of genuine peril as an angled spinner could strike the front plates (with no spares) and potentially strike the motors and controllers behind them. Even so, the goal was that Phenomenon was designed well enough to keep that weapon at bay anyway

Ultimately Phenomenon did win. Once the weapon bar was torn loose and bent, it was best to disarm GigaWatt quickly and painlessly. Much like what Kerfuffle shows, destruction isn’t the only way to defeat your opponent. After the fight the team asked plenty of other good questions and even fought again so the mission was accomplished and all learned great lessons from it.

Knockout, 1-0

Lil Lash

Lil Lash is a machine of the highest rank in the 30lb class. Like its larger sibling, it has an extreme versatility and resilience that makes it able to adapt to nearly all machines. It is also one of the most complimentary designs to Phenomenon as the two are very similar with only a few key differences. If Phenomenon could pull off a victory against such an opponent, the confidence in this new version would increase dramatically.

Phenomenon’s fight was a statement. The key innovations from V2 to V3 such as the wedgelets, lifter arms, and 4WD made this machine considerably better than any previous version. All of these factors were vindicated in the way Lil Lash was not able to gain control throughout the fight.

Knockout, 2-0

HSS

HSS was the most concerning robot to fight of the tournament. While Lil Lash plays the same rules as Phenomenon, HSS demands a different rule. Without a very stiff fork billet perfectly fed into the drum like a doorstop its hard to resist a drum short of a mightier weapon. Though aluminum forks had been manufactured prior to the event for this reason, the springing had not yet been tuned to properly resist the drum’s power. The lifting forks are also designed to work with the billet tips, but the long length puts a harsh load on the lifting system, potentially making it vulnerable. The wedgelets, though not strong enough to thwart a drum, are shallow enough to allow the weapon to do the most of the talking. With the strategy becoming power vs power, it was time to send it.

The fight was brief but violent. After nearly losing the match due to forgetting that Phenomenon has wide reaching lifter arms, a forceful shot and smothering counter killed HSS. Normally the fight wouldn’t have been fought so aggressively except for the clear and present danger that HSS could posed if free. With hearing gone from drum battering steel and seeing fear, Phenomenon carved through HSS until the flames called the match. Fortunately HSS was mostly unscathed as the fire stayed towards the back of the machine. While not an easy fix it was replaceable.

Knockout, 3-0

HSS (Finals)

Though the first fight was won, there was no confidence in a rematch going the same way. Though Lil Lash was preferred as an opponent due to Phenomenon’s clear advantage, once it fell to HSS there was great concern. The first fight was a surprising comeback but the rematch would be far more tactical and careful. HSS was on its home turf which meant the second copy that was fresh. Fatigued slightly from the original fight (the left drive motor was rubbing against something but the slightly damaged front wheel kept it from being properly removed and inspected) Phenomenon faced down HSS for the crown.

The rematch was about as long as the original and (fortunately) less violent. The drive on one side died shortly after first contact which meant HSS could always lead future interactions. It was short and powerful, but once smoke began to emerge from Phenomenon it was time to tap out and preserve what’s left.

Knockout, 3-1. 2nd Place

Teardown

Considering it fought one of its harshest archetype matchups, Phenomenon got away from the fights pretty easily. One of the bearings in the lifter is shattered (the non-sprocket side), the drive was binding up some, and the electronics did not seem to be directly destroyed. The main power wires got extremely hot and began burning up which caused the early tap out as smoke began to gather. The drive motors noticeably rubbed against the baseplate which may have contributed to the heat the motors and ESCs themselves seemed unaffected by the heat. Since the other gear is fine I assume a short somewhere generated extreme heat.

Conclusion

Phenomenon leaves the west with another trophy to its name! It’s been a rough 2025 into 2026 with no new hardware but this was a very encouraging sign. With the relatively little damage that the robot sustained despite the very dangerous competition it was very reassuring for the robot’s overall durability. After two NHRLs being disappointments it was good that Phenomenon V3 finally got a chance to shine. Once the wires are replaced, other systems are checked and wheelguards updated it should be a very quick turnaround for October NHRL!

Big thanks to Frank for the action photos!

Big thanks again to Daniel and Dylan for hosting, Matt, Derek, and Luis for the great fights, and all the SCAR folks I chatted with. Until next time!