Will Bales and Tyler Bond built their first battling robot when they met the minimum requirement of 12 years of age for BattleBots IQ. Their 15-pound, full-body spinner robot made from an upside-down wok was named HeiferBot for its black-and-white pattern. They won their first battle and were hooked.

Bales and Bond continued building and battling robots throughout high school, but the end of BattleBots IQ and the start of college put their participation in robotic battles on hiatus for several years. Bales was working at Syntheon, a surgical robotics company, when he received a call from BattleBots CEO Trey Roski.

“Trey said he’d just signed a deal with ABC to reboot the series,” Bales recalls. “He said he needed cool fighting robots super quick and asked if I was interested … and even though I was very busy, I jumped at the chance, and HyperShock LLC was born.”

 Design a Robot in One Month

The BattleBots schedule allows teams roughly one month to complete the design work to meet production deadlines. Under time pressure to build the first HyperShock robot (each year’s rendition has been a different version of a vertical disc spinner), Bales knew the team needed to use the SOLIDWORKS® design platform. “I had been using SOLIDWORKS for a long time—ever since I learned how to use the software in middle school—and still use the software in my day job at Syntheon,” Bales recounts.

“It was a no-brainer to use SOLIDWORKS because it lets us iterate and communicate efficiently,” Bales stresses. “Since building the first HyperShock robot, we’ve been fortunate in obtaining a SOLIDWORKS sponsorship, which provides additional simulation and visualization tools that are accelerating our robot development efforts.”

“Every version of the HyperShock robot has been designed in SOLIDWORKS,” Bales continues. “In addition to the design speed that we have realized using the software, SOLIDWORKS is truly an industry standard data format that our vendors and suppliers work with regularly, which helps to minimize delays in production and assembly.”

Handsome and Tough

Durability and toughness are the most essential traits of a successful battling robot, and Team HyperShock leverages SOLIDWORKS Simulation capabilities to optimize designs for strength and weight. However, the team does not stop at ruggedness.

“Creating a fighting robot that looks good is a part of our team dynamic and aesthetic. The robot design has to be unique, interesting looking, and a tough fighter. SOLIDWORKS helps us achieve those goals.”

Check out HyperShock’s Facebook page for more information on the team. For a complete version of this story, click here. And, if you’d like to learn more about SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD, Simulation, Visualize, or other tools, please contact your local reseller.