Slugger is the grand-daddy of Toe-Crusher and Knee-Breaker that never was. I had been kicking around the idea of building something wedge-like that also had a secondary weapon based on the drive-train dynamics. Slugger was the answer.

Slugger was simply two really big ATV wheels with motors in between. Because there was nothing to it, I wanted to get the biggest motors I could find. I borrowed two turbine engine motors from my friend, Phil Putman. Phil had used the motors to power Bloodletter Jr. at the 1996 Robot Wars. They were very powerful series wound motors with crappy efficiency. No way was an off-the-shelf speed controller going to handle this, and I did not have the time to build a custom job. Relays were the answer! I got two relay packs from Wilde Evolution and used four of Team Delta's RC switches to power the coils.

I had built a mock up robot to test the theory and check space constraints, and then loaned it to Trey Roski to help him drum up interest in BattleBots. While Slugger was out of my hands I started thinking about what eventually became Toe-Crusher and Knee-Breaker. Once I got Slugger (and the big, scary motors) back it was time to build the real thing. I made a better, aluminum frame to house the motors, batteries and electronics, while Luke Khanlian welded the patented Slugging Stick(TM).

I have this bad habit of spreading myself too thin. In the middle of building Slugger I was busy building the BattleBox traps and (with Clint Lynch's help) Knee Breaker as well as refurbishing Toe-Crusher and Little Slice. I had my hands full and probably wouldn't have gotten through this tough time without Jessica's help. Thank-you, Jessie!

Next thing I knew I had one day left for the Long Beach event. I had everything assembled in Slugger except the batteries and armor. I tested the relays through Team Delta's switches

Sadly, Slugger would not make it to Long Beach.

A month later (September) BattleBots announced that they were going to do a November event in Los Vegas. It was a chance to bring Slugger back from the grave. But what was this? They were also announcing a new, super-heavyweight class. Hmmmmm... I wanted to build a super-heavy as well. Could I do both? Maybe. But maybe I didn't have to.

The November event was only open to heavies and super-heavies, which meant my friend Jason Bardis could not compete. So I was offering him a great deal; finish building my robot and you can compete with it. He went for it. Jason picked up where I left off but he also added a few touches. After installing the batteries with a great foam system, he changed the gear ratio between the motor shaft and wheel to speed Slugger up. He also added chain tensioners and carbon-fiber armor to boot. Slugger was ready and Jason took some video footage to show me how scary the robot moved. Awesome! In the meantime I built Minion for the super-heavy-weight category.

After a year in the making, Slugger finally got a chance to compete in Vegas!