`95
(Click on the picture for a larger version)Most of the AIAA Robot Wars '95 Team (From right to left are Matt Jardin, Gary Cohen, Michael Pruznick, Glen Carl, and Doug Isaacson. Of course, the Painful Wedgie is that innocuous-looking metal thing everyone is crouching around. Not pictured are Pat Ryan, Tony Tong, and Ken Lim)
Robot Wars
is a competitive sporting event between robots in different weight categories. That's what the Robot Wars
people say. The AIAA entered the 1995 Robot Wars and in less than 4 weeks
and for less than $300.00
was able to build a gasoline-engine powered robot called the Painful Wedgie
that competed in the heavy-weight category against oponents that cost an
order of magnitude more and that had been built over the course of years.
Naturally, one would not expect the Wedgie to have done so well against
such professional competition, and in fact the Wedgie was soundly defeated,
but the experience was well worth the effort.
For more information about fighting robots, please go have a look at one of the best web sites I've seen for this sort of thing at RobotCombat.com". Tell them the Painful Wedgie sent you.
Just what did the Wedgie's creators get out of all this? Fame? Not really (though they did appear on several local TV news programs and were photographed by Popular Science). Fortune? Nope. Admiration from their peers? No. So, why did they do it?
The answer lies at the heart of what the Edison Network is all about. The team that built the Wedgie was comprised of young engineers who, by their nature, like to learn how to make things, and ultimately will want to start their own entrepreneurial ventures based upon what they learn how to create. The Robot Wars project was an excellent opportunity to learn something about mechanical design, R/C design, electronics design, and basic machining techniques. This is why the Wedgie was built.
OK, now for a little photo expose of the creation, life, and death of the Painful Wedgie... Remember that all of what follows took place in about 4 weeks. About 7 people helped on the project, all of whom were also either working full time at other jobs, or were in school full-time, and in one case, both. The name for the Wedgie came from the original idea which was to build a quick and agile machine with a wedge shape that could ram into other robots and knock them over. The idea ultimately proved to be the best, though not in the form of the Wedgie. Another competitor had the same idea and was much more succussful in the realization.
[Note: Click on the pictures if, for some strange reason, you'd like to see larger versions]
At one time, that old moped had carried Matt all over Hunterdon County, NJ but now it was just rusting in the backyard at his parents' house and lowering property values. The homeowners association was starting to complain... something had to be done. Fortunately, before the old 'ped was dismantled for scrap metal, Matt and Doug came to the rescue and took the moped over to Menlo Machine to transform the Austrian-built machine into a robot (soon-to-be-named "Painful Wedgie") that would end up as scrap metal anyway.
Drinking bad beer and working on engines...
After stripping the 1.5 hp 2-stroke engine from the moped, a support-structure was quickly welded together with the help of Pat Ryan, owner of Menlo Machine, and the Wedgie was born.
Glen is shown here looking over the newly created
Wedgie as it sits cooling on the welding
table at Menlo Machine.