Team Run Amok victory at DaVinci Days robot battle.

On July 21st, 2002 Western Allied Robotics (WAR) staged the NorthWest AntWeight Tournament as part of the annual Da Vinci Days celebration on the campus of Oregon State University. The event drew 15 robots from across the region. The finals of the double elimination event pitted our brand new antweight 'Rat Amok' versus the losers bracket champ 'I-Lash' - a fast two-wheeled spinbot. The battle was a wild contrast of styles with 'Rat Amok' showing precise maneuvering and patience and 'I-Lash' going for wild gyrations and high-speed attack strategy. Three minutes later the judges gave a close decision to I-Lash, handing Rat Amok its first loss. You have to get two losses to be knocked out of a double-elimination tournament so they went at it again to determine the overall winner.

This time patience paid off for 'Rat Amok', who repeatedly pinned 'I-Lash' against the spike strip and nearly forced a win by standing the spinner immobile on its tail in the corner for a 9-count. One final driving error in the final seconds of the match sent 'I-Lash' into the circular saw hazard(!) to tip the victory and tournament to Rat Amok. The trophy, a "Medium-size Nut", now sits proudly alongside our Robotica Season 1 Championship Cup.

Other robotic events at Da Vinci days included the Spirit Mountain Robotics CRUNCH demonstration with a dozen light to super-heavywight combat robots showing their stuff, and an ambitious 'Build and Fight Your Own Bug Robot' event organized by Mike Morrow of Team JuggerBot. Click here for more info on those events.