Gene Simmons

From Combat Robot

Gene Simmons is a crazy antweight art-bot.

General

Gene is built on a Tamiya walker kit base, and overvolted quite a bit; his legs' movement is akin to a chihuahua on all kinds of drugs. It's incredibly ineffective, but a side-splitting sight to behold; it's the kind of off-beat bot that's fun to watch.

Construction

Here's some information from the builder, Ross Hironaka:

• Name: Gene Simmons
• Weight Class/Actual Weight: 1 lb-Antweight/10.1 oz
• Builder/Driver: Ross Hironaka
• Weapons: Gene’s “nasty breath” (Butane flame), Gene’s tongue, Gene’s butt
• Strategy: (1) Rock and roll all night, (2) party everyday. Gene is a showbot and has no strategy other than to trot around like a spastic Chihuahua, spit fire, look silly, and hope his opponent dies oflaughter.
• Build Features: Ridiculous appearance and funny spastic leg action brings a smile to even the most hardened bot fan. Butane flame system specially designed to avoid meltdown of Gene’s vinyl face and other delicate components.

Components Used: Tamiya “Insect” walker base with stock motors replaced with 6V 130-sized Battlebot Custom Series toy motors, SOZBOTS DSC-M electronic speed controller, GWS 4-channel 75 MHz micro RX, Kokam 11.1V 340 mah Li-Poly battery pack, vinyl doll head stolen from Gene Simmons Collectible Statuette by McFarlane Toys, modified Mean Burrito style flame system.

• Control: Four channels of control using conventional two-stick Futaba transmitter. Right stick controls Gene’s shuffling legs via standard mixing built into the SOZ DSC-M ESC. Left stick controls the flame effect: Channel 3 (“throttle”) activates the igniter, Channel 4 (“rudder”) releases the butane. Channel 3 on the transmitter has been modified to be self-centering to prevent unnecessary drain on the batteries once ignition has been achieved.
• Combat Record: RoboNexus 2004 (demo fights hosted by SOZBOTS): 0 wins, 2 losses
• Possible Future Enhancements: Add head nod servo or mount Gene’s head on springs to get free “bobble head” animation; add stainless steel segmented “skirt” of armor; add butt-mounted flame-thrower to get at those pesky hard-to-reach areas on opponents; build true walker base to take advantage of 100% weight bonus; build matching Paul, Ace, and/or Peter to create “KISS Army” multi-bot.