Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Behind the Bots
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Behind the Bots
By Behind the BotsTV & Film
Behind the Bots episodes
- Our Electric Green Episode with Team ORBY Captain Cheog-Gyu Hwang!This week on the podcast, we catch up with South Korea’s coolest combat robotics builder, Team ORBY captain Cheog-Gyu Hwang!Cheog-Gyu’s story is familiar in many ways—he started watching combat robotics on TV as a middle schooler, and decided to build his own combat robots in college, where he was studying to become a mechanical engineer. Today, he builds robots for a living.What’s unique is that his community of builders is almost entirely virtual. There are less than a dozen combat robotics teams in South Korea, and Team ORBY is basically the only heavyweight team in the entire country. Cheog-Gyu took his hard-hitting horizontal bar spinner Blade to King of Bots, and is eager to show the world what he’s capable of once BattleBots returns.This was such a delightful interview. We learned that ORBY is an acronym (!), Cheog-Gyu built his own massive CNC machine, and his own combat robotics box. He’s currently building an electric violin for his wife, who’s a professional violinist and combat roboteer.Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebotsRate and review us on Apple PodcastsTell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!1 hr 3 min
- Our Abbreviated Fourth of July Episode!
This week on the podcast, an abbreviated look at the week’s top news stories from the world of BattleBots and combat robotics, plus two stories from Robots Around the World. No interview this week—we’ll be back next week with a very special guest.
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts
Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!
21 min - A Family that Bots Together, Wins Together: Our Interview with the Vasquez Family, Makers of Whiplash!
This week on the podcast, we sit down with the Vasquez family—Jeff, Debbie, Matthew and Jason—who field the hard-hitting heavyweight Whiplash!
Jeff and Debbie have been building combat robots since the early 2000s, and raised their sons in the sport. Today, the Vasquez family competes with robots in every weight class. They’re best known for Whiplash, the articulated lifter/vertical spinner that took on the hardest-hitting bots in 2019 BattleBots—and usually come out on top.
Outside of the BattleBox, Jeff builds and drives robots for film, TV shows and commercials. Matthew and Jason are both in college, and have become the public face of the team on BattleBots, working together to drive the robot and strategize outside the arena. Oh! And we talk about Fred!
Caleb Kempson’s Ko-Fi page: https://ko-fi.com/caleb_robot_art/gallery
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts
Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!
1 hr 48 min - BattleBots Past, Present, and Future with co-creator Trey Roski!
This week on the podcast, we sit down with BattleBots co-creator Trey Roski!
In the mid-1990s, Trey and his cousin Greg Munson built the competition’s first meta design—La Machine—a tanky wedgebot that won the Robot Wars middleweight championship in 1995, and finished second in the heavyweight competitions in 1996 and 1997.
In 1999, as Robot Wars floundered in legal limbo, Greg and Trey launched BattleBots. Within a year, the competition was being broadcast to millions of fans on Comedy Central. Then the show went dark for more than a decade, as Greg and Trey worked in the background to bring it back to television. They succeeded in 2015, with the reboot of BattleBots.
Today, they’re trying to figure out how to put on the 2020 season of the show amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts
Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!
1 hr 46 min - Our Nut-ty Episode with Bite Force Captain Paul Ventimiglia!
This week on the podcast, we invite back to the show (for his third time!) reigning BattleBots champion Paul Ventimiglia!
Bite Force remains the winningest heavyweight combat robot in modern BattleBots history, with three perfect seasons (2015, 2018 and 2019), and just one loss since the reboot—to the unconventional, AI-guided hammerbot Chomp.
Paul enters the 2020 season knowing that the field of bots will likely be the toughest the sport has ever seen. The COVID-19 pandemic gave builders months of extra time to work on their designs and build spare parts. Plus, 2020 will see the reintroduction of the super-heavyweight walker class—notably Chomp, which is expected to return with a 250-pound weight advantage over Bite Force, and a thirst to prove that their first victory wasn’t a fluke.
We check in with Paul to see where he’s at, what he’s thinking about, and ask him the question everyone wants to know: How the heck do you defeat this bot?
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts
Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!
1 hr 27 min - Our Chillest Episode with SubZero Captain Logan Davis!
This week on the podcast, we talk to veteran BattleBots competitor—and first-time captain—Logan Davis!
Logan purchased SubZero from longtime builder Jerry Clarkin in 2019, and took it to Robot Ruckus later that year, where it wowed audiences by flipping Kraken so high, it left wheel marks on the ceiling. Logan is eager to prove what SubZero can do in 2020.
We also video recorded this episode - you can check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=873238303188338
Caleb Kempson’s Ko-Fi page: https://ko-fi.com/caleb_robot_art/gallery
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts
Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!
1 hr 31 min - Our Hal-arious Episode with Duck! Captain Hal Rucker!
This week on the podcast, we jump into the water with one of the most beloved builders on BattleBots, Duck! captain Hal Rucker! Hal is an artist, designer, inventor and serial entrepreneur who happens to build the toughest heavyweight combat robot since the reboot. We talk about his history in the sport, the other things he’s passionate about, his design philosophy and why he redesigned Duck (again!) for 2020. Plus...listen in for a Behind the Bots first!
Lisa Winter’s tofu press: https://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-Sleek-Tofu-Press/
Witch Doctor Junior on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkAU8hRgrwQ
Part 3 of ‘How to Build a Duck’: https://www.facebook.com/BlackandBlueRobotics/videos/vb.2113570765539649/3053602774723914
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts
Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!
1 hr 52 min - Our Anniversary Episode with Deep Six Captain Dustin Esswein and Teammate Andrew Rossol!
This week on the podcast, we celebrate our one-year anniversary! We get sentimental with Deep Six captain Dustin Esswein—the first builder to join us on the show—and teammate Andrew Rossol to get a rundown of their experience as rookies in 2019, what’s new in 2020, and how it feels to get a BattleBots rule named after them. We also tease what is sure to be our biggest listener giveaway yet!
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts
Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!
1 hr 43 min - Our Cinematic Interview with HyperShock Captain Will Bales and ‘Bots High’ Director Joey Daoud
This week on the podcast, it’s 2011, and a high school-aged Will Bales is racing to finish his robot in time for BattleBots IQ. He’s competing with his friends (and cross-town rivals) Elizabeth and Danielle, who are building their own robots at the all-girls Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart. Their story is captured by documentary filmmaker Joey Daoud, whose film “Bots High” premiered on YouTube earlier this month: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE7Gg7lvo8o
We catch up with Will and Joey to talk bots, documentaries, Prom 2011, HyperShock 2020 and more.
Nola Garcia and Billy Garcia’s GoFundMe campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/nola-amp-billy-support-fund
Furrion mech suit field trials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBNWM_0waD4
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts
Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!
1 hr 59 min - Our Decisive Interview with BattleBots Head Referee John Remar!
This week on the podcast, we sit down with BattleBots head referee (and executive vice president!) John Remar to talk about the earliest days of BattleBots, his lifelong friendship with BattleBots co-creator Trey Roski, how the show has evolved, memorable moments, how sponsorships work, and where John would like to see the show go in the future.
Link to the Bots High documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE7Gg7lvo8o
Plus! Our next installment of Robots Around the World. Stay safe, everyone.
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts
Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!
1 hr 31 min
About Behind the Bots
From the publisher's feed
The podcast that brings you the stories of the builders behind BattleBots.