Hi,
1) Electromagnets, not all enemies are metal. Plexiglas and Perspex are common. also the magnet could wipe or distort the radio receiver and would therefore be classed as electronic warfare / not allowed
2) heat probe... that is an interesting idea... as long as the enemy is Perspex or simular... don't think it would have much effect on a metal robot
3) emp pulse... heavy!!! weight restrictions and electronic warfare rules.
4) lasers.. under 5mw would be useless as a weapon but could be good for targeting. blinding the driver is obstructing their view of their bot.
5) impact tools... like picks etc?? been done a lot.. needs to be fast and penetrating.. repeated hits in the same area to drive an opening or a slower squeeze with a lot of force.. like raptor
the keys seem to be either be fast and have a quick flipper / wedge, to be able to grab the bad guy and inflict damage with a pick or blade or to had something that causes damage that you can drive into the bad guy.
the two most effective bots that I can think of at the moment where:
chaos2, a fast, manuverable bot that was built like a wedge with a very quick and powerful flipper that lifted the entire top surface. this would also flip the bot over if it got turned. I have seen this bot flip heavier bots out of the arena.
And another bot that I cannot remember the name for at the moment but it was round and the out side of it spun very fast, it had a lot of weight in the spinning top to carry a lot of momentum and a fierce pair of gouging blades. it didn't matter what direction the enemy attacked you or you attacked it.. pieces of bad guy where going to fly. very effective. actually another bot that had a simular principal weapon was hypnodisk, but its disk was in front of the bot so it could be attacked from the side or behind.
how about suction?? could you latch on with a big sucker and lift the bad guy up and then drop it in a hole? or use the suction to hold onto the bot while you disassemble it?
how about gas?? use nitrogen to freeze the enemy and then hit it with a hammer? actually, that's a liquid isn't it?
how about a heavy sledge hammer head spinning around your bot? the enemy gets close and BAM it's flung across the stadium with it's nose missing!
just some thoughts on a slow morning.
