Blog Post: Arizona Battlebots Showdown in the Sun- Arizona Manufacturing

Slab-Crab Revolutions’ fearsome spinning weapon gave Williams the 3-peat they were looking for as the Northern Arizona team claimed the top prize of $3000 for the trip to Mall of America and the national contest. Williams’ ‘Boil This’ took third place and best engineered as well. 
Mountain View of Mesa took second with ‘Oske Deuce’ and Coolest Bot with ‘Beta Taurus’. 
‘Deviant Drummer’ and ‘Deviant Rotor' took the Best Sportsmanship award for agreeing to fight a demo match with Minnesota’s reigning champion Humdinger, who shredded printers and laptops into shrapnel that flew around the arena like popcorn during several demo’s. Only a low battery kept Humdinger from lifting the Deviants more than 2 feet of the ground. 
Humdinger’s use of heat treated tool steel and titanium sheet inspired many of the local builders to new levels and AZBBIQ plans an Adopt-a-Shop program to local machine shops paired with bot teams to raise AZ performance to a new level. 
Our late-arriving but brand new arena looks beautiful and performed admirably. Phoenix Mayor Gordon was a no-show but his assistant Kevin Wonder dedicated the arena using Deviant Rotor to vaporize a glass of sparkling cider. A surprise visit from the Phx Police department’s bomb-deactivating robot was a highlight and the robot handed the Mayors plaque to Kevin. The Grant check from NTMA was presented by Tom Busch to ATMA president John Lewis and ATMA thanked Bank of America for there continuing support and donation towards the arena. 
The City of Phoenix was recognized for their grant towards our new Manufacturing Advocate position. Lani Brite and Bob Bonura were introduced as our first Advocates who will begin visiting schools and recruiting students for manufacturing careers and AZBBIQ. 

Our demo match as the SkillsUSA event on April 29 was announced, and new programs of IceBots (racing hovercraft on ice rinks), GreenBots (environmentally friendly bots) and MachineBots (schools partnering with precision machine shops) were unveiled. 
Full video coverage was provided by Jobing.com and the edited footage will be a powerful tool for recruiting teams to BBIQ and students into technical careers. 

The Gateway campus proved an excellent venue and the staff’s flexibility was instrumental in dealing with the sprinkling clouds. Gateway’s Margie Schultz provided a heart-pounding rendition of the National Anthem to kick off the event. Lots of shops, companies and schools exhibited their capabilities. Pictures and videos will be distributed as soon as they are available.  

Special thanks to all of our volunteers and sponsors, and to Cindy Stewart of Creative Promotions and John Raycraft of AZ Precision Industrial for Tshirts and Banners.  

Adams Machinery
Haas Factory Outlet
Consolidated Resources
Jobing.com
Bank of America
NTMA
DDI
Earle M Jorgenson
AZCNC
Clifton Gunderson CPA
Zircon Precision
Excaliber Precision
Phoenix Heat Treating
AZ Department of Commerce
Moore Tool
R and D Specialty
Manco Unique Machine
Gateway Community College
American Spirit Arms


Sharon Colleran ATMA
Kevin Beach RD Manco
Paul Clark Metal Spinning
Charles Arnold Minnesota
Craig Baye Tornquist
Ray Rubin Future Fab
Tom Crump Unique
Jon Lamee Unique
Gary Watkins Marzee
Mark Weathers Excaliber
Cheryl Bischoff Future Fab
Sharon Colleran ATMA
Karla Texiera ADOC
Bob Bonura GWCC
Paul Czaplicki Adams
Joe Koenig Hawkeye
Greg Whelan AZCNC
Erin Sweeten Maricopa
Kerry Vance CRI
Bryan Lacy AZ CNC
Joe Sirochman JPS/American Spirit
Steve Warner EMJ
Tracy Rexroat DOEducation
Isaac Bunney BOA
Don Mock Jobing.com
Bracken Batson Jobing.com
Tom Busch NTMA
John Lewis ATMA
Bryan Lacy AZ CNC
Kevin Beach RD

Thank you all!!!  Keep an eye for videos of the great event!!