Salesforce Battle and Build Robots in the Cloud
Salesforce hosted a Battle and Build Robots Team Event in downtown San Francisco. Ascending Salesforce Tower is a thrill in itself, and today with a cloudy and rainy outlook, we are literally entering The Cloud. The rounded frame that surrounds us with windows makes the effect stunning, and we are in fact building and battling robots in the clouds. Symbolic for sure, but more importantly, really, really fun.
Nine teams worked to build the robots faster than each other and accurately. A better robot build means a better battle bot, and a better bot in battle. As building progressed three teams emerged as contenders for fastest build time, and each one went back and forth several times. In the end, team ‘9ers won by 1 second with a time of 39:50. It was the closest margin of victory in the history of our events spanning over two and half years.
The battles were fierce, spontaneous, and somewhat non-linear. They fluctuated between keeping score and anointing winners and pure battle for pure fun sake. My head was deep into fixing robots and I missed the final battles, but luckily Salesforce had effortlessly assumed the mantle of leader of the battles. I was surprised at how fast the time went as the battles continued non-stop for over an hour.
Salesforce set the bar for my favorite audience extremely high with a rousing applause as I entered and as I left. I was definitely inspired to perform at my highest level!
This event also marked the date of the introduction of our new prototype for Robot Battles II. Salesforce was kind enough to test the new prototype in battle and give us some initial feedback. Some new features include two person control, a “catapult” style long-arm balloon annihilator, and a geared balloon defense system.
A huge thank you to Salesforce for inviting us to Salesforce Tower for a very inspiring event in the clouds!
Robot Team Building
