Robowars ’24: An Interview with Thriveforce

An interview with Naman Kasliwal of Thriveforce, the combat robotics team of BPHC. He is joined by Mrinal R, the Joint Treasurer of the Phoenix Association, as they answer some questions before the team’s participation in this year’s ATMOS.

Q: How was Thriveforce founded? What’s your domain and are you associated with any other particular club or association?

Naman: So the first question is how we were founded. So it was a bunch of Phoenix assoc alums and one mech and one CS guy who started it, Ankesh and Saideep. So Ankesh bhaiya has passed out now but Saideep bhaiya is in his PS. As for if we’re associated with anybody, we are currently being incubated by the Phoenix assoc, and Mrinal –  the POR of Phoenix assoc is with me. As for our domain, we’re mostly in competitive robotics – whether that’s Robowars, Robosoccer or Robosumo.

Q: So to what extent is the administration involved – do you have an FIC, and where do you usually get your sources of funding from?

Naman: I mean as for administration, we don’t even have our own constitution as such. The only place where we are formally declared is under the Phoenix assoc, and we’re an interdisciplinary team under Phoenix assoc. Our FIC is Joyjit Mukherjee. For our sources of funding, at this point our prize money is probably our main source of funding – apart from that, there are various initiatives on campus and the Phoenix Assoc helps us out.

Q: Could you elaborate on some of these initiatives?

Naman: One is the Phoenix assoc’s ledger, the other is maybe some Senate funding, then there’s SIPs(Student Initiated Projects), where we approach profs. Certain profs have budgets for formal projects. Some profs have formal projects under them; you can take some of that budget for research in that domain, and that research helps us perform better in our competitions.

Q: What is your induction process like and what do you think are the most important qualities for your members?

Naman: I mean though we’re only a one year old team,the thought process has been the same since the start. We only had one thing in mind. We wanted dedicated people who are willing to learn. Apart from that, we take people from every discipline, from B Pharm to CS. As such, we look for CAD, electronics, and general physics knowledge that we can apply from a competition point of view.

Q: Approximately how many new inductees have you taken this year?

Naman: So this time we took in around 15 people. We plan to retain about five of them by the end of the semester. And the thought process that goes behind that is that we are looking for efficient individuals who know about everything that we do. It’s more about quality over quantity.

Q: So how many robots are you fielding in ATMOS ’24? Could you give us some of the details of the bots and maybe if they have any special attacks or characteristics?

Naman: We’re planning to have three bots in ATMOS. One is Alterbridge, the successor to Slipknut in 15 kg. Then you have Evangelion, which has an overhead saw and it’s the second ever overhead saw – the successor to MnM, which me and Mrinal designed. And it’s the only bot of its kind. It’s in beetleweight(a weight class). The third bot is Bugawho which is undefeated to this day in its category – and yeah, those are our bots for Atmos.

Q: Okay. So do these have any special attacks or moves?

Naman: So for example, Bugawho will just run at you, and it wont stop. Its special attack is probably endurance, right. We’ve also designed custom gearboxes that we’re planning to sell to other teams soon. That gives us like a 400% drive advantage over our competitors, so we’re looking forward to using that. 

Q: Coming to ATMOS, how is BPHC as a home ground? What advantages does it give you?

Mrinal: No registration fee, probably.

Naman: *laughing* Apart from that, it’s also nice to know the campus and to know where all your tools and stuff are. Usually, during competitions, there isn’t time to eat, sleep, drink and all of that. So for example, at VIT, where we came second, I think we – the team, in total slept for six hours over three days. I would say having everything ready beforehand, and knowing where all the tools and the workshop and all of that are is a big advantage.

Q: How do you usually approach a match? Is there any strategy that you usually go into a match with?

Naman: Honestly, the biggest thing that we’re trying to follow now is “Don’t give the builders the bot”. What we noticed last year was, despite having very skillful drivers, if you give the designer the bot. What will usually happen is that there’s a lot of sentiment – they’re very emotionally attached to the bot, right. In a match, maybe they would tense up a bit. It’s like an endurance thing. You don’t have to win just one match, you have to win the entire thing. Some drivers fall into a pit, while others do great. So it’s a very testing thing.

Q: What other fests do you usually go to in your academic year?

Naman: We’ve gone to VIT Vellore this year. Last year, we went to BITS Goa, IIT Bombay tech fests. IITD, BITS Pilani, SNIST and other smaller Hyderabad colleges. We’ve never come below third place in any national competition.

Q: What designs do you have planned for the future? Were there any outlandish ideas that maybe didn’t make the cut?

Naman: Honestly, compared to the rest of India, our designs are known to be outlandish, But there are some ideas, like a full body spinner that runs off of microcontrollers and self targets that we’re still working on – that we’ve pushed to the back, because it’s a bit ambitious, right. Apart from that, there are many bots that we’re working on. Atmos was initially supposed to be four bots of ours, but now there are only three that are coming out. Hopefully, by BITS Goa, which is in February, we’ll have an arsenal of an 8kg, a 15kg and around four beetleweights.

Q: What goals does the team have for its future? 

Naman: Just to keep winning, that’s it. Keep winning and innovating – and hopefully go international.

Q: Do you have any closing general remarks for ATMOS?

Naman: If this is going out to the GB, I would just advise everyone to just come and watch the event. Because this time, we’ve put a lot of effort into making it a good event. We’re the ones organizing it as well, and this time it’s at the LTC lobby instead of OFG. And it’s going on during the night. There’s a seating area and stalls right beside it. So hopefully, it’ll be a better experience than last time. So yeah, that’s my closing remarks for this ATMOS.