Preying Mantis was a walkerbot built by Team Nuclear Radiation Mutation for Battlebots World Championship II. Despite attending filming, would ultimately not compete in the show.
It was armed with a grabbing weapon held in its mid-section, though its exact functionality is unknown. The chassis was made from welded steel tubing, painted green to resemble a praying mantis insect. This look is reinforced by the robot's shape and walking mechanism. The robot also featured a black octagonal head at the front, which housed the pivoting mechanism for the front legs. Much of Preying Mantis' electronics were stored in a yellow box at the rear of the robot, which is hidden from view in their official photos for the BattleBots website.
CAD of Preying Mantis.
The name is an intentional misspelling and a play on words, as "preying" means to hunt and kill for food.
- "Our robot is a radioactive insect that rises up at its mid section to SMASH its enemies."
- — Team member Megan Bachant describes the primary weapon of Preying Mantis
Preying Mantis featured a unique walking mechanism consisting of two pivoting sets of legs attached to motors. Feet with rubber ends were attached perpendicular to these legs to help redistribute the robot's weight as it maneuvered.
The extent of Preying Mantis' mobility.
As the front pair of legs pivoted ever-so-slightly clockwise, the back pair would pivot counter-clockwise, and vice versa, thus allowing the robot to drag itself forwards. As such, Preying Mantis moved incredibly slowly in the only footage of the robot in action.[2]
Team Nuclear Radiation Mutation and Preying Mantis attended filming for World Championship II. Unfortunately for the team, despite the walking mechanism proving effective in smaller weight classes,[3] it did not scale up well enough to 250lbs and the team withdrew from the competition.
Although Preying Mantis would ultimately never compete in BattleBots, team member Leanne Cushing would pilot her own team, debuting Valkyrie in World Championship III. A wildly different design from Preying Mantis, Valkyrie has competed in every season of BattleBots on Discovery. Parts of Preying Mantis were sold off after the 2016 competition, and what remains resides with Sasha Robocop.Citation?
Results[]
| PREYING MANTIS | ||
| World Championship II | ||
| 2016 Championship | ||
| NOTE: Preying Mantis withdrew from the competition and as such, did not compete. |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 0
| Competition | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| World Championship II | None | None |
Trivia[]
- Had it competed, Preying Mantis would have been one of only two robots in BattleBots at the time to not rely on wheels or tracks for locomotion, alongside Wrecks.
- Despite being responsible for much of Preying Mantis' photos and only video of it in motion, Megan Bachant is not listed as a team member on the BattleBots website.
- A video showcasing the welding work for Preying Mantis' chassis is available on a YouTube channel called txyzinfo relating to txyz, one of the main sponsors for the robot.
- Unlike fellow withdrawing team Ambush, Preying Mantis never had merch available in the official BattleBots store.
References[]
- ↑ Private correspondence between Lars Weaving Baker and former members of Team Nuclear Radiation Mutation
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/mbachantdesigns/videos/1005403376210371
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezBKuOVK22s
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