BattleBots 2016

[PedroDaGr8]

So who is watching it? I am really enjoying the power of Minotaur, as seen in this battle against BlackSmith. It has the heaviest, fastest spinning (70lbs at 12,000 rpm) vertical spinner EVER. As a result, it combines the effectiveness of a vertical flipper bot with the damage of a kinetic spinner bot. There is also Complete Control which has the most effective flame I have ever seen. Also, there are reports that Robot Wars is returning to the UK soon. So there will be more robot battles. I love watching this kinda stuff.

EDIT: It also had one of the only times so far where the minibot was actually useful.

[Doc]

I am for sure. Missed last week as was out of town but have it on DVR so will watch tonight.

They seem to be spending less time on the people this year which is a good thing. I'd like to see some battle royals or more than one on ones. Would be neat to see some alliances formed in the box

[CitizenBBN]

What, you guys can't give me a heads up when they start the series up? I dont' watch enough TV to know these things.

I'm assuming they've stuck with the campy announcing, but I still like the show.

[dan_bgblue]

They have about 15 maybe 20 minutes of action in the 1 hour show. I like the action, but it is a pain to watch because of all the dad time and commercials.

[PedroDaGr8]

I actually just started watching and have been playing catch up. Same announcing but as Doc said, much less personal interest stuff. It is still there but I think it is a bit more respectable, what I have seen so far is more focused just on their preliminary rounds and damage they sustained. They could do even less but it is OK for me. This year, they have 32 teams (last year was only 16 I think). So far, I am happier with the competition this than last year, I think it is a more solid offering. Last week, they were the number 2 offering in their time slot (behind reruns of Big Bang Theory). A special show like this will always have a hard time competing against an established sitcom. I hope that means there are a few more years of battles to come.

Also, for sure I will be streaming Robot Wars from the UK online. Razor is back on Robot Wars, will be interesting to see how that bot handles. One thing I like about RobotWars is the course is more advanced than just a normal arena. You ahve kill zones, you can manuever bots into pits. There are KillBots, which are bots owned by the show which are WAY bigger than the usual bot and their job is to strike indiscriminately at the two contestants. It makes for a very interesting show and one that I wish tehy would pick up here as well.



Also, I learned today that I have been living under a rock. Jamie, Adam and Grant from MythBusters all competed in the San Fran BattleBots scene. Adam and Jamie actually had a bot in the scene and was the first kinetic spinner bot. While Grant competed against them with one of his bots. Seeing the interviews from Grant are funny, he has a really cheesy bad looking mustache.

[CitizenBBN]

You've definitely missed out on the history of Mythbusters, lol. I'm a huge fan, I'm still torn up the series is over, but yes that whole show started b/c of San Fran Battlebots.

Jamie and Adam entered their spinner bot and in fact were asked to quit b/c they were destroying the other bots but also it was a danger to the spectators b/c it was flinging parts of them all over the place. It was called Blendo iirc.

So then they came back the next year and the same thing. They did get some special award after they agreed to not compete with that bot any more.

But the show was born there b/c the guy who became the producer saw them through that and that's when he approached Jamie. That's also how they knew Grant, though they also overlapped some at Lucas as well.

Grant used his bot on the show 3-4 times, redoing it as a platform for bots he needed for the show. We never saw Blendo on the show though, but there is some bad footage of it out there at the San Fran Battlebots.

Give Jamie and Adam their due, they're dang smart and great at thinking out of the box. As you said they had the first spinner bot, a pretty brilliant take on the challenge.

[PedroDaGr8]

You've definitely missed out on the history of Mythbusters, lol. I'm a huge fan, I'm still torn up the series is over, but yes that whole show started b/c of San Fran Battlebots.

Jamie and Adam entered their spinner bot and in fact were asked to quit b/c they were destroying the other bots but also it was a danger to the spectators b/c it was flinging parts of them all over the place. It was called Blendo iirc.

So then they came back the next year and the same thing. They did get some special award after they agreed to not compete with that bot any more.

But the show was born there b/c the guy who became the producer saw them through that and that's when he approached Jamie. That's also how they knew Grant, though they also overlapped some at Lucas as well.

Grant used his bot on the show 3-4 times, redoing it as a platform for bots he needed for the show. We never saw Blendo on the show though, but there is some bad footage of it out there at the San Fran Battlebots.

Give Jamie and Adam their due, they're dang smart and great at thinking out of the box. As you said they had the first spinner bot, a pretty brilliant take on the challenge.

Yeah, I watched Mythbusters a LOT but I only saw them talking about their work on movies. I never saw that they were doing bots. I think that is even MORE cool. Wish they played it up more.


Yeah that bot was CRAZY dominant and yeah the Battlebots insurers MADE them shut it down. TWICE. THey actually brought it back again significantly later (after the full arena encapsulation was done) and it got destroyed. By that time, the technology had moved SO much farther than when they were initially competing.

[CitizenBBN]

Yeah, I watched Mythbusters a LOT but I only saw them talking about their work on movies. I never saw that they were doing bots. I think that is even MORE cool. Wish they played it up more.

Yeah that bot was CRAZY dominant and yeah the Battlebots insurers MADE them shut it down. TWICE. THey actually brought it back again significantly later (after the full arena encapsulation was done) and it got destroyed. By that time, the technology had moved SO much farther than when they were initially competing.

They barely touch on the origins in the show, all that I got from other sources and videos and mostly interviews and cons w Adam. When I'm bored working on the computer I'll run con sessions for stuff I like, Mythbusters firefly etc.

I recall that when they did come back with the full arena they'd been passed by. These things have become such hardened machines and they built blendo from a wok iirc.

Would love to see them compete again, grant as well.

[PedroDaGr8]

Grant is an advisor now to the MegaBots team that is doing the USA versus Japan challenge. I finally am fully caught up on the show. Am REALLY enjoying it this year. It feels like a lot more focus on the fighting, less on the human interest stuff. Saw more comments about damage taken in combat, things like that.

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[Doc]

Finale tonight... winner is who I expected and he did it in grand fashion. SMASHED the hell out of the second place finisher.

I predicted Minotaur vs Tombstone early so I wasn't far off. Those Brazillians are crazy, and they have the best driver on the show.