Battlebots - General Discussion

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Your Hosts Topic!

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Your Media Topic!

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A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's 2015 run. 

[Kromm]

No idea who the hosts are (can't find a reference anywhere), but two of the "judges" are someone named Fon Davis, and also Jessica Chobot, who besides being on Nerdist and having a name that sounds a lot like "Robot", doesn't really sound all that qualified.  That's astronaut Leland Melvin sitting next to them (and he tweeted the pic).  Not sure if he's a fellow judge with them or a commentator/host.
 

 

 

 

EDIT - Okay, the Battlebots twitter account has a retweet from someone named Molly McGrath, who apparently is the host.  She's apparently a FOX Sports sideline reporter.  Ugh.... okay.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Kromm

[Way Wes Jr]

Aargh!  Eaten post!

 

From ABC: http://abc.go.com/shows/battlebots/cast

 

The Judges:

Fon Davis is a movie special effects guy, and a former Battlebots contestant.  (Winner of one of the rumble events.)

Leland Melvin is just awesome.  (Astronaut who could have played in the NFL.)

Jessica Chobot is female and related to Nerdist.  (A few years ago and this would be Olivia Munn, right?)

 

As for the announcers/hosts, we'll see once episodes start.  (Though I hope we get the Alison Haslip who plays games on "Tabletop," and not the waste of space that was on The Voice.

[Kromm]

As for the announcers/hosts, we'll see once episodes start.  (Though I hope we get the Alison Haslip who plays games on "Tabletop," and not the waste of space that was on The Voice.

We don't have to wait.  As I said, a FOX SPORTS sideline reporter named Molly McGrath, tweeted she was the host.

 

If you just said "Molly Who?" you aren't the only one.

 

This is what she looks like--basically a cheerleader, if I'm being mean about it--I don't suppose that says anything about her competence either way though.  

 

EDIT: No, literally she's a cheerleader.  I posted that observation about her looking like one before I found the third photo in the sequence below... which appears to be an older picture of her... as a cheerleader.

 

Edited June 12, 2015 by Kromm

[Way Wes Jr]

What I meant by, "We'll see once the episodes start," was - we have no idea of how much time they're going to waste with the various talking heads.  The "Host," may just show up to introduce the show, and then throw it to the Play by play and Color guys.  Or, maybe she'll do a twenty minute cheer routine promoting the FOX networks, we won't be able to tell how competent they are until we see the show and see.

 

I felt comfortable "judging" the judges, because they shouldn't have a speaking role - they should just determine the winners in non-KO matches.  I don't want to get too worked up, or excited by, any of the others until I see how they perform.  To go back to the previous iteration of the show: Bill Nye is a great communicator, but his bits on the Comedy Central version of Battlebots were a complete waste of time.

[Kromm]

A little digging has revealed there are play-by-play folks too, as well as "sideline reporters" as well.  A full house of people talking--although to be honest it almost sounds like TOO many people (so the signal to noise ratio could suck).

 

http://tvline.com/2015/06/05/abc-battlebots-poster/

 

 

 

Molly McGrath (Fox Sports) will host BattleBots‘ metallic melees, veteran sports broadcaster Chris Rose and former UFC fighter Kenny Florian will deliver play-by-play and commentary, Allison Haislip (Attack of the Show) and NASA engineer Bobak Ferdowsi serve as sideline reporters, and Faruq Tauheed is your ring announcer.

Judging each battle will be onetime BattleBots competitor/special effects artist Fon Davis, NASA astronaut Leland Melvin and Nerdist’s Jessica Chobot.

 

I mean Allison Haislip isn't going to say anything worth hearing anymore than Molly McGrath, I bet (or to be honest Jessica Chobot), and I suppose it's a matter of time to see how well a UFC fighter can fake making a robot battle sound like something he can relate to (I'm skeptical).

[Zahdii]

I just found out Battlebots was coming back, and now that I've read the above posts, I'm worried it'll be dull and boring.  I don't want a lot of talk, I just want robots beating the crap out of each other.

[chitowngirl]

God, I love this show. I'm so glad it's back! My favorites are the battle between the oh-so-hyped bots that no one wants to face and they just get pulverized by these bots with no bells and whistles at all!

[harrie]

Is it me, or is the key to victory having a low center of gravity?  Highly entertaining show,  even if it's more organized than what I am used to. 

[Zahdii]

So much talk!  Anyway, loved the battles.  I don't remember seeing teams put more than one robot out in a battle before.  And that one little thing that got under Nightmare and incinerated itself?  Totally cool.

[Machiabelly]

I don't think it incinerated itself as much as the big killing wheel blew it up. So far I think the bot that lost that battle is a good bet for a wild card.

[Way Wes Jr]

That was a really good opening episode, I hope the ratings are good.  A little bit too much talking, and if there are only six episodes, we're going (at this pace of four fights per,) to lose three fights to: "and this-bot beat that-bot also."  The talkers weren't horrible, (see announcers thread later,) the get to know the builders segments weren't insufferable, (and we were glad to see a losing team get one, they were only profiling the winners, and we were getting worried,) and the fights were awesome!

 

Icewave over Razorback:  I was disappointed we didn't get the profile on team Razorback, I thought their backstory sounded interesting.  Before the match started, I thought this was because Razorback was going to win, and they'd get their promo later... I was wrong.  I hope that little silver thing on the top of Icewave is a little pneumatic arm to aid against flip-bots, as that looks like the biggest danger to Icewave.  Ice's spinner looks low enough to hit most bots - but I wonder if Biohazard could have snuck under it.  (Biohazard was an amazingly low to the ground bot.)  Obviously these fights weren't done in this exact order - and this was a great bout to pique the casual viewer's interest.

 

PlanX over Wrecks:  I wonder if non-wheeled bots received an extra weight allowance, like the old Battlebots tournaments/shows did.  Wrecks looked to be very solidly constructed.  PlanX dominated the battle, though they didn't appear to do too much damage, and it looks like the judges weren't swayed by the last second damage done to PlanX.  (The four categories for judging are: damage, control, strategy, and aggression, and the Winter's easily took three of those four categories.)  I didn't see PlanX's nuisance-bots contribute much in this fight, making me wonder if they were late additions to fill up a "weight allowance."

 

Bite Force over Warhead: Bite Force reminds me of Donald Hutson's Diesector - which is a very high complement.  I know Warhead is an efficient fighting bot, but the Bite Force team drove such a perfect match, that Warhead almost looked like one of Mark Setrakian's art-bots, rather than a serious entry.  (Did you see the trophy stand early in the show with the creepy rotating fingers? Setrakian.)

 

Warrior Clan over Nightmare:  Nightmare is one of the competitions poster children, but really, in the last ten years it still hasn't developed an anti-flipper strategy better than, "maneuver to an obstacle, and hope it re-flips?"  Team Whyachi's nuisance bots look to have real power, (as opposed to PlanX's,) and while the fire-jets are cool, they look like efficient little wedge-bots.

 

Rankings: 1. Bite Force, 2. Warrior Clan, 3. Icewave, 4. PlanX 

If any of this episode losers are to make it into a Wild Card spot, the cynic in me says Warhead, and then maybe Nightmare.  (Wrecks just isn't maneuverable, and thus not exciting unless it's blade manages to hit, and Razorback performed like a lesser version of Bite Force.)

[Way Wes Jr]

While I would be happiest with no talking heads at all - just give me oversized-weaponized-rc car combat please! - they kept the focus on the 'bot's, by and large.

 

Molly McGrath did receive more screen time than I would have liked, her function seems to be to ask the other host questions, and break up any potential sausage fest.  And those heels were ridiculous.

 

Chris Rose seemed like a straightforward typical play-by-play guy.  It was great to see him and Florian AT the competition however, as opposed to the Comedy Central version where they obviously taped over footage.

 

Kenny Florian surprised me with his color commentary.  There must be more to his story than, "former The Ultimate Fighter contestant, who went on to have 22 UFC fights."  At the very least, he did his homework.

 

Faruq Tauheed did well as the ring announcer.  His intros were appropriately hyperbolic, and not as sophomoric as the CC ones were in the later seasons.

 

The judges did not talk, (as I expected: see above post,) and they made the correct decision in the one match it mattered.

 

Alison Haslip was a marked improvement over the "models," that CC utilized, and if she wasn't interested, faked it better than the "models," did too.

 

Bobak Ferdowsi didn't have a speaking role in the first episode, I'll expect him to show up if something goes horribly wrong with a 'bot mid-fight; or to interview the driver/creator's of a truly innovative 'bot.  (To fit in with his JPL/ Mars rover expertise.)

[AConspiracy]

I thoroughly enjoyed that.

The Nightmare bot was from the original series 15 years ago, and it looks about the same. I was kind of glad it didn't win, that just seemed lazy to dust it off from that long ago and put it in there to fight again.

I was glad Lisa Winter won.

[Jersey Guy 87]

Enjoyed the episode overall, although I would have liked more than four battles.  I don't think any of the losers was worthy of being a wildcard contender going forward - I know Warhead and Nightmare are supposed to be "names" but they really didn't look that good).  Actually, I'm opposed to the whole idea of wildcards anyway - win your battle.

 

Wrecks was a poor design - just not maneuverable enough to be competitive.  PlanX completely out-fought it (and the damage at the end came because PlanX got hung up for some reason).

 

As cool as the nuisance bot blowing up for Warrior Clan was I'd  rather they did away with them.  One bot against another, no nuisances.

[Taeolas]

So there are only 6 eps total? We'll either get a clip at some point, or they'll have more than 4 fights per ep. 

 

We know the next two eps plus this one will probably have 4 each, to finish off the 12 definites in the 16 bracket. 

 

2 eps will be needed to bring the 16 bracket down to 8. 

 

One ep of 4 fights each would bring the 8 to a 4.

 

Then 1 ep would crown a winner from the 4, with a fight slot left. 

 

But that makes for 7 eps, so if they are limited to 6 eps, then they'll have to up the fights per ep ration; likely in the later rounds. 

 

As for the fights themselves, I loved them. I don't know anything about Battlebot fighting but what was seen on shows like this; but what was seen was impressive.

 

And unlike other shows (like American Ninja Warrior), I didn't mind the talky fluff as much, since the majority of it felt like it was talking about either the Bots themselves, or the Team's history as bot builders. There wasn't any "I had Serious_Disease in my youth and my parents were killed in a tragic autoplant accident so to get through the pain I took up bot building" stories that I noticed. 

 

PlanX's minis didn't seem to do much; but they didn't NEED to do much against their opponent; hopefully they'll be useful against some other ones. Depending on how responsive they are (and how well her team works together), I could see them wedging ICEwave up higher so PlanX itself can duck under the blade and shove into the hammer, or something like that.

[missbonnie]

I was just happy to see the show again! Wow, I can't believe it's been 15 years since we saw it last. Does anyone else feel like I hazards in the floor were used a lot more in the original show? I'm happy to have this back for a summer show.

[Taeolas]

I suspect the floor hazards are more for if the matches are going long and stalemating. So they'll rarely go off in the first minute, but if there isn't a clear winner in the last minute, the sawblades will start coming up.

 

Most of the 4 battles we saw had clear winners, so there was no need to use them much. But it was fun seeing the pounders come down, and the side wall grinders were used a fair amount. 

 

Once the ladder starts with the 16 contenders, we should get more balanced matches that should lead to the saw blades popping up.

[Zahdii]

IIRC, the floor saws just came up randomly.  They'd rise up and spend maybe 5-10 seconds (if that much) before lowering again.  They'd appear every 30-60 seconds, but if a Bot was trapped on one, they seemed to come up more often and stay active longer.

 

Same thing for the sledgehammers.

 

This time, the saws didn't make one appearance that I saw, so they might be saving them for the finals.  And this time, the sledgehammers are under control of the teams.

 

Wasn't there some mention of spikes or something like that, that would come up from the floor?  I didn't see any of them, either.  Maybe another thing that will make an appearance later on when the teams are in the later stages of the tournament.

[Way Wes Jr]

Battlebots.com has videos in its "news" section.  I recommend the three "Meet the Creators," they did with Tested.com.

 

Meet the Bots, Part 1: http://battlebots.com/tested-pit-1/

Part 2: http://battlebots.com/tested-meet-the-new-battlebots-part-2/

Part 3: http://battlebots.com/tested-meet-the-robots-part-3/

 

Part three also has a segment on the BattleBox.

 

There is also an interview with Adam Savage, of Mythbusters and Blendo fame; the first half of which deals with BattleBots: http://battlebots.com/tested/

[Way Wes Jr]

According to the BattleBox designer (http://forums.previously.tv/topic/27618-battlebots-media-news-ratings-renewal-discussion/#entry1232196 , Part three of the introductory videos,) the hazards are entirely random.  (Though I wouldn't be surprised if teams could access the hammers, and that slipped his mind during the interview.)

[califred]

My son is on a FIRST robotics team we recommend it to everyone! They don't destroy each other, but they learn engineering, math, outreach, community and it's great to be part of a team when you aren't into sports. It's also a fabulous way to get college scholarships.

[kib]

I love me some Battlebots.  Everything that's good and right about America.  Smarts, inventiveness, sparks & mayhem.  If I have a nit to pick, it seems like the price of poker has gone up considerably from classic Battlebots.  Them's is some spending hardware out there compared to some the the garage kludge units in the old days.  Might explain why there are fewer matches.

[Kromm]

Is it me, or is the key to victory having a low center of gravity?

Seems to my recollection it always has been.

[jhlipton]

Nightmare spent far too much time trying to right itself (and that jump on to the screws at the end was DUMB).  It looked like the blade was still working, just not as well -- they should have kept after Warrior Clan.

I missed this show and I'm glad it's back!

[kib]

What I meant by, "We'll see once the episodes start," was - we have no idea of how much time they're going to waste with the various talking heads.

 

Well, based on the first program there's a huge amount of time wasted by the talking heads.

To paraphrase those FM radio sounders... "Less talk, moooorrrrrrrrre bots!!!" 

[How Bout That]

I like Chobot the judge; I wonder if she is related to CBS's Chenbot.

[How Bout That]

 

According to the BattleBox designer (http://forums.previo...n/#entry1232196 , Part three of the introductory videos,) the hazards are entirely random.  (Though I wouldn't be surprised if teams could access the hammers, and that slipped his mind during the interview.)

 

 

That's not the way it used to be. It used to be operated by a guy named Pete. In my match, Pete sawed off a portion of my bot and the downward bent metal anchored itself in the steel plating. My already disabled opponent was on the other side of the arena when Pete took me out and the next thing I know, my bot was getting counted out.

 

Not that I'm bitter or anything.

[Quilt Fairy]

I haven't watched this yet (missed the first ep), is it anything like the robot fight show (whose name I cannot remember)  that was on Syfy last year?

[Xenith22]

Ugh those Wildcard choices are such a load of crap!   How did Nightmare not get a spot?  He completely annihilated the minibots and did some damage to his opponents big bot.  Had he not been incapacitated he could have potentially won a judges decision.

 

Complete Control had a floor chain damaged by a flaw in the floor, and despite being wounded still put up a fight good enough to force a tense judges decision. (Not to mention he actually even won the first match....sure it was nefarious means but he was apparently correct that what he did was technically legal due to a rules oversight.)

 

How the heck can you justify those two being left out when Witch Doctor and Warhead were just completely dominated in their fights? (And although we did not see much of Chomp it also looked to have been in an rather one sided fight).  Don't get me wrong...I am a fan of Warhead and think he can do much better than he showed, but regardless he did absolutely nothing in his fight.  His blade was too high to do any damage, and not having any way to compensate for that seems like a design flaw that should not merit a free pass?  BS!!!!

Edited June 29, 2015 by Xenith22

[AConspiracy]

How was the net usage illegal? It wasn't in the rules apparently, but somebody ruled it violated the "spirit" of the competition or something?

I think in the original show, fire/flames were illegal but are often used now. It seems like entanglements would be the same.

[Taeolas]

Since they were only going to have 2 setup shows anyway, I wish they had cut it to be a 6-6 instead of 4-9 (including 3 quickie matches and 1 doover match).

 

That said, there were some very VERY impressive fights this round, including what will probably be the winner. (The one that demolished the cinder block in his demo tape). I'm not sure the entanglement net would do much to stop him really. 

 

Speaking of the net, I'm a bit torn on its use. I suspect "Fire" was explicitly allowed in the updated rules, so no one is surprised by it showing up. Nets used to not be allowed, and were not explicitly allowed in the new rules, so people are probably assuming they are still not allowed. So a win by net entanglement feels sketchy.

 

That said, I'm not sure why they shouldn't be allowed. Maybe don't allow net launchers or something, but if you have something that can ensnare those spinners, then go for it. I could see a bot with a net strung between spars that it extends and tries to catch the spinning elements of the spinners to jam them up. I doubt it would do much against flippers, but it would be a good Rock/Paper/Scissors balance.

[dmmetler]

The one thing I'm noticing is that there seem to be more "pros" than in the original series. I'm hoping that this was just the first episode. One thing I loved in the original was that we did have bots built by teenagers, in garages, out of parts from junkyards, etc.

[DrSpaceman]

I found the fights enjoyable and just enjoy watching them fight

 

I couldn't figure out either why nets are not allowed.  Besides the question of if it is or is not in the rules, I don't really get the logic of no nets but fire being OK.  Would it be just too easy to put a big net around the bot so any attack would be thwarted off and hurt the other bot?  Still, would seem like a strategy that could go for or against a bot.  ANd yes if you allow spinners and things, why not a net to stop the spinners? 

[GenieinTX]

I think I'd be okay with ensarement items being used, if they were built into the bot.  That box full of net was not a part of the bot build.  It didn't matter at all what capabilities the bot had.  So it really wasn't bot against bot.  That's why I didn't like it and thought it was a poor move. 

[How Bout That]

 

I couldn't figure out either why nets are not allowed.  Besides the question of if it is or is not in the rules, I don't really get the logic of no nets but fire being OK.  Would it be just too easy to put a big net around the bot so any attack would be thwarted off and hurt the other bot?  Still, would seem like a strategy that could go for or against a bot.  ANd yes if you allow spinners and things, why not a net to stop the spinners?

 

 

Because flames don't really do any kind of damage to bots, the flames only fellate the audience and that's what the producers want.

 

S, a guy does his homework, learns the rules and then takes the time and energy to come up with a brilliant strategy to thwart one of these ridiculous spinbots and gets rewarded with--a do over. Really? If you don't like the rules, change them but don't rewrite history. The guy won his match fair and square because he knew the rules and the other guy didn't. Match is over move on.

[Kromm]

Really, if you just take the bottom part of a lawnmower and turn it upside down, how COULD that be beaten?  Especially if you don't allow other robots to toss stuff at them to stop them spinning?

[Kromm]

Because flames don't really do any kind of damage to bots, the flames only fellate the audience and that's what the producers want.

 

S, a guy does his homework, learns the rules and then takes the time and energy to come up with a brilliant strategy to thwart one of these ridiculous spinbots and gets rewarded with--a do over. Really? If you don't like the rules, change them but don't rewrite history. The guy won his match fair and square because he knew the rules and the other guy didn't. Match is over move on.

Not only that, he got robbed of one of the wildcard spots.  I mean they clearly stated that the close decisions were likely to get those, and his match had to be one of the closest.. and... he didn't get the wildcard.

[Kromm]

There's no weight classes.  Seems like while that streamlines things for TV, it also sets up some real unfair matches.

I mean now.  I seem to recall there being weight classes before.

[missbonnie]

Aaaaaaah!! I forgot this was on this week and missed it! Any idea where I can see it?

[Zahdii]

http://abc.go.com/shows/battlebots/episode-guide/season-01/02-crunch-time-qualifiers-round-2

 

If you pay for your TV (cable, satellite, etc) you can watch it on ABC.com.  For everyone else, the episode becomes unlocked after a week.  (Fox pulls this crap, too.  Grrrr!)

 

Otherwise, it might be on Youtube somewhere.  Let me know if you find it somewhere else - I missed it last night, too.

[Xenith22]

The one thing I'm noticing is that there seem to be more "pros" than in the original series. I'm hoping that this was just the first episode. One thing I loved in the original was that we did have bots built by teenagers, in garages, out of parts from junkyards, etc.

Basically when Battlebots started in 1999 it was essentially just "Pros" doing it then.  The sport started around 1994...so I guess technically even the pros had only been doing it for 5 years and were still figuring things out?   It was really only around season 3 that we saw the big boom in entrants where at the height of the shows popularity everyone and their mother wanted to build a robot.  The fact that by S3-S4 you had 4 different classes, were doing 7 fights per show, and even doing more than 2 bots in a fight at times which all allowed for a lot more entrants too.

 

So I'm hoping this revival will follow a similar path.  This first season was an experiment by ABC to see how well the show would be accepted.  So far the ratings have been incredibly good.  If that keeps up and we get an S2 hopefully they will feel confident enough to give them more room...multiple classes and more fights per hour.  You'll also see more amateurs potentially getting interested again as Robot Combat is exposed to a whole new generation, since for the last decade it has not been televised and less accessible?

 

I seem to recall there being weight classes before.

Yeah by the 5th season I believe there was Nanoweight, Lightweight, Middleweight, Heavyweight, and Super-heavyweight.
For this competition the weight limit chosen was for the Superheavyweights.  Which is why we are seeing so many multibots just to do something with that unused weight on their main robot.

[kib]

Had he not been incapacitated he could have potentially won a judges decision.

 

With all due respect, that's like saying if the engine hadn't blown up and wheels fell off in the first lap my car could have won the Indy 500.

 

RE: Entanglementgate  .  I'd have to agree with How Bout That, who from what I gather comes with first hand knowledge about the 'sport'.  Know the rules.  It works that way in any other competition.  Frankly I suspect the producers were the one's suffering the most embarrassment and well should have after backtracking like that.  I'll even fan the flames and offer wild speculation that contractual obligations and/or appearance fees might have even played into the decision.

 

I wonder if there are any rules about aerial bots?  (hummmmm... grappling hooks from the sky?)

Edited July 1, 2015 by kib

[Xenith22]

Believe it or not the creators have confirmed that flying robots are indeed currently legal.  But a grappling hook would fall under the disallowed entanglement devices... Which is why so far no one has entered a flying bot in an robot fighting competition yet because no one has solved the problem of how to successfully damage their opponent that fits within the rules.

[locomoco]

I was going to say Tombstone, but I agree that I probably prefer Chobot more