Road Rash

Road Rash
Participation Information
Reboot Seasons	World Championship II
Other Names	Rubber (Working name)
Team Information
Team	Danger 4
Team Members	Frederick Moore (Captain) Dane Kouttron Julian Merrick Ciaran O'Neill Cheetiri Smith Alex Hattori Jared DiCarlo
From	Boston, MA
Associated Robots	Uppercut (Alex Hattori, Jared DiCarlo) Valkyrie, RIPperoni, Starchild (Frederick Moore) Overhaul (Dane Kouttron)
Robot Statistics
Drive	2x Ampflow motors
Weapons	Twin circular saws Grabbing arms
Statistics correct as of its most recent appearance on the show, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Road Rash was a robot built by the Danger 4 team which applied for BattleBots World Championship II.

It was a two-wheel drive robot armed with a pair of independently-moving horizontal claws either side of a steep front wedge, with the intention of grabbing and holding an opponent in place. This allowed for a pair of cutting saws to come into play and slice into a robot's top armor. These saws were mounted to a mechanism which moved the saws forward into the path of an opponent as they continued to spin, very similar to the Robot Wars House Robot, Dead Metal. The saws were chain-driven, and the mechanism was housed above a low, ovular chassis with 20lbs of car tire wrapping around the rear UMHW armor. According to an early CAD seen as part of their application video for World Championship II, the robot was initially going to feature interchangeable weaponry replacing the saw and horizontal grabbing arms. This included, but was not limited to: an overhead crowbar, sword, pitchfork and a spiked hammer inspired by a drinking bird toy, but this, along with the original name Rubber, was dropped by the team.

"Rubber is a proposed 250lb BattleBot where the only wheel is the one we're using for armor."

— Dane Kouttron narrates Team Danger 4's application video for World Championship II

Road Rash was due to sport a unique drive system known as "induction drive", which featured electromagnets and was interchangeable with a more traditional system if required, though Team Danger 4 opted for the latter configuration in its only battle. This drive system was inspired by a system of train transportation called Maglev (magnetic levitation), though how successful this was on Road Rash remains unknown. The team also claimed that their robot could increase their traction with the floor to prevent opponents from bullying it around the BattleBox. The robot featured large electromagnets driven at around 400V to move around the arena. Relegated to a reserve for World Championship II, Road Rash was ultimately not selected to compete in the main competition. But it would fight in a three-way exhibition match, against Overhaul and SawBlaze, two other teams with members who were students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As such, the rumble was declared The Battle of MIT.

Though Road Rash did not compete in any future seasons of BattleBots, team members would branch off to several teams who would become more established in the show, such as Valkyrie, Uppercut and Overhaul. Most recently, Frederick Moore joined Team Omega as the collaborative effort of existing teams competed in World Championship VII with RIPperoni and Starchild.

Road Rash was briefly displayed outside the Boston Children's Museum alongside fellow MIT robots Overhaul, SawBlaze, and The Dentist in July 2016 before it was repurposed for future events. Road Rash remains in possession of team member Dane Kouttron.

Road Rash being worked on in The Pits.

Road Rash's shock-mounted wedges.

A closer look at Road Rash's saws.

Sparks fly as Road Rash demonstrates its primary weapon.

A top-down view of Road Rash's internals.

Road Rash showing off its claws in the Test Box.

The electromagnets on the underside of Road Rash.

Road Rash as "Rubber" in the team's application video.

Outside BattleBots

The Danger 4 team participated in the 2017 edition of RoboGames with Boris Badenov, which was Road Rash painted black.

Robot History

World Championship II

Road Rash vs. SawBlaze vs. Overhaul (Exhibition) Despite not competing in the main tournament, Road Rash competed in an exhibition rumble known as the 'MIT Rumble' and 'The Battle of MIT' against Overhaul and SawBlaze. Overhaul topples Road Rash early on. Overhaul darted towards Road Rash, promptly getting underneath before SawBlaze charged in and got underneath both opponents. Overhaul backed away from danger before getting a lift on Road Rash, eventually flipping it over. With no way to self-right or run inverted, the Danger 4 machine was out of the picture. Now effectively a 1v1, SawBlaze wedged underneath the side of Overhaul and held it in front of the teams. Though unable to get its saw into play, Jamison Go's robot drove Overhaul into the walls, but had suffered damage to one of its double-stacked tires as some of the blue pool noodle inside was visible. Overhaul is pinned by SawBlaze. As Overhaul looked to cause further punishment to the immobile Road Rash, a fire suddenly broke out inside Charles Guan's heavyweight. SawBlaze moved in for an opportunistic pin, dropping its arm on top of the controlbot but failing to cause damage with either its saw or flamethrower. As the black and green machine closed in again, it wedged its front pontoons underneath and caused Overrhaul's wheels to raise off the BattleBox floor. In doing so, SawBlaze itself lacked the torque to drive away as its wheels spun inside the tires. Overhaul is high-centred on SawBlaze. After some time, SawBlaze and Overhaul were free, but the Equals Zero Robotics entry insisted on attacking the inverted Road Rash. By this point, the reserve could only flail its pincers helplessly as they made contact with Road Rash's own saws, causing a shower of sparks. Road Rash played no part in the remainder of the rumble, with Overhaul and SawBlaze intermittently attacking it. The rumble was ultimately won by SawBlaze.

Results

Exhibition Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 1

Competition	Wins	Losses
World Championship II	None	SawBlaze

Faruq Tauheed Introductions

"Ask your doctor if he's ever seen a rash like this. Then, make an appointment for some ointment! It's ROAD RASH!"

Trivia

• The name Road Rash was inspired by the Sega Genesis game of the same name.
• Four days prior to shipping, the team calculated Road Rash to be 60lbs overweight. However, this issue was exaggerated due to the team using the wrong unit of measurement when weighing the robot.
  • As it happened, Road Rash was recalculated to be 30lbs overweight with three days until the robot needed to be shipped.
• The team donned red caps saying "Make Science Great Again" in their official photo for the BattleBots website, a satirical reference to Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan from his presidential campaign.
• Brutus was initially set to compete in the MIT rumble, but Adam Bercu wanted to give Dane Kouttron and Road Rash a chance to participate.

External Links

• CAD of Road Rash