Deep Cut

The 3lb robot Deep Cut as it appeared in May 2023

Builder	Liam Drew, Ryan McFarlane, Max Morningstar, Tom Jaeger
Driver	Max Morningstar (January 2023, May 2023), Ryan McFarlane (March 2023)
Team	TRC
Weight Class	3lb
Body Material	6061 Aluminum, TPU Chassis
Weapon	Horizontal Spinning Disk (AR500)
Weapon Drive	VELOCE V2208 V2 2450Kv Motor
Drive	Repeat Drive Max from Repeat Robotics
Power	3S Lipo

Overview

Deep Cut is a 3lb robot originally conceived by Liam Drew and Ryan McFarlane of team TRC, which was later built by Drew, McFarlane, and new team member Max Morningstar for the January 2023 NHRL event. The core identity of Deep Cut, a horizontal spinner, was chosen by Drew after he suffered a loss to a similar style of robot in an internal combat robot competition held by TRC.

At the January 2023 NHRL event, Deep Cut was initially defeated by Frustration but bounced back, accepting a forfeit from FRC Who? (who failed to show up to the event) and taking a tapout win over a damaged Red Rocket. Deep Cut's bracket run was cut short after a devastating loss to Abomination in just 8 seconds, earning Deep Cut the dubious honor of being tied for 5th on the NHRL Fastest KOs-3lb list. Despite being eliminated, Deep Cut ended the day on a win after a dominant showing in a rumble with fellow TRC robots Stress Concentration and UH... Foot.

Following the disappointing 1-2 performance at its inaugural event, Deep Cut was extensively redesigned for the March 2023 NHRL event by veteran TRC team member Tom Jaeger. Due to a scheduling conflict, the robot was built by the full Deep Cut team but was driven and pitted by only Ryan McFarlane. Featuring a 12oz weapon and a drivetrain sporting Repeat Drive Max motors, TRC was optimistic in Deep Cut's chances. However, an accelerated build timeline and lack of testing led to extensive electrical and mechanical issues not being diagnosed until after the team had already arrived to compete. While it was able to pass inspection, Deep Cut quickly fell to Poly whiip in its Challenger fight before being forced to forfeit its Last Chance fight to Ankylosaur.

The design for Deep Cut was further tweaked in order to solve some of the issues that lead to such a poor showing, based on feedback from McFarlane based on his experiences and observations at the March event. These modifications included splitting the top chassis plate into two pieces to make the electronics and battery more serviceable, as well as swapping out the weapon motor to one with a higher Kv to try and eliminate the weapons failures that had plagued the robot. Despite these upgrades, Deep Cut still went 0-2 at the May 2023 NHRL event, losing its Challenger match versus Kneebiter and falling to Rick Roller in its Last Chance match. Despite the poor record, the team considered the event to be Deep Cut's most successful, as the damage delivered to the opposing robots in both matches finally reflected a realization of the potential of Deep Cut's signature horizontal spinning weapon.

The name Deep Cut was originally suggested by Morningstar, who thought it could be entertaining to construct a robot branded around referencing obscure media. This can be seen in the January, March, and May 2023 pogs which featured an image from the little known 1981 TV movie Goliath Awaits.

Deep Cut's win count by drivers (not including forfeits):

• Max Morningstar 1-4 (2-4 including rumble wins)
• Ryan McFarlane 0-1

Fight History

NHRL January 2023

Deep Cut vs Frustration

In its first-ever fight, Deep Cut was driven by team captain and true rookie Max Morningstar. The robot faced Frustration, a vertical spinner designed by veteran combat robot builder Peter Garnache and driven by his sister Alicia Garnache, also a true rookie and member of Team Shreddit. Frustration was one of several "Peter bar" robots competing at the January event as prototypes of a kitbot later released by Peter's company Repeat Robotics. Before the fight began, one of Deep Cut's wheels slipped off of its motor axle, killing half of its driving ability. Later review of team footage would show that this happened during a visit to the test box, but was not spotted at the time due to the team's lack of experience with the new robot. Despite entering the arena with only half of its drive functioning, Deep Cut was able to dodge several attack runs by Frustration, and deliver a few blows to Frustration's weapon mount and flanks. Ultimately, a weapon-to-weapon interaction ended up ripping the weapon and drive shaft out of Deep Cut, leading to a prompt tap out by Morningstar and earning Alicia her first ever win.

Deep Cut vs FRC Who?

After its preliminary fight loss, the Deep Cut team was slated to fight robot FRC Who?. However, the team behind FRC Who? was not able to make it to the competition in time to pass inspection, and as a result ended up forfeiting their fight, allowing Deep Cut to advance into the next round of the competition.

Deep Cut vs Red Rocket

With a rebuilt and reinstalled weapon shaft and new wheels, Deep Cut prepared to face Red Rocket, driven by combat robotics giant Jeff Waters. Seconds before the robots were placed into the arena to fight, Waters noticed that a fracture had opened up in the rear of Red Rocket, which rendered its rear wheel inoperable and thus left the robot unable to turn. Due to the tight fight schedule, Waters was unable to secure time to repair his robot. Since Red Rocket propels itself using its primary weapon, and since the primary weapon motor had died in Red Rocket's previous match against VLOOKUP(), Morningstar determined that if he could sufficiently damage Red Rocket's primary weapon then the robot would be left unable to drive and thus get counted out. With this strategy in mind, Deep Cut threw itself straight into the weapon motor of Red Rocket multiple times, sustaining heavy damage; the primary weapon, side and back panel of Deep Cut were knocked off the robot, and it began to trail its 3S Lipo battery. Red Rocket also managed to cut through the quarter-inch aluminum of Deep Cut's frame. Before more damage could be sustained, the weapon motor on Red Rocket indeed died, prompting Waters to tap out. While initially TRC believed this to be a result of the repeated impacts on Deep Cut's frame, further conversations with Waters revealed that he had attempted to reverse the direction of the propeller in order to turn the robot in lieu of his rear wheel, which had overwhelmed the main weapon ESC and prompted it to stop working as intended. Nevertheless, Deep Cut took the victory and advanced further into the single-elimination bracket.

Deep Cut vs Abomination

Having been previously defeated by Alicia Garnache earlier in the day, Deep Cut prepared to fight Peter Garnache and his robot Abomination, also a "Peter bar" design. Before the fight, Garnache asked Morningstar and teammate Liam Drew if he should "take it easy" on Deep Cut. Morningstar knew that the team TRC robots planned to do a rumble later in the day, and, seeking to preserve the Deep Cut, informed Garnache that if he was able to remove one of the side plates or the weapon of the robot he would tap out. Drew, on the other hand, ordered Garnache to "give'em hell." Garnache acquiesced to Drew's request, running Abomination's weapon at full speed for the first time all day and demonstrating the power of the "Peter bar" design after roofing Deep Cut, totaling the robot and knocking the battery loose in a fight that lasted a mere 8 seconds, tying it for 5th shortest KO in NHRL history and ending Deep Cut's bracket run.

TRC Rumble

Following its crushing loss to Abomination, Deep Cut was able to rebuild in time to participate in a 3-robot rumble with fellow TRC robots Stress Concentration and UH... Foot. All three robots were not running at 100% - Stress Concentration's battery had fused its leads to the drive electronics, meaning driver Tom Jaeger was unable to recharge it prior to the rumble. UH... Foot had suffered catastrophic destruction at the hands of David Small's robot Púca, which required them to rebuild using a spare PLA chassis instead of the TPU chassis they had previous run. Though its electronics were intact, Deep Cut's frame had been severely deformed after a hard hit from Abomination. With all three robots handicapped by their previous losses, it was anyone's guess who would come out on top during the rumble. Ultimately, Deep Cut was voted the winner by a less-than-democratic audience poll (in which Deep Cut was the only option) after Stress Concentration was largely unable to move on its weak battery and UH... Foot got high-centered on its new frame, leaving Deep Cut as effectively the only functioning robot. Despite the extenuating circumstances that contributed to this victory, the Deep Cut squad continues to lord this victory over their fellow teammates.

NHRL March 2023

Deep Cut vs Poly Whiip

With primary driver Max Morningstar out of town mentoring at an FRC competition, Deep Cut would be driven by longtime TRC member and Deep Cut builder Ryan McFarlane. Plagued by mechanical and electrical issues, the newly redesigned and largely untested Deep Cut was unable to get its weapon up to speed. Despite this, it was able to sustain multiple hard hits from Poly Whiip before the nut securing the weapon shaft came loose, after which McFarlane quickly tapped out to prevent further damage to the robot.

Deep Cut vs Ankylosaur

Unable to fix the issues that had contributed to the weapon failure in its previous fight, Deep Cut's pit crew was attempting to find a potential solution when the weapon ESC, of which the team had no replacement, caught fire. Without a functioning weapon, the team decided to forfeit the fight to Ankylosaur, cutting short Deep Cut's day at a disappointing 0-1. Despite the result, the competition was considered a success by TRC and the Deep Cut squad, as the fight with Poly Whiip and subsequent troubleshooting process demonstrated design flaws that would be fixed in later iterations of the robot.

NHRL May 2023

Deep Cut vs Kneebiter

Prior to its fight with Kneebiter, while passing Safety the Deep Cut team was surprised to find out that the robot was two ounces underweight. This was unusual, since the team had made a last minute decision to swap from 3D printed PLU pulleys to aluminum pulleys for its weapon system, which should have put the robot overweight. The team accepted being underweight as likely resulting from a simple miscalculation, but the truth was that the wrong bottom plate had been installed on the robot when it was being built the morning before competition - an experimental plate, made out of thinner aluminum, had been used without the team realizing it. This thinner plate would ultimately the the Achilles' Heel of the robot during its fight with Kneebiter. After several strong weapon to weapon hits that sent both bots flying, Kneebiter was able to get a good shot in on the side of Deep Cut, twisting the thinner bottom plate so severely that the robot was no longer able to spin its weapon or get traction with the ground, causing driver Max Morningstar to quickly tap out and grant Kneebiter the win.

Fun Facts

Obscure Fight Statistics

• Record versus vertical spinners: 0-5
• Record versus BattleBots competitors: 1-2
• Record versus Garnache siblings: 0-2
• Record versus FingerTech beater bars: 0-2
• Record versus Team Shreddit robots: 0-1
• Rumble record: 1-0

Big Names Beaten

• Jeff Waters of Team Jackpot, driving Red Rocket

Statistics

Info

• Rank: #423 in 3lb.
• Last 5 fights: LLLLL
• Current streak: L6 (5 KOs/KO'd)
• Longest winning streak: 1 (1 KOs)
• Longest losing streak: 6 (5 KO'd)
• Avg fight time (seconds): 91.1

Record

Year	Events	Fights	W	L	%	KOs	KO'd
2018-19
2020
2021
2022
2023	4	8	1	7	0.125	1	6
2024
All-Time	4	8	1	7	0.125	1	6

Events

Date	Fought as	Reached	Place	Fights	W	L	KOs	KO'd
January 28, 2023	Deep Cut	Round 3		3	1	2	1	2
March 18, 2023	Deep Cut	Challenger		1	0	1	0	1
May 6, 2023	Deep Cut	Last Chance		2	0	2	0	2
August 12, 2023	Deep Cut	Qualifier Round 2		2	0	2	0	1

Opponents

Opponent	Fights	W	L	KOs	KO'd	Last Meeting
Red Rocket	1	1	0	1	0	January 28, 2023
Kneebiter	1	0	1	0	1	May 6, 2023
Rick Roller	1	0	1	0	1	May 6, 2023
Poly whiip	1	0	1	0	1	March 18, 2023
Frustration	1	0	1	0	1	January 28, 2023
Abomination	1	0	1	0	1	January 28, 2023
Bot SLAYER	1	0	1	0	1	August 12, 2023
Flying Purple People Eater	1	0	1	0	0	August 12, 2023

Click "Expand" to see this table.

Full Fight History

Date	Opponent	Round	Result	By	Points	Fight Length (s)	Video
January 28, 2023	FRC Who?	Round 1	Win	Forfeit	0.00
January 28, 2023	Frustration	Preliminary Fight	Loss	KO	-1.00	66	https://youtu.be/NB5QtU-uyeM?t=1391
January 28, 2023	Red Rocket	Round 2	Win	KO	1.11	51	https://youtu.be/teQQMIBK4DM?t=19798
January 28, 2023	Abomination	Round 3	Loss	KO	-1.00	8	https://www.youtube.com/live/NB5QtU-uyeM?feature=share&t=25803
March 18, 2023	Poly whiip	Challenger	Loss	KO	-1.00
March 18, 2023	RB	Last Chance	Loss	Forfeit	0.00
May 6, 2023	Kneebiter	Challenger	Loss	KO	-1.00	25	https://youtu.be/bBr04nbt-hU?t=159
May 6, 2023	Rick Roller	Last Chance	Loss	KO	-1.00	145	https://youtu.be/Sz2K1HilZAQ?t=7898
August 12, 2023	Bot SLAYER	Qualifier Round 1	Loss	KO	-1.00	163	https://www.youtube.com/live/nAXvrZdnceQ?feature=share&t=4336
August 12, 2023	Flying Purple People Eater	Qualifier Round 2	Loss	Judges Decision	-1.00	180	https://youtu.be/IMD6ArOMrPY?t=9531

* Forfeits before the 2024 season are not counted in a bot's W-L record. Forfeits from 2024 and on are counted in a bot's W-L record.

For more information on how points are calculated for rankings, click here.

Click "Expand" to see this table.

Select Fights

Video links Coming Soon!

Gallery

Picture of Deep Cut as it appeared at the January 2023 NHRL event

Picture of Deep Cut as it appeared at the March 2023 NHRL event

Max Morningstar (left) and Liam Drew (second from left) remove Deep Cut from the box after a defeat by Frustration and driver Alicia Garnache (second from right) in NHRL's January 2023 event. Alicia's brother Peter Garnache can also be seen (right).

Screenshot taken from the January 2023 NHRL stream showing Red Rocket, having suffered motor failure, about to tap out. A heavily damaged Deep Cut can be seen in the background.

Deep Cut driver Max Morningstar (right, gesturing) points out the debris from Deep Cut to Abomination driver Peter Garnache (left, in yellow) following their match in the January 2023 event. Deep Cut builder Liam Drew (center) and BattleBots finalist Mike Jeffries (far left) can also be seen.