Behind the Bots

This week on the podcast, we catch up with Bale Spear captain Earl Pancoast III to talk farming, New Jersey, memes and BattleBots. He’s bringing a brand new machine to the 2020 competition, and we get the scoop on what to expect.

 

This week’s news stories:

> Shatter’s new frame: youtube.com/watch?v=8mYdcw5FoLQ

> BETA’s shorter hammer: instagram.com/p/CFVHRiGDb0t/ 

> Captain Shrederator’s new shells facebook.com/spinwinning/photos/a.954050624693844/3180730832025801, new chasses facebook.com/spinwinning/photos/a.954050624693844/3180739932024891 and brushless drive: youtu.be/t2mYHbQrrb4 

> Post-apocalyptic Copperhead: facebook.com/CausticCreations/posts/3433262686734114 

> Tombstone’s many bars: facebook.com/TombstoneBot/photos/a.1565736233440210/4854176064596194/ 

> Perfect Phoenix first look: facebook.com/ray.billings/posts/10223238420739859

> JackPot’s weapons test: instagram.com/p/CFTQWBGD5nf/

> Double Jeopardy’s new camera: facebook.com/watch/?v=3141373139318630

> Skorpios drive test: facebook.com/SkorpiosBattleBot/videos/630062251013124/ 

> Extinguisher’s hammer power: facebook.com/ExtinguisherBattlebot/videos/2747707738837711/ 

> Axolotl’s frame: instagram.com/p/CFTxFExjpFL/

> Bloodsport’s self-righter: facebook.com/watch/?v=3541211732604967 

> GigaByte weapons test: facebook.com/watch/?v=1972687446199729 

> Win a Duck! https://get.protolabs.com/battlebots-hexbug/ 

 

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This week on the podcast, we catch up with Lock-Jaw captain Donald Hutson, a combat robotics veteran who’s competed on every season of BattleBots to date, and holds 6 Giant Nuts (and one Giant Bolt!). We get his take on how the competition has changed over time, and what he’s looking forward to in the season ahead.

 

This week’s news stories:

> Pain Train GoFundMe: https://gf.me/u/yxfypc 

> New Duck! CAD renderings: facebook.com/BlackandBlueRobotics/posts/2784608558435863 

> Bale Spear welding: facebook.com/BALESPEAR/posts/852039128660645  

> Bloodsport weapons test: https://youtu.be/MCRRDmAoYu8

> Double Jeopardy assembly: facebook.com/teamdoubletroubledoublejeopardy/posts/647548599202644 

> New Gigabyte paint job: facebook.com/RoboticDeathCompany/posts/1588606441529388 

> JackPot’s weapon: facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=123788602777506&id=114192937070406 

> Kraken’s new scales: facebook.com/KrakenBattleBot/posts/784282765681273 

> SawBlaze’s new blade: facebook.com/SawBlazeBattlebots/posts/3422619731158666 

> Tantrum’s “fist”: facebook.com/tantrum.battlebot/posts/1256665954673877 

> Team Whyachi’s new cart: facebook.com/Whyachi/posts/3617802401565882 

> Cardboard combat robotics tournament: www.twitch.tv/andymarkinc 

 

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This week on the podcast, we get an inside look at Double Jeopardy, the first cannon bot to compete on the modern reboot of BattleBots! We learn about their early start in combat robotics, the inspiration behind their unique design, and how their legal background comes in handy in the battlebox.

This week’s news stories:

> Bite Force for sale: https://www.facebook.com/1429663704021735/posts/2749175778737181/ 

> Axolotl GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/uhoh-robotics

> Bloodsport vs. the printer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIrxb6kcSJ4 

> Film dates confirmed; Oct. 2-15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_Z_ATufrlQ 

> Coronavirus procedures plan: https://battlebots.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/BattleBots-Production-Health-Safety-Guidelines-DRAFT-5-8-17-20.pdf 

> Nelly returns home: https://www.facebook.com/143543309633652/posts/632164354104876

> Black Dragon coloring book: facebook.com/212726148833500/posts/2907994249306663/

> End Game rendering: https://www.facebook.com/505240619673638/posts/1408747122656312/

> SlamMow live videos: https://www.facebook.com/teammowbot/videos/2310458999100428/ 

> Skorpios music video: https://www.facebook.com/1559244277719655/posts/2590041194639953/

> Lisa Winter/Beyond Meat: https://twitter.com/lisawinterx/status/1300633974318837761 

 

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This week on the podcast, our panel discussion with top BattleBots designers Orion Beach (HiJinx and Skorpios), Leanne Cushing (Valkyrie), Emmanuel Carrillo (MadCatter, Cat King and WAR Hawk), Isaak Malers (Malice) and Ellis Ware (Pulsar, Magnatar, Great White, Sandstorm).

 

We filmed the panel before a live (virtual!) audience at Maker Faire Miami, and took tons of questions from fans. It was a lot of fun, and we’re looking forward to hosting more BattleBots panels in the future.

 

Link to video of the panel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdhbQH7z37U 

 

This week’s news stories:

> BattleBots revealed 49 out of the potentially 63 teams competing in the 2020 season privately to BattleBots Supporters this week (sign up on Facebook!)

> End Game’s spin-up: https://www.facebook.com/505240619673638/posts/1402201683310856/

> Shatter’s billet frame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt8EwfMkEyQ

> Gruff likes fire: https://www.facebook.com/308672209746656/posts/662908260989714/

> Ray Billings on the Giant Nut and Bolt: https://youtu.be/7sSV1NvrRQM

> Faruq Tauheed and Black Lives Matter: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEUoLztHdJ9/ 

 

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This week on the podcast, we have a special, last-minute guest—BattleBots co-creator Greg Munson! On Monday, BattleBots announced that filming would start in October, with 57 teams competing. We try to extract as much information from Greg as possible.

 

Later, our panel discussion with female BattleBots captains Andrea Gellatly (Witch Doctor), Sarah Malyan (Nelly the Ellybot), Jen Herchenroeder (HiJinx), Julia Chernushevich (Ferocity) and Lilith Specht (Sporkinok)!

 

We filmed the panel before a live (virtual!) audience at Maker Faire Miami, and took tons of questions from fans. It was a lot of fun, and we’re looking forward to hosting more BattleBots panels in the future.

 

Link to video of the panel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_rhR1TuqlY 

 

This week’s news stories:

BattleBots 2020 filming confirmed: https://twitter.com/BattleBots/status/1297933803424370688 

A beardless Chris Rose: https://twitter.com/ChrisRose/status/1297252931184410624

Skorpios goes brushless: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=754664375289127

HiJinx’s new receivers: https://twitter.com/HiJinxBattleBot/status/1297685194346868736

Partial weapons test by Aegis: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEPXuT8jIJY/ 

BETA’s electromagnets: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2608183406065631

Nelly the Ellybot team statement: https://www.facebook.com/teampunchant/posts/622795461708432

Malice’s custom notebook: https://www.facebook.com/malicebattlebot/photos/a.101854611343417/190982199097324

Matthew and Jason Vasquez earn SolidWorks certifications: https://www.facebook.com/FastElectricRobots/photos/a.232649624139481/874254803312290

Video #6 in the Witch Doctor Junior series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE35bdztkrY 

 

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This week on the podcast, our panel discussion with the 2019 BattleBots Top 4: Paul Ventimiglia (Bite Force), Andrea and Mike Gellatly (Witch Doctor), Ray Billings (Tombstone) and Julie Pitts and Miles Blow (DeathRoll).

 

We filmed the panel before a live (virtual!) audience at Maker Faire Miami, and took tons of questions from fans. It was a lot of fun, and we’re looking forward to hosting more BattleBots panels in the future.

 

This week’s news stories:

Extinguisher’s firefighting canisters: https://www.facebook.com/ExtinguisherBattlebot/photos/a.374736196441568/697719647476553/?type=3

Calvin Iba’s new flamethrower: https://www.instagram.com/p/CD19clHDexY/

Luke Quin’s new hobbyweight weapons test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSN-fjbc_kM

ESC interview with BattleBots commentator Chris Rose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoKs9ypROkk 

Win Mammoth’s bones: https://www.facebook.com/MammothBattlebot/photos/a.2289061981322191/2816666928561691/

Jennifer Aniston is Trying to Kill Me: https://twitter.com/CMDanby/status/1294629043019669504   

 

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This week on the podcast, we catch up with Tracer builder Jason Woods!

 

As a high schooler, Jason built his first bot which he took to compete at BattleBots during the Comedy Central days. Since then, Jason has been building nonstop - everything from combat robots to ingenuitive curiosities. You may recognize him from his appearances on Shark Tank where he once sought funding for his rad invention, the Kymera Body Board. Jason is full of stories and hard learned wisdom that he's gathered throughout these many experiences.

 

Surprisingly, his new bot, Tracer, was built in near-complete secrecy from the rest of the community. Listen as he takes us through his inspiration for the bot, his expectations for next season, and the grudge matches he's looking forward to most!

 

 

Kymera Body Board: https://kymera.com/

 

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This week on the podcast, we catch up with Quantum captains (and brothers) James Cooper and Grant Cooper!

 

Outside of combat robotics (Robot Wars! BattleBots! King of Bots!), the Coopers run Robo Challenge, a studio that makes robots, and other cool things, for TV shows, commercials and promotional campaigns. They’ve built things for everything from the Abu Dhabi Royal Family to Xbox, notably an inflatable ball that someone used to run across the Irish Sea, one piece of a scary attraction at a popular theme park in England, and a bunch of robots seen on British TV shows like The Gadget Show.

 

Combat robotics fans know them for their extensive work on the reboot of Robot Wars, where they built the House Robots, helped design the arena and rulebook, and ran the technical side of the house during filming. They built the devastatingly effective bots Spectre (winner of King of Bots Season 1) and Quantum, which advanced to the Top 16 in its rookie season on BattleBots.

 

Among builders, Team Robo Challenge is widely regarded as among the best designers in the sport. In 2019, the builders themselves awarded Quantum a Giant Bolt for Best Design.

 

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This week on the podcast, we catch up with MadCatter captain Martin Mason! Martin is an engineering and physics professor, rocket propulsion enthusiast, combat robotics competitor across the US and China, and one of BattleBots' biggest personalities. We chat with him about his many experiences in and out of the box...and he talks some trash along the way!

 

Angry Sloth Robotics’ review of the new Duck! and Rotator Hexbugs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vrymsRQ64I 

 

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This week on the podcast, we catch up two incredible engineers—Chomp captain Zoe Stephenson and teammate Jascha Little!Zoe and Jascha are a wife-and-husband team who work together as engineers on experimental projects at Applied Invention. Their most visible project, perhaps, is The Long Now Foundation's 10,000 Year Clock, a massive mechanical timekeeper that is designed to survive and tell time until the year 12,000. (Some fans may know that Bronco team captain Zander Rose is the director of The Long Now Foundation).

 

It’s unbelievably difficult to design an object to survive for 10,000 years—metals corrode, moving parts seize up, materials that touch one another run the risk of chemically reacting to one another in strange ways. For inspiration, the team looked to the past and the designs of other mechanical objects, early timepieces and mechanical computers. It’s a fascinating project, and one that we will most certainly continue to talk about on the show.

 

BattleBots fans know Zoe and Jascha for Chomp, the AI-infused hammerbot that ended Paul Ventimiglia’s championship run in 2016. This year, Chomp is back—as a superheavyweight walker bot with a turret-mounted hammer. Zoe and Jascha talk at length about the design, and the technical challenges they face as they try to cut weight from the bot.

 

We really enjoyed this interview, and we hope you do, too.

 

Link to Chomp’s GitHub repository: https://github.com/contradict/stomp 

 

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