Proteus

**Proteus** was a featherweight robot that competed in Robogames 2006-2009 and RoboGames 2011. Proteus was a 2-wheeled, invertible robot armed with a big spinning drum on the front. Proteus did well in competition, winning most of its matches and reaching the finals at RoboGames 2007.

## Robot History

### RoboGames 2006

**Proteus**' first match was against hinged wedges of **Schizo**.

Proteus spun up its drum, and Schizo drove all the way across the arena but missed Proteus. Both robots maneuvered around each other, and Proteus flipped Schizo with its drum. Proteus' drum started grinding away on Schizo, peeling up Schizo's hinged wedges. Then, Proteus got underneath Schizo with its drum and drove it into the wall. Schizo went at Proteus again, and Proteus' drum sent Schizo flying into the air. Both robots maneuvered around each other a little more, and then Proteus popped Schizo into the air with its drum a few more times. Schizo's armor was all beat up from the repeated attacks from Proteus' drum. Proteus struck Schizo with its drum, and then Schizo pushed Proteus to the center of the arena before being hit by Proteus' drum again. Schizo charged at Proteus' drum again and got its hinged wedges, even more, bent up. However, this impact caused Proteus to stop moving momentarily. Fortunately for Proteus, it started moving again at the last second before it could be counted out. Proteus popped Schizo into the air a couple more times with its drum, sending pieces of Schizo's armor flying. After some more maneuvering, Proteus flipped Schizo with its drum a couple more times, tearing more armor off Schizo. Schizo's wedge was now peeled all the way off the ground. Despite the damage, Schizo continued to go straight at Proteus, trying to break Proteus' weapon. Proteus knocked Schizo into the air several more times after that, tearing off more armor of Schizo before time ran out. Obviously, the judge's ruled this fight in favor of Proteus, who advanced to the next round. Proteus then faced **Bot-6:00**.

Proteus lost this fight and was sent to the loser's bracket, where it faced a wedge bot called **Carlo Bottochini**.

Proteus won this fight and was up against giant overhead spinning blade of **Revolver The Problem Solver**.

Both bots spun up their weapons, and Revolver The Problem Solver's blade started hitting against the arena floor due to its blade being too heavy. Revolver The Problem Solver was unbalanced and out of control, and Proteus knocked it across the arena with its drum, sending Revolver The Problem Solver spinning away. Revolver The Problem Solver started to spin its weapon back up, but then it flipped itself over with the power of its own blade. Revolver The Problem Solver started wobbling all over the place as it was upside down. Proteus then struck Revolver The Problem Solver with its drum again. Eventually, Revolver The Problem Solver was counted out as it couldn't self-right, and Proteus won.

Proteus moved on to face **Damien**.

Proteus won the match and faced **Gnome Portal**. Proteus lost this fight, and it was eliminated from the competition.

### RoboGames 2007

**Proteus** was first up against **SnakeByte**.

Proteus spun up its weapon and immediately started tossing SnakeByte all over the place with it. This lasted for around 20-seconds before Proteus was able to get to the rear-end of SnakeByte and take off a back wheel. Proteus spent another 20-seconds tossing SnakeByte around the arena with its drum before losing one side of its drive. SnakeByte took a few more hits from Proteus' drum, and then it was able to get to the side of Proteus and push it toward the center of the arena. Proteus got away and hit SnakeByte's wedge again. This got SnakeByte high-centered on its own wedge, as its one remaining wheel on the back was just barely missing the ground. SnakeByte wasn't able to get itself off of its wedge, and it was counted out, giving Proteus the win.

Proteus advanced to the next round, where it faced **IRAN Robo - Yavar K**.

Yavar K spun its shell spinner up to full-speed. However, Yavar K's drivetrain wasn't working at all, so the robot was just spinning in place. Proteus decided to attack Yavar K anyway and slowly approached it. Proteus spun up its weapon and spent about 30-seconds sizing up Yavar K for an attack. Eventually, Proteus hit Yavar K with its drum spinner, knocking Yavar K's shell loose and jamming it. Yavar K was completely immobile, and it tapped out, giving Proteus the win by knockout.

Proteus was next up against the drum spinner of **Kludge**.

Both bots spun up their drums to full-speed and sized each other up. Both bots collided weapon to weapon, and Kludge sent Proteus flying into the air, causing Proteus to ricochet into the wall and land upside down. Kludge hit Proteus with its drum, and then Proteus hit the backside of Kludge. However, since Proteus' drum was spinning the wrong way, it just went up onto the top of Kludge. Proteus got off of the top of Kludge, and Kludge's drum stopped spinning. Kludge, however, got to the backside of Proteus and pushed it all the way across the arena into the wall. Proteus hit Kludge with its drum and popped itself into the air due to its drum spinning the wrong way. However, Proteus was still upside down. Proteus hit Kludge again, and this time, Proteus successfully righted itself. Proteus then gave Kludge a little pop with its drum. Kludge got away, and Proteus knocked it across the arena with its drum. Both bots maneuvered around each other, and then Proteus knocked Kludge onto its back. Kludge was able to drive upside down, but it started emitting smoke. Proteus gave Kludge another hit and then popped Kludge on top of the I-Beam. Kludge was sranded on top of the I-Beam and couldn't do anything. Kludge tapped out, and Proteus was the winner.

Proteus went on to face the wedge of **Whammo**.

Proteus spun up its drum and immediately started attacking Whammo's wedge with it, sending little pieces of Whammo's wedge flying. Whammo, however, managed to get underneath and push Proteus toward the wall. Proteus escaped and popped Whammo a few times and then sent Whammo out of the arena. Proteus won by quick knockout.

Proteus was now in the finals against the deadly undercutting spinning blade of Totally Offensive.

Both bots spun up their weapons and approached each other. The bots collided weapon to weapon a couple times, and then Totally Offensive knocked Proteus around with its blade a few times. Proteus' drive stopped working, and it was counted out. Proteus placed 2nd at the event, and Totally Offensive was the champion.

### RoboGames 2008

**Proteus**' first match was against **BruClaw**.

Proteus didn't have to do anything in this match, as BruClaw couldn't move out of its square due to radio issues. Proteus approached BruClaw, and BruClaw quickly tapped out.

Proteus moved on to fight **Scissorhands**.

For this fight, Proteus removed its drum spinner and added a big scoop to the front of it to, hopefully, absorb some of the punishment from Scissorhands' powerful undercutting blade. Scissorhands spun up, and Proteus approached it with its scoop. Proteus was struck by Scissorhands' blade, sending Proteus spinning into the wall. Proteus took a couple hits from Scissorhands, and Scissorhands' motors started to smoke. The weapon on Sciccorhands was still working, however, and it gave Proteus a couple shots. Proteus got away, and it appeared that Scissorhands had lost one side of its drive. Proteus went at Scissorhands again and stopped its blade momentarily, and then Scissorhands spun up and gave Proteus' scoop another shot. Scissorhands' blade started hitting against the floor, causing the robot to be all shaky. Proteus spent some time maneuvering around the arena, and then it got its scoop underneath Scissorhands a couple times. Proteus then took a shot to the right side of its scoop from Scissorhands' blade, putting a dent in the side of it. Scissorhands gave Proteus' scoop a couple more shots, dealing more damage to Proteus' scoop, then Proteus drove into a corner of the arena where it started emit smoke. Proteus stopped moving, and it tapped out.

Proteus was now in the loser's bracket, where it was up against the defending champion Totally Offensive, with Proteus looking for redemption after losing in the finals to Totally Offensive the previous year. This time, unlike against Scissorhands, Proteus went with its normal drum spinner configuration.

Both bots spun up and collided weapon to weapon a few times. Totally Offensive then sent a piece of Proteus flying into the wall and bent up one of Proteus' weapon supports on the front. Totally Offensive landed a big hit on Proteus, which sent Proteus spinning away. Proteus' drum spinner was now hitting the floor, and Totally Offensive struck its weapon, and then its side. Then, Totally Offensive sent one of Proteus' weapon supports flying into the Lexan wall. Proteus' weapon stopped spinning, and Proteus proceeded to get hit by Totally Offensive's blade several times. Proteus got stuck on the wall but it was able to free itself. Totally Offensive then lost the left side of drive, and Proteus was just sitting there in the corner of the arena, not doing much of anything. Totally Offensive crawled over toward the corner of the arena and sent another piece of Proteus flying. Proteus' weapon started spinning and hitting the floor again, and Proteus got struck by Totally Offensive's blade a couple times, knocking it away. Unlike Totally Offensive, Proteus' drive appeared to be just fine as it charged at Totally Offensive. Totally Offensive struck the rear of Proteus, spinning Proteus around. Proteus stopped spinning its weapon again, and it took a few more hits from Totally Offensive's blade. Proteus then spent some time maneuvering around the arena. Proteus also appeared to have lost one of its weapon teeth from one of the hits from Totally Offensive. Totally Offensive hit Proteus a couple more times, and then Proteus charged into Totally Offensive. Totally Offensive sent another piece of Proteus flying, and Totally Offensive's spinner started to slow down before spinning back up. Totally Offensive struck Proteus a couple more times, and its blade stopped spinning again. Proteus spun up its weapon and hit Totally Offensive. Proteus popped itself in the air in the process since it was upside down. Totally Offensive was barely moving as time ran out. Surprisingly, the judges ruled this fight in favor of Proteus despite all the abuse it took from Totally Offensive's blade.

Proteus moved on to face **The Bully**.

The first 2-minutes of this fight consisted of Proteus tossing The Bully all over the arena with its drum. It appeared that Proteus' drum was a little bit higher than The Bully's wedge, so the drum kept hitting The Bully's frame instead of the wedged part of its plow. All those hits from Proteus damaged The Bully's drivetrain as The Bully was moving slower than normal. Eventually, Proteus' weapon stopped spinning, and it was down to a pushing match. However, The Bully got high-centered on the arena wall, where it couldn't move. The Bully was counted out, and Proteus was the winner.

Proteus then moved on to face the spinning drum of **Plasma**.

Both bots spun up their drums and approached each other. The two bots collided weapon to weapon, and Proteus knocked Plasma on its back. Proteus hit Plasma again and knocked it back over. Plasma then hit Proteus back with its own drum. Proteus appeared to be having drive problems as one side of the drive wasn't functioning, and Plasma flipped Proteus with its drum. Proteus started spinning itself around due to one wheel not working, and it collided head-on with Plasma again. Proteus launched itself in the air a couple times with its drum and it landed upside down both times. Plasma started grinding on the rear of Proteus, where its drum came to a stop. Plasma's drum spun right back up and it started grinding on Proteus some more, and then Proteus popped itself in the air again, trying to right itself but was unsuccessful. Proteus started to spin in place, and Plasma launched it in the air again. Plasma popped Proteus in the air again and Proteus stopped moving momentarily. Plasma gave it a nudge and Proteus started moving again. Proteus started spinning on one wheel again which allowed Plasma to get underneath and push Proteus around the arena a little bit. Proteus got off and continued to spin in place. Proteus spent the rest of this fight being hit by Plasma's drum again and again. When there was around 15-seconds left of the fight, Proteus stopped moving. However, Proteus did manage to survive long enough to take it to a judge's decision. Plasma easily won the judge's decision, and Proteus was eliminated from the tournament.

### RoboGames 2009

Proteus' first match was against duo drum spinners of **Double Deez**.

Both bots spun up their weapons, and Proteus drove all the way across the arena to meet Double Deez. Proteus popped Double Deez a few times, and Double Deez stopped moving. Double Deez stopped moving and was counted out as Proteus performed a victory spin.

Proteus' next opponent was **The Bully**, who Proteus defeated in RoboGames 2008.

Proteus spun up its weapon and approached The Bully. The Bully, however, got to the side of Proteus and pushed it around the arena. Proteus gave The Bully a shot with its drum, and then it flipped itself over with it. This allowed The Bully to get to the backside of Proteus and shove it into the wall. Proteus beautifully righted itself with the gyroscopic forces of its drum. Both bots started to maneuver around each other again, and Proteus gave The Bully another shot to the face. Proteus went at the bully and got flipped again. Proteus hit The Bully with its drum and popped itself in the air because it was upside down. Proteus landed upside down and was struggling to self-right. The Bully tried to give Proteus another shove from behind, but it slammed itself into the wall instead. Proteus hit The Bully's side with its drum and finally righted itself. Proteus struck The Bully with its drum again, and then The Bully gave Proteus a box-long drive into the wall, throwing it into the air. Proteus struck The Bully with its drum a few more times, and then Proteus' drum stopped spinning. This allowed The Bully to get underneath Proteus and slam it into the wall. However, The Bully appeared to be having some drive problems after all those hits from Proteus. Proteus tried to use its speed to outmaneuver The Bully, but it was ineffective. Proteus then got stuck ontop of The Bully momentarily, and then it got away. Proteus started to spin in place like a full-body spinner. This worked as Proteus managed to give The Bully's wedge a shot. After Proteus drove over the top of The Bully, Proteus started spinning in place again before time ran out. The judges ruled this right in favor of The Bully, sending Proteus to the loser's bracket, where it faced its rival **Totally Offensive**.

Both bots spun up their weapons and collided head-on in the center of the arena. Totally Offensive started shaking a little, and then the whole robot self-destructed as it split apart in two pieces. Obviously, Totally Offensive was incapacitated after this, and it was counted out.

Proteus advanced to the next round, where it faced Double Deez again.

Proteus won this fight and advanced to the next round, where it faced **Pinball**.