ADAMS TWP — A devious design earned the Mars High School BattleBot team a third-place finish in its first-ever BattleBot IQ Competition on Saturday.

Computer technology teacher Rob Case, who initiated the team and serves as its faculty sponsor, said the seven-student team came up with the idea to build a Bot with a flipping mechanism that would turn its competitors on their sides to render them immobile.

BattleBots are remote-controlled robots that fight one another until only the top three survive. The competition was at Century III Mall in West Mifflin.

Mars' briefcase-sized device, named "Flipper," battled and beat 14 bots before being torn up by a brute with titanium blades that easily chewed through Flipper's aluminum body.

Case said Flipper's method used an arm that extended from the device, got underneath a competing Bot, and flipped it.

"We knocked out two of three competitors in the first round that way," said a clearly delighted Case.

Going into the competition, the Mars team thought surely the flipping concept would be used by another school, but it wasn't. Now that Flipper's secret is out, Case said adjustments will be made to improve the Bot.

"We'll keep it low to the ground, improve the materials and add an offensive weapon," said Case.

Flipper was finally knocked out in the fourth round, when a Bot named Groundhog from Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center tore into him with its dual titanium blades spinning on a drum.

"Titanium against aluminum? It's going to be no contest," said Case.

He said if repairs and adjustments to Flipper can be completed in time, the team may compete in Erie in early May. Case said he would like to see the fledgling team compete in three or four bouts a year, each time with a slightly different Bot.

"You want to keep the competition guessing so your attack is not predictable," said Case.

Team member Austin Hyde, a sophomore from Adams Township, said the competition was fun and friendly, and lots of shoppers at Century III Mall stopped to watch the competition.

"I expected Flipper to do pretty well," said Hyde, "but I was surprised no one else had a (flipping) design like ours."

Hyde said it was hard to watch Groundhog's blades tear into the Mars creation with its spinning titanium blades.

"It did less damage than we were expecting, but it rendered our Flipper useless," he said.

Hyde said the BattleBot team idea is great, and the competition taught him hands-on lessons that could not be learned in a classroom.

"I enjoyed it immensely," said Hyde. "It was really a great learning experience.

Case said the students benefited not only from the technology on display at the competition, but also from interacting with students and teachers from other schools.

"The kids learned a great deal," said Case. "It's something they'll never forget, and they've had the opportunity to see technology in action first hand."