BattleBots builder talks of experiences
Robots have something to teach to all
By Jessica Sanders
Staff Reporter

Phere is a virtually unstoppable BattleBot, says Gaylan Douglas, the robot’s engineer. Until it is flipped over, that is.

Douglas told students at the Tucker Technology Center Wednesday that next time Phere appears on the television show “BattleBots” it will have a new design.

The Society for Engineering Students invited Douglas to come and discuss his robot-building experiences as part of National Engineers Week, said engineering professor Robert Bittle.

Douglas said he works in architecture, not engineering, and has found he is better at designing the robot than making it work.

“We’ve had problems of being a turtle on its back when we’re upside down,” Douglas said. “And the dome is just steep enough that we are not able to roll over.”

Building a BattleBot is a process of trial and error, Douglas said.

“The actual construction took almost four months to build the original one,” Douglas said. “And now we’ve been tinkering with it and playing with it for two years.”

Bittle said “BattleBots” teaches students about the engineering design process.

“They have to design a robot that survives, and so if the first iteration doesn’t work well they go back and improve the design and go out again,” Bittle said. “It’s a design process in application.”

Phere, a 325-pound robot worth $120,000, was featured on “BattleBots” in the super-heavyweight division where it battled other robots, Douglas said.

A bulletproof dome covers Phere’s 4.5 horsepower engine, made from two wheelchair motors, Douglas said.

“Last May there were over 800 robots that competed,” Douglas said. “Now we are ranked 25th out of 87 super heavyweights.”

Phere earned the “fastest flipped” record after losing to a robot called Toro, Douglas said.

The robot was sponsored by a company called Neoris USA and built by Douglas, his wife, his son and a colleague.

“My son can now tell me whether something’s going to work or not,” Douglas said. “Because of being involved with (the BattleBot) he now wants to be an engineer.”

Tyler Smith, a junior mechanical engineering major, said students of all majors can learn from “BattleBots.”

“It will help students see where engineering can be applied in the real world,” Smith said. “And help students see the fun ideas people come up with and make money with.”

Douglas said he has met NASA engineers, animatronics experts and special effects technicians through “BattleBots.”

Jessica Sanders