Not to be confused with the heavyweight turned superheavyweight robot of the same name entered by Inertia Labs.
Rhino (also spelled Rhyno) was a middleweight robot built by students from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (also referring to themselves as the Metal Twisters team[1][2]) which competed in various BotsIQ events from 2008 until 2011.
The first known incarnation of this robot appeared at the 2008 BotsIQ National competition and the 2009 Collegiate Championship, the former under the alternative spelling Rhyno. In this form, it was an invertible, two-wheel drive robot armed with a toothed spinning drum. The weapon, wheel placement and low box-wedge shape with angled sides gave Rhino a passing resemblance to Falcon, a similarly-designed drum spinner entered by Team Blue Devil for the Collegiate Championship. Rhino endured a winless run in the Collegiate Championship, suffering a destructive knockout defeat against Category 5 before being eliminated in the loser's bracket by Pharaoh.[3][4]
In 2010, a new version of Rhino was created for that year's BotsIQ National Championship, switching to a four-wheel drive design with a vertical flywheel and a rear plow for added defense.[5] While information on Rhino's 2010 and 2011 runs is limited, available footage suggests that this incarnation, while powerful, suffered from issues with reliability and its low ground clearance in the latter. Rhino and its team, however, would receive the Outstanding Sportsmanship Award for the 2011 National Championship regardless of their overall performance.
The team also competed in the 15lb class with Jail's Fury, winning the division outright in 2011.
Robot History[]
BotsIQ 2008[] |
|---|
Rhyno vs. ? Rhyno made its debut in the 2008 BotsIQ event, though its opponents are not known. |
2009 Collegiate Championship[] |
Rhino vs. Category 5 After receiving a first-round bye in the winner's bracket, Rhino's first fight was against Category 5, serving as a grudge match from 2008. Before the battle, Rhino's team put on special titanium plates to keep Category 5 away, especially with the new teeth they added. At the start of the battle, Rhino was more hesitant as Category 5 spun up to full speed with Rhino having a drive problem on one side. Rhino couldn't get away in time and left its side exposed, allowing Category 5 to tear its left wedge off. Rhino was free from this and came after Category 5 with its drum, but this proved costly as Category 5 ripped off the front and right plates in one piece, taking a drum mount with it as well, leaving Rhino very exposed and weaponless. To avoid further damage, Rhino tapped out after just 29 seconds. |
Rhino vs. Pharaoh Rhino fell into the loser's bracket, where it took on Pharaoh. Both robots survived to a judges' decision, but Pharaoh was declared the winner and Rhino's elimination was confirmed. |
BotsIQ 2011[] |
Rhino vs. Category 5 Rhino's first fight was a rematch against Category 5. The match started with Category 5 spinning up to speed, while Rhino had gotten stuck on an uneven floor seam. In the meantime, Rhino got its disk spun up freeing itself. After that, Category 5 moved in and popped Rhino who still seemed to be having issues. Afterwards, Rhino came in and used its rear wedge to attack Category 5, then promptly got stuck again while a puff of smoke appeared on Rhino. This allowed Category 5 to get two attacks in on Rhino, which freed them again. After this, Rhino went on the attack, striking Category 5 with its spinning disc. However they got stuck again, but were again freed by Category 5 who sent itself flying in the process. Rhino then drove in and used its spinning disk to take a piece off of Category 5. Unfortunately for Rhino, they had lost half of their drive by this point, so they were having even more control problems. Despite this, Rhino managed to get a few more attacks in on Category 5 who was stuck in the corner, one of these attacks also took out one of the arenas I-Beams. Rhino then backed off and Category 5 got back up to speed. With about one minute left on the clock both bots collided in a big hit that immobilized Category 5, and high centered Rhino a final time. Due to Category 5 dominating most of the fight, and Rhino's lack of control the judges gave the fight to Category 5, putting Rhino in the loser's bracket. |
Rhino vs. Smashius Clay Rhino's next fight was against Smashius Clay. This fight started with Rhino spinning up and slamming into Smashius Clay, then after a few minor hits, Rhino lined up a shot that popped Smashius Clay into the air. Rhino then drove onto Smashius Clay's rear wedge and high centered itself. Once the robots were separated, it became clear that last hit from Rhino had immobilized Smashius Clay, giving Rhino the KO. |
Rhino vs. panDEMONium Next up for Rhino was panDEMONium. When the match began, Rhino turned around to use its rear plow. Rhino was turned around from the first impact, but when the two bots came in for a second hit, Rhino knocked panDEMONium up into the air and into the wall. Rhino went in for another attack with its plow, but the angle of impact combined with the teeth alignment on panDEMONium caused Rhino to get kicked up, resulting in Rhino taking a major hit to the underside and getting tossed into the wall. Rhino immediately stopped moving from the impact, so it was counted out. panDEMONium won by KO, eliminating Rhino from competition.  Rhino (right) with Category 5 and their awards. |
Results[]
| RHINO | ||
| 2009 Collegiate Championship | ||
| Collegiate Championship 2009 Eliminated in Loser's bracket (0-2) | ||
| Winner's bracket, Round 1 | vs. No opponent | Bye |
| Winner's bracket, Round 2 | vs. Category 5 | Lost (KO) |
| Loser's bracket, Round 2 | vs. No opponent | Bye |
| Loser's bracket, Round 3 | vs. Pharaoh | Lost (JD) |
| BotsIQ 2011 National Championship | ||
| 120lb College Division Three known matches (1 win, 2 losses) | ||
| Match 1 | vs. Category 5 | Lost (JD) |
| Match 2 | vs. Smashius Clay | Won (KO) |
| Match 3 | vs. PanDEMONium | Lost (KO) |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 1*
- Losses: 4*
*Records incomplete.
NOTE: Rhino's Collegiate Championship byes are omitted.
| Competition | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| BotsIQ 2008 | ? | ? |
| Collegiate Championship 2009 | None | Category 5 |
| BotsIQ 2010 | ? | ? |
| BotsIQ 2011 | Smashius Clay | Category 5 panDEMONium |
Honors[]
| RHINO | ||
| BotsIQ 2011 | ||
| Outstanding Sportsmanship Award |
Trivia[]
- Alongside Pharaoh - which defeated it in the 2009 Collegiate Championship - the middleweight Rhino was one of two entries from this event fielded by teams originating in Puerto Rico.