It was a four-wheeled, invertible robot with no active weaponry. Instead, Morpheus relied on a wedge shaped ½" thick 6061 aluminum plow, and it was armored in ½" 7075 aluminum alloy on the sides. Its wheels were driven by 18v DeWalt motors, which gave Morpheus speed and pushing power.[1] Owing to this strong pushing power, and sturdy design Morpheus did well in the tournament, becoming the eventual champion, only suffering one loss along the way against Doom, which was avenged later into the tournament.
Morpheus would continue to compete until its retirement in 2005. It was redesigned to feature a flamethrower, a red paint scheme and was named Flaming Mo in reference to The Simpsons. The team also fought with a 150g fairyweight robot called Puppy Patter.
Morpheus as Flaming Mo.
Robot History[]
NPC Charity Open[]
Morpheus vs. Totally Offensive
A strong hit on Morpheus' wedge sends Totally Offensive flying.
Morpheus plows into the side of Doom.
Morpheus' first match in the round robin was against Totally Offensive. This fight started with Totally Offensive spinning up to full speed before attacking Morpheus. However Morpheus then charged at Totally Offensive, and rammed it into the wall. Totally Offensive got away, and spun back up, Morpheus then slammed into it again, sending it flying. This bent the frame of Totally Offensive, and stopped the spinner completely for a good while. However the spinner did have some life left in it, and spun up before Morpheus slammed into it again. This bent the frame even more, Morpheus followed this up by taking Totally Offensive to the wall. Totally Offensive then spun back up, and Morpheus rammed it again, this resulted in Totally Offensive taking a large chunk out of itself. As a result of this self inflicted damage Totally Offensive could now only drive in circles, and morpheus slammed it again before Totally Offensive got up to speed one more time. Morpheus then delivered one more slam, and shoved Totally Offensive around the arena as time ran out.
Morpheus vs. Doom
Morpheus' next match in the round robin was against Doom. This was a rather dull match with both robots bumping into each other, neither gaining any ground. Eventually after several more near misses, and bumps Doom got under Morpheus, and shoved it under the Pulverizer. Which came down on it, and immobilized it in one shot, Morpheus was then counted out, giving Doom the win by knockout.
Morpheus vs. Totally Manipulative
Morpheus attempts to pin Totally Manipulative.
Morpheus starts shoving Totally Manipulative towards the wall.
Morpheus was then up against Totally Manipulative. This fight started with Totally Manipulative darting out of its square, and getting under Morpheus several times, however it was unable to use its lifting arm each time. Following this Totally Manipulative, in a display of poor driving, charged lifter first into the wall where it got stuck causing the match to be paused to free it. Once the match resumed, Morpheus attempted to pin Totally Manipulative, but the later got away, and eventually took Morpheus to the pulverizers. Morpheus got away, and both bots then charged at one another, before Morpheus got to Totally Manipulative's side, and started pushing it around. Following this Morpheus charged at Totally Manipulative again, however the later had a lower ground clearance, and Morpheus simply rude up on Totally Manipulative's lifter. Now underneath Morpheus, Totally Manipulative lifted it, but was unable to do anything, as Morpheus was so heavy that Totally Manipulative simply tipped forward whenever it lifted Morpheus. Eventually Totally Manipulative had to let Morpheus go, the later drove away, and Totally Manipulative gave chase, getting under Morpheus, and lifting it again. This time however, Morpheus slid off of Totally Manipulative's lifter, exposing its high ground clearance. This allowed Morpheus to get under Totally Manipulative, and slam it into the wall. Now with one minute left on the clock, both bots jockeyed for position for a bit before Morpheus shoved Totally Manipulative into the wall again. Totally Manipulative got away, and slammed into Morpheus, which returned the favor with an even more powerful slam, a shove, and another slam as the seconds ticked down.
Morpheus vs. Puddle Jumper
Morpheus plows into Puddle Jumper.
Morpheus takes Puddle Jumper to the wall.
Morpheus' next round robin fight was against Puddle Jumper. This fight started with Morpheus rushing out of its square, as Puddle Jumper spun up, once the bots made contact, Puddle Jumper's thwacking wedge was too high to hit Morpheus, and simply bounced over the top of the low wedge. Puddle Jumper then flipped itself, and drove around before flipping itself again. After this Puddle Jumper got under Morpheus, and attempted to shove it into the wall, however it was unable to push Morpheus, which got away as Puddle Jumper bounced off it again, and wedged itself under the wall. Once Puddle Jumper freed itself, it got under Morpheus again, like before it was unable to do anything with this, and bounced around some more before Morpheus took it to the wall. Puddle Jumper got away, and Morpheus delivered another slam to it before both robots locked together, and spun around. Following this Morpheus drove up Puddle Jumper's wedge, and slid off before Puddle Jumper flipped itself again. Morpheus then delivered yet another slam to Puddle Jumper, and repeated this attack several times before Puddle Jumper got under it once more. Like before, it was unable to do anything with Morpheus, which got away again. Morpheus then slammed into Puddle Jumper again, which then got up to speed, and delivered a blow to Morpheus' wedge, however this did not matter as the final twenty seconds of the match ticked down Morpheus won the resulting judges' decision, and was now in the finals where it faced Doom again.
Morpheus vs. Doom
Morpheus pops Doom.
Morpheus slams Doom into the wall.
This fight started with both bots charging at the other, Morpheus however got the upper hand, and got under Doom, nearly slamming it into the arena wall. However Doom got away at the last second, and slammed into the front of Morpheus before getting under it, and attempting to push it. Unfortunately for Doom, Morpheus slipped off its wedge, as Doom seemed to be having drive problems again. This allowed Morpheus to slam into Doom several times before taking it to the wall once more. Doom once again slipped off of Morpheus' wedge at the last second, causing Morpheus to slam itself into the wall.Once both bots got away from the wall, both bots positioned before Morpheus charged at Doom, but rode up its wedge. As Doom was now underneath Morpheus, it attempted to slam it into the arena wall, but it encountered a uneven floor seam halfway across the arena, and the force from the impact caused Morpheus to slip off of its wedge. Morpheus took advantage of this, and rammed Doom's wedge under the arena walls where it got stuck. Morpheus then freed Doom, which got away, and started moving very slowly for a few seconds, before getting a burst of speed. Doom used this burst to slam into Morpheus, which slammed into Doom once more as the clock ticked down.
Morpheus won the resulting judges' decision, meaning that Morpheus was declared the featherweight champion of the 2004 NPC Charity Open.
Morpheus was originally supposed to be an overhead bar spinner design similar in design to middleweight Hazard. However, as one of the team members Tyler Forbes a student at WPI, and was therefore on a college budget, the team did not want to spend too much money on it.[1]
This led to several design changes, ultimately resulting in the weaponless wedge that competed at the NPC Charity Open.
Among the several designs envisioned for Morpheus were a two-wheeled, eggbeater spinner, and a four-wheeled wedge.
