Daedalus & Icarus were the names given to a heavyweight multibot designed by Team LiftOff, which applied for BattleBots World Championship VII.
It was a scaled-up version of the team's 3lb robot Project LiftOff - a two-wheeled meltybrain design which could adopt a 'sit-and-spin' technique while also moving around the arena. This concept had been seen before in Comedy Central era middleweights Herr Gepoünden and Blade Runner.
Each half was given its own name with the blue robot named Daedalus and the red robot being called Icarus, deriving from Greek mythology where Daedalus was the father to Icarus. Both robots were invertible, bowtie-shaped robots with sloped edges which spun in different directions so Icarus would be a damaging horizontal spinner and Daedalus would prioritise getting in underneath opponents as it spun. Each had two inner drive wheels and four on the outside, giving both halves of the multibot two separate drive systems.
Team LiftOff uploaded part of their application video to YouTube in November 2022, having already been rejected for the season.[1]
- "This was part of our application for the 2022 season of BattleBots, which was not accepted. Fortunately, it just gave us time to improve our smaller robots, and come back even better."
- — Team LiftOff on their rejection
In September 2023, Greg Munson confirmed Team LiftOff were responsible for a BattleBots Proving Ground entry known as Red and Blue. He also stated the team have been liaising with BattleBots over a fixed ruleset for meltybrain designs, which have not been seen in televised show since the Comedy Central seasons.[2]
Outside BattleBots[]
Project LiftOff in September 2022.
The team behind Daedalus & Icarus are best known for their National Havoc Robot League entry Project LiftOff, which is capable of spinning between 2000 and 4000rpm. It went unbeaten in the September 2021 NHRL event, winning four battles, three of which came by knockout.[3]
Team LiftOff have also competed at various US competitions with 30lb robots (Liftoff)² and Plyohazard.