Machines Behaving Badly - Fall 2018

Another year of Machines Behaving Badly is complete.  Once again the small, flimsy robots made of plywood, styrofoam and unrealistic expectations squared off against each other.  Fun was had.  Debris generated.  Things learned.

I've been at this a long time.  This was our 18th annual event, a full generation.  And at least one year we ran it twice.  That is ample opportunity to observe, to see the things that change and the things that stay the same.

The concept of the class is deceptively simple.  It is a fun little idea and it looks as if it is easy to throw together a simple machine.  But when the urchins are absorbed with this idea you can sneak in some learning.  How to solder wires.  Why "center of gravity" is an important concept.  The correlation between speed and torque.  Why hot glue is called that.

Some things are learned by actual lecture style instruction.  Others are learned by dedicated trial and error, building and rebuilding a machine using what you learn from each iteration.  Some things are best learned on the day of the tournament when the robots face harsh reality.  The official motto of Machines Behaving Badly is:

"Oh my.  That could have gone better."

A good bunch of students this year, only one or two whose level of middle school behaviour pushes the needle into the red zone.  They have worked hard by the standards of the day.  Of course every year they know less about how to things, anythings really, that do not result from their moving finger tips across the screens of their phones.  This is a screwdriver.  No, we use the other end.  This is a hot glue gun. Before you grab it, can you tell me why it is called that?

Sometimes I get a feeling that H.G. Wells had it spot on.  We are going to evolve into gentle, non technological Eloi.  Perhaps I will in distant future generations be remembered and revered(?) as the creator of the Morlocks.....

Enough musings for now.  I actually get to keep this bunch of students for a while longer.  We will be doing various things with Barbie Jeeps.....

Pictures from the 2018 edition of Morlocks, oh I mean, Machines Behaving Badly.

We had a full house for the event.

The robot below had an ambitious spinning weapon...big strips of flexible lexan with a large, mean screw on each end.

Here it is in action.  It did pretty well until it stripped some gears that could not be replaced.  

We had a record number of girls in the class this year, all very good competitors.  Their robots were sometimes a bit better decorated, as with "Sparkle Raider" seen below. 

"Brick Flipper" had not only a cool name but an interesting weapon.  It is the low rpm, high torque motor from a paper shredder.  In theory it could snap the mouse trap on another robot and then just lift them clear up in the air.  In practice it was not always successful. 

And of course we had the FIRST robot on hand, along with four of the team members who have been helping with the middle school project.  Here "Mr. Clamps" is carrying a defeated robot off to Robot Cemetery!

It was a good bunch of kids this year.  I don't recall ever seeing this many competitors shake each other's hands after a match.  And on occasion, even before one.  Many involved parents and grandparents too.  Good to have the high school team and robot on hand so I can point and say...."There's the future".