Conceptually, Swamp Thing v2 is designed to have the same durability as the original against the extremely destructive spinners found around the world, while adding a much stronger weapon system than the crude axe of the original design.

We started with a thick sheet of AR500 not too dissimilar to the last Swamp Thing. This was then formed into a wide and exceedingly heavy plow after being plasma cut into a blank. Additionally, we cut the hole for our main weapon, the “Gutripper” – a 20lb spinning disc powered by a modified and battle-hardened Motenergy ME0708 motor, the same Rick has successfully used in Tombstone and Last Rites. We’re running it at 16S with a 1:1 chain drive – it’ll hit 3000rpm in about a second and tops out at 5000rpm when fully spun up. Rick’s main reason for running a smaller kinetic with the large motor is based primarily on a desire to keep power in the weapon and minimize loss of RPM on impact with another bot. This ensures the “Gutripper” is dumping all the power behind it into the other robot with every hit.

Here’s the drive setup in its early testing phases – we’re using a pair of NPC 4200s, the famous “Black Max” motor, for drive. Each motor puts out about 6hp, giving us exceptional pushing power to stay on the attack. Castle Creations has kindly given us a pair of their Mamba XLX2 speed controllers, replacing the Victors of the original Swamp Thing for the robot’s drive. For batteries, we’re testing 8200mAh 100C 8S LiPos from our new friends at RacePow. These packs will have more than enough power to keep us going for a full 3 minutes.

The chassis of the new Swamp Thing is very similar to the old, but instead of being repurposed from a salvaged middleweight frame, Swamp Thing has been built from the ground up with thick chromoly steel tube and titanium plate. Using Black Maxes instead of the T74s of the original Swamp Thing means we can better integrate the reduction system into the chassis and protect our drivetrain, compared to the much more exposed gearbox heads of the T74s. As seen above, we’re using 10in tires – these are surplus from the original bot for test purposes, but we’ll have different tires once the machine is complete. Thick weapon shafts and heavy-duty chain help ensure our drivetrain has minimal chance of mechanical damage.

Swamp Thing’s electronics are snugly packed into the robot and well protected within the frame.