IS THIS THE STRANGEST BOT IN THE COMPETITION? - BattleBots FOTW: Starchild vs. Gigabyte | WCVII

[@saldiven2009]

Sometimes, these bot designers create things where I'm stuck thinking, "How the heck is that thing supposed to win?"

[@Steampuke]

That's how metas are birthed most of the time. Out of the box thinking can't always work

[@28th_St_Air]

When wagon wheels are the main exposed structure on the bot. What are they thinking?

[@TheSkrillaShow]

Like how do they look at that bot and say “I’m gonna win battlebots”😂

[@Darthdoodoo]

I think they probably sponsor some of the dumb bots as meat for the popular bots to destroy just like how they send a bunch of nobody wrestlers that are meant to lose to face the champ to make him look good

[@rhysioeren3203]

Well, I just hope they didn't spend too much money on that thing. Some children's hospital could have made better use if it 😂.

[@johancakep]

I've never seen a battlebot begging its enemy to end its life like Starchild did in this video.

[@ghjfkldsxzmkbfj]

Fight starts at 4:24

[@drakeweddner]

Thank you

[@shinyy8918]

The fight actually starts at 9:23

[@BrianTheLiberalDog]

@@shinyy8918😯 really?

[@MrGrieves]

I'd hardly call it a fight

[@BanditSurvivorContent]

Gigabyte did more damage to itself than Starchild did to it

[@Bsquaredplus2]

Always does! It bounces around the box like a pinball

[@bryansummers3219]

@@Bsquaredplus2 The times it hits the opponent and bounces into the side of the box are understandable, but the times where they just mistakenly drive it into a wall just kills me. They need to practice driving more. In flight school, your instructor puts the plane in an unusual attitude then you look at your instruments and immediately do whatever you have to keep the plane from crashing. They should practice the same way.

[@sriramneravati5048]

​@@bryansummers3219 There are a couple of factors at play here. It just takes time to learn to control a bot. When your shell weighs almost half of the bot's weight, there's a lot of torque going into the bot and when you try to go straight it veers off to one side, additionally, we had a completely new driver and since this is a full body spinner, its not plausible to drive outside of a battlebox for safety reasons, so this was effectively his 6th minute driving a 250 pound bot. There are a few changes we're trying to implement to counter the torque steer for future versions! I hope this gives you some insight on some of the many drive variables at play here.

[@Bobaklives]

Evergreen analysis 😂

[@ThatOpalGuy]

par for the course with massive rotators

[@enoynaert]

Starchild's immediate problem is that white plastic thing that protects the spinning weapon. More often than not, it ends up protecting its opponent from Starchild's primary weapon. I think a pickax attachment would be better than the plastic shield. Something like the spike that Shatter uses might be good. That itself would be a weapon. It would protect the spinner from the floor just as well as the plastic. And it would be less likely to protect the opponent from the spinning weapon.

[@jacobe1942]

agreed... it blocks most of the hits making them a plastic hammer... need to stop the hammer with legs closer to the center like huge has.

[@TheSpeep]

I think more than that, its just its entire weapon setup. Huge works because its hard to hit in a vital spot and can attack immediately when you do get in range, without needing to stop to line up a shot first. Starchild needs to stop to line up and actually fire off a shot, which wastes the whole advantage of being tough to position around with those big wheels when you cant strike back quickly enough to punish your opponent for actually coming in close.

[@jacobe1942]

@@TheSpeep yeah, but the advantage ST does have is getting a more direct hit from above.... but I agree Huge is overall more effective at it job... but consider it took a few years to dial in and perfect, perhaps some proportions of ST need to change, and some design issues as well.

[@LLAAPPSSEE]

Make it a star-shaped MACE. I think it might be trying to see if bots will go underneath it and get hit by the tail?

[@Pseudoscience-is-a-scam]

@@jacobe1942it’s a really effective bot in the beetleweights, and his only other Battlebots competitor was a low to the ground 4wd front hinged flipper, so maybe he just needs to get used to the bot and make the wheels more durable. The bot itself is super durable based on how it hasn’t really died in this fight or in the Huge fight. The bot’s super durable wheels were a big reason they lost it seems.

[@lakobause]

Starchild is the "We already have Huge at home" bot.

[@jonathanharwood1255]

It's the "Huge from Wish" bot.

[@CrazyMomentzTV]

but huge is trash too

[@Leto_0]

It's Huge with a hammer saw. Expanding on the concept of Huge to protect the weapon as well as the chassis. Cool idea

[@JamesSheldonUnofficial]

​@@CrazyMomentzTVgot to the finals of a world cup but k

[@tigerrocks503chase8]

@@CrazyMomentzTVExplain how he made it to the finals?

[@rockiro4360]

Starchild feels like a worse version of huge

[@ConstantlyDamaged]

It's a good example of a design that works great in lower weight classes but seriously struggles when you have bots fitting half-inch armor plate and rolling with weapons capable of making a car have a very bad day.

[@Shonade_Malik]

Gigabyte somehow feels like a worse version of Megabyte (back in the 2000s). I'm not sure if the same team created Megabyte though. Still, Gigabyte is strong.

[@AngeTange]

I'm very new to Battlebots and haven't seen Starchild before. The first thing that came to my mind was "Hey it looks similar to Huge!" I've seen many people say the same thing you did, and it got completely torn apart by Gigabyte here obviously, but I don't quite understand what makes Starchild so much worse than Huge? Is it the placement of the Weapon? The Materials?

[@TheLaXandro]

@@AngeTange Huge's blade "hitbox" is pretty large and requires little more than driving over the opponent to be effective, plus depending on situation it can opt for overheads or uppercuts (iirc now it can even switch between them mid-match). Starchild's blade is small, requires perfect spacing and difficult maneuvering to hit, it can only do overheads and it has a potential weakspot at the tail because if you hit its blade guard it won't be able to spin up its weapon anymore. Fundamentally they have the same gameplan, deliver a devastating overhead into generally squishy top armor of opponent, but Huge is much easier, more consistent, more versatile, less vulnerable and can take more opportunities. And it kinda figured out horizontal spinners with solid UHMW wheels that can deflect their hits without getting caught on their blades, while Starchild runs its usual Tegris with spokes that get shattered.

[@RennieAsh]

@@AngeTange Huge's weapon allows it to hit when it drives over something. Star child relies on stopping, rotating it's body mass around and striking just in front of its wheels, with a smaller weapon, which takes a lot of time. It also requires precision, which can be ruined if the wheels slip or enemy hits them. Driven well it could do ok. But otherwise it's more cumbersome than a hammer saw bot, doesn't have the power of a regular spinner

[@TinyDrew5]

HUGE is going to beat Starchild and earn it's first ever 4-0 this season.

[@thelatiosmaster]

You were right. And... not big surprise after all

[@timcorpproductions4288]

​@@thelatiosmasteryeah it wasnt a HUGE suprise that he won... Ill see myself out

[@MLife1972]

Was Starchild made with bits from the battle box after a 'Huge' battle?

[@Talkshowhost23]

My first though 😂 He is Huge’s failure cousin

[@addisonfung5009]

Speaking of Huge, they will be fighting Starchild in the qualifying for a chance to be 4-0. And by the looks of it, we’ll have our first team going 4-0 this season! Starchild, well, hope you’ll last the entire fight.

[@MLife1972]

@@addisonfung5009 the battle of the awkward bots

[@bentighe4811]

Starchild is a scaled up version of a successful small bot. It remains to be seen whether the principles that make a tiny Starchild successful can be adapted to a much larger, heavier machine.

[@jessiwicoy5206]

Good video Batlle bot

[@wristofkings]

I feel really bad for Brandon Zalinsky this season, heavyweight Starchild turned out to be a losing bet despite performing well in lower weight classes. Still though you can't fault how well built it is--it's gone the full three minutes in every fight, even with Gigabyte messily taco'ing both of its Tegris wheels.

[@Pseudoscience-is-a-scam]

I feel like the main two flaws are the wheels are the weakest part of the bot and Brandon only really seems to have had one other heavyweight he’s driven (a 4wd front flipper that was low to the ground) that was entirely different to drive. It’s probably really hard for him to control a bot he’s never had experience driving; a similar problem to what it seems Triton, Glitch and the new Kraken have.

[@rccc5806]

I don't know about that. The voices also going " still fighting" made me laugh... It's by design hard to being reduce imobile but with half of wheel gone in can't be any danger to anybody. So, saying "still going" is a major missinterpretation.

[@AlexReiter1988]

Starchild vs Huge, would be funny battle

[@R9000]

You're in luck - keep watching the season. :)

[@Nn-3]

Huge, no contest.

[@prism____]

They're fighting in 3 weeks

[@electric7487]

Spoiler Alert: Huge won, it was a pretty easy victory.

[@CrazyMomentzTV]

@@electric7487 starchild is the most goofy design I've ever seen. Like who tf thought of that LOL

[@joen0411]

The deflated balloon description was perfect

[@rickyd7986]

Starchild looked like a wounded flopping fish out of water. I can't stop laughing. 😆🤣

[@pbyarugaba]

f you saw the smaller version of Starchild competing in Norwalk Havoc, it wouldn't be such a mystery. With a fast spinning weapon gaining additional speed from the "thwack" motion, they often sunk their weapon so deep into opposing bots that the match had to be paused and the bots pried apart with crow bars. They were blowing up lipos with that thing, it's an absolute nuke. I suspect the system doesn't scale up super well, but they have indeed proved the concept. I still think it's possible that they might become viable if they can make the weapon more reliable.

[@greatpurplecroctopus]

Gotta love seeing gigabyte slowly carve their opponent down, it's really cool when teams get their modifications right for their matchup. Compare this fight to Gigabyte vs. Huge and Icewave vs. Huge and you'll really appreciate the steps made to ensure Giga could punch up vs these wagon wheel bots. I wish starchild had been able to get one good hit in but i appreciate how they stayed aggressive even when they couldn't do much but limp in gigabyte's direction. Can't be easy to thwack something twice your speed and a third your size.

[@RennieAsh]

I think huge would have had a good chance to rip up those attachments with an upwards spinning blade Or maybe downward again

[@kylewhitt587]

@@RennieAsh considering both blades came off in this fight, I think you're right. Combine that with the driving skill of Huge, and it would have been a tough fight for Gigabyte.

[@kings_nemesis5995]

@Kyle Whitt that and that rookies are piloting gigabyte it would be a tough match for gigabyte

[@kylewhitt587]

@@kings_nemesis5995 Yes, that's a big factor too. They're learning fast, but I think Huge could bully them easily.

[@kings_nemesis5995]

@Kyle Whitt yea we can just hope they master driving gigabyte and get it back to the power house it was

[@jsu7etwja6ggs5wwh]

I salute him for trying to fight to the end even though the wheel is broken.

[@nicholascahyadi2770]

What's crazy is that if the team brought P1 instead they would've done a lot better with their row of opponents. Could've gon 3-1 or 2-2 at least.

[@ryanamburgy2791]

P1 goes 3-1. Beats overhaul, mammoth, and gigabyte(old team gigabyte beats p1 though) and loses to huge

[@baalfgames5318]

The sad thing is that Starchild actually got some easy opponents. If you can't even beat Mammoth, you're doing something wrong. ...then again, TOMBSTONE almost lost to Mammoth, and going by thos season's rules, they WOULD HAVE lost to Mammoth. Copperhead ALSO lost to Mammoth once, so...

[@ryanamburgy2791]

@@baalfgames5318 mammoth isn’t that bad. Overhaul though….

[@Aethelia]

@@baalfgames5318 Starchild didn't get "easy" opponents, it got opponents that it was not built to fight against. It was horrible luck for them.

[@baalfgames5318]

@@Aethelia Nah. Starchild is just a bad design.

[@bobjohnson7207]

Starchild needs a complete redesign. It's a battle out there not a hotdog cart in the park.

[@super8ben]

The smaller StarChild used in the smaller weight classes on non-televised events are really good. But the heavier bots can’t thwack nearly as well.

[@isaac-p6126]

I never felt so nerdy, but i love watching this

[@MaxBrix]

Starchild is so much better in the 30 lb. version! I really thought it would do better. I'm not sure if it will scale up well.

[@andrewsarchus6036]

The look on the Starchild guy's face after the decision is announced says it all. Total humiliation.

[@moojuice369]

Total ptsd after getting destroyed in the arena. Gonna need a complete redesign for starchild to compete effectively.

[@ROTRestoration]

Starchild was designed to fight meta bots and the schedulers decided to give them no fights against none 4 wheel drive vertical spinners… it’s like they tried to give it all the weird ones.

[@dekwii9704]

they should've categorized them.. so the fight can be fair

[@baalfgames5318]

...They pit Starchild against Mammoth, a robot most should be able to beat. Overhaul isn't a much higher step up. Starchild is just plain badly designed.

[@Pseudoscience-is-a-scam]

@@baalfgames5318Huge lost to Mammoth too...

[@danz107]

We're gonna have to use our wheels as armor against gigabyte..... That was a good idea.

[@Koopa126]

"It's just a flesh wound." said Starchild as it bounced everywhere in the battle box.

[@Blackburn6969]

The guy piloting "StarChild" looks like a kid playing on a games console with a controller for the first time. The body movements and everything! LOL

[@Dimpo4]

This is up there with tombstone vs. counter revolution.

[@pensfan-vk3bo]

I love that one that was a good old-fashioned beatdown!

[@Sirvantir]

It was like watching 2 babies slap each other... I think its high time Gigabyte gets a full redesign

[@BattlePark92]

Great to see Carbide vs Gabriel 2 again!😂

[@Rygoat]

I have the feeling that with the wheels having nearly no traction it will never work well at this size, the only thing that doesnt scaled up is the amount of surface area making contact with the floor so it can never get enough torque to flip over fast enough.

[@mythplatypuspwned]

2:14 Reminds me a little of Overkill from the Comedy Central seasons.

[@lavistar]

Fight starts at 3:33 or 4:22

[@ThatOpalGuy]

if you skip faroque, you are undeserving of watching. Faruq. edited.

[@ION400]

Thx

[@ION400]

@@ThatOpalGuy ​ Faroque? If you can’t use caps and make up words you don’t deserve to comment. ..Your last name is notable though hehh

[@ThatOpalGuy]

@@ION400 ok, Faruq...noted. hes still a great part of the show.

[@ION400]

@@ThatOpalGuy !Ohh the announcer my bad sry, yes he’s savage. That beard looks like the bottom of a spartan helmet

[@Global_Epicurean]

It was like beating up the blind paralyzed granny

[@es9214]

We watched a bot get torn to pieces on the battle field.

[@EngineerRiff]

Could you guys please upload creepy crawlers vs son of wyachi?

[@captainsmartass3368]

Starchild WHY WAS I PROGRAMMED TO FEEL PAIN

[@techmover1535]

at ~6:43 announcer: "I'm amazed Starchild is still fighting" ahhh.. looks more like a seizure than fighting.

[@Dimpo4]

This just feels like "hey, gigabyte really needs a win, who do we have them fight?"

[@baalfgames5318]

Did they have the same thought process when they pit Shatter! against Horizon? Thinking Shatter! needed a win? If so, then "Oops!"

[@murphylawrence]

This season all fights were planned ahead of time, unlike previous seasons.

[@Aethelia]

@@murphylawrence That's not even possible. They don't know when a bot will take too long to repair for its next fight, or when a bot might last only one fight and can't compete again. Trying to plan everything ahead of time would be foolish.

[@ubiquityphantom6354]

@@Aethelia You can see on the website and this was confirmed on several occasions that every bot's opponents were predetermined at the beginning of the season. The exact times may have been shifted around to accommodate for repairs and other unforeseen variables but it was confirmed by both battlebots and other teams that competed that their opponents were revealed at the beginning of the season.

[@Aethelia]

@@ubiquityphantom6354 ...you know BattleBots isn't live, right? They can post the schedules before an episode airs because it happened months earlier...

[@ThomasLeonard454]

Thank you for sharing the commentary as well.

[@sclarke6969]

Oh I remember that design from Stinger in robot wars like a decade ago!

[@SP-ny1fk]

"Let's make the most vulnerable part of a bot, and make it the central part of our bot!"

[@dosgatosnegros]

Oh my what heart! Starchild you were fabulous!

[@Spacejoker404]

With better traction star child could probably be a good bot

[@prism____]

It also needs a way to actually hit the opponent

[@pbyarugaba]

@@prism____ and make it do damage too

[@adam-kx7du]

huge: fell apart from a single hit. starchild: imma build the same bot lol

[@collymorpheous8575]

Gigabyte's mods work! Time for a rematch with huge.

[@kylewhitt587]

It sort of worked, both blades ripped off. One uppercut from Huge, and bye-bye anti-huge weapon.

[@Razer_-fe9mo]

The battlebots equivalent of Carbide vs Gabriel!

[@ZeroGravityDog]

I love these fighting machines, are there weight divisions in these contests?

[@Riderandspider]

It's impressive gigabyte managed to destroy something other than itself. Just watching it I was thinking "that thing staying active is more dangerous to it than Starchild ever could be"

[@briangriffinfamilyguyfan81]

Gigabyte was finally able to get a win after all this time!

[@Elemental...]

I honestly think megabyte was a better design, could be wrong though!

[@Spacejoker404]

@@Elemental... Idk, Kilobyte was also very strong

[@Elemental...]

@@Spacejoker404 true, true

[@samiuddin7051]

Wait until gigabyte becomes terabyte

[@Cobrax_x]

​@@Elemental...Megabyte would get crushed by modern battlebots.

[@electric7487]

5:20 "Another *_HUGE BYTE_* outta that wheel"

[@Shonade_Malik]

Starchild vs Huge?

[@hole62]

4:50 the conclusion of a great argument as to why a singular controller of any war robots should be disallowed…

[@BullDeerAryu_]

Gigabyte: “How did you survive that?” Starchild: “I have no idea!”

[@basementboy1910]

see guys, all it took for Gigabyte to take a win was a weaponless opponent

[@AlannaArtroid]

It's a shame Starchild isn't effective, because the design is pretty cool. Successful hammer bots are few and far between, they just never seem to hit hard enough. Valiant effort, but I can't see Starchild in the 2024 season.

[@K31TH3R]

"I need inspiration for a new Battlebot design" *sees fish jump out of pond and flop around on the ground* "Eureka."

[@BuckScrotumn]

Star child has gotta be the worst designed bot I’ve ever seen. The arm is so short that Gigabyte HAS to be under it’s giant pretzel wheels for it to even reach, and gigabyte literally does all of its damage from direct contact. Which means that for Star child to even ATEMPT to hit Gigabyte, it has to sit there and get it’s wheels chewed up the entire time. 😂

[@Pseudoscience-is-a-scam]

Have you seen Ultimo Destructo or Jasper?

[@pbyarugaba]

f you saw the smaller version of Starchild competing in Norwalk Havoc, it wouldn't be such a mystery. With a fast spinning weapon gaining additional speed from the "thwack" motion, they often sunk their weapon so deep into opposing bots that the match had to be paused and the bots pried apart with crow bars. They were blowing up lipos with that thing, it's an absolute nuke. I suspect the system doesn't scale up super well, but they have indeed proved the concept. I still think it's possible that they might become viable if they can make the weapon more reliable.

[@metal--babble346]

the judges were acting like they had to think about the decision

[@JTeam45]

Back to the drawing board Starchild

[@fritz46]

That was almost like Ice Wave vs. Huge.

[@chickens-yt]

Except starchild somehow didn't get knocked out.

[@addisonfung5009]

They’re durable, alright. But their offence is weak.

[@Alarak87]

Starchild was reminding me of Mr Herbert's dog, Jesse. The crippled legs...

[@madrodeo425]

All this giant cartwheels are simply such a easy target. To even win a match with such design is 0.0000001% chance.

[@devxgabriel]

Que combatente mais frágil!!! Ele já ganhou de algum oponente? Suas rodas parecem de plástico, e sem eles, ele fica imóvel e automaticamente perderá a batalha

[@ryancastro8684]

I've finished the video. Where's the fight though?

[@fieryjp9898]

When mom says we got HUGE at home

[@darksuns7384]

Bootleg Huge vs. BattleBot's resident punching bag.

[@brycenakagawa2225]

You know what a thwack-bot needs? Tires with good traction and motors with a lot of torque. You know what StarChild lacks?

[@Jaws5573]

Well I keep being late over and over again so I'll spit it out and make an extremely long comment about what I think about both bots I guess I'll start with starchild and it's sad it is not a competitive robot when it is upscaled to a higher weight class but I'm happy that it's something new and I know perfectly well huge will destroy them , it was cool I guess . This match gigabyte has definitely redeemed themselves from going 0-2 cause they have new captains and now they are actually getting used to driving the killing machine from seasons past, still they likely won't make tournament cause the selection committee decided gigabyte Vs end game was fair no rip gigabyte going 1-3 I'll attempt to not be late or miss a video to comment on although it really doesn't matter .

[@Bread-e8x]

The simple designs always seem to win

[@jonathanf2392]

Best fight of the episode, gigabyte finally shined here

[@cloudforest4087]

Starchild's fight was against itself.

[@thomasmoore2483]

I knew the winner before the battle. Small and dense vs big and lanky. Bro was gonna get shredded no matter what. Do they get to pick their bot for every opponent or do they have one bot that they gotta use against all others?

[@danilonepomuceno4330]

The upcoming ruler of the world the mighty robots.

[@n.b.p.davenport7066]

Pretty soon you're going to need a semi truck to bring those things in😮

[@OJB42]

Not sure what they were thinking when they designed "Starchild". Seems kind of easily open to attack.

[@brucewilson1958]

What are bot dimension limits? Weight? Height? Width? I'm new to this. Anybody know out there?

[@nathangamble125]

The black and fire-orange branding and the bold white GIGABYTE logo make me wonder whether this robot is sponsored by GIGABYTE Technology Ltd (Taiwanese motherboard and graphics card manufacturer). And if it isn't, why isn't it!?

[@andrewvelonis5940]

Did Gigabyte ever go up against Shredderator? I'd like to see that.

[@BlueUltimateistheCoolio]

Yep! They did last season

[@dippyfresh1116]

It was a rather anticlimactic fight…..

[@Quiwi707]

Putain ce carnage 🤯 We feel pain for the wheels robot... 😞 Gorgeous !

[@yannisgouras4482]

There's a difference between a fight and a whooping this was a whooping

[@austinmorrison6953]

Man this may be the first time I’m begging for someone to put a battlebot out of its misery

[@inferna7327]

Anyone know the artist for pinup at 1:47?

[@poojan466]

Thats allowed to attach a gun in that machine and then fight 😂

[@jasmijnariel]

Body spinners are the strognest. But losing all control when they have a hit. 2 counterspinning parts would fix that

[@QAZ-OMEN]

If you haven't seen Starchild vs HUGE yet , you are in for a treat

[@derAngrif]

I just can't come to imagine what kind of damage hope the engineers to inflict with so fragile a design like that of Starchild. They just get to the arena only to be slaughtered.

[@evawang6648]

Gigabyte got thrown at the walls multiple times its own attacks this round.

[@FireWolf583]

Starchild’s biggest weakness is the wheels. They’re not protected and they are made of flimsy material. Plus it’s way too big so it can’t move fast. They should’ve built it smaller with the ability to work if flipped upside down, the current model makes it useless if it flips once

[@erobwen]

Star Child should have two spinners instead, and control them gyroscopically so they can hold the spinners out and above the enemy, and then dip it when the enemy gets close.

[@kylewhitt587]

I would have assumed Starchild's plan would have been to turn around and drive weapon forward into Gigabyte. Present the strongest part of the bot, rather than the weakest. Gigabyte was always going to close the gap faster than Starchild could throw it's weapon.

[@viruelleocadio249]

Where's the thumbnail?

[@DUCKSWAYBOBWEAVE]

I'm not an engineer. What is the concept behind Starchild?

[@craigjones7111]

At least us in the UK get to watch 1 fight this week

[@daveg1221]

gigabyte is very conservative this was the perfect chance for them to really hone their overall competitiveness by delivering the knockout punch

[@sedg666]

So what did star child intend to do to inflict damage.

[@_MrLee]

The Real OGs know that Ziggo started it all...

[@Hydroxoid]

Starchild has such an awkward design, it’s essentially a crappier version of Huge

[@proto-geek248]

I'm surprised Lisa didn't score that one to Starchild.

[@what-fw5vk]

Why would she?

[@Theprophet3928]

Mom, can we have HUGE? We have HUGE at home. HUGE at home:

[@MattMarshallUK]

Starchild is the Sunfish of bots