Described as the "spiritual successor" to Team Overboard's now-retired Deep Six, Triton is a four-wheel drive robot with a wheel alignment similar to that of Robot Wars competitor Pussycat. This allows Triton to remain invertible, while also having its wheels protected from side attacks. At the front, Triton sports a large, horizontalspinning bar in the shape of an anchor made from AR500 steel.[1] Triton bears a strong resemblance to former BattleBots champion Tombstone, and was even decorated to resemble Ray Billings' robot in The Pits during its rookie season, in the former champion's absence.
Triton during World Championship VII hero shots.
According to team captain Bradley Hanstad, the weapon "takes a similar approach in how ridiculous its weapon is" to its predecessor.[2] The rotating anchor is powered by three 1100Kv 2028 Castle motors, run through a custom gear system and twin V-belts. The team intend to use similar and proven components from the most recent build of Deep Six in Triton. Triton's name derives from the Son of Poseidon and Greek God of the sea. Continuing a similar etymology to Deep Six, Triton was named by Dustin Esswein.
Bradley Hanstad appeared on a September 7, 2022 episode of the Behind the Bots podcast episode to discuss the robot in more detail, following Deep Six captain Dustin Esswein's planned hiatus from the show.[3] He stated Triton would be "a little easier to drive" than Esswein's creation, in part due to Triton prioritizing torque and spin-up time over peaking close to the 250mph tip speed limit. Triton was built in Las Vegas, Nevada, very close to filming for the competition to alleviate time teams typically spend shipping the robot over. Former Deep Six team members Andrew Rossol and Andrew Burghgraef would also not be present for filming due to family obligations, but were still listed as part of the team on the BattleBots website. Triton's weapon bars were revealed in a pits video by the Skorpios team: two identical anchor blades, as well as a nautical compass-themed, symmetrical bar called True North[4] Triton lost its first two fights to Lucky and Copperhead, but managed to recover to a respectable 2-2 record after defeating Glitch and Horizon. Despite an even record, Triton did not make it to the Round of 32.
Returning for BattleBots: Champions II, Triton faced veteran Gigabyte in the opening round. However, it lost by knockout and was immediately eliminated.
Triton was among the BattleBots competitors displayed at Open Sauce in San Francisco in July 2023 alongside the Team Overboard 30lber Depth Charge.
Robot History[]
World Championship VII[]
Triton vs. Lucky
Triton's BattleBots debut came against the Canadian veteran Lucky. Triton was armed with its traditional anchor-shaped blade for this fight.
Triton deflects off the front of Lucky.
As the fight began, Triton was not allowed time to spin up due to Lucky charging immediately towards it. Its weapon then grazed the front plow of Lucky and Triton deflected into the center of the BattleBox. Matt Olson drove Lucky into Triton again, but as it spun away, it found space and time to get up to speed and swing around, causing a gash in the plow of the Canadian bot. Lucky retaliated by getting in underneath and landing a flip on Triton, throwing it into the screws. Triton found itself pinned, but eventually escaped and got its weapon running again.
Triton is thrown against the screws.
As Lucky approached, it got to the back of Triton and pushed against its wheels, avoiding the spinning anchor in the process. However, Triton swung around again and landed a few more significant hits upon its opponent. As it began to get a foothold in the fight, Triton spun around to attempt this tactic once more, but allowed Matt Olson space to ram against its back and force the blade into the BattleBox floor.
Triton is immobilized against the BattleBox.
After tanking several more blows, Triton rebounded into the screws near the blue starting square. In this momentary loss of control, Lucky capitalized by getting in underneath and dealing a modest but controlled punch with its weapon.
This left Triton stranded on its side against the housing for the screws with no way to escape. Although its weapon motor was visibly spinning, the bar was not and Triton was declared immobile.
Triton vs. Copperhead
Keen to avoid dropping to 0-2, Triton next fought Copperhead. In this battle, Triton again sported its anchor-shaped bar and also fitted a larger weapon pulley to improve the reliability of its primary weapon.
Chris Rose: "Triton a little bit out of control here, but that blade looks better than last fight."
Kenny Florian: "Yeah, definitely! Much more durable as well..."
— Commentary, immediately before Copperhead strikes the back of Triton
Triton is disemboweled by Copperhead.
To start, Copperhead and Triton exchanged glancing blows with Copperhead delivering a hit to the right wheel. Triton then delivered a shot to Copperhead causing it to veer to the right. Copperhead recovered and delivered a strike to Triton which caused its internals to spill across the BattleBox floor.
Kenny Florian: "Uhh, what was I saying again?"
Chris Rose: "I have no idea what you said! Copperhead disembowels Triton... but uh-oh! Hold on! Is Copperhead having issues as well, Kenny? The weapon is spinning, but the bot here is not moving!"
— As the double KO situation unfolds
In the chaos, Triton's bar managed to knock one of its own lithium polymer batteries underneath Copperhead, causing it to become high-centered and therefore also immobile.
The remains of Triton.
A simultaneous knockout was declared, meaning the fight went to the judges, all three of whom voted in Copperhead's favor. As such, Triton fell to 0-2.
Triton vs. Glitch
Triton's third Fight Night opponent was the previous season's co-Rookie of the Year, Glitch, both of whom are desperate to avoid falling to a nightmarish 0-3 record. For this fight, HyperShock captain Will Bales served as a guest fight analyst.
"Going into this fight against Glitch, Triton needs to be able to get away initially. Get that speed up on that weapon to maximum, and then look for the right place to hit. Probably on the side of their weapon, or maybe even on their backside if we're able to get around to 'em. If we have a weapon-to-weapon hit, it might be okay for us because we have a lot of weapon energy... just have to make sure that I'm positioning the robot, such that our backside is not exposed to Glitch, because they have a very scary weapon."
— Bradley Hanstad
Both weapons collide.
Both weapons got up to speed and Glitch approached, Triton drove to avoid an early hit. However, Glitch was able to strike Bradley Hanstad's bot and it spun into the corner. Triton returned to the center of the BattleBox and struck the front of its opponent, causing sparks to fly.
Glitch begins to smoke.
Triton backed away as it appeared Glitch had been severely compromised by this attack. Its weapon was not spinning, and smoke began to pour from Kyle Miller's machine, which Will Bales identified as battery smoke. As it was still mobile on one side, however, Glitch was still in the fight, meaning Triton had no choice but to continue engaging.
"Smoke! Let him smoke, babe! Let him smoke!"
— Shea Johns to Bradley Hanstad, as a cloud of battery smoke develops from inside Glitch
Triton is thrown in the air while Glitch falls upside-down.
Glitch's eggbeater drum spinner then got back up to speed and arced into the path of Triton, sending the rookie bot flying through the air. As the smoke began to subside, Triton recovered while Glitch could still only drive on one side. The more recent hit had caused Triton's weapon belts to snag around its 80lb blade, stopping it dead.
"Okay so Triton's weapon is out of commission but you can hear the roar coming from that 58lb drum on Glitch. And with Kyle Miller's bot still crab-walking, that means that Triton's got to poke the bear one more time."
— Chris Rose
Glitch finds itself inverted and lifeless for the third fight running.
With no active weapon, Triton tentatively pushed Glitch towards the wall, hoping to ram Glitch weapon-first into the rails and use its own power against itself. With its back facing Triton, Bradley Hanstad's bot drove up the back of Glitch, throwing itself into the air, but more importantly, overturning its opponent.
As a count began on Glitch, Triton backed away, securing its first BattleBots win as it clawed back to 1-2.
Triton vs. Horizon
Triton equipped with True North.
Triton's fourth and final Fight Night opponent was a fellow rookie in Horizon. For the first time, Triton used its needle-shaped blade called True North and a front plate protecting its weapon belts from the front.
Triton approaches Horizon.
Quickly getting its bar up to speed, Triton approached Horizon and landed a blow as Joshua Kong's robot took time to spin its arm. Horizon drove away to safety, but one of its disks suddenly ground to a halt. Its bar began rotating the other way as Horizon drove into Triton with its non-spinning disk. Bradley Hanstad's machine powered up its spinner again, striking one end of Horizon's arm before following this up with a blow to the other.
"There's a nice shot... and maybe it disassembled one of those spinning disks."
— Chris Rose reacts as one of Horizon's spinners goes down
Triton hits Horizon as it grinds to a halt.
However, Triton's left-side drive chain had snapped, causing it to arc in place around the edge of the blue square. It was still able to land several more attacks to the frame and the weaponry of its opponent, after which Horizon stopped moving over the killsaw slots.
Edging its way to Horizon, Triton swung its weapon again, making contact and throwing Horizon near the center of the BattleBox. Although its main bar was spinning, it had no control over its drive, so a count was initiated.
Triton took the win by knockout and recovered to a 2-2 finish in the qualifiers. However, this was not enough to break into the Top 32.
BattleBots: Champions II[]
Triton vs. Gigabyte
"Gigabyte is a really tough opponent...we're intending to try and hit them kind of high, and try and do damage to their mechanism that holds their shell on...Triton is a robot designed for massive big hits. We don't have a lot of armor, it's all in our weapon, we're a glass cannon, and Triton's here to destroy something. Fighting against a well-established robot will really give us a real proving ground for what we need to make Triton do in the future to possibly win the Nut, or in this case, to win the Golden Bolt."
— Bradley Hanstad discussing his planned strategy for fighting Gigabyte
Triton also fought in BattleBots: Champions II, where it took on Gigabyte in the opening round.
Triton and Gigabyte in the center of the arena.
First attempting to spin up its weapon, Triton drove into the centre of the BattleBox, attempting to turn to face its opponent yet finding difficulties as it oversteered. It then made contact with Gigabyte twice, being launched slightly into the air both times as it continued to struggle with control, before being thrown to the screws after another hit from Gigabyte, and then being thrown into a corner.
Following this, it escaped from the corner, being chased and attacked again by Gigabyte, the impact throwing both to opposite sides of the BattleBox.
"Wow! Gigabyte saying "I'll be the one dishing out the Haymakers, thank you very much!""
— Chris Rose reacts to Triton being launched towards the screws
Gigabyte continues to spin as Triton is eliminated.
However, at this stage, Triton began to have difficulties with its drive, with one of its chains separated from the machine by the impact. Triton attempted to spin up again, but following a series of minor hits, was launched across the BattleBox towards the Upper Deck.
Bradley Hanstad's robot was rendered totally immobilized, and was counted out by Referee David Sanfilippo, thus eliminating Triton from the competition.
BattleBots Proving Ground[]
Triton vs. Manta (6/24/2023)
Triton ahead of its first Proving Ground fight.
Triton returned for BattleBotsProving Ground in June 2023 and was drafted in to replace Atomic Pumpkin. In its weekend of fights, Triton took on RoboGames champion Manta, and for these fights, Triton featured additional armor to protect its wheels and a second weapon belt to power its anchor blade.
The initial impact.
In the opening seconds, Triton was struck by Manta and sent twisting and turning through the air.
"Oh my... oh my... OHHHH!!"
— Bil Dwyer reacts to the initial impact
As soon as Triton landed, Manta immediately dealt a follow-up shot which threw Bradley Hanstad's bot towards the screws.
Now smoking and with its blade warped and unable to spin, Triton's vulnerable back end was left exposed and Triton capitalized, biting into its frame. With its left-side drive also compromised[5], Manta's assault continued, throwing Triton into the air again and almost out of the arena completely.
Triton post-fight.
Manta powered its weapon down and returned to the blue starting square as a count mercifully began on just thirty seconds into the fight. Triton was immobilized and Manta picked up its first BattleBots win.
Triton vs. Manta (6/25/2023)
Triton vs. Manta, as advertised by BattleBots.
Triton took on Manta for a second time during the weekend. According to on-site crew, Triton had to be fully rebuilt ahead of the rematch and sported its compass blade after suffering damage to its anchor bar the day prior.
Both robots began this fight slightly more tentatively than the day prior, but Manta quickly got its weapon up to speed and struck the side of Triton, sending it spiralling through the air again.
Steve Judkins: "How's the noise, Bil?!"
Bil Dwyer: "My goodness!"
— Steve Judkins and Bil Dwyer react to Manta's 'death hum'
Triton immobile near the red square.
These attacks snapped all of Triton's weapon belts, rendering its horizontal spinner useless. One final attack saw Manta get underneath Triton and strike the frame again, and from this moment, Triton was no longer mobile. A count began and Bradley Hanstad's team ended the weekend without a win.
