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!

  • Society_Liver [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    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.