BattleBots Las Vegas has come and gone and it was a great time. Fun was had by all! This page is a summary of what I learned by attending this event. There are a lot of web sites around that will give all the tech details you need to build a bot so I won't try to improve on those here. What I have not seen are some tips regarding how to attend a competition. Seems simple I know but I think those going in with a plan will fare better then those that don't.

As I've noted in my build reports I had the opportunity to work with Jim Smentowski, of Team Nightmare, on his pit crew. This was an awesome learning experience and just a ton of fun!

I met all the builders I've read about, saw all the robots I've read about, and got to see the carnage up close and personal like. If any new builder gets the opportunity to attend an event before they are done building I recommend this highly. You can run all the simulations you want, dream all the scenarios, hypothesize all the possibilities, but until you see what happens in the box first hand I don't think you can get a real appreciation for the forces at play in this sport.

Based on what I saw and the conversations I had with many of the builders I'll be making some changes to my bot design. I've also decided that the workmanship in my bot is adequate for it purposes. I was concerned that I was just building a 115-pound target/toy for some other bot. And admittedly this could still be the case but I feel pretty good about my chances to last a full 3-5minutes.

One of the biggest lessons I learned was how to approach a competition. I think I can handle the details of actually building a bot but that's only half the effort required. Upon completion of your bot, or even before for some builders, you will eventually be entering a competition. Sure, you could just show up and jump in the box ready for battle but watching those who have been there before made it clear that there are better ways to approaching the competition.

The first thing is to get to the competition early enough to reassemble your bot (if it was disassembled for transport), get a decent pit spot, get checked in, weighed, photographed, and filmed if that is requested. There are also interviews for some of the higher profile robots in the competition. This presupposes that your bot is basically complete and simply needs the batteries charged or minor work done.

Once you're settled and have gotten all of the logistical stuff out of the way, you'll want to cruise the pits and see what everybody else is doing. You'll likely see a lot of activity as builders finish things they didn't have time for at home, note this activity as these are your potential foes in the box.

Once the fight schedules start to appear study them. We wrote on paper our entire potential bracket and potential opponents in each fight. Then as the fights progressed we simply checked off those who were eliminated and we had a running summary of who we would, or potentially would, face in the box. This also helped us to know whom we should try to check out in the pits and start to devise strategies for. This is a very important aspect of the comp. Of course this presupposes that you actually win a fight or two.

Early on, if you are prepared for each fight reasonably early you will probably have much less stress and a clearer thought process. As the comp progresses you may have less and less time between fights, especially if you're fighting more then one bot. The later stages of the comp become very hectic and early organization can only help you at this point.

Another thing I learned was talk to everybody! Every person I spoke with was ready to talk bots at a moments notice, unless they were busy working/repairing etc. The BattleBots community is a very social group. Even the biggest names in the game were more then willing to "talk shop" or just shoot the shit.

If you've got time between/after fights then go watch some fights in the arena. Yes, you can see better on TV, or the closed circuit TV in the pits, but that just doesn't replace being there. The sounds, the smells, the adrenaline of the audience, it can't be beat!