ROV NERF Battle Bots

NERF combat tech is of course inspired and influenced by real world weapon systems. As with real world combat, soldiers on any battlefield are always looking for ways to improve survivability. One of the most effective ways to reduce injury is to remove the soldier from the battlefield, and instead use a remotely operated vehicle or "robot" to engage enemies.


 

Some sources indicate that up to one fourth of all US soldiers will be replaced with "robots" or some other type of remotely operated combat system by the year 2030. Who wouldn't want an R2 unit helping them out in tough situations?

In the NERF realm is has been no different. There have been some pretty cool attempts at making remote NERF vehicles for several years - one of the first of which was the "NERF tank" using a Vulcan;

The original!

Over time we have seen numerous forms of remote NERF bots, most using simple RC technology.


And of course NERF itself got into the action with the "attacknid" series of crawling bots:

Limited to a 10 dart drum, and with individual articulating legs, it was a good start. While I have never actually used one, I assume it has limited ability to negotiate obstacles or traverse rough terrain. Great for indoor battlefields such as a livingroom, bedroom or kitchen.

Now NERF has come out with an improved remote combat vehicle with caterpillar (tank) tracks and a clip fed system.


We aren't sure if it can handle a 25 or 35 drum (due to weight and stability) but if it can, this little beast would pose a serious foam flinging threat. It appears to allow barrel extensions, so we assume the base is somewhat heavy to keep the unit from toppling over.

We don't envision these taking over any Humans Vs Zombies games in the near future, but they do look pretty freaking awesome.

We were talking about the next step in foam warfare - and we anticipate seeing some kind of airborne drone system that can hold 2-4 darts at some point in the near future.