[robotic voice speaking] Robots activate.
[dramatic music playing]
[distant cheering]
Welcome to BattleBots.
I am Chris Rose joined as always by UFC legend
and the greatest robot combat analyst walking God's green Earth.
This is Kenny Florian.
Hey Chris. I'm ready for an incredible night of mechanical mayhem.
How we feeling, Vegas?
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Oh, I would say they're definitely into it.
Let's not make 'em wait anymore.
Let's get right into the fight card.
It is week 11 of the qualifying rounds
and for most of tonight's lineup
these teams are getting ready for the critical third fights on their schedules.
The World Championship tournament is just around the corner.
- Kenny. - [Kenny] That's right. This is the crossroads, Chris.
[Chris] Check out these records.
Whether you're 2-0, 1-1 or even at the bottom of the pile at 0-2,
the story of your season has yet to be written.
A showstopping performance tonight can catapult you into the post season picture,
while a poor outing has a potential to take your stock
and leave you on the outside looking in come tournament time.
Heavy hitters like Cobalt, Beta,
and last year's co-rookie of the year, Glitch,
will be looking to seize the moment
and force the selection committee to take notice.
And it all leads up to our main event
where two hell-raising horizontals will collide
when Victor Soto's Rotator meets Justin Marple's Bloodsport.
But up first, it's an international showdown between Britain and Brazil
as the legendary Beta tries to hand Black Dragon its first ever KO.
The Brazilians are in the midst of chasing down a prestigious record
and currently sit from just two fights away from tying Bite Force
for the longest no KO streak inBattleBots history.
But tonight, they're gonna have to go through an undefeated John Reid
and the world's strongest hammer bot to keep it alive.
Faruq, start us off right.
[cheering, booing]
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
It's robot fighting time!
[sparks crackling]
[alarm blaring]
In the red square,
if you try to train this dragon, you're gonna end up dead.
It's egg beater drum will slice you inside out
and you'll be turning red.
The incredible bot is here to snatch your soul and win some riches,
and you can say hi to Nemo and Dory
when you're sleeping with the fishes.
Give it up for Black Dragon!
Let's go!
[Chris] Black Dragon's got plenty of support.
Julio Cortez, the man all the way to the right, your captain this year.
They sit at 1-1,
and like so many of the teams tonight,
this fight is a huge turning point for their season, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, their loss to Quantum kind of shook their confidence
and Beta is such a legend.
They're legitimately worried their no KO streak could end tonight.
A strong bounce back performance would not only
help them get their swagger back.
It might lock up a spot in the road to 32.
In the blue square, this bot comes from the UK.
Let's break that down.
He's the ultimate killer if you come to his town.
The royal family better update the keys to let him in their home
because he's the uncrowned king and he's claiming his throne.
Give it up for Beta!
[Chris] Won a couple of decisions over Kraken and Shatter.
Ooh. John Reid, interesting frame.
Interesting top today on that machine.
[Kenny] Yeah, John calls this shell the ugly armor.
It's about a half inch of AR500
and sort of tucked in at the bottom.
The idea being that there's no edge
for Black Dragon's egg beater weapon to grab onto.
It hasn't been put to the test yet this season,
but he's 2-0, so he's willing to take some chances.
Black Dragon has never been knocked out and that's extremely positive
because it makes some challenge to the other competitor.
We will never tell our secrets to do that,
so it's gonna be hard.
Beta is an extremely durable robot too.
So we will think this fight will go to the judge.
It'll be a hard fight, but Black Dragon can do it.
- Let's go, Brazil. - Let's go, Brazil.
Black Dragon's best asset against us is, you know,
just their ability to inflict damage on us.
So we have this new armor setup.
It's a very, very strong band around
and it's got this soft mounting levers
and they're all rubber mounted,
so it should be able to take repeated impacts.
Black Dragon has never been knocked out.
Hopefully, we can rectify that.
[crowd chanting] Beta! Beta! Beta! Beta!
[robotic voice speaking] Robots activate.
[Chris] Sounds like Black Dragon thinks this one is going the distance.
And something to keep in mind.
Beta is 5-1 lifetime in judges decisions here at BattleBots.
Kenny, Beta is going with the skinny hammer tonight. Why is that?
[Kenny] Well, John knows how durable Black Dragon is
and he doesn't want to risk demolishing Beta's heavier hammer
prior to the tournament.
This weapon is more of a cutting tool
and is better suited to jam up
and potentially disable the Brazilian's drum spinner.
[robotic voice speaking] Red team ready.
[Chris] Alright, the Brazilians brought a hammer of their own.
- Yeah! Let's go! - Let's go, Brazil!
[robotic voice speaking] Blue team ready.
[chuckles]
[Chris] Those Brits, so cheeky.
[electronic distortion]
[crowd chanting] Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
[Chris] Beta, 2-0.
Black Dragon, 23 fights without being knocked out.
Whose record stays in tact?
[countdown buzzing]
Let the bot battle begin!
And here comes Beta fast out of the gate
trying to get that first smack in there.
[exclaims] Nice shot by Black Dragon.
Good gymnastics by Beta.
[Kenny] That bumper armor meant to stop Black Dragon from getting a bite.
- [all exclaiming] - Uh-oh.
[Chris] Woah, big swing and a miss by the skinny hammer.
[Kenny] Looks like Beta is looking for counter shots here
as Black Dragon approaches.
[Chris] Black Dragon looking to work its way around
to that vulnerable backside of Beta.
John Reid trying to stay squared up.
[Kenny] Beta staying aggressive.
Black Dragon just too fast.
[Chris] Trying to jam him up a little bit.
[Kenny] Yeah, they're trying to get that hammer
inside of that active weapon and disable it.
[Chris] Uh-oh. Beta's gone limp.
Here comes Black Dragon.
Gets around to the back side and here we go.
- [both exclaiming] - Yeah!
[Chris] It pops it. I'm not so sure the hammer's working.
And it definitely won't be able to self-right, Kenny.
- [Kenny] John Reid is throwing in the towel. - Ten... Nine...
[Chris] Black Dragon, who has never been knocked out
in 24 career fights in BattleBots,
is the one doing the bot kicking.
- Hammer! - [Chris chuckles]
Knockout!
[chanting] Brazil! Brazil! Brazil!
[Kenny] Wow.
- We did it. Whoo! - Yeah!
[Chris] Kenny, a couple of shots by Black Dragon
was just good enough to finish this thing.
[Kenny] Yeah, you know, not much went according to plan
for John Reid in this fight.
Black Dragon got great engagement
on that new armor package right out of the gate.
And the lighter hammer head was completely ineffective to bouting for Beta.
[Chris] Black Dragon used its speed to blitz the Brits,
wearing Beta down and eventually getting around to that exposed backside.
[Kenny] Yeah, it looked like Beta lost mobility there at the end.
The Brazilians were all over it,
landed a nasty combination of shots to finish the job.
[Chris] John Reid's saying, "Uh, that's enough for today, young bucks.
You win this round."
- Julio! - Thank you.
- Congratulations. - [laughs]
Oh my God. I didn't hear you. Can you repeat? Sorry.
- All I said was-- - I'm a little nervous. My hands are shaking.
Why are you so nervous right now?
You just kicked their bot.
Because the top 32 is very difficult for us.
But now with that win against Beta,
we are more comfortable and that's it.
Let's go to top 32
and let's go to bring the Giant Nut to Brazil. Let's go, guys.
- Yeah! - Go, Brazil!
Julio, what was the strategy here against Beta?
Yeah, our strategy, it is move around Beta
because he doesn't have one protection on his back.
So we tried to do this
- and I believe we... We did. - We did.
Hey Julio, how happy is the duck?
- Oh, duck. - [team laughing]
- Duck is so happy. - He's very happy. Lucky Ducky, guys.
- [cheering] - [Chris laughing]
Yeah, let's go!
- [Chris] Congratulations. - Go, Brazil.
We will see you in your fourth and final regular season fight.
Thank you. Thank you.
Well done. Well done.
Kenny, we started off talking about this match
and wondering if Beta could be the first robot to ever KO Black Dragon.
- Oops. - Yeah, no.
I mean, again Black Dragon is just so durable.
The team competes with so much passion.
They just overwhelmed Beta tonight.
[Chris] So both squads now sit at 2-1.
Next up, the Brazilians have a chance to make history
and grab a share of Bite Force's record.
But lurking in the shadows is what may be
the most dangerous robot we've seen this season,
Riptide.
Believe me when I tell you, you do not want to miss that fight.
As for John Reid and Beta,
they'll finish up the qualifiers
against a massive horizontal in Bloodsport
who we're gonna see later in our main event.
Up next though, a stone cold killer Cobalt
looks to carve up Charles Guan and Overhaul.
And despite coming off a loss to Minotaur,
the vertical spinner from the UK is still
one of the most feared robots in the entire world.
They'll storm into the box next onBattleBots.
[crowd cheering]
We continue on here on BattleBots
and up next we've got a pair of 1-1 teams.
It's gonna be a ton of fun. Overhaul and Cobalt.
- Cobalt could very easily be 2-0. - Right.
That lone loss was against Minotaur.
It went back and forth the entire way.
Cobalt thought they had it wrapped up, didn't go their way.
But look out for that nasty weapon tonight.
[Kenny] Absolutely, Chris.
There is no doubt that in only two fights,
Team Cobalt has proven themselves
to be top contender in this competition.
They've demonstrated they're durable, lethal and innovative.
In my opinion, with a strong performance tonight,
they can lock up a spot in the top 32
and potentially put themselves in the mix for a high seed.
They're gonna take on a grappler bot in Overhaul.
We've known Charles Guan an awfully long time.
In fact, this is Overhaul's fifth season
and it hasn't changed much over the years.
Which is why I think Charles has surprised himself so far.
He got a win over a rookie robot
and then looked solid against a rising star in Claw Viper.
But tonight will be Overhaul's first test
against a truly lethal and proven opponent.
[Kenny] That's right, Chris. And if I were a gambling man,
I'd say Cobalt is like a two-to-one favorite,
but this could be a trap game.
Cobalt's kryptonite is the floor.
When they lose, it's usually because they get tipped upside down
and can't self-right.
Overhaul is like a moving floor.
All they need to do is get under Cobalt once
and we could see a massive upset.
Let's do it. Faruq.
[Faruq] In the red square,
plastic surgery is all the rage now.
From tummy tucks to a nose job.
But it's a non-elective procedure
if you come across this robot.
So prepare for the biggest operation of your life
because if you step to his blade,
you're going under the knife.
Give it up for Cobalt!
[Chris] Captain John Mladenik pushing out Cobalt.
Once again, they've got a cardboard cutout
of teammate Brent Rieker who is battling cancer.
It is great to have him represented.
Now standing behind the bot with the black box in hand
is the driver and designer of Cobalt, Dave Moulds.
He's been crushing it so far, Kenny.
[Kenny] Absolutely. The plan was originally for John to drive Cobalt,
but once they compared their driving chops in the test box,
Dave was the clear choice.
He looked very impressive against Minotaur.
[crowd chanting] Cobalt! Cobalt! Cobalt! Cobalt!
In the blue square,
you're gonna fall in love with this next bot
because this is the real Don Juan.
It'll send you head over heels.
It runs on Moet and Chandon.
You'll change your whole life for it,
move from New York to Omaha.
Then it'll break your heart and leave you crying,
saying, "Curse the day I met Overhaul!"
[Chris] There he is. Charles Guan looking happy and handing out high fives
like he's not about to dance with the devil.
It looks like Overhaul is forking ready though, Kenny.
Those things scream, "Stay back!"
[Kenny] Yeah, that's Charles' secret weapon for this fight.
They should help him maintain his distance
while trying to get under Cobalt.
He's also taking some inspiration from a big rig.
Got himself a set of dualies for this one.
With two sets of wheels, he'll be able to keep moving if one gets shredded.
Overhaul is a lifter.
They could grab us and then jam us upside down
with our weapon into the ground.
So that's pretty much our only worry.
We have a set of wedgelets that we put on
that we think's gonna keep getting under him.
And I think a few big hits from Cobalt, he won't survive.
So we're 1-1 at the minute.
We won our first match. We lost our second match, although it was a good loss.
If we win the next two, I think we'll be in a good place
to get into the top 32.
So it's pretty important for us to take this win.
Cobalt has one of the most destructive vertical spinner weapons in BattleBots.
My strategy, I have a set of forks for Overhaul as well.
They're extra long and they have stoppers on them.
So they don't get under you all the way.
They just kind of keep you at a certain arm's length.
And if I can keep that... Him at an arm's length,
I can hopefully dominate the match that way.
[robotic voice speaking] Robots activate.
[Chris] Kenny, that blade on Cobalt is nasty.
[Kenny] Well, nasty is literally the name
of the 45 pound disc you see there.
And you heard John say they've decided to go with
their piano key wedgelets for this one.
They think those are going to have no problem
getting past Overhaul's forks.
[robotic voice speaking] Red team ready.
[robotic voice speaking] Blue team ready.
Let's go. Let's do this.
[electronic distortion]
[crowd chanting] Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
[countdown buzzing]
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin!
[Kenny] Hold onto your bots. Here we go. Cobalt.
- Oh no! - [Chris] Cobalt's stuck on the rail.
And Overhaul frees him.
[exclaims]
[Chris] There's your first nasty hit.
Nice sportsmanship by Charles freeing Cobalt.
He wanted to keep this fight going and he gets his wish.
[Kenny] Overhaul trying to look for a way to get underneath Cobalt.
I think their best shot is to try to get Cobalt
to kind of take care of itself,
get that weapon to maybe hit the battle box floor or the edges of the box.
[metallic shattering]
- [chuckles] Oh man! - [Chris] Oh my goodness! There's parts everywhere!
[Kenny] Cobalt very patient and precise so far.
- All it needs is one shot, Chris. - [Chris] Yep.
So far, Overhaul hanging in there.
[Kenny] Yeah and Cobalt is trying to chew on those back tires.
They look big and juicy since they're doubled up.
- [both exclaiming] - [Charles] Suboptimal.
Suboptimal. Very, very suboptimal.
[Chris] Oh, look at that.
Oh, Overhaul on its head, but look at its gymnastics.
Flipped right back over.
[Kenny] Cobalt shredded one of those left rear tires
with that strike, chipping away.
[Chris] Let's see if that affects Overhaul's mobility.
Still pushing.
Cobalt gets underneath and puts Overhaul on its head again.
Charles Guan with yet another self-right.
[Kenny] Cobalt just chewing away at Overhaul bit by bit literally.
[Chris] You know, you kind of get the feeling
Cobalt's just patiently waiting
for that right window to land a big time shot here.
[Kenny] I love that configuration there on Cobalt.
We've seen some new ones this season.
They've been able to get underneath robots with ease here,
including Minotaur.
[Chris] Just passed the halfway point now.
Cobalt showing Overhaul's backside there momentarily.
Can Overhaul find a way to get a lift on Cobalt
and maybe invert it?
[Kenny] Well, I tell you what. Cobalt's struggling a little bit too.
I think there's a lot of gyroscopic motion.
A little out of control there.
Dave Moulds needs to find a way to finish the job.
[Chris] Cobalt in hot pursuit.
- [Kenny] Uh-oh. - [Chris] Getting around to the side of Overhaul,
looking to drive it into the wall perhaps.
- [crowd exclaiming] - There you go!
[Kenny] I mean, I'm impressed
Overhaul hanging in for this long,
but I think that was the last shot
they're gonna take in this one.
[Chris] Maybe the only hope is if the kill saws pop up and help him get going.
- [Charles] That's it. No good. - [Chris] We'll see.
[referee] Ten... Nine... Eight...
[Chris] Oh, the countdown has started.
- Seven... Six... - [Chris] Overhaul looks to be finished.
- [referee] Five... Four... - [Chris] As Cobalt is going to improve to 2-1.
- One... Knockout! - Winner there.
Right there is good. Right there is good.
[Chris] Well Kenny, that blade is called nasty for a reason.
[Kenny] Yeah, absolutely.
But again they wouldn't be able to get those hits
if they weren't so low to the ground.
Those little wedgelets were serving them very well here.
[Chris] Overhaul showed some impressive durability
hanging in there for almost two and a half minutes.
But I thought the story of this fight was the patience of Cobalt, Kenny.
[Kenny] It's a great point.
When you've got a weapon as powerful as Cobalt's,
there's always the temptation to try and land a kill shot
as quickly as possible.
Instead, Cobalt chose to chip away at the tires,
wear Overhaul down
and find exactly the right window to put Charles away.
[Chris] The experience of Dave Moulds pays off
as Cobalt gets back in the win column.
Dave and John, congratulations guys
as you improve to 2-1.
Yeah, thank you.
Alright, tell us what happened out there.
Yeah, I think we were sticking on the floor in a lot of places.
We nearly got like, launched on the edge
at one point right at the start,
and these guys knocked us off.
Whether they did that on purpose or not, I'm not sure.
But we were very lucky.
Um, yeah we were struggling a bit.
So we got things to look at when we get back.
But a win's a win.
you've actually been at the controls of robots.
Is it tough for you to sit there
and watch a guy do his thing?
Not at all.
When I know he's a better driver,
and I watched it in the test box,
it's like, there's no question that,
you know, I'm like, when they ask me
the percentage chance of winning with these guys,
with me, I'd say 45%,
with him, I'd say 95%,
- but, uh... - [crowd chuckles]
- It's not worth it. - Well, you guys improved to two and one...
- Yeah. - ...and congratulations. Job well done.
- Thank you. - Yeah.
[all applauding]
- [Dave] Great job, guys. - Yep.
- Good job. - Good battle. Good battle.
[Chris] So, Cobalt with just one fight left to go
against undefeated Canadian flipper Lucky!,
can't take its foot off the gas just yet, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, before the season,
I considered Cobalt a lock for a top ten seat.
They're looking very dangerous,
but they want to close out their qualifying round
on a winning streak.
[Chris] And for Charles,
didn't quite get the W in this one.
I mean, it was a valiant effort,
a little like watching
a kitten wrestle with a cougar,
so not a total loss.
[Kenny] Yeah, I think Overhaul showed it's got grit,
has one final shot to impress the selection committee
against Shreddit Bro! It ain't over yet.
[Chris] All right, we've got
five more heavyweight matchups
locked and loaded
for you tonight.
Next up, Switchback will look to improve to 2-1
against the Dutch bot, Ominous.
Do not go anywhere!
[crowd cheering]
We are back on BattleBots.
Up next, a pair of 1-1 teams.
It is Switchback taking on Ominous,
and while they get loaded into the box,
let's check in on our all-horizontal main event.
We had our cameras track Bloodsport and Rotator today,
as they prepped for their prime-time matchup,
and for the second time in three fights,
Victor Soto ran into some issues.
[Victor] We're getting Rotator ready
for our Bloodsport match,
and we're using a plow configuration,
and when we went into the test box,
we started getting high-centered on the plow,
so you notice,
both wheels are spinning, but the robot wasn't moving.
Lincoln Electric basically saved us.
They cut off a quarter inch
off the entire bottom of the plow
with a plasma cutter, very quickly.
Generated very little heat, so we were able
to work with the machine right away.
If we were to try to hand-grind this off,
that would have been, like, an hour, two hours.
The guys did it in less than five minutes.
Lincoln Electric, guys.
They're awesome.
- Yeah, thanks, definitely. Good luck, guys. - Thank you very much.
- Yep. - Thank you.
- Definitely. - [Victor] Now, we're driving a lot better.
We're still gonna polish it up a little bit more,
so it's a little smoother,
but we're better than we were before.
[Chris] And check out the Bloodsport guys
keeping tabs on Victor's progress.
I think both teams know
this fight could decide their season.
But now, let's get back to the matchup at hand
between Switchback and Ominous,
two ambitious new designs, both sitting at 1-1,
and hey, I know
we've been talking about it all night,
but this is another fight
that could determine the fate of these teams.
[Kenny] Yeah, both teams have what I call "soft wins,"
Ominous over Shreddit Bro!
with Switchback over Banshee,
but both robots have a ton of potential.
Switchback is tough as nails,
and features an eggbeater weapon
fixed to an articulated arm,
while Tim Bouwens' dual vertical spinner
is incredibly mobile, as it sports
a multidirectional omni-wheel system.
I think a strong performance could propel either team
into tournament contention.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] All right, the bots are locked and loaded
inside the box.
Let's get ready for this fight.
[crowd cheering]
[automated voice] Red team, ready.
[Chris] Captain Greg Needel there in the middle,
giving the A-Okay.
Kenny, we know
when Ominous gets moving
on those omni-wheels,
it can be hard to catch.
How is Switchback gonna end up
dealing with that?
[Kenny] Well, Greg's going with
their heavier 40-pound weapon,
but he's only running it at 70% power.
That should reduce gyroscopic precession enough
to help them move, while still packing a punch.
He's also added front armor he calls "the beak,"
which will be key to getting under Ominous.
[automated voice] Blue team, ready.
Oh, yeah!
[Chris] Captain Tim Bouwens pushing the button
for the two-man team of Ominous.
Kenny, do you think
we'll finally see them
in full power tonight?
Yeah, Tim's replaced
his speed controllers for the weapon,
and repaired some electrical issues
that have popped up with Ominous.
He's feeling confident about the upgrades,
and this would be a big-time win
on the rookie robot's resume.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd chanting] Fight! Fight! Fight!
Fight! Fight! Fight!
[Chris] The Lone Star State meets the Netherlands.
Let's get it on!
[buzzes]
Let the bot battle begin!
Ominous, with those omni-wheels,
which means they can move in any direction,
kind of floating around the arena.
[Kenny] Yeah, it moves so smoothly.
[Chris] Ominous chasing after Switchback,
but Switchback's able to get out of the way.
[crashes]
- Oh! - [Kenny] Oh!
Self-right.
[Kenny] That's a big shock.
[Chris] The Texans are able to self-right,
- and square back up. - [crashes]
[Kenny] Oh man, that beak on Switchback
is all messed up.
[Chris] Both teams being aggressive early on,
and here comes Ominous swimming around,
kind of like a shark circling its prey.
[Kenny] And you have to wonder,
will that busted beak affect Switchback's weapon?
[crashing]
- Oh! - [Chris] Oh!
Now it's even more messed up, and Ominous is on its head!
- [crashes] - Oh!
- Switchback lands another shot. - [Kenny] Oh.
[Chris] Almost tipped Ominous back over.
[crowd cheering]
[Kenny] Oh, boy.
[Chris] We saw their self-righter work
in their last fight.
Can they get it going yet again?
Ah, [bleep] .
All right down there?
[Chris] I don't speak Dutch,
but I think I know what that means.
- [Kenny] They can't catch a break. - [referee] Ten...
- [Chris] And here comes the countdown! - [referee] nine,
- eight, seven... - [Chris] Switchback definitely proved itself
- to be a tank... - ...six,
- five, four... - [Chris] but so disappointing for Tim Bouwens and Ominous.
- All he can do is watch. - ...three, two,
- one. - [Chris] That is brutal!
[referee] Knockout!
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] That is a fortunate turn of events
for the Texans.
[crashing]
Kenny, Ominous came out of the gate on fire.
[Kenny] Yeah, they were looking great,
they were moving great,
- they were hitting very hard. - [crashing]
- [Chris] Whoo! - [Kenny] That was a great shot right there
that Switchback was able to come back from.
[Chris] Yeah, well, after that, though,
Switchback's beak was all banged up,
- [crashing] - but then, things changed right there.
[Kenny] Yeah, actually knocked the beak off of Switchback,
and Switchback was still ready for more,
and Ominous wasn't.
[Chris] Ominous does have a self-righter,
but it failed them in this matchup,
and that usually means one thing here at BattleBots.
You lose!
[crowd cheering]
Well, Greg, congratulations, I believe.
- Yeah. - You got the W,
and that's part of BattleBots.
The other guy could be winning it,
and all of a sudden, it changes like that, right?
That's right. A win is a win.
[Chris] So, what happened in there?
Um, our weapon didn't spin up when we first started.
It did during our twitch, but then, when we went in,
we were having a problem spinning up.
Um, they got great engagement on our front plow,
and, uh, ultimately,
I'm just gonna keep smashing into them
until I can't drive anymore, and so, sometimes,
that's the strategy that works.
Yeah, but you have to be happy with the durability
of your robot, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we've been working really hard,
trying to get all those gremlins out,
as we try to, you know,
hopefully, make a run in the tournament,
so, you know, this one didn't go
exactly as we planned it, but, hey,
the robot's still functioning at the end,
and that's what it takes to win the next one.
All right, so you sit at 2-1.
You've got one more fight to go in the regular season.
What do you think your chances are
to make the playoffs?
Hey, I mean, you know,
we already beat last year's record.
Uh, our goal was to come and make the playoffs.
Uh, we feel pretty good.
Uh, 2-1 teams or 2-2 teams might make the playoffs,
but look, we're really looking for that third win
to make sure that we lock a position,
and maybe get a good seating in the round of 32.
Well, Greg, you moved a step closer tonight.
- Congratulations. - Thank you.
[all applauding]
[crowd cheering]
Hey, Tim.
Good one, man.
Kenny, we have seen this
several times throughout this season.
There's one bot dominating, until one shot,
[chuckling] and then, we have a reversal of fortune.
[Kenny] Yeah, things can change
in the blink of an eye inside the BattleBox.
Not the strongest performance by Switchback tonight,
but they proved they're durable,
something the committee appreciates.
Greg needs to take care of business
in that fourth, and final, fight against HiJinx,
and he'll be in good shape.
[Chris] Ominous slips to 1-2,
but Tim Bouwens showing some growth here
in the second half of the season.
Up next for the Dutchman is 0-3 Shatter!
Both teams will be fighting for their tournament lives
in that one.
But when we come back,
we've got a do-or-die matchup
between 0-2 teams,
as last season's co-Rookie of the Year, Glitch,
tries to bump up its GPA against a newbie
with the biggest weapon at BattleBots, Triton.
And, we'll have a special guest sitting
box side for that match.
That's right,
the wild and crazy captain of HyperShock, Will Bales.
He's gonna help us break that fight down.
Anything can happen
when that guy's near the BattleBox,
so buckle up,
because we'll see all that and more,
when we return onBattleBots.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] We are back on BattleBots,
World Championship VII.
You know this guy is Kenny Florian.
- Hi. - You know this guy is Chris Rose.
You definitely know this guy.
He is our guest analyst for the next fight,
the captain of team HyperShock,
the ever-popular...
- [chuckles] - ...one and only
Will Bales!
- [laughs] - [crowd cheering]
[Chris] Was that good enough?
Yeah, that's perfect. Perfect.
I'll give you your $20 later.
- [chuckles] - Yeah. Yeah.
So, how are you doing? Okay?
I'm doing all right.
You know, it's not quite the run that we wanted.
You know, we're 1-2 right now. I'd like more wins.
Uh, but considering who we're fighting,
it's not the end of the world.
And your next fight,
your last one of the regular season
to make an impression on the selection committee,
3-0 Claw Viper.
- They've been on a tear. - [Chris] Yeah.
[Will] I'm so happy for Kevin.
Um, I'm not happy for me having to fight him,
- [all chuckling] - but he's doing great.
I'm really happy for him.
Yeah. By the way, congratulations.
You got married in the off-season.
- I did. - That is awesome.
- Yay! - [Will and Kenny chuckle]
So, you got some hardware, at the very least,
- which is nice. - Yeah, I got this.
[laughs]
All right, let's turn our attention right now
to this next fight.
It's a pair of 0-2 robots.
It's Triton and it's Glitch.
When it comes to the tournament,
both teams are probably on the outside looking in,
because they've been dominated
in each fight so far this season.
Glitch has really been a disappointment,
after what those Berkeley college kids
did last year, starting off 7-1
and shocking the world.
[Will] Yeah. Blew everyone out of the park.
Um, massive, you know, first year,
amazing performance.
Unfortunately,
they couldn't make their tournament debut,
but they also did amazing in the Golden Bolt.
And so, what about the team
that they're taking on, Triton?
Bradley Hanstad's been a part of this sport
for an awfully long time, but now, he is a captain.
When you're looking for that first win,
how tough is it?
[Will] It's tough, yeah.
There's all sorts of nerves, especially with a new robot.
Nothing ever goes right.
[chuckles] And then,
someone comes in, and hits you in the face.
Um, you know about that.
- Yeah, exactly. Not fun. - Yeah, so, um...
- [Chris chuckles] - ...it's just rough,
uh, and you know, BattleBots is relentless.
That's just the way it is.
And Will, what's the difference
between, you know, having an established robot
that you've been working on for a little while,
that, you know, you haven't made
a whole lot of changes to,
versus bringing a whole different robot?
Like, what's the stress like in the pit?
Much higher stress when it's all new,
like, 'cause you don't know what to expect.
You don't know what the pitfalls are gonna be.
You don't know if it's
the batteries are gonna blow up,
or the motors are gonna quit,
or if you have enough power.
You know, how's the weapon gonna hit?
What's gonna blow up?
You just don't know.
That's why it's time to find out.
- [Will and Kenny chuckle] - Let's get to it. Faruq!
[crowd cheering]
[Faruq] In the red square,
from Las Vegas, Nevada,
meet this bot on the Strip, and he'll offer you
a free limo ride to your funeral.
It's Triton!
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Here comes the 80-pound weapon
of Triton,
Captain Bradley Hanstad bringing up the rear.
0-2, he has got to be feeling
the pressure here, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, no doubt.
They've got to get
their drive issues under control,
and I think that's as much
on mechanics as it is
on Bradley's stick skills.
Going to be spinning the weapon
in the opposite direction tonight, too,
just to mix things up.
[Chris] Interesting. Will?
Yeah, I think it spins the same, though.
[chuckles]
- [laughing] Yeah. - I think it hits just as hard.
Still a circular motion.
So I hear.
[chanting] Let's go, Triton!
Whoo!
In the blue square,
from Berkeley, California,
the NorCal assassin
that'll leave you feeling hella bad.
It's Glitch!
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Captained by Kyle Miller,
and I think he brought half of UC Berkeley with him.
[all chuckling]
Just kind of file in.
Come on, everybody into class.
[Will] I think they're adding
one new person every day.
[Chris] Well, I guess
Kyle needs all the help he can get to turn
his sophomore season around.
[Kenny] Yeah, the reigning co-Rookie of the Year
is one loss away from getting knocked off the dean's list,
and ending up on craigslist.
[crowd cheering]
Going into this fight against Glitch,
Triton needs to be able
to get away initially,
get that speed up
on that weapon
to, like, maximum,
and then look for
the right place to hit,
probably on the side of their weapon,
or maybe even
on their back side,
if we're able to get around to them.
If we have a weapon-to-weapon hit,
it might be okay for us,
because we have a lot of weapon energy,
but just have to make sure
that I'm positioning the robot
such that our back side
is not exposed to Glitch,
because they have a very scary weapon.
For tonight's fight,
we really just want to go
weapon on weapon,
'cause that's really
the least risky for us,
'cause if we try to go around them,
they can swing
their huge weapon into the side of us,
so it's either
if we run into their weapon,
or if they make a mistake,
and expose their back.
The record really doesn't reflect it,
but Glitch is really the best
it's ever been right now.
The weapon's hitting harder in the test box.
Hopefully, if we can have a great fight,
we can show that we fixed the mistakes
that we've made in the first two fights.
We really need to win this fight tonight.
to make the round of 32.
Oh, you have bots rush?
[automated voice] Robots, activate.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] All right, Glitch, I think their strategy...
I don't know if it's gonna work, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, from a geometry perspective,
though, this does look like a bad matchup for Triton.
Glitch's stealth design might help them deflect
that massive, 80-pound weapon.
[Chris] All right, two teams whose tournament hopes
are sailing past the endangered list,
and are on a collision course with extinction.
Which of these bots can turn its destiny around,
and send the other the way of the dodo bird?
It's Triton and Glitch, and it is next
onBattleBots.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Welcome back to BattleBots.
We have got Triton and Glitch, a couple of 0-2 teams
fighting to save their respective seasons,
and we are, of course, joined by our guest analyst,
captain of fan favorite HyperShock,
Will Bales.
He's crushing it, per usual.
[Will chuckles] Thank you.
[crowd cheering]
[automated voice] Red team, ready.
For Dustin.
[automated voice] Blue team, ready.
[crowd cheering]
[chanting] Fight, fight! Fight, fight!
Fight, fight!
[Chris] Triton,
Glitch,
a chance for both teams to turn things around.
[chanting] Fight, fight! Fight, fight!
Fight, fight! Fight, fight!
[buzzing]
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin!
That 80-pound weapon of Triton, already screaming.
- [crashing] - [Kenny] Oh!
[Chris] And Glitch says, "Hey don't forget about us.
We hit pretty freaking hard, too."
[Kenny] Triton does look like
it's moving a little better tonight.
- Yes! - [Chris] Looks like
the right side of Glitch might be down...
- [Will] Uh-oh. Oh, boy. - [Chris] ...and now it's starting to smoke!
[Will] It's bad when the magic smoke comes out.
[Chris] What is that, by the way?
- [Will] Uh, that's battery smoke right there. - Smoke. Let them smoke, babe.
- Let them smoke. - [Chris] Triton wants to back off,
but remember, with the new rules,
if Glitch can still move, Triton has to engage,
but that means going back into that eggbeater drum
- that is still very much alive. - Hang on!
- [crashing] - [Kenny] Here we go!
- Whoa! - [Chris] Oh!
- [Kenny] Oh, no! - Go!
[Chris] Glitch is celebrating,
but Triton's the one that can still move.
You're okay. You're okay.
[Kenny] Bradley Hanstad resetting
after that massive shot.
[Chris] And Glitch can still kind of crab walk,
so Triton has to engage yet again.
[Kenny] Oh, and check out Triton's weapon.
Something's stuck in there.
[Will] Looks like a belt is all tangled up.
[Chris] Okay, so Triton's weapon
is out of commission,
but you can hear the roar
coming from that 58-pound drum on Glitch,
and with Kyle Miller's bot still crab walking,
that means that Triton's gotta poke the bear
one more time.
[Kenny] Oh, it looks like Triton's trying
to push it into the wall,
get it to take itself out.
[Will] This is smart.
[Chris] Just needs to tap him.
- [crashes] - Oh!
- [Will] Oh! - [Chris] Nice pop,
and Glitch is on its head,
and it doesn't have a self-righter!
- [Kenny] Glitch's weapon is down... - [chuckles]
[Kenny] ...and it's in serious trouble now.
- [Chris] Yep. - [Will] Wow. What an upset.
- [referee] Ten, nine... - [Chris] Here comes the countdown.
- [referee] ...eight, seven... - [Kyle] The outside bar.
- [referee] ...six... - [Will] It's okay, Kyle.
- I know what it's like getting stuck upside down. - [referee] ...five, four...
- [Will] It hurts. - [Chris chuckles]
- [referee] ...three, two, one. - [Chris] So while the Berkeley bomber falls
- to 0-3... - [referee] Knockout!
[Chris] ...team Triton keeps their post-season hopes alive.
- Go! - Yeah!
- We're pumped with it! - We did it!
[Bradley chuckling] Oh, my God.
[Shea] Oh, my God. We did it.
Nice job, guys. That was awesome.
[Shea] Okay. Thank you.
[crowd chanting] Triton, Triton!
- Triton, Triton! - Good win!
[chuckling] Yeah!
[Chris] Well, Kenny, big hit by Glitch early,
but after that, it was all Triton.
[Kenny] Yeah, and the beauty of the new movement rule was
really on display here.
Even though Glitch was just kind of crab walking
after that hit, Triton was forced to engage,
and keep the action going,
or risk being counted out itself.
[Chris] And that led to some fireworks, Will.
[Will chuckles]
[Will] I mean, yeah, Glitch, when it's spinning,
I don't want to hit it.
My hat's off to Triton for even going near it,
never mind touching it.
They could have lost that, just like that.
[Chris] Well, nice strategy by Bradley Hanstad,
trying to push Glitch into the wall,
and get it to simply destroy itself.
Triton took one more shot in the process,
but it was able to keep on trucking,
and pick up the dub.
[crowd cheering]
Bradley!
Hello!
[Kenny chuckles]
- Whoo! - How's it feel to work your way
into the winners column?
You know, we needed that really bad.
My team's been busting their butt.
shining that robot up, and, you know, we've got
two robots we're trying to get together
at the same time to fight all these fights,
and I'm so glad
I get to celebrate with them, finally, tonight,
and maybe get some sleep.
[fan whoops]
- [all applauding] - [crowd cheering]
What was the strategy going in there against Glitch?
Uh, the strategy going against Glitch was
to spin up our giant weapon, and deliver it into them.
[Kenny chuckles]
[Kenny] I guess it worked.
It worked.
It worked, and that's what we're very happy about.
Uh, we love the drive.
We love the design from Dustin,
who was the Deep Six captain before,
so we're super excited to give him a win as well.
[crowd cheering]
Bradley, you told our crew that you decided
to run the weapon
in the opposite direction.
Apparently,
- this thing worked now. - [chuckles]
Well, you know,
sometimes it's just,
you know,
depending on the hemisphere of the earth you're on,
you gotta rotate the other way,
- and this time, it did, and it worked. - [Kenny chuckles]
Congratulations on the W.
Thank you so much.
[cheering]
Well, on one hand, I'm so happy for Triton and so sad for Glitch, aren't you?
Yeah, you know, that's robot luck, though. Sometimes, you have a great run,
and sometimes, you just kinda fall flat on your face.
And it's not because the robot's not doing the right thing.
It's just, it's, it's the perfect storm of new season, new parts, new opponents,
uh, and it's tough. You know? I mean, you can't predict it.
[Chris] You saw it from Kyle. He's searching for answers.
I know. I would tell them to go out and go drinking, but I don't think they're 21.
- [both laughing] - That's one solution.
- That's a great call. - Yeah.
- Kids don't listen. - [laughing]
[Chris] Hey, listen, man. It's always great hanging out with you.
Thanks for being our guest analyst.
- Absolutely. - Best of luck in your final regular season matchup
- against Claw Viper, where I know you need to win. - Thank you.
Yeah, fingers crossed.
Lett's hear it for Will Bales from team HyperShock, everybody.
[all applauding]
[Chris] All right. Coming up, a fascinating clash of designs.
We've got the full-bodied spinner Gigabyte taking on the big-bodied flat bot Starchild.
Both squads need to come out swinging,
or they can kiss any shot at the post-season goodbye.
Should be a fun one. It is next onBattleBots.
We are back on BattleBots. Up next, we've got a pair of teams
that are a combined 0-4, in part because there's a lot of newness.
We've got a veteran bot under new leadership, Gigabyte,
set to take on a wildly new design with veteran leadership, Starchild.
Both teams are on the brink of elimination.
Let's start with Gigabyte.
It used to be one of the most destructive robots in the sport,
but now, it's got a couple of rookie captains,
Derek Tran and Camden Wallraff running the show.
And boy, have things changed, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, remember it was only two years ago
that Gigabyte won a bounty against Son of Whyachi.
Now, here they are at 0-2.
If they want any chance at the post season, they need to do everything they can
to make everyone forget those first two matches.
[Chris] As for Team Starchild, this is an incredibly ambitious design
that veteran captain Brandon Zalinsky just hasn't been able to dial in yet.
Obviously, they've got some work to do.
They're just trying to see some improvements tonight.
Uh, absolutely. A courageous effort, rigging a whole new robot.
But they've been cursed with a parade of rookie bot gremlins,
the biggest one being Brandon learning how to effectively whack his opponent
in a similar boat as Gigabyte.
Tonight is make or break.
Let's see what goes down, here. Faruq.
[all cheering]
In the red square, from Oceanside, California,
he'll rip your bot a new disc space.
It's Gigabyte!
[all cheering]
[Chris] Team Gigabyte,
and they are under the same umbrella ownership group as Cobalt,
which is why you see the cutout of Brent Rieker down there, as well.
Kenny, how did Camden and Derek get their first win tonight?
[Kenny] Well, take a look at that top attachment.
They call these their Huge wings, built a few years ago after Gigabyte lost to Huge.
These steel blades are designed to tear through Tegris or UHMW plastic.
The idea is to get fully spun up and try to cut through Starchild's wheels
like a hot knife through butter.
[audience chanting] Gigabyte! Gigabyte!
In the blue square, from Hudson, New Hampshire, this astronomical assailant
is gonna Gali-lay you out. It's Starchild!
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Here comes Starchild. One half of Team Omega,
along with sister bot and fellow newbie Riparoni.
Kenny, they're still trying to crack the code on this very complex rookie robot.
[Kenny] Yeah, again, to do damage, it needs to stop at a dime,
line up a shot, and whip that tail around.
Sounds easier than it's looked.
Gigabyte's self-righter and directional indicator
is vulnerable to an overhead attack, though.
So if Brandon can land a few thwacks, they've got a shot, here.
Our strategy is just to keep hitting them in the wheels or in the arm
and keep them kinda off their feet.
The biggest vulnerability with Starchild is their ability to hit us on top.
Um, very few bots can do that.
What we're most worried about is just hitting the arena walls,
as our shell setup has not been tested yet.
And also, them getting a top attack shot on us,
as we have a fair amount of top armor, but we would rather not just test that.
This is probably a defensive fight for us.
We're gonna have to use our wheels as, uh, armor, uh, against Gigabyte.
We're gonna have to feed the wheels directly into the weapon.
Not a whole lot else we can do. We don't have a wedge. We don't have a plow.
We don't have forks. It's gonna have to be a lot more strategic.
We're gonna try to rush them off the bat, get one shot,
hopefully get the self-righting mechanism off,
see if we can get 'em to bounce off a wall and turn over,
and that's really our best chance we have to win the fight.
[audience chanting] Gigabyte, Gigabyte.
[automated voice] Robots, activate.
[Chris] All right, so Brandon Zalinsky
says he wants to use those 42-inch wheels
to deflect Gigabyte.
We've seen Huge successfully use a similar strategy a few years ago.
But Gigabyte didn't have this attachment back then.
[Kenny] Yeah, bold move. But look, Gigabyte hasn't gone the distance yet this season.
If Brandon can land a couple thwacks before Gigabyte gets spinning,
maybe Starchild can end this early.
[audience chanting] Fight! Fight! Fight!
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin.
Starchild slipping and sliding out of its square,
giving Gigabyte plenty of time to spin up.
- [Kenny] Uh-oh. - [Chris] And it's got those wings breaking now.
[Chris] Gigabyte looking to test those Tegris wheels.
[Chris] Ohh! Way to go for the middle.
[Kenny] Gigabyte a little out of control after that hit, though.
Gotta be careful not to take itself out on the ricochet.
[Chris] Gigabyte back up to speed, looking dangerous.
[all] Ohh!
[Chris] Now, that's a big shot.
[Chris] And check out the damage on those wheels of Starchild.
- [Chris] Oh... - [Kenny] Starting to come apart, here,
in the first 30 seconds of this fight.
- [Chris] Oh. - [Kenny] Gigabyte all over Brandon Zalinsky's bot.
[Kenny] This is a nightmare start for Starchild, trying to stay upright.
- [all] Ohh! - Brandon Zalinsky already in desperation mode.
Just keep hitting him.
[Chris] Starchild trying to hang on, limping now...
[all] Ohh!
As Gigabyte takes another huge bite out of the wheel.
Camden and Derek dining out tonight, Kenny. And Starchild is definitely the main course.
[Kenny] Look at those Tegris wheels. They are messed up.
[Chris] Oh, gosh.
[Kenny] Gigabyte doing a number on those.
[Chris] You know, Brandon Zalinsky looks kinda like the guy
that just ignored the "do not back up, severe time damage" sign.
This one's getting ugly.
[Kenny laughing] Starchild having a difficult time...
[all] Ohh!
[Chris] Oh, wow! [laughing]
Now, Gigabyte has to still remain in attack mode, thanks to the new rules,
can't just run away and hide.
[all] Ohh!
[Kenny] Nice shot there again by Gigabyte.
Dang, look at those wheels. My goodness.
[Chris] And somehow, Starchild's still mobile and can close the distance, Kenny.
Can Gigabyte finish the job here and maybe knock this bot out?
[Kenny] Well, Starchild looks like a deflated balloon.
Gigabyte's remained aggressive, but this bot just won't die, Chris.
- [all] Ohh! - [Chris] Oh, this is zombie Starchild.
The name of my high school band, by the way.
Yeah, the one thing Gigabyte's gotta be careful of is that recoil
where they're bouncing off the box.
That's really the only thing that could do them in at this point.
50 seconds to go 'til the kill saws are active.
[all] Ohh!
Kenny, I gotta tell you, though, I'm amazed that Starchild is still fighting.
It's unreal.
[Kenny] It's not pretty, Chris, but I agree, they are still fighting hard,
and they have taken [laughing] many, many hits out there.
[Chris] You know, there was an awful lot of excitement around this bot
coming into world championship seven. Meta braking, new design.
But it has proved perhaps too complex for its own good.
On the brink of falling to 0 and 3, here.
[Kenny] And how about Gigabyte?
Still spinning, delivering precise shots, looking durable.
This is not the same bot we saw in its first two fights.
[all] Ohh!
[Chris] Oh, my goodness.
All right, under 10 to go. So this one's gonna go the distance.
[all] Ohh! Ohh!
[Kenny] Gigabyte, easy, buddy, easy.
[end of round buzzer]
[Chris laughing] Oh, man.
[Kenny] It's almost hard to watch.
[Chris] It is.
Uh, anybody know how to change a flat?
[audience chanting] Gigabyte! Gigabyte!
[Chris] So this one goes to the judges.
All three are former BattleBotsparticipants.
Fon Davis, Lisa Winter and Derek Young.
They are scoring on an 11 point system.
Up to five points can be awarded for damage, three for aggression, three for control.
Kenny, Team Gigabyte designed their cutting wing attachment
after losing to Huge back at world championship three.
Four years later, it came in clutch.
[Kenny] My goodness. Team Gigabyte executing its game plan to perfection.
Used those wings to whip apart the Tegris wheels and dominate this fight.
Starchild never had a chance.
[Chris] This is the shot that changed the match.
Gigabyte ripping a chunk out of that wheel.
And things got ugly after that.
An impressive outing by the rookie captains of Team Gigabyte.
[all cheering]
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
...Gigabyte!
[all cheering]
[Chris] Team Gigabyte, congratulations.
Derek, that's the way that robot is supposed to work, right?
Yeah. I mean, Gigabyte is known for being deadly reliable.
We haven't been that. But seeing as we made it three minutes,
hitting them the whole time with no loss of function,
I'd say we were.
Guys, congratulations. Way to break into the win column.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
[all cheering]
- Good job, man. - Good job, man.
- Good job, guys. That was great. - Well done.
- That was great. - Awesome.
[Chris] All right, nice to see Derek and Camden get the monkey off their back.
But don't spend too much time celebrating, boys.
Next up for Team Gigabyte is Preseason number 1 endgame.
Can they go out there and compete, try and make it a contest,
and perhaps prove themselves worthy of a tournament bid in their final qualifying fight?
In the meantime, Starchild, please.
What is going on? Uh, you know what? Let's give Brandon Zalinsky and his team credit.
They're trying something new. They're figuring out what works,
and occasionally what doesn't work.
[Kenny] Yeah, but three fights in, it's time to start wondering
whether or not this is a viable design at 250 pounds.
I can't tell if it's ahead of its time, or before its time.
But it ain't this time, that's for sure.
Team Starchild, yeah, you got one more shot.
Should be fun when they square off against Huge in their fourth and final...
- Yeah. - ...regular season tussle.
All right. Coming up, it's Captain Shrederator
taking on the hometown heroes, Jackpot.
[all cheering]
And just around the corner,
in our main event, two perennial contenders at a crossroads.
Bloodsport. Rotator.
Let's hear it for the captains in tonight's marquee match-up.
[Chris echoing] Both weapons up to full speed... Oh!
You know, we had a rough start to the season.
- [Chris echoing] And look at that Copperhead. - [Kenny echoing] Wow.
[Chris echoing] What did it do to Bloodsport?
You know, we were pretty bummed out.
[Chris echoing] It just destroyed it with one shot.
But after the fight with Gigabyte...
[Chris echoing] Oh, gosh!
...we were able to deliver a huge hit.
We survived and they didn't.
[Chris echoing] Team Bloodsport is celebrating.
We feel like we can contend for that giant nut.
The next two matches are gonna be really tough.
So we have to win this to go on and be in the playoffs. We have to.
After the Hydra match, I was pretty low.
[start round buzzer]
But we were able to really have a good driving match against Jackpot...
...and get the KO.
Such a dominant win, too. It was, it was just a great morale booster for us.
But every match is a contender.
We just have to make sure that we get these two fights right.
You know, Rotator is a huge horizontal. It will not die.
It's a compact robot. It's a small bar. It doesn't break off.
And they can run upside down.
If I was Victor, I'd be aiming for our head.
[Chris echoing] Whoa! Huge hit by Rotator.
For that reason, we'll have some armor kind of hidden inside the head,
so we'll hoping that will deflect any hits from Rotator.
Plus it has a much bigger blade.
We can reach farther, we can hit harder.
Our strategy going into it? Keep hitting them, weapon to weapon,
and make sure that we're delivering hits when we want to be delivering hits.
Any big weapon is easier to stop if you hit it hard enough.
So we're gonna add a big plow.
Control with the plow. Hit 'em against a wall.
Because no matter where they're facing,
that blade's gonna stop when they hit the wall.
And then we can do the spin move and just start attacking from that point.
This fight's a horizontal versus horizontal. You don't see that very often.
When the weapons collide, you're doubling the tip speed limit at that point.
That is massive.
We just get shot in different directions instantly.
You'll see destruction and mayhem.
Big hits, box-splitting action, sparks and carnage.
[Chris] We are back on BattleBots,
and a big-time matchup between Jackpot and captain Shrederator.
And why is that? Both teams sit at 1-2.
If you get to 2-2, you could have a chance to crack the round of 32.
And this one's unique, because it's our first match-up of the season
featuring teams that are in their fourth and final fight.
This is their last chance to put on a show, prove you belong in the tournament.
So let's start with the local Vegas team, Jackpot, led by plumber Jeff Waters.
And for Jackpot, very strange.
Uh, they have lost their first two regular season fights
in now their third year of competing.
They've never lost a qualifying round match
in their career prior to this, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, not their best season.
But they did put on quite a show in their last match against Ribbot.
They dished out damage and survived some big hits.
I think another solid performance could lock up a spot in the round of 32.
[Chris] And on the other side of things, the 1-2 Captain Shrederator
is limping into this matchup after getting mutilated last week by Riptide.
It took everything they had just to get the bot rebuilt.
But they're ready to rock, and still holding out hope
that a big win tonight can get them in.
That doesn't look good at all.
Our last fight was a complete and utter disaster.
[Chris] Dude, oh my God.
[all] Ohh!
Riptide just kept slamming us and slamming us.
He just would not stop.
[Chris] That thing is breaking into bits.
Oh, no!
Hit him again.
[Chris] Yeah, he's shredding Captain Shrederator right now. Oh, my goodness.
[Kenny] Oh, my God.
It's probably $4,000 or $5,000 worth of damage.
And all of it happened after we were incapacitated.
- Okay, I'm gonna take... - The screws are still in there.
[Brian] There's no rule against hitting people like that.
But we just don't do it.
Because we know how much work, we know how much time,
we know how much money goes into these things,
and you're not gonna do that to a friend of yours.
[Chris] Ethan. Did I just hear you apologize to Captain Shrederator?
Yeah.
[all laughing]
But that was fun. [echoing laugh]
The problem is, is that karma's gonna come back to bite you someday.
Someday, you're gonna be in a bad situation,
and somebody's just gonna keep hitting your robot 'til it's a pile of dust.
Crap.
[Brian] We had a lotta trouble getting ready for this fight.
We're having to go through all our motors and find parts from one motor
and parts from another motor and stick 'em together.
So we're definitely having to work harder than usual.
Our fights haven't been that spectacular.
So it's really important that we put on a good show,
and we make a win out of it.
[all cheering]
[Chris] Well, they've managed to completely rebuild and now have a fully operating robot.
But Brian's still not happy about how things went down in that Riptide fight, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, can't blame him. And this might be Captain Shrederator's last season.
And that's not how he wants this bot to go out.
But at the same time, he knows what he signed up for.
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
- [audience chanting] USA! USA! - [Chris] All right, these two teams are in position
in the driver's deck, so let's get the action started.
Yeah. Everything's good.
- Come on, come on! - Ca-caw!
[all cheering]
[Chris] Captain Brian Nave with the controls,
and Kenny, this robot has had an up and down career.
But spin to win is always a dangerous strategy, right?
[Kenny] That's right. Brian just needs enough time to get up to full speed,
which is much harder now because of how fast everyone else can spin up.
But as proven by Gigabyte earlier tonight,
a full body spinner rotating at 250 miles an hour can still win here,
even 20 years into the sport.
[automated voice] Blue team ready.
No wrinkles. No mercy.
[laughing]
[Chris] Captain Jeff Waters, there, stirring the pot.
And Kenny, could they be at risk for not making the world championship tournament
for the first time in their career?
[Kenny] A poor performance tonight, it's probably the end of their season.
But Jeff isn't underestimating his opponent.
Expect Jackpot to box rush and try to stay on top of Shrederator
so it can't get spun up.
[audience chanting] Fight! Fight! Fight!
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin!
Shrederator having a little trouble getting out of the box,
and then rubbed itself right into the rails, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, Jackpot doing a great job of cutting off the battle box there
against Captain Shrederator.
[Chris] Oh, no. Shrederator drives itself back into the corner.
[Kenny] Yeah, Brian Nave's bot having a hard time navigating the box here early on.
[all] Ohh!
[Kenny] And meanwhile, Jeff Waters just continuing to rack up damage points.
[Chris] Jackpot with its blade up to full speed.
- [all] Ohh! - [Chris] Trying to take a chunk
out of that over large disc.
[Kenny] Shrederator's frame is at least holding up better tonight
than it did against Riptide.
[Chris] But check out both bots, spinning at full speed now.
[all] Ohh!
That was a massive hit there by JackPot.
Get to the middle! Don't stop.
[Chris] Brian Nave ordering driver Jonathan LaPlain to find some space.
He does, but Jeff Waters' bot-- Right there!
[Kenny] JackPot staying right on him, staying very aggressive.
- [crowd exclaims] - [Kenny] Not giving him any space.
This is exactly what you need to do against a full-body spinner.
[Chris] And now, JackPot's got Shrederator pinned in the corner.
[Kenny] Yeah, and one of those shots
might have damaged Shrederator's directional system.
Chris, they keep driving themselves into walls,
- almost like their controls got flipped. - [crowd exclaims]
[Chris] Well, whatever the case, Jeff Waters has been surgical so far.
This is like an old Lennox Lewis fight put on by JackPot.
Purely technical, doing a great job staying on top of Shrederator.
[Kenny] Yeah, keep in mind, though, if Shrederator can get up to full speed,
this fight could turn in an instant.
[Chris] Well, here you go, Kenny, Shrederator's finally spun up,
- and-- Oh! - [crowd exclaims]
[Chris] JackPot sends him into the wall! Jeff Waters playing a little air hockey
out here tonight.
[Kenny] Yeah, but take a look at JackPot's blades. Something doesn't look right.
If they can't get that weapon up to full speed,
Shrederator still got more than a puncher's chance here.
[Chris] Closing in on the 1-minute mark,
both these bots looking to even their record at 2-2,
and impress the selection committee.
[Kenny] Yeah, so far, JackPot's been in control.
Away from the slots, Jeff.
[Kenny] Shrederator finally gets a little bit of time to spin up, though.
- [crowd exclaims] - [Chris] Oh! Great shot there.
- [chuckling] Oh, no. - [Chris] That was our biggest shot!
[Kenny] That scored Shrederator some damage points, Chris,
but a big chunk of their robot came off, that's why it's wobbling now.
This could affect the ability to spin up.
- There you go. - [exclaiming] Let's go, baby!
[Chris] Closing in on 30 seconds to go.
[Kenny] Brian Nave's trying to land another shot despite the wobble,
but JackPot's doing a great job using that wedge to deflect their attacks.
[exclaims] This has just been a 3-minute full-court press
from the Las Vegas local.
[Chris] The fourth and final fight of the regular season for both these bots,
who's gonna make one lasting impression on the judges?
- [crowd exclaims] - [Kenny] Oh!
- [Chris] While Shrederator's still spinning... - [crowd counting down]
[Chris] JackPot's blade barely moving at this point.
- And this one will go the distance. - [buzzer sounds]
[referee] We're done! We're done!
[Chris] And it's now in the hands of the judges.
[crowd cheering]
[dynamic music playing]
[Chris] Well, Kenny, early on, JackPot did a great job
containing Captain Shrederator and preventing it from spinning up.
[Kenny] Yeah, Jeff Waters used that wedge to perfection,
and he did a nice job of racking up damage points while pinning Shrederator.
[Chris] But once he got a little space to spin up,
the old red, white and blue bot was able to land some counter-punches.
[Kenny] Yeah, and I think one of those shots might have damaged JackPot's weapon,
but the biggest hit took out one of Shrederator's teeth, and that caused
a weight imbalance, which is why it was looking a little punch drunk
at the end of this fight.
[Chris] All right, so how do you think the judges will score this one, Kenny?
[Kenny] Well, JackPot was the more aggressive bot from the get-go.
And again, Jeff Waters did a nice job of controlling Shrederator by pinning it
and not letting it get spun up.
Now, if the judges believe Shrederator disabled JackPot's weapon, that'll score them
big-time damage points.
But I still think this one goes to the Las Vegas locals.
[Chris] Let's find out. Here's Faruq!
[crowd cheering]
The results from the judges are in!
[suspenseful music playing]
The winner by unanimous decision is...
[crowd cheering]
[music stops]
- [woman] JackPot! - [man] JackPot!
- JackPot! - [all cheering]
[intense music playing]
[cheering]
[Chris] Hey, Jeff, congratulations.
All right, I gotta ask.
How much pressure were you feeling out there?
Oh, we had a lot of repairs after that Ribbot play.
So we had a bunch of, uh, smoothing we had to iron out.
We still got a few wrinkles in the robot we gotta get out of, but as far as...
What we had to deal with, it went pretty smoothly.
How do you feel about your robot at this stage?
I feel, like, pretty good. We got an off day going in, but if we...
Sitting 2-2 right now, we had a good fight against Ribbot,
we just got this win against Shrederator.
I think 2-2 puts us right in middle seed, hopefully we can seed
lucky 21?
Seven for world championship, three sevens, our third season... 7-7-7.
- [both laughing] - It's a good omen to go into the championship.
[cheering]
Jeff, congratulations. Great job.
Thank you.
- [crowd cheering] - [dynamic music continues]
[cheering]
All right, so that is a huge win for Jeff Waters and JackPot
as they finish their regular season at 2-2.
[Kenny] Yeah, I think JackPot has a case for the Round of 32
after their final two performances.
But you know, they're the first ones in the clubhouse.
There's still a lot that can happen over the next few weeks of the season.
[Chris] And that means the season and maybe career
is over for Brian Nave's bot, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, tough season for Captain Shrederator, but this bot has given us years
of entertaining fights.
If we don't see Captain Shrederator again,
it's certainly left its mark on the sport.
[Chris] All right. Well, one fight left in the night,
and it should have the box shakin'.
Up next, Bloodsport and Rotator will square off
in a pivotal main event matchup between 1-1 teams.
With horizontals, sparks will fly.
And I've got a hunch one of these robots will die!
- [crowd cheering] - [Chris] Should be a good one, when we return onBattleBots!
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] We are back on BattleBots.
Time right now for our main event. And ones are wild.
I know that's not a saying,
but it's apropos here, because Bloodsports, 1-1, Rotator's 1-1,
they both come in with kind of rebuilt bots and still trying to find their way.
But each team is coming off a big win, and they're beginning to look more like
the perennial powerhouses we know and love.
So let's start with Victor Soto and Rotator who got beat up by Hydra in Fight 1
but was able to bounce back against JackPot.
[Kenny] Yes, started off the season with mechanical issues
and even in that last fight, they were only running the weapon at 50%.
We saw Victor say it's been a struggle to get the robot where it needs to be.
But I'm hearing they're going full power tonight, it's all systems go
against a fellow horizontal.
[Chris] Yeah, Bloodsport really, really good out there.
They've got an amazing weapon selection.
Like, they can go into their closet, and it's unreal.
"Yeah, I'll use that one, I'll use that one, I'll use that one..."
Is that the key? That they've gotta make the right weapon choice?
It could be. They're going with their long bar
which could make it harder for Victor to sneak in a spin attack,
but this should come down to survive ability.
Imagine a demolition derby, except the cars have helicopter blades on them.
That's the type of fight we're looking at tonight.
[Chris] And while they're both horizontals, Kenny, the two weapons
are very different, and they're actually used differently as well.
[Kenny] Yeah, you could see how powerful Bloodsport's blade is,
but that does make it easier to damage themselves,
which is why you'll see them power down their blade mid-fight.
They don't want to attack unless there's an opportunity for the kill shot.
Victor, on the other hand, will try to pin an opponent with his plow,
then pull off a swing attack.
- All right, let's get to our main event. Faruq? - [crowd cheering]
[intense music playing]
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
[all cheering loudly]
It's time for the main event!
[all cheering]
In the red square, this bot loves a vicious fight
more than Joe Rogan sitting ringside.
And it also had a podcast. But every guest that came on died.
It won't smoke a joint with Elon Musk or ask him questions that sound
super serious. It would beat him with his microphone.
Welcome to the Bloodsport experience.
It's Bloodsport!
- [crowd cheering] - [intense music playing]
[Chris] There's Captain Justin Marple on the left,
and weapons designer Nik Buchholz behind him.
He, of course, is the madman behind the offensive mayhem on this team.
Kenny, what are they worried about in this matchup tonight?
[Kenny] Well, that creepy-looking head on the bot is where a lot
of important parts are housed.
If they get flipped upside down,
Medusa there is an easy target for Rotator's blade.
[intense music continues]
[Faruq] In the blue square...
Go shot for shot with this bot, and you'll get the spins.
It's time to get punch drunk in the city of sins.
You'll black out and wake up. You won't have a clue how you ended up
peeing your pants and going home with a two.
It's Rotator!
- [all cheering] - [dynamic music playing]
[Chris] Rotator being pushed out by Victor Soto, and his wife, the doctor,
Bianca, on the right.
And his co-worker, Carlos, on the left.
How big is this fight for Rotator, Kenny?
[Kenny] Well, a strong showing might be enough to lock up a spot in the tournament.
Against an atomic-level offense, though, something else to keep an eye on
is long-term damage if Rotator leaves the arena in pieces,
the ripple effect could have them
limping into their final fight of the qualifiers.
[dynamic music continues]
[all cheering]
[Chris] All right, Kenny, we have got a former No. 2 overall seed
and a former most destructive award winner being loaded into the box.
How's Rotator gonna slow down Bloodsport?
[Kenny] Well, they're definitely showing some serious respect
for the weapon of Bloodsport.
You see the size of that plow? That is serious.
They're also running AR500 steel that is half-inch thick
on the top of Rotator as well.
- [intense music playing] - [Chris] And if you didn't catch it before, folks,
that weapon on Bloodsport is 72 pounds
and sports a max speed of 250 miles per hour.
- [music fading] - [people cheering]
[automated voice] Robots, activate.
- [crowd cheering] - [Chris] Okay, a couple of heavyweight horizontals
on a collision course for their second win of the season.
If you like mangled metal and an arena full of sparks, stick around.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Because it's Bloodsport and Rotator!
Duking it out in our main event
when we return on BattleBots!
[Chris] In next week's heavyweight main event...
Two of robot combat's biggest stars collide
in a matchup for seeding supremacy.
For the first time ever, Jamison Go and an undefeated SawBlaze
will try to slice and dice the bad boy ofBattleBots, Jake Ewert and Hydra.
Hydra may be going in fast. We'll just have to be faster.
[Jake] I am absolutely one of the most competitive people here,
and we're here to win.
[Chris] It's cylindrical surgeon...
[man exclaiming]
[Chris] ...versus the king of play.
[man exclaiming]
[Chris] To the victor go the spoils.
- [crowd cheering] - [intense music playing]
[Chris] Welcome back to BattleBots,where our main event is about
to turn the arena into a warzone.
It's the 1-1 Bloodsport and the 1-1 Rotator
in a matchup that will have major tournament implications.
When two huge horizontals meet in the BattleBox, there is only one guarantee...
Destruction!
[crowd cheering]
[all chanting] Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
- Till it turns green? - This is it.
- Full throttle. - Full throttle.
- Watch that when we play. - Yeah, we go right.
[all chanting] Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
- [Chris] Let the bot battle begin! - [crowd cheering]
Rotator leading with the plow, Bloodsport up to speed...
- That 72-pound weapon! - [Kenny] Oh!
And dishing out some punishment right from the get-go!
Rotator looks stunned a little bit, Kenny!
[Chris and Kenny exclaim]
[Kenny] Bloodsport's already loosened that plow. Victor did not expect this.
[Chris] All right, here goes Rotator,
dishing out some hits with its weapon.
- [Kenny] Yeah, he has to try and change tactics here... - [crowd exclaiming]
[Chris] Nice little pop against Bloodsport.
- [Nik] Four, five... - [man] He's struggling to move!
[Kenny] Rotator able to pop him up with that undercutter. And again.
- [Chris] Whoa! - [crowd cheering]
[Chris] Those are the sort of hits that could do serious damage
- to Bloodsport when it ricochets into the rail-- - [Kenny exclaims]
- [Chris] Or the upper deck! - Turn it off! Carlos, turn it off, turn it off.
[Chris] Bloodsport's hung up, Rotator hashing out the ropes.
Get off, get off, get off...
[Chris] Oh, man. Both bots stunned after massive shots!
[Kenny] These are two hard-hitting robots.
Bloodsport trying to inch its way off the screws.
[Chris] Rotator trying to get in there at the upper deck,
and he can't quite maneuver his way there.
[Kenny] Weapon still moving for Bloodsport though, Chris.
They have space and... Looks like Rotator might be struggling there.
This is a great opportunity for Bloodsport, Rotator is hurt!
[Chris] Yeah, they're moving, but they have very little mobility, oh, no.
[Kenny] That tire's done.
[Chris] Now it looks like their weapon has stopped as well!
- [crowd cheering] - [Chris] Wow, and now they're just a sitting duck,
although part of Bloodsport just came off.
[Kenny] I think that's gonna be it for Rotator. What a win this would be!
Nope.
[Chris] Rotator and Victor Soto,
- all he can do is shake his head. - [crowd exclaiming]
[Chris] Bloodsport! The fans want him to go in for one more hit...
- [referee counting down] - [Chris] But he's gonna sit back.
He says, "I got one more match against Beta!"
- [referee] Four! - [Chris] "I'll just take the W."
- And improve their 2-1! - [referee] Three, two, one!
- Okay! - [buzzer sounds]
- [team exclaiming] - [intense music playing]
[all cheering]
Thanks.
[Chris] If you wanted some massive hits, this was indeed the fight for you.
Bloodsport flexing its muscles right out of the gate, chewing up Rotator's plow,
and making Victor Soto second-guess his strategy, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, absolutely, and kudos to Team Bloodsport
for going with the classic bar.
I... I think was a great change for this fight.
And man, they had the reach and they were hitting extremely hard.
[Chris] Rotator decided to go full offense, landing some big shots,
even sent Bloodsport into the screws.
Kind of a dicey moment for Justin Marple, but Rotator couldn't take advantage.
[Kenny] Yeah, it was damage to that left side, there. You see that tire.
Pretty much just barely functional at this point. It's not functioning at all.
Bloodsport, very precise.
[Chris] Once Rotator really had zero mobility,
you knew that, Bloodsport with a vicious weapon,
it was just a matter of time before they finish this one off.
[crowd cheering]
Justin Marple, all smiles in that one.
I... I have to admit, I didn't expect that to go that way.
Rotator's such a tough bot, going in... Going into this match,
we were just like, "They're gonna last forever."
And... And...
I don't-- I don't know what to say. That was... That was so much fun.
Well, why didn't they last forever?
I mean, we hit hard, I guess.
[laughing]
Explain the turnaround, Justin. I mean, your first fight, you come in here,
you get destroyed.
And here you are, destroying other robots.
It looks like a completely... Completely different robot out there.
[stammering] It all comes down to the team right here.
I mean, we've been working so many hours the last couple days, it's...
It's... It's all them.
Like... [stammering] It wouldn't have come this way without all the hard work
they've been doing.
How do you compare the bot this year, as it stands, to the one
from a few seasons ago that ended up going into the tournament
as, I believe, the No. 2 seed?
Yeah, I mean... We... We've been...
[stammers] The old bot, we saw where it was... Uh, we reached its potential.
We weren't gonna get better, so we came back this year,
tried to iterate on it, evolve a little bit to evolve, you know,
as the meta changes.
Um, the... The-- To keep up with it.
Um, and I think we... We've nailed down the, uh, gremlins.
It's hitting hard, it's working.
Um, you know, the drive is great. Um, it's--
Everything's come together.
Still one more fight against Beta. Thanks, Justin.
- Thank you. - [crowd cheering]
Victor, you guys are so durable usually.
What happened this time around?
Well, it looks like, for some reason,
part of the match, the left wheel started cutting out.
And I realize if I drive really slow, it could still inch forward.
But, uh, they just-- Hit really hard, just like Justin said, and...
Uh, we didn't actually expect them to cut through our plow,
went through our armor.
We actually beefed up our front...
...armor, where the Rotator's logo's at. We had like, almost half inch.
It looks like you guys still cut through that, because we were trying to nosedive.
But we couldn't get a fast spin-up, so we started to plow,
tried to turn around.
Uh, but it just looks like they just hit hard and got through our armor
and got to the wheels.
You still have one more regular season match left.
If you get to 2-2,
based on the schedule you have played,
do you think that's good enough to get to the Round of 32?
- [chuckles] - I think it is. Uh, we've been having a tough matchup,
and we've, I think, finally cleared out the gremlins.
It's just getting back, you know. We gotta bounce back from this.
We have experience. We know how to do it. We're gonna have...
some work ahead of us, but we're ready for it.
What's your confidence level in the robot right now?
[man in crowd exclaiming]
Um, that one's a little low.
- [both laughing] - But the other robot, it's 100%. [laughs]
Victor Soto, thanks as always for entertaining.
- Thank you guys. - [crowd cheering]
[intense music playing]
[exclaiming] Congratulations.
- [crowd cheering] - [music continues]
[Chris] All right, so Bloodsport looks like it's getting its groove back.
Moves to 2-1, it could be dangerous in the tournament, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, absolutely. No one wants to get matched up with a massive horizontal
in the Round of 32.
We'll see how much weight this win holds, though.
Bloodsport did what they needed to do, but Rotator just kind of died.
[Chris] Yeah, Victor Soto sounds a little defeated.
[Kenny] Yeah, I mean, his bot has had durability issues
in two of his three fights,
which is something we rarely see from Victor.
If he doesn't finish this season with a stellar performance,
his playoff chances could be shot.
[Chris] And Victor will finish his season against Reese Ewert's Fusion,
a robot that looked pretty impressive so far.
Bloodsport, on the other hand, will wrap it up against John Reid and Beta,
who we saw take an L earlier tonight.
Man, Kenny, these fights just keep getting bigger and badder every time.
- [crowd cheers] - [Chris] And remember, at the start of the show,
we talked about the importance of these third fights.
We'll take a look at the aftermath.
Five of tonight's teams moved to 2-1, including Beta who lost to Black Dragon.
Rotator, at 1-2 now, could be in trouble,
and those 0-3 teams, that might be it for them, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, the only win this team here
that might have a case for the Round of 32 is Glitch, and that's based
solely on pedigree.
They're 0-3 with three lackluster performances,
and unfortunately, the selection committee doesn't grade on a curve.
I'll tell you who keeps impressing me, though.
Cobalt looks strong again tonight, not a team I would wanna face
come tournament time.
[Chris] What an amazing evening of fights.
We will be back next time.
For Kenny Florian and Faruq, I am Chris Rose.
- See you next time here on BattleBots. - [crowd cheering]