Cheesecake defends his home! (Robot Rumpus, May 2024)

[@deucemoose7852]

That take away moment at the end nearly killed me I was laughing so hard I nearly choked haha. Great timing and delivery of the "Jeezus!"

[@cf81trb]

ikr, wasn't expecting that from an engineer

[@Julipapa]

Cheddar Goblin driver here It was honor to get to fight you. Cheesecake remains the reigning greatest cheese themed ant weight....

[@gwamhurt]

May the Goblin one day rise.

[@Toteke]

I'm brand new to watching this sport and I'm a huge fan of the shoulder blades! The defensive posture of being able to just point the blades at your opponent is sick as hell

[@Julipapa]

Thanks! It's so hard but fun to drive Obviously my design needs some more work, but every time an ant weight tournament near me comes by I'm gonna try to improve him a little

[@bam3xs]

@@Julipapa That's the attitude of a future champion! Each win shows you the strenghts, each loss the weaknesses.

[@ZeroTSONG]

Good fight

[@cf81trb]

Man the camera bump at 5:00 was perfectly well timed, gave the impression that the camera was fixed *on* the cage itself

[@Tyfu39944]

As violent of an opening attack cheesecake delivered, let’s call it free editing😂

[@arkaiidsthings]

the kid in the first fight NOT FLINCHING when robots are flying towards their face

[@IstasPumaNevada]

Control definitely seems to have been Cheesecake's biggest weakness for a while, not just in this tournament.

[@thecanadiannematoad4140]

It seemed extra unmobile this time

[@fromfin90]

He put most points in Attack stat

[@zaggyzombie]

Congrats on the sponsor! Hopefully it will help fund more fights for Cheesecake in the future. Can't wait to see more.

[@louiscq433]

Hey its me the "Cheesecake the 1lbs combat robot record keeping guy in the comments" cant quite update Cheesecake's record right away as I am currently being held hostage by chinese spies. Ok got around to it: Cheesecake's record (as of video) Official fights: 44(39)-17(8) Exhibition fights 2(1)-2(2)-1 But any which way, its been an interesting recent couple of events for good ol Cheesecake. The previous tournament showed us glimpses of similar issues but could have been written off quite lightly since it was a different arena type compared to Cheesecakes regular stomping ground. But I think that this tourney is showing that Cheesecake might need some more substantial upgrades or changes as it seems that the competition is catching up. But this by no means shows that Cheesecake is done as our 1 lbs friend still shows that it can absolutely rip. Curious to see with what comes in the future and again, good luck to anyone who wants a bite of Cheesecake! P.S. Alex if you see this I got confused writing the 2nd to last sentence, is Cheesecake a he or she?

[@Cl-2048]

genderfluid icon

[@OliverPickard]

this hobby needs more love

[@Jun_mobileplays]

Cheesecake is good at splitting 3D printed bodies because you can see a crack right between each layer on the full body spinners

[@cooperchesterpot3099]

right!

[@Azoraith]

Wonder how much print orientation could do with this, if you have the layers lines the other way or at 45 deg to split the difference between h and V spinners

[@concordemakesvideos1070]

The Jesus comment fucking broke me

[@johnforrestboone1]

"you know who also didnt win over his home town...jesus" -- cheesecake

[@mattshreve9096]

Awesome little bot! It seems like you should maybe dial in some exponential into the steering. There's really no practical need for the little guy to turn so dang fast, and then your control would increase significantly. Also, maybe set a switch on your radio to swap the steering inputs whenever Cheesecake is upside down?

[@RFLX_OmegaRaptor]

The chromatic effect on the metal looks awesome

[@robyee3325]

Dude these are well edited and presented very well! Good job!

[@randymeredith]

It's awesome to see Cheesecake back in action. Kudos on adapting and persisting!

[@KingPieGamez]

i love your videos, and wanted to ask... can you try and make a vert spinner bot please 🙏

[@alexsalchemy]

I actually have an idea for a unique vertical drum spinner, it'll just require some clever power transmission

[@ethanedwards7834]

That Renfield was fast. Good match all in all.

[@NoobsailerRBH]

I think it's fair to say that the tiny area here affected the performance - the lack of room for maneuverability kinda sucks when you need room to line up the attack, spin up your weapon, or get away and reset.

[@TheSurvivingMartyr]

Just recently found smaller weight battle bots and decided to start designing my own. Was showing my father in law your fights and he used to work with you! I co-op at greenlee but left before you transfered there. Small world we live. Love the vids!

[@brandonendrizzi]

My favorite tech channel now!!! I can’t wait for your next video!!! I wish I could do what you do!! Keep it up!!

[@alexsalchemy]

Thank you! But honestly, this is easier than you think! Witch Doctor Junior has a very helpful playlist for building your very first combat robot. Honestly, Cheesecake version one just used all the same electronics as the Fingertech Viper kit. You can also use free engineering CAD programs like Onshape or Fusion360 (Onshape for the win) to design your own parts!

[@CollinCard]

That is so badass! And super inspiring! I'm actually looking at getting into battlebots so this is EPIC!

[@riyspy9898]

I love cheesecake. I could watch these videos for hours

[@marknelson3830]

Hey man, inspiring engineer here, thank you for crating these videos it really helps me stay passionate and motivated. If its ok, I'd like to make a suggestion, because of the control issue, maybe you could add a solid ball wheel (just like how a ball point pen works) to the front of Cheesecake just under your spinner so the centrifugal forces can't affect the wheel as much and with the wheel just rolling with the bot and it being Partially inside Cheesecake its won't lift your nose up nearly as much as a normal!

[@colon3_]

yeah, but being an antweight bot alex doesn't have much weight to play around with on cheesecake, so idk if it would work or not.

[@johnforrestboone1]

@@colon3_ i think there is some weight to gain by removing some of the structure of the top carbon fiber frame. i have never seen it broken in battle. remove weight from things that never brake.

[@Makeybussines]

Yay for more Cheesecake content!

[@GT_1506]

So glad to see another video out, I may be a few days late, but still glad to see it

[@grantschroeder7344]

You are the Jesus of tiny fighting robots

[@KindOfWitch]

american antweight 🗣

[@gingerbreadman2998]

@grantsschroeder7433 you sure?

[@cornmaized]

finally SOLDERING!!! been waiting for that change for so long

[@Atl98fan_REAL]

THE GREATEST ROBOT IS BACK AND READY TO KICK ASS

[@am3lia420]

Congrats on the sponsorship!!

[@silasmcgee3647]

I absolutely adore the sound of the little kids cheering on cheesecake in the background❤ especially the little boy that yells "murder him!" To cheesecake As spineroone was in the process of murdering himself 🤣

[@adamp.8298]

I noticed that during the fight with Spinarooni, your weapon was spinning in the opposite direction to theirs, which reduced the impact of your hits. However, in the fight with Nor’Easter, both weapons were spinning in the same direction, allowing your weapon to make stronger contact and bite into their armor more effectively. If you could adjust the spin direction of your weapon mid-battle, it could catch opponents by surprise and potentially offer a better angle to chew on wheels. I also noticed that you've gained a lot more space inside your robot since soldering the connections. It looks like you could potentially move the weapon motor closer to the wheels, almost right up to the wheel drive motors. This shift would bring the center of mass closer to the wheels, which could improve agility.

[@alexsalchemy]

Hmm... I think you're right on both counts. I'm going to buy a new transmitter which should allow me to quickly change my weapon's spin direction, and I probably could make Cheesecake more compact now that I'm not using Wago lever nuts anymore. Heck, I should probably go get a dual brushed ESC for my drive motors instead of using two separate Fingertech ones now that they're all soldered together anyway.

[@adamp.8298]

@alexsalchemy, when’s will be the Mudsceeper rematch?

[@alexsalchemy]

@@adamp.8298 - I think Mudskipper might be retiring: there are new rules which reduce the weight bonus for shufflers, so Mudskipper won't be able to keep competing as he is. Too bad though, I had a new attachment for him, but you'll probably see it eventually for someone else.

[@Duck_manz]

I wanted to get into the ant weight competitions but then I saw includes cheesecake and I realise I would be cooked

[@alexsalchemy]

Well don't worry, I recently moved to the Midwest, so now you only have to regularly fight Dulce de Lucha, Shin Kicker, and Repment ;)

[@UJGstudiosMUSIC]

Strawberry chessecake-Caseoh

[@gheefreak]

I really like your videos, dude. 10/10 for Get Smart references, if nothing else.

[@Robb0rt]

It was great to meet you alex!

[@baobao6993]

I love antweight competition. It is so cool

[@malcolmmackenzie9202]

I think getting that motor and blade balanced perfectly would be a great help for control. Possibly a slightly longer sweet tooth even if its slightly thinner but then it might just get caught on the bottom of the arena more often. Love watching your videos and im sure it is a massive balancing act teying to get everything to work perfectly and be the correct weight.

[@GotterRobotics]

Great job Narrating!

[@LephtBrain]

Hey Alex! Big fan of the cheesecake and the channel. Have you thought about adding an IMU to the bot and implementing some PID control for yawing? Seems like it could make driving and turning a lot more reliable (less overshoot-y) in various states of wheel/drive system damage. Racing drones use a very similar mechanism and it results a very intuitive/second-nature level of control of the drone even as propellers get damaged. Your turning inputs would become desired turning rate in degrees/second rather than a constant motor command relative to the turning input.

[@johnforrestboone1]

agreed. i think a drone technology specialist could help with this design. Cheesecake is a wonderful machine and now requires more variety of specialization to become the best.

[@coldstarcommand]

Something i would recommend against controll bots is to use your cleat wheels. This is because they will offer better traction, and you dont really need to absorb any incoming hits.

[@davemchard1530]

Hello from the UK, control seems to be your biggest issue, have you considered Mecanum omnidirectional wheels? You can get them on fairly cheap RC models and you could cannibalise them. Just a thought. Goooo Cheesecake.🎉

[@Lamawalrus]

That goblin design is so fun

[@EMSWK]

that first bot was moving like an austrailian break dancer...

[@fathomsfinch]

I think this arena was a little too small for cheesecakes speed

[@NingZhang-w7r]

It was so funny when Alex said “the goblin was slain by the cake”🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰

[@xyzero1682]

Cheesecake reminds me of a Peppergrinder Revolver. "The safest place to avoid getting hit is to stand directly in front of it".

[@TeKn0_410]

Do you use Sanwa radios???? Edit at 14:00 would it be worth cutting back your EPA to reduce the twitchy behavior?

[@Frank-fh2qn]

I liked the bots names in this tournament.

[@suougashuin9030]

hi Alex! Perhaps you remember me, I asked about the voltage of your batteries. I’m still building my own combat robot and would really like to know from a professional what tactics are best to choose against this or that type of robot? I'm most interested in how to deal with drum spinners. I hope you notice this comment, thanks in advance.

[@alexsalchemy]

Hi there! Well, a lot of the knowledge of this rock-paper-scissors game comes from just watching a lot of fights. However, in the case of powerful drum spinners, that seems to be the cutting edge of the game: no one really knew how to defeat Riptide in the last BattleBots tournament, except to use an even bigger drum (Copperhead). My guess is either a control bot like Free Throw or a wedge bot like Dulce de Lucha. That being said, usually robots with big drums don't have much weight left over for wheel guards, so going for their wheels with a big horizontal might work too, it did for me a couple of times.

[@suougashuin9030]

@@alexsalchemy thank you!

[@GT_1506]

@@suougashuin9030 Im actually making a drum spinner as well, and my name is alex, lol. but about a year ago, i reached out to alex and emailed him asking for some help. I designed a bot named manta ray, it looks like a manta ray. I just kinda thought it was interesting that we both did similar things

[@johnforrestboone1]

brother i love cheesecake. i have been following you and it for a long time. you have built a beautiful and dangerous machine. you should get someone else to drive it. i 100% guarantee every single car race that there has been in the last 100 years has not been driven by its designer and builder. i 10000% guarantee there has not been 1 ace fighter pilot that has also designed and built the plane he way flying at that time. hire a pilot please - for cheesecake. cheers brother!

[@Anon_Omis]

Man i wish there were tournaments in phoenix

[@IstasPumaNevada]

10:20 why was there an opera singer sitting on an unbalanced washing machine in the background? :D

[@AliasDrakes]

I really like the rainbow hue coat on cheesecake's top/bottom plate.

[@josephm6734]

Your weapon's vibration is not the main problem. It looks like you are controlling Cheesecake tank style (the left stick controls the left motor and vice versa). A better solution would be to do what is called transmitter mixing. This would allow Cheesecake to be controlled with one stick while giving you much better control. Moving it forward makes it go forward while tilting the stick rotates the bot. With this simple change, Cheesecake would be much more effective.

[@galaxia9215]

Yes that is viable but incase of one motor malfunction or losing functionality it will be even harder to maneuver Cheesecake than when he has 2 motors on separate sticks and one of the motor malfunctions.

[@eliwilloughby7877]

I think if you have the weight to spare try making the spinner heavier as it will have more kinetic energy.

[@Zeleah]

would it help control to reduce the inputs, just seems like theres no ramp on the controls like its all or nothing.

[@KevinLou1467]

Cheese Cake is so destructive 🍰🍰🍰

[@TeamCryptidRobotics]

I'm excited to fight Cheesecake in the future. Unfortunately, Bigfoot likely needs work before it returns

[@heirofaniu]

Could you machine the weapon disk and collet out of one piece of aluminum/steel/titanium or would you go over on weight?

[@Eagles_Eye]

cheesecake was a little under the weather, he was shivering

[@confuseatronica]

I like how you say you have a control issue... but those two spinners just spin up, have a gyro effect until the spinner touches the floor, and then randomly bounce around and hurt themselves hoping they hurt you more by luck. Thank goodness for judging categories.

[@singletona082]

Well, third place isn't bad all things considered. Some great designs in play, and to be blunt? You got some valuable data on how to iterate.

[@chrisward9218]

That arena is tiny

[@redhotwaffles5961]

The "JeSuS" got me lol

[@king_br0k]

I wonder if a gyro stabilized drive system would help with controllability

[@malcolmmackenzie9202]

The spinner has a gyroscopic affect would be better if it were perfectly balanced but that would need a proper machine to test it. Maybe grippier wheels would help control too if it can be done within the weight limit.

[@Just_AnotherGameDev]

I feel like the sweet tooth might (mighttttttt) work on bots like spinaroone and nor’easter.

[@ZeroTSONG]

Just discovered this channel. Great stuff! I’m a Boston local. Where can I follow the scene and find local matches to spectate?

[@alexsalchemy]

You can check out RobotCombatEvents.com to find tournaments all over the country!

[@inkycat7167]

Holy shit Cheesecake is back yipee

[@Noluvforme-qb5tb]

MORE CHEESE CAKE

[@paydaygh9388]

What material is the sweet tooth made of? It looks more like the length/shape of Humu’s forks was preventing you from getting under them.

[@alexsalchemy]

It's made of 1075 Spring Steel from SendCutSend.

[@atrix19851185]

Cheesecake seems to fare pretty well in the damage dealing department when able to connect, but yeah, that mobility issue seems to have gotten a lot worse in recent matches, making it hard to get cheesecake into position to deliver the devastating blows we know it can.

[@alexsalchemy]

Honestly, I'm wondering if re-using my weapon motors is the problem. The shafts no longer bend visibly since I started using harder ones, but maybe there's a slight bend that throws everything off just enough after a few hits.

[@atrix19851185]

Definitely worth checking into. I think your other theory of the softer mounting component is possible too. It could be a combo of both a slight bend creating small vibrations and softer mount allowing that to become harmonic. I would test replacing all the pieces one at a time to see what corrects it because it's possible it is multiple smaller issues coming together to amplify the problem. I'm assuming the motors are one of the most expensive components so Maybe a couple small shore ups of related lower cost parts can make reuse an option even if the shafts are getting slight bends.

[@KXNG_BXNZ]

Damn.. That was some good fights though Hopefully you can figure out a way to get him driving straight again Maybe you can use those10g you saved to upgrade that piece with something stronger

[@kitsuncreations2]

Yay! More Cheese Cake! i love him ^^

[@Wade-dx6fj]

Awsome video 💔 cheascake

[@justinetroncales3102]

I love cheesecake the combat robot

[@nathanrowe1542]

So I need some help I am going to try to make a grabber bot like og lock jaw and I don’t know how big I am going to need it to be. So what size normally are the ant size ones?

[@alexsalchemy]

A good place to start is to get the basic electronics you'll need, and then design the robot with those parts to provide a s sense of scale. Cheesecake originally used the same electronics from the Fingertech Viper kit. I designed the rest of the parts in Onshape, but you could also use Fusion360.

[@nathanrowe1542]

@@alexsalchemy thank you for the great advice 😊

[@nathanrowe1542]

@@alexsalchemy sorry for bothering you but I am having some issues trying to find the right parts since I am not going with a kit what controller do you recommend for new players?

[@alexsalchemy]

@@nathanrowe1542 - I am currently using the FlySky Noble NB4, but the new Radiomaster MT12 apparently has all the bells and whistles, so that's what I'm going to try next, and it's cheaper too. I'll probably use the 4-in-1 version, and my guess is that you should too. The alternative (ELRS) is more of a niche, high performance thing apparently. Otherwise, you can buy good and cheap transmitters from places that sell other combat robot parts, like Fingertech.com, PalmBeachBots.com, and ITGresa.com. Any of those should work just fine, especially if you don't want to spend a lot of money up front. I personally prefer the pistol grip style of controllers ("surface radio"), but I might be in the minority for this sport, so maybe a more traditional stick controller is the way to go.

[@cmdrsausage9669]

But who won? Was it someone who defeated Cheesecake? I need the full story!

[@Wade-dx6fj]

How do you join these leagues kinda interested but dont know how

[@GalaxyCat197]

What weapon and drive motors do you use

[@alexsalchemy]

Currently, my weapon motor is a FlashHobby 2822 1800KV, and my drive motors are Repeat Robotics "Repeat Drive Brushed Mk2", all running on a 500 mAh 3S LiPo battery.

[@GalaxyCat197]

@@alexsalchemy thanks

[@hunterovitt4426]

the bot looks more rectangular than I remember

[@LivingMyBoostLife]

At 13:06 seconds remaining in the Renifield fight how did the other robot manage to be under you but only flip itself over?! 😂

[@landonunfried9655]

You said cheddar goblin moves around in a cool way and you proceed to flip him so fast we don’t even see…

[@zzxxccvvkk5]

what a hexagon shape for the body to reduce weight?

[@cooperchesterpot3099]

This is good youtube folks!

[@AlexIreland-i8v]

The king posted

[@Ezekiel_Allium]

I wonder if Humu Humu is an Ina reference. The bot does look a little Takodachi-ish

[@lasagnahog7695]

little spinner > big spinner

[@christianjohnson-qi8dg]

4:59 biggest hit of cheesecake's career

[@Anti-Smart]

I didn't go to the event because I didn't know that there was going to be combat robotics there. I have regrets.

[@A_ContentGuy]

Oh dear cheesecake

[@HHenry-n8u]

I don't want to but I will continue cheese cakes fight record but give me some time to relax

[@doggygamingstarts]

Cheesecakes is out of he’s prime

[@EzekielGutierrez-vx2sn]

Cheddar goblin how could you do that to your own cackeafide cheese brother ☠️

[@karyjas1]

Cheesecake our lord and savior

[@Gitmo314]

Were you at 3dprintopia in Maryland today? I coulda sworn I'd walked past you and made eye contact. Might have been a doppelganger lol.

[@alexsalchemy]

Nope, I was at a combat robotics tournament in Fitchburg MA today! Mostly just spectating though, still working on my new designs.

[@rtwfreak2012]

JESUS

[@Roboxwars]

im sure cheesecake never had these issues before, did you change the weapon or something? also its cool how a robox wars and cheesecake video were done within 25 minutes of each other

[@Roboxwars]

also another thing, is buying a 3d printer more cost effective than cutting sheets of the material you need wuth like an angle grinder?

[@zaincma]

Slowing down weapon speed could have improved control without major modification

[@Atl98fan_REAL]

NOOOOOOOOOO CHEEESE CAKE

[@andyarchitect]

Well just like "Jezzus", we finally saw cheesecake get nailed to the cross and taken home to its cave... so that must mean he will soon rise from the dead and be worshipped for the next couple of thousand years 😅