something occurred to me, why not layer some kapton tape for the skirts? it would drop the weight a bit, remain flexible, still be quite resilient and allow you to run a larger skirt, potentially letting you run multiple perimeters, so if you have a damaged skirt, you have another chance at keeping a seal, or create a convoluted path that restricts airflow enough to maintain enough of a seal. also, fun design, thanks for sharing, and thanks for all the fun content!

This same concept, but with no wedge and an overhead spinner bolted into the down force fan is something I've been playing with in fusion. Use the down force to stop it spinning like a top....

It did pretty well all things considered! The fan could do with something to visualise when it's spinning, unless that gets distracting when driving. A spiral, or the flux capacitor logo maybe? A harder front plate (carbon maybe?) might do better against big drums/verts, less bite more bounce when hit. Putting serrations on the wheel hubs may help the tyres stay on, or just sanding the surface so it's keyed well for the rubber to adhere to. Dumb idea for the skirt, do you have a squeaky hammer big enough to fit around the fan inlet? A ring or two from one of the bellows would probably do okay as a skirt. A continuous skirt rather than sections would definitely be better. A segmented skirt like a hovercraft (in reverse) would probably be better for combat as they're more resilient, but no idea how you'd make one that small unless you know someone who does dressmaking for dolls.

To me it seems like ground game versus spinners is more about being under them so that when the do hit you they launch themselves instead of you.. i know forks be forks but having a way of passively transferring power back is great. The idea is how do you make a "stop hitting yourself" passive defense... With horizontals its about transferring their weapon into the ground (make em do the tombstone dance). What works there is very steep triangle nose to make a hit turn them sideways. For verts L bracketing them in such a way that if the lift you they lift themselves- the more solid the better like.... scorpios or sawblaze. I think for this design having flat metal plates screwed into the bottom to basically spatula an opponent when they hit you.

Saw Blaze fought huge with absorptive plat that it fed into the weapon. Does not need to be bike rake but somethin high and durable will keep you on the ground hopefully and stop the weapon...

I am not a suction scientist (just a suction hobbyist), but for maximal suction, surely you'd want to put the skirt around the perimeter of the entire base to maximise the low pressure area/volume?

Antlers!

Having a metal wedge for the drum spinner probably would have worked out well. Maybe a modular swap, some thin titanium. Can you use cleated wheels? idk what that floor is. I think you need more control.

idea keep a way zip tie armor easy to make and easy to replace mayby diferent thiknes zipties to some places

I'd be interested to see what having a harder wedge does for you compared to a softer plastic one. We're all familiar with the benefits in shock-absorbtion that plastic offers but for Huge style opponents I wonder if a plastic wedge makes it too easy for their weapon to bite. With metal it might skip off better. Combo that with the extra down force that fan provides to prevent you from being pushed away and it might be good. That said I've never fought a Huge style bot and it's been years since I completed so I could be way off!