When we arrived at the site of the contest, we were given a work area to set up in, where we re-assembled Clyclo-Kluge (we had to take it apart to get in on the plane to S.F). For the first time ever, we tested the robot's drive and weapon's motors simultaneously. The all worked, but the spinning blade on top performed poorly. We toiled away for hours trying to help - swapping motors, adjusting the frame - to no avail. Finally, we added graphite lubricant, which helped immensely. We never got the rotor to turn at speeds we would have liked, however.
Match One
Our first bout was against Flipper, a wedge-shaped robot, which had a front panel that could flip up, theoretically to tip over oppenents. Flipper was unable to tip us over with its panel, but unfortunately we were unable to do more than dent Flipper's armor. After one of our hits against Flipper, one of our blades (thick steel!) bent perpendicular to the spinning disk, stopping it and lifting Cyclo-Kluge partially off the ground, making controlled maneuvering almost impossible. Luckily, Flipper shortly after got caught by one of the arena paddle obstacles, and was rammed into the wall where it got stuck. We were awarded the victory. Not our proudest moment, but I feel that our drive system was stronger than Flipper's, and we would have won the inevitable pushing contest.
Match Two
Our second bout was against Test Toaster One, the previous year's champion and a fiendishly simple but clever design. All of TT1's vitals were contained within a plasic bucket which rode high on two big wheels, keeping them safely above the weapons of its foes. Out of the bucket extended a long 2x4 with a steel blade on the end. The 2x4 could swing the blade into an opposing robot doing damage or ensnaring it, all the while keeping the opponent far from its vital electronics. We were unable to significantly damage TT1, so it came down to a pushing contest. There we were evenly matched, and the struggle went back and forth for five minutes. Finally we achieved a mutual pin and the match was put to an audience vote. The traitorous horde voted for TT1. Actually, I don't blame them. The final position, although technically a mutual pin, looked more like TT1 pinning Cyclo-Kluge than vice-versa.
Melee
For our melee bout, we were pitched against a few opponents simultaneously. We employed a new modification, attaching sticky rubber strips to the rim of the disk which we hoped would entangle our opponents. Unfortunately - unknown to us - our rotor motor had stripped a gear and refused to spin. Attiller the Hun came right for us and our robots became entangled immediately for the entire match.