Orbitron

Orbitron
Participation Information
Reboot Seasons	World Championship VIII (Status pending)
Live	BattleBots Proving Ground
Other Names	ORBITRON
Team Information
Team	Team Orbitron
Team Members	Steven Szczeszynski Peter Szczeszynski Adham Abji Matthew Ortlieb Tong Zhang Ben McDonnell Bogdan Malynovskyy Ethan Cronier Adam Stokes Andy
From	Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Robot Statistics
Weight	250lbs
Top Speed	30mph
Power	4x 15S 5Ah LiPo batteries
Drive	2x Brushless motors
Weapons	Twin vertical spinners
Statistics correct as of its most recent appearance on the show, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Orbitron, sometimes stylized as ORBITRON, is a heavyweight robot built by the eponymous Team Orbitron, which has competed at BattleBots Proving Ground and BattleBots FaceOffs. The team have also applied for World Championship VIII.

It is a four-wheel drive, bi-wedge shaped robot with twin, chain-driven vertical spinners, both weighing 22lbs - one at the front and another at the back. The team describe Orbitron as a "modernized Counter Revolution", with their single-toothed disk spinners looking to cancel out gyroscopic forces in a similar vein to RIPperoni. The team have designed the robot's drive train with speed and power in mind, opting for chain drive and different-sized sprockets to increase torque and acceleration. This gives Orbitron a theoretical top speed of 30mph, according its builders. Protruding from the front and rear of Orbitron are four long, hinged forks which look to feed opponents into either vertical spinner. Orbitron also has a dedicated self-righting mechanism mounted between the spinning disks to right the robot if flipped over. Ahead of their first Proving Ground fight, the team printed one of their disks a neon yellow colour in order to better tell which way Orbitron is facing. According to the team, Orbitron is able to detect its opponent with the use of specialist software and AI which can understand depth, allowing for a degree of autonomy within Orbitron. The team state this technology allows Orbitron to autonomously attack by predicting where an opponent is likely to next move, rather than attacking where the opponent is in the present moment. The team have the ability to manually override the AI, allowing captain Steven Szczeszynski to drive Orbitron if deemed necessary.

Team Orbitron is made up of students from the University of Waterloo, and have prior experience with FIRST Robotics, achieving 1st and 2nd place at the 2019 and 2018 World Championships. They uploaded an application video in mid 2023. For their appearances at BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon, they were joined by members from Hacksmith Industries. Their YouTube channel, which boasts over 14 million subscribers, uploaded a video documenting the process on September 23, 2023. A video documenting the fight and the problems before and during the fight was uploaded September, 30 2023. Orbitron fought RoboGym Robotics' new horizontal spinner Roundhouse on the weekend of August 26-27, 2023, where it lost on both occasions.

Following these losses, Team Orbitron set about a full rebuild of their robot. New features included TPU plastic sides to better absorb side attacks, as well as shock mounting on their speed controllers. Its new disks weigh 27lbs and can be swapped out or paired with bars weighing 17lbs. Orbitron now also sports magnets on its underside. It signed up for the weekend of March 9-10, 2024, where it twice defeated Proving Ground rookie Disarray to earn its first wins.

BattleBots co-founder Trey Roski effectively confirmed Orbitron's inclusion into World Championship VIII in a March 2024 episode of the Outside of the Box podcast, pending the season being green-lit and its team being able to compete. In the meantime, Orbitron was confirmed to be competing in BattleBots FaceOffs in November 2024. The team made alterations to Orbitron's armor, incorporating a dedicated anti-horizontal wedge in anticipation of fighting Tombstone and Valkyrie, as well as additional magnets and time spent adapting their AI software. In testing, Team Orbitron designed a 45lb model of Tombstone to test their AI software against, called Tombclone.

Team Orbitron troubleshooting their unique AI software during BattleBots FaceOffs.

Orbitron and its team during BattleBots FaceOffs.

Orbitron and 'Tombclone'.

CAD of Orbitron's 2024 rebuild.

A render of Orbitron with its self-righter raised.

Orbitron V2 hitting an engine in testing.

Orbitron undergoing drive tests.

Orbitron during weapon tests.

Orbitron as designed within the team's simulation.

Early CAD of Orbitron.

Robot History

BattleBots Proving Ground
Orbitron vs. Roundhouse (8/26/2023) Orbitron's first ever BattleBots fight came in Proving Ground, where it fought Roundhouse. Orbitron strikes the front of Roundhouse. Orbitron box-rushed Roundhouse with both its disks up to speed as the RoboGym Robotics entry turned to meet it head-on, losing parts of its decorative armor on impact. Roundhouse's flamethrower threatened to toast Orbitron, who continued to buffet against its front. Orbitron suddenly stops working. Just over twenty seconds into the fight, Roundhouse turned to spin up its weapon but left itself vulnerable to Orbitron's disks. The Canadian rookies struck the rear of Roundhouse, tearing away more decorative panels and halting its 50lb weapon again. Orbitron's controller suddenly disconnected and the robot stopped working. "Oh no... come on Orbitron!" — Bil Dwyer as Orbitron stops working Roundhouse strikes Orbitron. Damage to Orbitron, post-fight. Roundhouse took full advantage of this turn of fortune, swiping its opponent's side and causing it to spin away into the corner. Roundhouse continued to strike the defenceless Orbitron before lingering in the blue starting square. A count-out began soon as Orbitron suffered a debut loss by knockout in under ninety seconds.
Orbitron vs. Roundhouse (8/27/2023) Orbitron fought Roundhouse for a second time the following day. Roundhouse strikes Orbitron. Orbitron was once again quick to chase its foe at the start of the match, but between the slippery floor of the BattleBox and Roundhouse's much improved spinner, Orbitron accidentally drifted side-on into the massive horizontal blade. A second hit to the side mangled its side armor and sent it careening into the screws, and as it began to crabwalk away Roundhouse delivered a third powerful shot which launched it back against the screws and caused one of its vertical disks to bounce off the floor. The knockout blow. Now visibly struggling, Orbitron's blue disk began to falter as it tried to inch out of the corner. The Canadian bot gyroed around, turning its gold disk to face Roundhouse, but the American bot simply ripped one of Orbitron's wedges off, launching it at the Lexan so hard it bounced completely across the box afterwards. It followed this with another brutal hit which caused Orbitron to flip over, its still-spinning weapon managing to self-right it. Orbitron is immobile. Orbitron catches fire. This proved to be for naught, however, as smoke and flames began to erupt from Orbitron. It sat in the corner, immobile, as for the second fight straight it was counted out and declared the loser by knockout, ending its debut weekend 0-2.
Orbitron vs. Disarray (3/9/2024) Orbitron's return to the BattleBox came several months later, where it took on Disarray during the March 9-10, 2024 shows. For this fight, it debuted two sets of forks ahead of its front blue disk. Orbitron gets the decisive blow. These proved effective in getting the better of Disarray early on, though the forks quickly came loose. The fight moved to the middle of the arena and as Disarray looked to retaliate, Orbitron charged with its rear disk and flung Disarray over, ripping off its right-front wheel and disabling that side of drive in the process. Orbitron leaves Disarray to be counted out. Although its left-side drive was still functional, Disarray was unable to right itself from its inverted position and Orbitron picked up its first win in this fight by knockout. In a post-fight recap video, it was discovered that Orbitron had warped part of Disarray's AR500 steel drisk weapon.
Orbitron vs. Disarray (3/10/2024) Orbitron fought Disarray for a second time the following day. Ahead of this fight, the team replaced their forks, replaced their bar weapon and bent their self-righting mechanism back into shape. The team also put a greater emphasis on their AI for this second battle. Driving straight at Disarray, Orbitron got its dual disks up to speed and wasted no time ripping its opponent's fin and left-rear tire off. Orbitron then led with its forks and drove Disarray into the corner, throwing it upside-down. Orbitron inverts Disarray again. With the main robot's self-righter failing, Shark Bait attempted to distract Orbitron, but suffered a hit which shattered its plastic body. Disarray was nudged back into the action by the paddle hazard, but this only served to tee the Arizona representatives up for one final shot from Orbitron's rear blade. Orbitron goes after Disarray's minibot. As Disarray was counted out, Orbitron again turned its attention to Shark Bait and tore its body off completely before tearing a wheel away. A knockout was declared and Orbitron's second win of the weekend was confirmed.
BattleBots FaceOffs
Orbitron vs. Valkyrie Orbitron returned for BattleBots FaceOffs in November 2024, where it first fought the returning Valkyrie on Day 1 of Group F. For this battle, it was equipped with its lighter blue asymmetric bar and front plow setup, with its heavier gold-colored disk at the back for greater reach. "You can think of our AI system as sort of a 'cruise control' for Orbitron. It'll basically steer for me, and then I still retain forward and backward controls. The way we set it up on our gamepads is pretty neat as well. We use one stick for turning, so left-right, obviously, and then we use the vertical axis to specify different AI modes. So if I push up, it'll engage one strategy algorithm. If I push down, it'll go to do a different strategy algorithm and we can cycle between different ones." — Steven Szczeszynski explains Orbitron's semi-autonomous capabilities Orbitron undergoing pre-fight tests. During pre-match preparations, Team Orbitron troubleshooted various issues with their camera system and the robot's updated software. Tuning and testing of Orbitron involved the robot undertaking three separate sessions in the BattleBox. While generally satisfied with their results, the team found that Orbitron's lights initially caused the overhead camera to be overexposed - adversely affecting tracking - and that operating the self-righting arm was causing radio reception issues. Discussing the likelihood of Valkyrie avoiding an early box-rush, captain Steven Szczeszynski stated that the team had 'planned around this', knowing that its horizontal spinner could still pose a major threat to Orbitron. "When there is enough energy in a horizontal spinner especially, no matter what you do, how strong you make your robot, if they get a full impulse on you, you're dead." — Steven Szczeszynski refuses to downplay Valkyrie's weapon power Orbitron pre-fight. Moments before the battle itself, a last-minute issue with Orbitron's AI was encountered and resolved. The pre-match strobe sequence caused many of the onboard algorithms - set up to track the movements of Valkyrie - to be 'blinded' and glitch out, requiring a manual correction. Orbitron starts in the ascendency. Orbitron immediately darted across the BattleBox to intercept and strike Valkyrie's left wheel guard with the blue bar. Through tracking the wheel, this attack confirmed to the team that its AI system had automatically corrected itself following the earlier glitch. With Valkyrie flung towards the top-right pocket, Orbitron began a second charge, but missed, colliding with one of the Upper Deck bumpers. This briefly left it vulnerable to attacks from Bam Singhasaneh and Leanne Cushing's machine, whose bar spinner took a small chunk out of its front plow. Orbitron followed Valkyrie as it proceeded to hit the bumper and veer deeper into the pocket. It again slammed into its opponent bar-first, flipping Valkyrie a full 360 degrees into the air, before turning around and damaging the latter's front end with the gold disk. Orbitron punts Valkyrie onto the Upper Deck. Weathering more blows from Valkyrie's slowing bar, Orbitron proceeded to pin the former against the Upper Deck bumper. More sparks flew as its blue bar clipped the back of Valkyrie, and again when Orbitron pushed the undercutter into the yellow bumper nearby. Both of Orbitron's spinners inflicted further damage as Valkyrie, launched by the latter collision, was thrown over the top of and buffeted around by them. Shards of armor included a back plate covering one of Valkyrie's battery packs. Orbitron kept corralling Valkyrie to sustain this onslaught, again capitalizing on Valkyrie driving spinner-first into the Upper Deck bumper. A final series of attacks resulted in Orbitron pinning, then flinging Valkyrie onto the Upper Deck platform. Orbitron leaves Valkyrie to be counted out. Orbitron crept around the hazard perimeter, while Valkyrie crawled and eventually stopped moving as a result of the internal damage inflicted. The Waterloo-based machine sped back towards and gyro-danced over the BattleBox center to celebrate a dominant knockout win. Despite this commanding performance, Orbitron would not return to the Pits unscathed. Not only had its armor panels been cut and bent in various places by Valkyrie, but issues were also identified in both of its weapon systems. The motor for the bar spinner was suspected to have malfunctioned due to damage or dislodged parts, while the disk mechanism was reported to have 'something rattily' inside.
Orbitron vs. HyperShock Looking to extend its 1-0 record, Orbitron's second opponent was re:MARS all:STARS 2022 champion HyperShock. Ahead of the fight, captain Steven Szczeszynski admitted he was "absolutely terrified" of facing such an experienced opponent, highlighting HyperShock's durability. The team swapped Orbitron's front plow out for an array of forks; the outermost forks notably longer than the inner ones. Orbitron is flipped over early on. Orbitron instantly spun both disks up and met HyperShock head-on, colliding over the BattleBots logo. As it looked to drive away from this initial coming together, however, HyperShock cut down the angle and landed a shot to Orbitron's flank, overturning the Canadian bot. This hit also unplugged Orbitron's self-righter. The decisive hit. The AI-assisted machine lay vulnerable in the corner as its disk clanged against the arena floor, before a second impact saw the weapon stop. HyperShock's third attack forced Orbitron to topple out of the arena, meaning after just eleven seconds, the fight was over and Team Orbitron were pegged back to 1-1.
Orbitron vs. Tombstone Orbitron also took on Tombstone during the group, whose team added strips of material to their spinning bar with the aim of encouraging Orbitron's AI technology to underestimate the length of their weapon. "This one's for Counter Revolution!" — Team Orbitron pre-fight Orbitron looks on as Tombstone's electronics short. Quickest out of its starting square, Orbitron looked to box-rush its Tombstone and collided with its front. This early attack punted Tombstone backwards as it sat vulnerable upon the screws. It also shorted the weapon system, evident by the sparks coming from its underbelly. As the screws reversed, Orbitron's veteran opponent was free, meaning the dual-disked spinner faced it again and attacked its left flank with the lighter blue blade. Tombstone escaped, but was quickly followed by Orbitron, which now led with its heavier gold-colored disk. Orbitron got underneath and began shredding the left tire, before turning to continue the attack with its blue disk again. These attacks against the Upper Deck buckled the frame of Tombstone and caused its weapon chain to sit loose inside the cavity. "Orbitron is relentless here! Wow, what a great start to the fight." — Steve Judkins Orbitron's assault continues. Tombstone reversed away, allowing Orbitron time and space to reset. The Waterloo representatives gave chase, sweeping underneath the 2016 champions and attacking again, first with one blade and then the other. By now, Orbitron had caused visible damage to both Tombstone's drive wheels as it limped away from danger. Orbitron dealt another uppercut to the front of Tombstone which caused the defunct chain to hang out of the frame. Suddenly, Orbitron stopped moving despite its dominance up to this point in the match; its gold disk was spinning, but its blue blade and drive were down. Just as quickly as it had stopped, however, Orbitron returned to life and the fight continued. Orbitron is high-centered and unable to move. Orbitron continued to hunt down Tombstone, but as the former Giant Nut winner slide off Orbitron's front plow, part of the loose chain was swept underneath and became attracted to their magnets. This caused Orbitron to become high-centered and stopped the robot from moving for good. Hardcore Robotics allowed Orbitron to be counted out, confirming a 1-2 overall finish for both robots. As Orbitron had lost their head-to-head battle with Tombstone, however, the Canadian team placed fourth in the group, though Ray Billings took time after the fight to praise Team Orbitron for their efforts. "Feel good about how this turned out; you did exactly what you needed to do this weekend. You belong here." — Ray Billings to Steven Szczeszynski after the fight

Results

Competitive Wins/Losses

• Wins: 1
• Losses: 2

Exhibition Wins/Losses

• Wins: 2
• Losses: 2

Total Wins/Losses

• Wins: 3
• Losses: 4

Competition	Wins	Losses
BattleBots Proving Ground	Disarray Disarray	Roundhouse Roundhouse
BattleBots FaceOffs	Valkyrie	HyperShock Tombstone

Trivia

• Orbitron was originally set to feature a total of eight cameras on the robot itself, which behaved similar to human eyes according to the team. This would build a three-dimensional vision of its environment, but was scrapped in favor of two sets of cameras outside of the BattleBox instead.
• The Orbitron team utilized a simulation run in the Unity engine to test their autonomous code.
• Every robot Orbitron faced in its FaceOffs group had previously won the Most Destructive Robot Award.
• A limited run of 1:6 scale Orbitron model kits were available to purchase through the Hacksmith Industries website, including a 3D-printed chassis and painted metal disks.