Robot combat counts as a sport, right?
Anybody watching the new season of Battlebots on Discovery? First episode of the season had some great fights and big surprises (is Captain Shrederator good now?), and a ton of things catching on fire. They made some rule changes this year that I'm not so sure about, but there are a lot of really interesting bots fighting this time.
I only got into robot combat just last year when my partner convinced me to watch the 2020 season with him. I became way more obsessed with it than he ever was. Now I like to build bots for the lower weight classes - usually 3d printed fairyweight (150g) or antweight (1lb) bots, but the 250lb monsters on TV are definitely way more exciting.
What's your favorite robot? Do you like big spinners like Uppercut or Tombstone, or unconventional designs like HUGE or Smeeeeeeeeeeeeeee? Are you also disappointed that Duck! doesn't have a face this season? Is Blip the cutest bot to ever compete? Tell me your Battlebot Battlethoughts.
End Game is going to win the giant nut again and it gives me no joy to report this.
New fights every Thursday, plus a bonus Sunday fight on youtube!
Just build a giant metal pencil eraser shaped wedge robot and shovel your opponent into the walls until they stop moving, works every time.
Wedge vs wedge matches killed the Comedy Central era, but modern rules require an active weapon that keeps things much more exciting.
Some bots like Duck! and Free Shipping cut it close by being indestructible wedges with lifters as their weapon, but the new ruleset has been great for viewers.
modern rules require an active weapon
Aww yeah, that's all I needed to hear. Is this available online or am I gonna have to set sail for iit?
I'm watching it on Discovery+ (got it just for BattleBots and 90 Day Fiance...), but I remember earlier seasons being on a couple streaming services.
Lots of fights are on youtube (check out Valkyrie vs Rotator, one of the best fights of last season), but those are just the fights and you miss all the in-between.
Have spinning robots ever won a match? They seem to break down very quickly.
Gigabyte is probably the best modern full body spinner and is pretty consistently competitive. https://youtu.be/Q5HkX9ZBj7Q
Last Thursday's episode had Captain Shrederator win against Tombstone, which was incredibly unexpected and mostly just Tombstone having issues with new parts. https://youtu.be/f7epG5wnTzs
Full Body Spinners do have a bad tendency to break themselves though. https://youtu.be/tWULLwX-0Dc
I've built a fairyweight full body spinner and an antweight ring spinner (just the outer ring spins on a bearing, so the bot can drive inverted). The former has a problem of putting out too much energy and the latter is a complex and has some weak points (vertical impacts).
Cool… as a kid I daydreamed about being a contestant on that show. You seem to be living that dream.
I don't imagine I'll ever be on the big show without some rich friends, but lower weight classes can be pretty accessible. You can even buy kits for 1lb or 3lb robots to get into it without a 3d printer or workshop.
Norwalk Havoc is the premiere 3lb (Beetleweight) league and do regular streams. https://youtu.be/BkGCy7H9FPk
And why is End Game going to win? Because Aptyx Designs, the team behind the nigh-undefeated robot Bite Force, is not competing this year. Paul Ventimiglia made a Facebook post stating that the robot was ready and able to go back to winning Giant Nuts, but only if the people behind the BattleBots brand do more to support the builders that make the show function.
Robot combat is expensive. Even my 1lb antweight bots can run $50-$100 in parts and replacements for something that is designed to get repeatedly smashed up. All of the 250lb heavyweights on TV cost their builders thousands of dollars to bring in, and most of them are not paid and have to do merchandising on the side. Sponsors are not enough. The model is really not sustainable, and I think that having Bite Force, arguably the GOAT (having only lost once in its current form, and that was an act of god), sitting out for leverage is pretty damn based.
Okay, you’ve convinced me. I’d heard of battle bots but never watched it. I’m gonna go check it out.
There are tons of good fights on Youtube, but I really recommend catching the show and getting all the stuff between the fights - interviews with builders, the Bot Whisperer giving insights to the fights.
You can tell that the announcers have really come to appreciate the sport over the years.
Yes! It's so fun watching his earlier seasons where he didn't really seem to know what was going on, but now he definitely "gets" the sport.
Kenflo was getting pretty good at commentary in mma before he split with the ufc. He started working with the pfl (smaller fight org) recently.
Hell of a fighter too. Happy he found something after fighting.
I'm a massive CHOMP stan.
It might not always be good but it never fails to be beautiful.
Now Zoe's back from maternity leave I'm really looking forwards to seeing what The Machine Corps is bringing next season.
I was into for a little while as a kid. Got to meet Gary Coleman at one in San Francisco since he was also into it. Didn't even know BB was back! Some of those bots are chaotic as all hell and I love it
All I remember from watching this was just the robot with the lawn mower blade on it that just trashed everyone else. Is it still just spinners win everything
The meta right now is that vertical spinners with good drive tend to win more often than not. But the selection committee makes the field very diverse! You get vertical spinners (see Uppercut or Deep Six), Horizontals (Tombstone, Hijinx, Valkyrie), flippers (Hydra, Blip), and plenty of others. And even within those categories you get a lot of diversity in design.
it's funny comparing it to (the obviously superior)robot wars, it's like that meme about british vs US nature documentaries
edit: https://imgur.com/gallery/eH0jz5r
I could never get into Robot Wars, but my partner loved it. The house bots, the complicated arena, it's just not my thing.
Bugglebots is British 3lb bots and it is fantastic.
Basically describing the robot Smeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. It's 3lb version is an absolute terror in the Norwalk Havoc Robot League, but the 250lb hasn't had nearly the success.
Generally drive-based weapons aren't what they used to be. Robots are much tougher now, and can easily withstand being slammed into walls all day without damage.
A drive-based spike weapon won't do much of anything against a modern bot. Even hammers have trouble going after weaker top armor. These things are sturdy enough that a lot of seemingly-obvious weapons won't do much against them (or are against the rules, like nets or emp weapons).
Thick steel, usually. Sometimes billet aluminum. Some bots have tried using pneumatic spears (like Bale Spear last year), but it's just not as effective as spinning up a big metal bar and smacking the opponent with it.
I'm sure you could find a way to send a spike through a couple inches of AR500, but it's a lot harder to do so safely. There are strict rules about what sort of propellants can be used, to make sure that the arena can contain whatever is happening inside it.
I think so. If you look at the Comedy Central era old Robot Wars, etc, you'll see spike weapons and drive-based weapons do a lot more, because back then batteries and motors were super heavy, so there was little room for armor. Some bots would actually break by just being slammed into the wall. This is a sport where new technology matters a lot.
