[man] All right, Faruq, you're up.
[muffled crowd cheering]
Ladies and gentlemen!
[echoing] Gentlemen. Gentlemen.
Tonight,
the BattleBots World Championship VII tournament begins.
- [crash] - [cheering]
[Faruq] 32 teams...
- [crash] - [screams]
[Faruq] One of the greatest trophies in all of sports...
[cheering]
[Faruq] No second chances...
[man] Have you had enough yet?
No!
[Faruq] Win five fights
and raise your banner to the rafters...
Full speed. Full speed!
[screaming]
[Faruq] ...or die trying.
[cheering]
[Faruq] The quest for immortality starts,
right now.
It's robot fighting time!
[echoing] ...robot fighting time.
[automated voice] Robots activate.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Hello!
Hey, everybody and welcome
to BattleBots World Championship VII.
I am Chris Rose.
And standing next to me,
he is the man,
the myth, the UFC legend,
the best damn robot combat analyst
in the entire world,
say hello to Kenny Florian!
Thanks, Chris. It's tournament time.
Las Vegas, you guys feeling it?
[Chris] Hey, all season long we've been
watching the world's finest robots
jockey for a position in the field of 32
and now their time has come.
[Kenny] That's right. After a season of wire to wire destruction
that saw 50 teams navigate
four qualifying fights each,
the best of the best have revealed themselves.
And now it's time to do battle for the sport's ultimate prize,
the Giant Nut!
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] As we take a look at the tournament bracket,
this year's most outstanding bots
have been seeded one to 32
based on their performance in the qualifiers.
As well as their overall pedigree.
The bracket is broken down into four quadrants,
each headlined by one of our top four seeds.
Minotaur.
Riptide.
Witch Doctor.
And Hydra.
[Kenny] Whichever team can outlast the competition
and win five consecutive fights
will be crowned BattleBotsChampion
and have its accomplishment forever immortalized
on a banner in the rafters above us.
You guys ready to get this thing started?
[crowd cheering]
All right, let's take a look at tonight's tournament matchups.
To kick off the round of 32
we head on over to the right side of bracket.
And we're gonna flip this bad boy around
for you there at home, to make it easier to follow.
Top to bottom, quadrants two and three
features some of the most ferocious robots in the world.
Look no further than the number two overall seed of Riptide.
Coming off a violent 4 and 0 qualifying campaign
that saw it leave a trail of broken bots in its wake.
We've also got a cluster of kinetic killers in Copperhead,
HyperShock,
- Martin Mason's MadCatTer... - [meows]
[Chris] ...and of course, the comeback story of the season,
Huge!
[crowd howls]
[Kenny] And feast your eyes on a stunning 7 v 26 matchup,
between the last two winners of the Giant Nut.
End Game and reigning champions Tantrum.
Unbelievable.
[Chris] Okay. We will dissect
all of the matchups as we go
as well as break things down
on our first ever post-game show,
the Road To The Giant Nut,
that's coming your way later tonight.
But we kick things off with the apex predator
of quadrant number three.
A team making its seventh consecutive tournament appearance,
the most in the modern era,
two time runners-up for the Giant Nut,
Witch Doctor!
[Kenny] Mike and Andrea Gellatly say,
they refuse to watch the title
slip through their fingers again.
Their revenge tour begins tonight
versus a team that's been defying the odds
since it stormed onto the scene three years ago.
It's the bot on a budget,
the hometown heroes,
Jackpot!
You ready to start the round of 32?
I am very ready, my friend.
You guys, ready?
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Let's bring out the bots!
[Faruq] In the red square...
They say that in Vegas, the house always wins.
There's a four bedrooms, two baths
built with murder and sins.
What slashes in Vegas,
slays in Vegas.
Well, our next bot was born
and it will even be your realtor
if you wanna leave town real torn.
It's a dire market,
with Jackpot!
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] It's the 30th seed, Jackpot.
Led by local Las Vegas plumber, Jeff Waters,
rocking the skull mask there on the left.
Knocked Tombstone out of the round of 32 last year.
Do they have what it takes
to make waves yet again, Kenny?
[Kenny] Well, Jeff likes their chances.
Those 22-inch disc spinners
were designed to take on more compact verticals
like Witch Doctor.
When these two bots go weapon to weapon,
Jackpot's discs will have a notable reach advantage.
[Faruq] In the blue square...
They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
But that's not totally true.
Eat all the apples you want
and this doctor will still take a bite
out of you.
He just wrote a prescription for pain
and you're about to get tortured.
You're going from the hospital to the morgue.
That's just what the doctor ordered.
Give it up for,
Witch Doctor!
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Fan favorite Witch Doctor,
led by the husband and wife duo,
Andrea and Mike Gellatly.
The voodoo children have their sights set
on another deep run, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, their only loss in the qualifiers
was to Minotaur.
Fast, deadly, well driven, durable.
Witch Doctor is the complete package.
But here's an interesting nugget
the three seed has a star crossed history here in the tournament.
Three times that seed has been upset
in the opening round. One of them
being Witch Doctor by Red Devil
back in World Championship II.
I think we're gonna do good against Witch Doctor.
The original iteration of Jackpot
was designed as a counter to the original meta
of the bite force style robots. Four wheel drive, vertical spinners,
belts on each side. Jackpot's double diamonds are split.
Spaced just enough to take out both belts at the same time.
I'd say Mike's a pretty good driver
but there's plenty of other drivers out here
that are just as good.
The thing about Mike is, he doesn't do smaller weight classes.
And he only fights once a year, here at BattleBots.
So, yeah, all the other people are starting to catch up to him.
I feel like if we get this win over Witch Doctor,
the Vegas crowd's gonna go freaking nuts.
I think he's gonna try and avoid our weapon as much as possible.
Uh, we're doing the same thing,
'cause we have a very healthy respect for his weapon as well.
Uh, so it's gonna really come down to a driving match
when both robots are trying to avoid weapon on weapon hits.
I think at every interview,
I say I'm gonna avoid driving straight into their weapon
but I usually wind up doing that.
And it's really just to kinda,
see what the other robot's gonna do, you know.
If they're gonna charge us,
um, we can dance around a little bit and try to avoid it.
If they sit there and points right at us,
you know, it's really hard
as the aggressive robot to drive around.
But, you know, we're gonna definitely dish out some big hits,
they're gonna dish out some big hits and we're just hoping for a good match.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Jackpot.
Witch Doctor.
Ready to kick off the BattleBots World Championship VII tournament.
The race for the Giant Nut starts,
now!
[beeping]
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin!
Jackpot flanked by its mini-bot Ace,
looking to get underneath Witch Doctor.
[Kenny] Mike Gellatly showing Jackpot, Witch Doctor's backside there,
not sure if he was trying to bait Jeff Waters.
- [bang] - [Kenny] Both weapons up to speed!
[Chris] Yeah. Oh, Witch Doctor got under Jackpot momentarily.
[Kenny] Took off a lifter arm.
- [bang] - [Chris] Oh!
Nice shot by Witch Doctor.
Slowed down that double diamond disc.
Jackpot undeterred.
[Kenny] Mike Gellatly needs to be careful as he turns
- away from Jackpot. - [bang]
- [Chris] What'd you say? - [Kenny chuckles] Well, right there he was fine.
But he's exposing that flank there on Witch Doctor
but I think he may have disabled the weapon
of Jackpot here.
[Chris] Uh-oh.
- [bang] - [all exclaiming and cheering]
[Chris] We got aerial acrobatics all the way to the upper deck!
Jackpot rights itself.
Can it get its way off?
- [Kenny] Oh! - [Chris] It can.
[Kenny] Without its weapon it's a sitting duck here, Chris.
- [Chris] Yep. - [thud]
Oh!
Gellatly gets hammered there by the 100 pound pulverizer.
- [bang] - [Chris and Kenny] Oh!
[Chris] Nice shot by Jackpot.
Even though its main weapon's not working.
- [Kenny] Yeah, Jackpot fighting from behind. - [bang]
- [Chris] Oh! - [Kenny] They know they have to try
and break Witch Doctor's weapon.
And Jeff Waters' bot might be tough enough to do it.
- [bang] - [all exclaiming and cheering]
- [laughs] - [Chris] Unreal shot!
[Kenny] That's what a 250 miles per hour weapon can do!
- [bang] - [Chris] Oh! There it is again!
Up on the screws, now the question is...
can Jackpot move? It can.
These are nasty shots here from Witch Doctor.
And let's remember,
Witch Doctor has to continue to be aggressive
based on the new rules this season inBattleBots .
You can't just lay back.
[Kenny] How about the durability of Jackpot, though?
They keep coming back for more.
[Chris] Mike Gellatly's got an apron on.
Happy to keep serving it up.
Jackpot is in demolition derby mode now, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, that's right. They're just gonna...
- [bang] - try to hang in there and take as many shots as they can.
[Chris] How many of those can they take?
I think that's it.
Look, Jackpot is just bent in half!
- [Kenny] Wow! - [Chris] That's 250 pounds
of twisted steel
that now looks like an accordion.
That is insane!
Which Doctor enjoying the fruits of its labor.
- The countdown has started. - ...nine, eight,
- seven, six... - [Chris] Someone's actually gonna beat
- the house here in Vegas. - [referee] ...five,
four, three,
- two, one. - [Chris] Witch Doctor is moving on!
Knockout!
- [buzzing] - [crowd cheering]
[Jeff] Oh, yeah, that was fun. [laughs]
[Chris] Kenny, once Witch Doctor went on the attack,
it was over for that weapon on Jackpot.
[Kenny] Yeah, you know, Mike Gellatly always says,
"Yeah, I don't wanna go weapon to weapon."
And what does he do? He goes weapon to weapon.
And he just destroys his opponents.
That weapon is just hitting so...
Look at the ferocity of these shots.
[Chris] He sent Jackpot halfway across the box
and onto the upper deck.
We saw that several times in this fight.
[Kenny] I mean, those were just brutal shots.
But how tough is Jackpot?
There's not a whole lot of robots that would
have stood one of those shots, ugh, let alone several.
[Chris] And perhaps most impressive,
after delivering all of this punishment,
Witch Doctor finishes the fight
virtually unscathed.
What a performance.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Andrea and Mike Gellatly,
congratulations! Whoo!
So, it seems like you guys started out a little cautious.
Was that the approach here?
It seemed like, once you got your rhythm,
you just never let your foot off the gas.
Yeah, absolutely. Uh, I mean,
we're still working out some gremlins with the robot.
Um, you know, and we weren't sure
if they were gonna run their... Their mini-bot.
So we wanted to see,
you know, what was gonna happen with that?
If they're gonna be aggressive
or... Or if they were gonna play it conservative.
And, you know, we ran our weapon only at 75%,
uh, for this fight.
Same as Gruff, um...
- [chuckles] - Just 'cause we wanted it to last.
You know, we don't wanna go out and break it, uh, in the first 30 seconds.
Is this the best that Witch Doctor has ever been?
You know, honestly with all the changes we made this year,
we were really expecting this to be a learning season. So...
to see Witch Doctor performing like that,
you know, maybe I'm starting to believe
it could be another finals run. But...
You're not seeing the... All the work we're putting in behind the scenes.
But this team has done an incredible job to get it.
And they're better every single fight.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Andrea and Mike and team Witch Doctor,
congratulations. Go put that beast
back in the pits. It's scaring me.
All right, they may not say it, I will.
This is the best Witch Doctor I've ever seen.
No question about it, I mean,
as far as the weapon goes,
it's right up there with
End Game, Cobalt, Riptide, take your pick.
Witch Doctor, no surprise, is looking like
one of the favorites to win the title.
[Chris] The voodoo children become the first team
to advance to the round of 16.
They're gonna take on the winner
of Lock-Jaw versus Bloodsport
which we will see later tonight.
And as for Jackpot,
no shame in being eliminated by the number three seed.
[Kenny] None whatsoever. Jackpot's a stellar robot.
I have no doubt this team will continue
to innovate and improve ahead of World Championship VIII.
[Chris] Coming up, we move to quadrant number two
for a matchup between the 15th seed Lucky
and the 18th seed HyperShock.
There's the squad, led by Will Bales,
putting the finishing touches on their robot.
It's been an up and down season for Will.
Is tonight the night he starts to put it all together?
We will find out,
when the BattleBots World Championship tournament continues.
We are back on BattleBots World Championship VII.
Our round of 32 action continues
as we move to quadrant number two,
for a matchup between the 15th seed Lucky
and the 18th overall seed HyperShock.
Let's start with the team up north.
The Canadians. Captained by Mark Demers.
No question, that at 3 and 1
this has been their bestBattleBots performance that we've seen.
[Kenny] Easily. This is a team that had a lot of momentum
until they went up against Cobalt.
One of the hardest hitting weapons in the competition, of course.
- Knockout! - [Kenny] And that explosive loss
definitely hurt their seeding and made us question the rest of their resume.
The three teams they beat in the qualifiers
had a collective record of 4 and 8.
Now, Lucky driver, Matt Olson
seems like the real deal and I love this team's energy.
But they've never won a tournament fight
and it remains to be seen if this flipper
can punch with the big boys.
You know what squad's always got great energy.
HyperShock. And Will Bales.
They're always having fun.
Now, you might look at the regular
season reccord and say,
"What's the big deal? They went two and two."
Those two losses are to the seventh seed, End Game,
the eighth seed SawBlaze. No shame in that.
Yeah. No, absolutely, uh, this is a team
that has had a crazy schedule
and they still managed some of the most electric
fights of the season.
But that's exactly what you want from the qualifiers.
Test yourself against the best, learn and improve.
Which is something I think they did each match.
Now historically, HyperShock has disappointed in the tournament.
First round exits, the last two years.
But Will Bales' performance in the Golden Bolt tournament
showed everyone what he's capable of.
Is this the year he finally puts it together?
I know the fans would love to see it.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] All right, let's hear from the team captains
as they get their bots into position.
Lucky is one of the few flippers around still.
Uh, and they're around for a reason.
We'll have our forks, they'll have theirs.
Hopefully ours are longer and sharper.
Um, and that we can get some really solid body shots
on, you know, on the insides
and get 'em over and then we can really dish out the pain.
Um, with a shot on top of their armor when they're upside down.
We are prepared, we are... We are,
excited. Uh, just wanna go kick some butt.
I know Will wants to get us on our back, that's an easy one.
Uh, Will drives really fast.
He knows us. We're tenacious, we come at him aggressive.
We're gonna do that, we're gonna be on him.
Uh, Will is really long down the middle.
We've gone with longer forks on the side
and hoping, if we clash in the middle
that we'll be able to turn and get a wheel with those longer forks.
It's a new configuration.
We haven't tried it yet but we're hoping it works.
We've been running well. This is the best Lucky has ever looked.
Our driving is on point.
And we're looking to go further than we've ever gone before.
[crowd cheering]
[automated voice] Robots activate.
[Chris] Kenny, you've got some more info on HyperShock's configuration.
[Kenny] That's right. HyperShock is actually
under the maximum allowable weight of 250.
Running at a slim 238 pounds tonight.
Will feels like this is going to come down to his ability
to outdrive Matt Olson.
So he's ditched some of HyperShock's armor
in exchange for increased mobility.
[beeping]
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin!
Will Bales is on the attack.
- [bang] - [Chris] Oh.
[Kenny] Lucky triggering the flipper
right into the weapon on HyperShock.
Now Hypershock's getting underneath Lucky. Chipping away at the underbelly.
- Lucky absorbs the pain, squares back up. - Oh!
[Chris] Good shot there.
Oh, Hypershock inverted!
Yeah, Mark Demers from Lucky told us he loves it when Will Bales is inverted.
'Cause then he just wastes time trying to fix himself.
- [Kenny] And this is when-- Oh, my Goodness. - Oh!
Will Bales self-rights by just slamming himself on the side of the box.
Oh!
Hypershock drives Lucky into the wall and is grinding away at the flipper.
[Kenny] Yeah, a lot of damage to Lucky's primary weapon there, Chris.
[Chris] Oh, look at this. I guess the flipper still works.
[Kenny] And nice job there by Lucky driver Matt Olson to get out of the corner.
Will seems to already be in berserker barrage mode.
If he makes a mistake, you know Matt Olson will capitalize.
[Chris] Yeah, Lucky's hotshot driver with one of the rising stars in this sport.
But he just let Will Bales to get a clean shot at his sides.
[Kenny] Yeah, the sides of Lucky are where it's most vulnerable.
[Chris] But Will's done a great job early on trying to
disable the Canadian's flipper.
[Kenny] Yeah, look at that beef, man. That is gonna be a problem.
- [both groan] - [Chris] Another big shock.
[Kenny] Matt Olsen has to try to get Hypershock inverted again.
Will Bales has been in control but this match is far from over.
Almost halfway through this round of 32 fight.
[Chris] Again, Hypershock had an incredible run in the Golden Bolt last year.
But get this. They haven't won a tournament fight since World Championship two.
Can Will Bales hold out another stretch here?
[Kenny] Lucky's flipper looks to be stuck in the upright position. Yeah.
But nice driving by Matt Olsen to turn this around and pin Hypershock in the corner.
Both drivers are dancing down there.
Closing in on the one-minute mark when the kill saws will become active.
Lucky has gotta do something in these final 60 seconds
instead of just getting tossed backward.
[Chris] Oh, taking it for a ride. Oh!
Excellent job by Matt Olsen to free himself before getting slammed into the wall.
[Kenny] Well, if Lucky's got anything left in the tank, they need to show it now.
Clock's ticking in this fight and on their season.
[all exclaiming]
[Kenny] Will Bales flips the flipper bot.
[Chris] And Hypershock trying to throw Lucky onto the upper deck.
Let's see if he can get him up there.
Oh! He did!
[Kenny] This has been one of the most complete performances I've ever seen
from Will Bales, Chris.
Hypershock looking like a scary 18th seed.
[Chris] Oh, reverse is out.
That was impressive driving back there-- Oh! But he takes another shot.
- [Kenny] Oh, boy. - [Chris] Man, oh man.
Masterclass by Will Bales and Hypershock
as this one will end up going the distance.
Trying to put one last image in the brains of the judges and he does!
Wow, wow! [cheers]
A fantastic performance by Will Bales and Hypershock.
Somehow Lucky survives enough to send this to the judges' scorecards.
They are Derek Young, Lisa Winter and Fon Davis.
Scoring under the 11-point system,
five points could be awarded for damage, three points for aggression and control.
Kenny, this was just an awesome tactical fight.
Hypershock got underneath Lucky to start.
Then Matt Olson returned serve.
And this was critical. 'Cause once Bales got inverted,
sometimes it takes him 30 seconds to fix.
He did it immediately.
[Kenny] Yeah, I mean, so entertaining with this driving style.
Just uses the battle box as a jump.
And then just goes right back to work, like no big deal.
[Chris] A ton of credit goes to Matt Olsen for his defensive driving,
and the fork's on Lucky were very effective.
But Hypershock really started to rack up the points after tearing up Lucky's flipper.
[Kenny] Absolutely. Will Bales was precise, purposeful, and punishing in this match.
Hypershock's weapon never stopped spinning and treated Lucky
like a punching bag down the stretch.
Big time performance.
[Chris] Let's see the result. Faruq!
The results from the judges are in.
[audience cheering]
The winner, by unanimous decision, is...
[dramatic music playing]
Hypershock!
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Hi, Will. Congratulations.
[Will] How's it going?
Well, we're not as good as you are.
I know at this time, last season, you were down in the dumps
after being bounced in the round of 32.
What does the elation feel like?
Uh, I'm glad it still works upside down.
[Will laughing]
What about just your ability to be on top of Lucky the entire time?
That was essential. We knew going in that we were probably safe from their flipper,
if we just went head on. But I knew that if I gave them any opportunity
to hit the side, like they did, that I'd be upside down.
So, I made that mistake once and I couldn't let it happen again.
Otherwise, they probably would've taken it.
So, lots of locking horns there for a good portion of the match.
But we definitely got some solid hits in and it got us the win, so I'm happy.
[Chris] Sounds great. Congratulations. We'll see you in the round of 16.
Thanks, guys.
[team cheering]
[Chris] Okay, up next for Will Bales and company
will be the winner of Riptide versus Shatter!
Riptide, of course, the top seed here in quadrant number two.
And as for Mark Demers and team Lucky, this season was a win. Right, Kenny?
Yeah, it started 3 and 0. And driver Matt Olsen is a bonafide star.
They continue to struggle with vertical spinners.
But there is no doubt that this team is trending upwards.
[Chris] Coming up,
the single elimination action continues
as decorated veteran Donald Hutson leads Lock Jaw into the box
to clash with the horizontal hitman, Bloodsport.
It is the 14 v 19 matchup.
And it is next onBattlebots.
We got more of the round of 32 here on Battlebots World Championship seven.
The action continues right now in quadrant number three.
With the matchup between the 14th seed, Lock Jaw,
and the 19th seed, Bloodsport.
Dial us in, Kenny Florian.
Well, Justin Marple's squad has had an up and down year,
but as the only horizontal in this quadrant,
they feel like they can make a deep run.
The grizzled veteran, Donald Hutson, on the other hand, is
having his best season in a long time.
And is now looking for his first tournament win. Since World Championship IV.
There's a 27-year age gap between these two captains.
Experience is definitely on Donald Hutson's side here.
All right, the bots.
Locked and loaded inside the box.
The winner gets Witch Doctor, the loser goes home.
Here we go!
There is captain Dustin Marple.
He got outdriven by Donald Hutson when these teams met a few years back.
Justin thought he was way too focused on scoring a quick KO in that fight.
He told us he is planning on being more patient in this one.
26 years in the sport,
few can match Donald Hutson's experience, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yup. And he's using a new shock-mounted plow that his squad built specifically
to counter Bloodsport's blade.
It's slope should help Lock Jaw get under that weapon
Donald Hutson knows defense might be the best offense here.
[crowd chanting] Fight! Fight! Fight!
[Chris] It's the grizzled vet versus the heaviest hitting horizontal in the field.
The winner moves on to the round of 16.
Let the bot battle begin!
Lock Jaw leading with the plow.
Nice little kiss-up. Bloodsport spinning up.
[Kenny] Lock Jaw trying to slow down that weapon.
They have to stay there so you're thinking sandwich Bloodsport between
their robot and the sides of the battle box.
[Chris] That's a 72 lbs blade and-- Uh, oh.
We got flames coming out of Bloodsport
[Kenny] This is their chance. Now that that weapon is slowed down--
Look at the wheels on Lock Jaw.
On the right side, they are severely damaged.
He's coming in with the weapon now.
[Chris] Donald going away from the plow and choosing to leave the weapon.
Lock Jaw managing to stay mobile but it is severely impaired now, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, Justin Marple just has to stay patient.
Oh! Huge shot by Bloodsport.
Right front tire on Lock Jaw is gone.
Team Bloodsport can smell blood.
Donald Hutson's in serious, serious trouble.
Take it easy.
[Kenny] Chris, I think the other wheel on Lock Jaw is about to come off here.
[all exclaiming]
[Chris] Justin Marple really changes it up. Bloodsport's out of ten.
Damn it!
[Chris] Wow!
Through the blade in on Lock Jaw's plow and that might be it.
[Kenny] What an upset this would be for Donald Hutson who is in serious trouble here.
[Chris] That self-righter ain't righting on Bloodsport. And the countdown has started.
A man who is standing on two of his four wheels is somehow climbing into the next round.
[Kenny] That was crazy!
[man] Totally my fault.
That was stupid. I was...
So stupid.
We had no reason for what just happened.
[Chris] Oh, Justin Marple beside himself.
Kenny, the old master Donald Hutson
picked the right configuration for this matchup.
[Kenny] No doubt. Lock Jaw leading with that sloped plow in the early going,
able to successfully deflect Bloodsport's blade,
and even teased some flames out of Justin Marple's bot.
[Chris] But it was those big, exposed wheels on Lock Jaw that
looked like it would be its downfall.
Bloodsport simply tearing him up.
[Kenny] Yeah, Bloodsport able to remove that front tire altogether,
and at this point, Lock Jaw was on life support, Chris.
It's weapon was down, it was severely hobbled.
And Justin Marple had the upper hand.
[Chris] It looked like it was all over, but then...
Justin Marple, perhaps a bit too hastily, chose to attack.
Bloodsport goes skywards, lands on its nogging, and it's see ya next season.
What a finish.
Unbelievable.
Donald Hutson.
[Chris] Yeah, there you are!
[Chris laughing]
[Kenny laughing]
Donald, you started that fight with four wheels, right?
Uh, looked like it, yeah.
Looked like it was down to maybe two and a quarter by the time you--
How the heck did you win that thing?
You know that was not the way I intended it to go.
Hats off to them and their super destructive robot.
We knew we really only had, like, one chance
to slow him down and then we were gonna have to go in with the weapon. It was...
It was a tough, crazy match. And I don't even know how we got to the end, so...
Here we go.
All right. We'll see you soon in the round of 16. Congratulations.
[audience chanting] Lock Jaw! Lock Jaw! Lock Jaw!
[Chris] Nice to see Lock Jaw back in the post-season mix.
Up next, it'll be the three seed, Witch Doctor.
And believe it or not, despite having competed in ever season of the modern era,
that will be the first ever meeting between the two teams.
As for Justin Marple and company... Robot combat is merciless, folks.
That is a tough way to bow out.
But Bloodsport remains one of the deadliest horizontal spinners in the game.
Better luck next season.
Up next, a rematch from last year's round of 32.
Ethan Kurtz and his death machine, Riptide
have turned heads and raised eyebrows this season,
while destroying every bot in their path.
Can master strategist Adam Wrigley and Shatter! find a way to slay the giant?
Stick around and find out.
[Chris] Oh, this is gonna be a good one as we continue on with the round of 32.
It is the two versus 31 matchup. A rematch of last season's playoffs
where Riptide ousted Shatter!
No team this season has solved the puzzle of taking down Riptide.
Can Adam Wrigley and team Shatter! crack the code?
Let's take a deeper dive inside this fight.
[announcer] Let the World Championship Tournament begin.
Last year did not go so great for them.
We bent their frame and we ripped off all their front armor
that they were trying to jam into our weapon.
[announcer] This team has no fear and they have absolutely no mercy either!
It was a pretty spectacular failure on their part.
[Adam] I think we learnt what didn't work against them last season.
And we saw a couple other people maybe learn what does work against them.
This setup is based off of Defender and SawBlaze from last season.
The only two robots to beat Riptide so far.
[Kenny] Those front forks able to get underneath Riptide.
We got a bunch of parts from Emulsifier stuck on
'cause we think they're gonna be a better front setup.
The idea is that we jam these hard metal door stops into their spinner,
and just jam 'em into the floor. Use their own power
against them and send them flying.
We're just taking out all the stops for this one. We're going full boil.
We got nothing to lose.
[Ethan] Our goal is to avoid the hammer as much as possible.
And land hits in places that we aren't supposed to be landing hits in.
We're still running our forks and we're still trying to get to their sides.
To kinda avoid their hammer.
'Cause we trust our offense more than we trust our defense always.
We're gonna try to regulate them and just continue hammering them.
As soon as we land one hit, it's over for them.
[Chris] Oh, this is gonna be good.
And as if things weren't already super intense, check this out.
Earlier today after Riptide had already weighed in at 250 lbs,
Adam Wrigley's brother Eric found the team backstage,
allegedly working on their robot.
Hmm.
Now, modifying a robot after making weight is against the rules.
So Shatter! asked to have Riptide weighed again.
This time, the bot came in 2 lbs lighter.
[Chris] So after the weight discrepancy,
Shatter! also asked to have Riptide inspected to ensure
that the team hadn't modified their robot to gain a competitive advantage.
And here's what Ethan Kurtz had to say about the situation.
So Shatter! thinks we're cheating.
We are not cheating.
Their paranoia is affecting our performance.
I think this is really uncool that they did this.
I think after this is over, we're gonna rip them apart.
[Chris] Now, Riptide did pass the additional inspection.
And Battlebot's official also found zero evidence of funny business.
Team Shatter! was satisfied with those results, so the fight is on.
But in a sport that's congenial, things have reached a fever pitch.
Which team will survive this fiery high-stakes matchup?
Let's find out. Faruq.
And in the red square from Brooklyn, New York,
if you have dreams of staying in one piece, they're about to Shatter!
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Here is team Shatter! Captain Adam Wrigley bringing up the rear.
Obviously Adam's doing what he felt was necessary
to ensure a fair fight tonight. Kenny?
What's your take on the whole deal?
[Kenny] Well, I think Adam's concern is understandable.
You're not supposed to modify your robot after clearing inspections.
And we still don't know why Riptide came in two pounds lighter.
But Adam's clearly got Ethan Kurtz riled up.
In terms of how that affects the fight. Some people fight worse when they're angry,
some, better.
[Faruq] In the blue square,
from Tarzana, California.
Unfortunately for you, there's no lifeguard in the Battle box.
Watch out, for Riptide!
[audience cheering]
[Chris] The sophomore sensation Riptide.
Is that supposed to Shatter! swinging the hammer?
Well, fir a team that is getting re-weighed and re-inspected,
they seem to be pretty loose, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, and look at Ethan high-fiving the crowd.
He doesn't seem to be sweating it.
[Chris] Listen, with each and every bot-breaking tale they've had this season,
the pressure gets a little higher.
At the end of the day, this is a group of mostly 20 year-olds.
Let's see if they can keep their emotions in check and stay focused.
[Chris] All right. Well, few matchups in Battlebots history
have had a lead-up like this one.
After all the controversy, we know Ethan Kurtz is gonna come out swinging.
Can Adam Wrigley survive the initial blitz
and find a way to finally take down this beastly bot?
It's Shatter! and Riptide in a do or die matchup, and it is next
on Battlebots!
[Chris] Welcome back to Battlebots, where we are all set
for a fight between the number two overall seed, Riptide, and the 31st seed, Shatter!
It's a rematch from last season's round of 32
that's been getting more contentious as the day has gone on.
[Ethan] Space, give me space.
[Chris] And with a spot on the round and 16 on the line,
it's finally time to let the robots do the talking.
[crowd chanting] Fight! Fight! Fight!
- We're right on the grid. - [all chanting] Fight, fight, fight.
[audience chanting] Fight, fight, fight, fight.
[buzzer sounds]
[Chris] Let the Bot Battle begin!
- [smashes] - [Kenny] Whoa!
[Chris] Oh, huge shot, and one of the forks is already off of Shatter!.
- [smashes] - [Chris] Whoa!
[Kenny] Nice accurate counter shot by Shatter! to the top of Riptide.
[Chris] But here comes Riptide looking to bully Shatter! around the Box.
You can hear that deadly eight meter weapon humming.
- [crashes] - [Chris] Whoa, Shatter!'s trying to hold it off
by swinging the hammer, but Riptide's skipping away.
[all exclaiming]
- [Kenny] Oh! - [Chris shouts indistinctly]
[Kenny] Brutal follow up shot. Shatter! trying to right itself
but Riptide not giving him an inch, Chris.
- [Chris] Look at Riptide's weapon! Oh! - [Kenny] Oh!
[Chris] Just tearing pieces apart.
Wow. Yeesh!
- [clatters] - [Chris and Kenny] Whoa!
- [Chris] Whoa! - [Kenny] Bot parts everywhere.
[Chris] Oh, my God, just launched it 12 feet.
And now it's going after that hammer.
[Kenny] Those front forks able to get underneath Shatter! repeatedly,
Riptide pouring it on.
[Chris] Ethan Kurtz showing no mercy every time--
- [Kenny] Whoa! - [Chris] Whoa!
Here comes another shot. Wow.
Oh, my gosh, I don't know if the omni wheels are gonna be able to move now.
- Go, go, go. - [Chris] Uh-oh.
- Uh-oh. Oh! - [Kenny] Oh, my goodness.
Keep firing it.
[Kenny] Shatter! wants more.
[Chris laughing] Oh, going all the way and then under the pulverizer.
- [cheering] - Hit him again
- [man] Whoo! - [Chris] And...
- [smashes] - [crowd cheers]
- [Chris] Oh, God! - [Kenny laughs] Oh.
- Keep firing. - [Chris] Can Shatter! move its pride
and dislodge itself and get going?
"Get me off of this pulverizer. I'm supposed to be hammering,
"not taking the hammer."
[Kenny] Riptide going back to its corner,
they know they have the knockdown here, Chris.
- Keep firing the weapon. - [indistinct shouting]
[Chris] Yeah, here comes the smoke on Shatter!.
I'm not so sure they can move.
Nope, the countdown has started.
The amazing run of the two seed Riptide
- will continue-- - [referee] ...three...
- [Chris] ...as it ends Shattter!'s season-- - [referee] ...two, one.
[Chris] ...for the second year in a row.
[all cheering]
What more did you... What did we expect, boys?
What did we expect? What did we expect?
[Eric] I wanna know how fast they were spinning.
- [Adam] We'll ask. - [Eric] I wanna know how fast
- they were spinning. - [Adam] Hey, hey, hey. We will find out.
[Chris] Kenny, that weapon on Riptide, in a word, dominant.
[Kenny] Yeah, and nasty.
Again, you know, those long forks were allowing them
to get underneath Shatter! there, I mean,
just massive shots.
I don't know how Shatter! was able to withstand a lot of these.
[Chris] It was remarkable, because when you have a hammer bot like that,
that thing could get bent. It could have stopped working.
So kudos to Shatter!, but, man, Rip--
Oh, gosh. Kenny, I can't even watch.
[Kenny] What Riptide is doing to the field this season is scary, Chris.
How can you watch a fight like this,
like, all of Riptide's fights this year, really,
and not be intimidated by the prospect of facing this robot?
- Unbelievable. - [Chris] As we know,
a lot of tension and emotion going into this match-up.
Credit to Shatter! for their never-say-die attitude,
but the moment belongs to Ethan Kurtz and Team Riptide.
Their jaw dropping run continues as they now advance to the round of 16.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Ethan Kurtz, congratulations to you and Team Riptide.
You are now 5-0, with five knockouts.
Is there anything that can stop you?
- [sighs] - Clearly, Adam's paranoia cannot stop us.
- So, I don't think anything can stop us. - [chuckling]
- [Chris] What does that mean? - Wow.
Uh, they had us check weight three times, multiple tests, speed tests.
We don't cheat, we did our thing.
We did exactly what we had to do
and yeah, no one's gonna stop us.
[audience cheering]
- Yeah! - Whoo!
[faint booing]
[Chris] Well, congratulations.
We'll see you in the round of 16.
- Thank you. - Thank you very much.
[faint booing]
- [Chris] Hi, Adam. - Hey.
For the second straight year, Riptide ends your season.
How disheartening is it?
Hey, I mean, I think we put on a good show.
I think we showed that we're not afraid of anything out there.
We're an aggressive team and we're never gonna give up.
- [audience cheering] - Uh, I thought it was a good fight.
And as for everything else he said,
I don't think that needs to be addressed.
[Chris] Fair enough, Adam.
- Thanks, as always, for your passion. - [Adam] Cheers.
- No, man. - Okay.
All right, oh, well.
- You know-- - [Chris] All righty, then.
- We, we tried. - It's okay.
[Chris] Clearly no love lost between these two.
Let's start with this. Riptide,
five fights, five knockouts.
I don't know if there's a more dominant robot out there right now.
[Kenny] I said it before the tournament began,
but there's only one team on this side of the bracket
I can see taking them down, and that's End Game.
If the Kiwis can't beat them, I don't know who can.
[Chris] Well, up next for Riptide in the round of 16
is a date with HyperShock.
If you thought this fight was about to break the Internet,
just wait till Will Bales and Ethan Kurtz
go head to head.
As for Shatter!, a tough ending to a tough season.
There's a whole lot to unpack there, but we'll have the chance
to get into all of it later tonight, on our first ever post game show,
The Road To The Giant Nut.
Kenny and I are gonna talk to some superstar builders,
perform a botopsy on the night's most demolished robot,
as well as break down
all of the action in the World Championship VII bracket. Can't wait.
But coming up, one of the stories of the season so far
has been Kevin Milczewski's ability to turn speed into a deadly weapon.
- Can Claw Viper continue its incredible run-- - [indistinct shouting]
[Chris] ...or will Martin Mason and MaDCatTer
pump the brakes on the speed demon?
- [cat meowling] - [Chris] We're gonna find out next--
- [thunder rumbles] - [Chris] ...when the opening round
of the World Championship VII tournament continues.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Welcome back to opening night
of the BattleBots World Championship VII tournament.
Up next, we've got a matchup between the 22 seed MaDCatTer
and the 11th seed, making its first ever tournament appearance,
Claw Viper.
And this is actually a rematch from one of last year's Sin City Slugfests.
In that fight,
MaDCatTer dominated Claw Viper,
knocking him out in under two minutes.
But, as we've seen all season, this is not the same Claw Viper.
Kevin Milczewski's bot is bigger, stronger, and faster,
and it has been one of the breakout stars here at World Championship VII.
[Kenny] Yeah, massive magnet upgrades,
and powerful brushless motors on each wheel
have made Claw Viper go from cool
to killer.
Its disorienting speed has allowed Kevin to control matches
and put himself
in position to suplex opponents.
He's already gone 2-1 against Kurtz this year.
So, we'll see how cat-like the gritty kitty's reflexes look this time around.
And you know, Martin Mason... So fun.
He's got the whole gig going.
He's always praising his college kids and everything.
And I think sometimes that overshadows just how good his robot is.
Team MaDCatTer has never won a tournament fight,
but they went 2-2 this season with a very tough schedule.
They might be flying under the radar a bit, Kenny.
[Kenny] Absolutely.
The robots look much improved, and I would credit a lot of that
to the evolution of the man on the sticks, Calvin Iba.
Earlier this year, he out-dueled Matt Vasquez,
who's considered to be one of the best drivers in robot combat.
But Claw Viper will present a challenge unlike any in this sport.
Let's see if he can shine when the lights are brightest.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] These two bots are ready to fight. Let's dive
right into the action.
[cheering intensifies]
[robotic voice] Red team, ready.
- [growls] Oh, yeah. - [growling]
[Chris] Driver Calvin Iba, paying homage to his mentor with a growl.
This team looking to advance to the round of 16 for the first time ever.
- How do they get it done, Kenny? - [Kenny] Well, they plan to
use that 34 pound vertical disc to dictate the action
and try and take the fight into a corner,
similar to what we saw HyperShock do to Claw Viper.
If MaDCatTer can negate the speed advantage, they can win.
[robotic voice] Blue team, ready.
[laughs maniacally]
[Chris] Kevin Milczewski's just about the wildest software engineer
you're ever gonna meet. He is confident,
and for good reason, Kenny Florian.
[Kenny] Yeah, this is the fastest bot we've ever seen, Chris.
There are two contrasting styles at play in this fight.
MaDCatTer is more of a well-rounded puncher,
while Claw Viper will use a combo of blitzing
and grappling, to try and seal the victory.
- [electronic sounds playing] - [all cheering]
[sounds and cheering intensify]
[audience chanting] Fight, fight, fight, fight.
[buzzer sounding]
[Chris] Let the Bots Battle begin.
- Gassy Cat-- - [Kenny] Oh!
[Chris] ...gets hammered out of the gate.
Here comes Claw Viper. So fast, Kenny.
[Kenny] Claw Viper with a quick Box rush,
trying to get underneath MaDCatTer, and they are.
[Chris] Can they get a bite, though?
[Kenny] The speed is unreal. Kevin Milczewski, a little out of control,
driving Claw Viper into the side of the Box.
He's gotta settle his nerves.
[Chris] Calvin Iba, the driver of MaDCatTer,
trying to keep all wheels on the ground.
- But... Uh-oh. - [Kenny] Whoa.
[Chris] There goes the BattleBotssign.
Oh, there goes Gassy Cat. Oh, my goodness.
Somebody please save the minibot.
[Kenny] Wow, Claw Viper, just on the counter here.
So quick, able to re-attack in an instant.
[Chris] As MaDCatTer bit...
And eats the BattleBotssign
because it's an absolute animal.
But per the rulebook, will have to back off shortly.
- You wanna release. Release. - Trying. I'm trying.
[Chris] Kevin Milczewski trying to heed the ref's warning,
backing away,
but dragging MaDCatTer with him.
- Kenny, are they attached? - [Kenny] Yeah, it looks that way.
Those front forks are stuck together.
They're kind of holding hands.
- [grinding] - [Chris] Oh, that's cute.
Not in the round of 32, it's not.
and God, nothing's cute here.
[Kenny] MaDCatTer finds an angle,
able to grind away at Claw Viper.
- [Chris] Ah. - [Kenny] Doing some damage there.
[Chris] Looks like they, uh, dislodged from one another.
And now we're gonna have a break.
- [Kenny] MaDCatTer starting to come back here, Chris. - [Chris] Yep.
- [slams] - [Chris] Claw Viper's so fast,
- right on top of MaDCatTer... Oh! - [Kenny] Oh!
Now Claw Viper gets a chance.
[Chris] Let's see if MaDCatTer can right itself.
It can't before Claw Viper picks it back up.
[Kenny] Oh, this is exactly what we expected,
a back and forth brawl here.
The grappler versus the striker.
[Chris] Kenny, MaDCatTer's having trouble self-righting.
- [Kenny] Uh-oh. - [Chris] And...
Oh, Claw Viper's digging into it, chopping it up.
[Kenny] But lost its lifting arm in the process.
Kevin Milczewski dropping it right into the disc of MaDCatTer.
He may regret that choice.
[Chris] Approaching the one minute mark.
- [Kenny] MaDCatTer-- - Oh!
[Kenny] Rough going and they do!
[Chris] That was a huge hit!
Claw Viper can self-right, but it's struggling right now.
[Kenny] It sure is. What's left
of that lifting arm, doesn't seem to be enough to right the robot, Chris.
[Chris] And Calvin Iba trying to get over there and unleash more damage.
45 to go, and it looks like that weapon is shut down on MaDCatTer.
[Kenny] Yep, it's either shut down, or maybe disabled.
There were some huge shots there, in the BattleBox.
Claw Viper struggling out there, Chris.
[Chris] Approaching the 30 second mark, in a back and forth fight.
Come on, Calvin. Get me up. Let's have some fun, buddy.
[Kenny] Kevin Milczewski doing everything possible to try to self-right.
MaDCatTer making sure they're not able to do that, staying right on him.
[Chris] So, after controlling large stretches of this fight with its lightning speed,
Claw Viper, now a turtle on its back,
writhing and unable to get itself right-side up.
- [audience cheers] - [Chris] Oh, boy.
[bleep] madness.
[Chris] Under 10 seconds remaining, which means
this one is gonna go the distance,
- and after three minutes of back and forth action-- - [buzzer sounds]
[Chris] ...we will be headed to the judges scorecard.
[audience cheering]
[indistinct conversation]
[Chris] Kenny, Claw Viper's so fast out of the gate.
[Kenny] Yeah, they really are. And again, not only speed, but their control.
They can turn on a dime. They're able to attack,
re-attack and get underneath MaDCatTer.
It was a fantastic start for that team.
[Chris] Claw Viper, extremely aggressive as always,
but right around the midway point,
Kevin Milczewski chose to engage an out-of-control MaDCatTer.
He took out his own weapon in the process.
[Kenny] That's right. Kevin grabbed that spinning disc on MaDCatTer
and ripped the head of his lifter arm clean off.
That ended up costing him dearly,
as Calvin Iba was able to land some hard shots
and invert Claw Viper, which no longer had the ability to self-right.
[Chris] MaDCatTer's weapon
also going down in this fight.
But how will that final stretch
affect the way the judges score this one?
Let's find out who's moving on.
The results from the judges are in.
We have a split decision.
Ooh.
[Faruq] Judge Derek scores the battle for
Claw Viper.
- [audience cheering] - [all applauding]
- Go. - [Faruq] Judge Lisa scored the battle for
MaDCatTer.
[growls] Oh, yeah!
Judge Fon scored the battle for the winner...
[audience shouting]
...MaDCatTer!
[all cheering]
[growls] Oh, yeah!
Martin Mason, congratulations.
Claw Viper came out hot, how'd you get back in that fight?
You know what? There was a lot of back and forth.
Part of it was just getting used to how fast it was going.
But we got it dialed in, we brought a 100%.
Martin, how excited are you to be moving on to the round of 16?
You know, we take this one fight at a time, folks.
And every fight is a chance for us to prove
what community college students can do.
These guys are getting their hands dirty,
they're bringing it, they're the future, folks.
Well, your future is a date with somebody in the round of 16.
- Congratulations. - Whoo!
[all] Whoo!
Yeah! Whoo!
[Chris] Kevin Milczewski, I know you're disappointed.
You still have an appeal in your pocket.
Are you okay with the judges' ruling?
We wanna take another look at it.
We think it was a lot...
It was a very, very close fight, split decision.
Let's make sure we get this one right.
- So, you are going to appeal? - Yes, sir.
Wow, okay.
The judges will have a chance to review the footage,
and we'll have a result here, shortly.
- Thank you. - [Martin] Whoo!
- [Kevin] I have to. There's no choice. - [Martin] Of course.
[Chris] All right. Kevin Milczewski's Cinderella season
is officially on life support.
Will Claw Viper's appeal be successful
or will MaDCatTer get its first ever tournament win?
The answer, when we return, here on BattleBots.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Welcome back to BattleBots.
Before the break, we had an appeal filed.
After MadCatTer was awarded a victory over Claw Viper,
by way of a split judges' decision...
- Whoo! - [Chris] ...Claw Viper captain,
Kevin Milczewski, disputed the ruling.
The judges then reviewed the fight footage,
along with our match steward, Mike Jeffries,
and we now have a result.
Let's send it on over to Faruq.
The results from the appeal are in.
[audience cheering]
The decision stands.
- [audience cheering] - The winner is MaDCatTer!
- Whoo! - [all cheering]
[Martin] Come on, now. Whoo! Yeah! All right.
- [Chris] Hey, Kevin? - Yes, sir.
It was worth the appeal. Um, why do you think it didn't happen?
Uh, we thought we had the aggression and control throughout the fight,
but in the fog of, uh, you know, driving that ridiculous thing,
I forgot that I was on my head for the second half of the fight, so...
I think they got it right. MaDCatTer kicked our butt.
Hey, listen dude. You had an amazing season. Great run.
We look forward to seeing you in season eight.
Absolutely, thank you so much.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Kenny, regardless of this early exit,
Claw Viper turned the field on its head, this year,
both literally and figuratively.
[Kenny] Absolutely. Kevin Milczewski proving that a control bot
can still make serious noise in the heavyweight division. Well done.
[Chris] As for MaDCatTer, they won't have to wait for very long
to learn who they'll be facing in the round of 16.
As that will be the winner of our next match-up
between Huge and Skorpios.
And one of the great redemption stories of the regular season
was the performance of Huge.
You'll remember, a season ago, Jonathan Schultz looked pretty despondent.
At the end of his post season run, he said,
"I don't know exactly where we go with this robot."
Brought his team together, flew everybody in
to hang out at his house for a few weeks in the off season.
They dialed it in to the tune of a perfect 4-0 regular season.
[Kenny] They haven't been challenged. They haven't been challenged.
This is the best Huge we've ever seen.
Jonathan's driving is on point,
and the design is finally delivering
on its meta breaking promises.
This team has never missed a tournament
in their four seasons atBattleBots,
but they've also never won a tournament fight.
Well, Jonathan's the favorite tonight.
I know those palms are sweaty.
Advancing to the round of 16 would be a big weight off his shoulders.
In the meantime, when you're a robot,
you wanna go into the post season with momentum.
You wanna be feeling good.
That is not the story for Skorpios,
which won its first two regular season fights
but then dropped its final two.
[Kenny] Well, this field is so competitive,
if you fool around, you're going to find out.
In the battle of the hammer-saws,
Zach and Diana decided to be meme lords,
using an anime sword instead of taking the fight seriously.
Then they got smoked by Ribbot.
Now, they are reaping the consequences of those actions,
with an incredibly tough first round fight,
and possibly another early exit.
[Chris] Yeah, like Jonathan Schultz,
Zach and Diana have never advanced to the round of 16.
So, someone's gonna make it for the first time, tonight.
[audience cheering]
[robotic voice] Red team, ready.
[Chris] A big challenge looming for Zach Lytle,
but as far as designs go,
Skorpios matches up better with Huge than a lot of other robots. Right, Kenny?
[Kenny] Yeah, the hammer saw on Skorpios is one of the only weapons
with enough reach to damage the underbelly of HUGE.
But Zach will have to take some shots in the process.
He's confident their big wedge can hold up long enough
to go into the danger zone five or six times.
Godspeed.
[robotic voice] Blue team ready.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Lot of pressure on Jonathan Schultz tonight, Kenny.
HUGE is 0 and 4 all-time in the tournament.
[Kenny] Yeah, Jonathan's not taking any chances here, Chris.
He's gone with a set of lighter wheels
in order to add those great defensive armor plates
you see on the crossbar.
Told us he wants to attack the weapon hub in the middle of Skorpios,
end this fight quickly and move on to the round of 16.
[audience cheering]
[audience] Fight! Fight! Fight!
Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
[beeping]
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin!
Skorpios now goes right in the middle
and takes a shot from that blade.
[Kenny] I like the strategy from Skorpios.
- Staying in close and trying to jam up the weapon on HUGE. - [Chris exclaims]
[Kenny] Zach Lytle knew he was gonna have to stick his nose in there to do it.
[Chris] HUGE still spinning.
But here comes Skorpios.
[Kenny and Chris] Oh!
[Chris] Rips one of those balance bars right off of HUGE.
What a start for Skorpios.
[Kenny] Skorpios took a little damage to the left tire in the process.
- [Kenny] Oh! - [Chris] Oh! Takes off the other bar.
Surgical precision from Zach Lytle.
And HUGE returns fire with a big time counter shot.
[Kenny] Skorpios, is he done already?
[Chris] Oh, my God.
It looks like one of the most durable bots out there.
There's a fire, there's smoke,
there's flames and HUGE knows it
and can celebrate.
- [Kenny] Oh, no. Oh, no. - [audience booing]
- [referee] 10, 9, 8... - [Chris] The countdown has started.
Skorpios has issues.
Namely, that it's going home.
- HUGE is off to the round of 16. - ...3, 2, 1. Knockout!
[Jonathan yelling in joy]
[Chris] Wow.
- [muffled speaking] - [Zach] Oh, man.
He hits like a ton of bricks.
[Jonathan speaking indistinctly]
[Zach] That's a HUGE hug.
[Chris] Skorpios took the fight to HUGE from the opening bell, Kenny,
no fear from Zach Lytle at all.
[Kenny] Yeah, Zach was determined to stop HUGE from spinning up
and I thought he did a great job
playing the aggressor and getting to the inside.
[Chris] And how about Skorpios
with two precise shots to pick those balance bars off of HUGE.
[Kenny] Listen, Skorpios was ahead in this fight
but you have to be impressed with the patience from Jonathan Schultz.
He didn't panic, kept his robot pointed at Skorpios
and eventually the power of that blade won him the fight.
[Chris] Yeah, you can see right here
HUGE obliterates the right front tire on Skorpios,
then follows it up with a big shot to the weapon
and in the blink of an eye
Zach and Diana's bot was toast.
Took just one minute for HUGE to move on.
Sorry.
- [Chris] Hi, Jonathan. - Hi.
Come on, man. Be happy.
You're in the round of 16!
- He's happy. - It's been a while.
It's been a minute. [chuckles]
It's been a couple of years.
Yeah. Jonathan, a year ago, this time
you were sitting there wondering,
"What is going on with this once popular bot?"
- You haven't lost at all this season. - No.
What has been the difference?
I guess we're popular again.
I... the difference has been the team,
the difference has been that the robot was done when we got here,
the difference was that we practiced like all the other teams do,
and it turns out they were on to something,
because that is the type of stuff that breeds success.
I know there were a lot of questions
by you and your team about your robot a season ago.
Now is there any question that this team can contend for the Giant Nut?
Oh, we're well on our way.
We've... we're past half way.
It's nine fights to get to the Giant Nut and we won our first five, so,
I'm feeling pretty good.
Well, up next it's MaDCatTer.
What's the key to facing a powerful robot like that?
Size.
We are taller than I think they can reach.
And I think that the reach is gonna give us the victory there.
But, it's never done until it's done.
We look forward to seeing you in the round of 16, Jonathan.
- Thank you very much. - Congratulations.
[audience cheering]
[Zach] Good job, guys.
[Chris] So the dream season continues for HUGE,
setting up a showdown with the nutty professor Martin Mason
and MaDCatTer in the round of 16.
And we say farewell to Zach Lytle and Diana Tarlson.
They always bring the passion
but is the field starting to pass them by, Kenny?
[Kenny] Yeah, they need to figure out some major off season upgrades.
I think Skorpios still has some juice in the tank
but the competition ain't getting any easier.
[Chris] Coming up, it's a matchup between kinetic killers,
as the 10th seed, Copperhead
Collides with the 23rd seed, ROTATOR.
And later on tonight, it's our first ever BattleBots postgame show,
the Road to the Giant Nut.
The captain of team Shatter, Adam Wrigley
is gonna join us to break down his violent fight with Riptide from earlier.
As well as talk about that tense moment...
- No, man. - ...with Ethan Kurtz on the driver's deck.
All right. Oh.
[Chris] Tons more tournament action coming your way here
on BattleBots.
[audience cheering]
We've got more of the round of 32
continuing here on BattleBots.
Up next, it's the 23rd seed, ROTATOR
looking to upset one of this season's heaviest hitter, Copperhead.
Let's start with Luke Quintal's squad.
Things were rolling along smoothly.
Started out 3 and 0.
Just lost its last regular season fight against
the ever-improving rookie, RIPperoni.
Where is this robot right now?
[Kenny] You know, no shame in losing to RIPperoni.
I think they are gonna be a tough bot to contend with.
But, for me, Copperhead has been
one of the more consistent robots here in the competition.
The three wins with new captain, Luke Quintal
were over an average of 61 seconds.
So, why isn't there more buzz around this bot?
Well, in the last two tournaments as a top eight seed
it went out in the round of 32, in the round of 16.
Bad luck? Or is the design not versatile enough
for a deep run?
Legacy could be on the line tonight
if it ended in early exit to ROTATOR
who has looked shaky.
Yeah, I mean, they've been the model of consistency in seasons past
but Victor Soto's robot win, loss.
- Win, loss, you know. They're a 500 team... - Right.
Three years, they've lost to the eventual champion.
He's like, "I just wanna be the champion now."
[Kenny] Yeah, in World Championship III
he got bounced by Bite Force who won it all.
He missed the tourney the next year.
But then fell to End Game in World Championship V
and Tantrum last season.
He's been so good.
If a screw balanced a slightly different way
that banner could have been his.
The team fought mechanical issues throughout the qualifier.
But given Victor's experience
don't be surprised if this is their best fight of the season.
[audience cheering]
We know Copperhead is a very tough opponent.
They have a very powerful drum robot.
I'm using the fork attachment 'cause it's a new iteration
that I've come up with this year to hopefully counteract the drum spinners.
My plan is to actually drive straight into the drum with the forks
to see if we can use their spinner's energy against them.
Maybe it'll knock them back or knock them in the air.
Hopefully, it'll flip them upside down where their
drum spinners are a little less effective against us
and use that in our favor.
The stakes are huge. Uh, BattleBots is
the most prestigious combat robot event in the world.
Uh, and this is the most important tournament ever.
ROTATOR's gonna be a tough match, um,
you know Victor's a great builder, great driver.
ROTATOR is a fantastic robot.
We have an amazing robot as well.
But of course, it's do-or-die for us.
If Copperhead's working the way it should
I think we have a really good chance.
And I think, uh, ROTATOR's probably more afraid of us than we are of him.
[audience] Fight! Fight! Fight!
You got it. Your close wedge is off.
If he comes at you just rip those end fins off.
[audience continues chanting]
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin.
Oh, Copperhead getting under ROTATOR.
[Kenny] Some big shots to Victor Soto's belly pin there, Chris.
[Chris] Yeah.
[Kenny] Got his blade fully spun up, though.
So, watch for a spin attack when he gets loose.
[Chris] Good call but Victor Soto misses
and the bots reset.
- [Kenny] Oh! - [Chris] Nice shot!
- ROTATOR back on the attack. - [Kenny exclaims]
[Chris] Takes a little bite out of the
- Copperhead's back side... - [Kenny] Oh!
...and they go weapon to weapon again.
[Kenny] Did some damage to Copperhead's tire with that shot.
[Chris] All sorts of shrapnel coming off ROTATOR there.
[Kenny] Yeah, nice shot by Luke Quintal.
The punch back, but Copperhead's
starting to gyro a bit.
Might be struggling with traction after that shot to the tire.
[Chris] Yeah. Oh, man, Luke Quintal... Whoa!
- Hey, now, you're slipping out. - [Kenny] Whoa!
[Chris] Another massive weapon to weapon shot.
Both bots seem to be in a daze after that one.
Here they are, though, squaring back up.
[Kenny] You can tell Victor Soto has his eyes on those tires.
[Kenny and Chris exclaim]
[Chris] What was that?
Keep it on, keep it on, keep it on.
- [Kenny] ROTATOR getting beat up there, though. - [Chris] Yeah.
That's more than cosmetic damage there.
[Kenny] Yeah, that chunk of metal
- hanging off ROTATOR was... - [Chris exclaims]
...protecting its left side tire.
And you can see Luke Quintal is already targeting that wheel.
[Chris] Yeah. He has the ability to take that one wheel off now.
You can see he's salivating like me at the dinner table.
[Kenny chuckles]
[Chris] ROTATOR's weapon starting to slow down.
Oh! The Copperhead keeps on punching.
that drum is still, very much alive.
In fact, here it comes.
[Kenny] Oh! Big shot.
[Chris] Under a minute thirty to go in what's been a back-and-forth fight.
Not sure if ROTATOR's weapon is working.
Oh! The Copperhead's still is.
Copperhead inverted and even without his weapon, Chris,
Victor Soto can still win this match.
We saw earlier with Lock Jaw,
as long as he's got his forks
one shot can flip the script.
[Chris] And it looks like Copperhead might be hurt.
Struggling with that right side drive.
ROTATOR down to two forks.
Both of these bots bruised and bloodied here in the round of 32
but neither will go down without a fight.
[Kenny] There's been some massive shots here. Back-and-forth.
Copperhead, their weapon still spinning, Chris.
[Chris] Victor Soto's bot still moving pretty well, though, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, ROTATOR so durable.
Still going right at Copperhead,
trying to lead with their forks.
He's gonna try to pop Copperhead up any chance he can get.
[Chris] Oh! I think ROTATOR's down to one fork now, though.
Well, we got less than 30 seconds left in this do-or-die match.
ROTATOR has lost its weapon.
Its forks and some of its armor.
Copperhead's got a busted wheel,
and continues to take massive shots.
Both teams leaving it all out there, tonight!
[Kenny] Yeah, this has been like watching two boxers go 12 rounds.
- Chris, they are gassed. - [countdown timer beeping]
[Chris] Can either get one final jab in
as the clock winds down?
They cannot.
[buzzer sounds]
[Chris] It's now the future of
both of these teams is in the hands of the judges.
Kenny, a lot of heavy punches in this one early from Copperhead.
[Kenny] No doubt. ROTATOR not afraid to stand in
and go weapon to weapon with Copperhead.
Very risky strategy.
They took some devastating shots
and ended up losing their weapon because of it.
[Chris] Yeah, when you fight two-thirds of a bout
against a bot like Copperhead without your weapon,
it's gonna be a long, long night.
[Kenny] Yeah, not sure why Victor chose to fight this one in a phone booth
but he almost pulled it off.
Did some damage to Copperhead's tire.
Tried his best to break that drum spinner.
[Chris] In terms of the scorecards
ROTATOR had its forks and armor torn up
and lost its weapon.
Copperhead, not much of a drive.
Both bots limp into the finish line
after this back-and-forth brawl.
What a fight.
- [audience cheering] - [Chris] Let's see who's moving on.
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
[man in background] Copperhead.
...Copperhead!
[Luke exclaiming]
Whoo! Luke, high five.
[Luke] Yeah!
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] Kenny, Victor Soto's had so much success in this sport.
But his quest for the holy grail, now continues.
- He'll be back and he'll be better. - No question about it.
As for the ever durable Copperhead,
just another day at the office as they advance to the round of 16
to face the winner of our next matchup.
And you may wanna lock your doors,
board up your windows
because two Giant Nut winners are about to collide.
We've got the reigning champ, Tantrum
squaring off with the neutron bomb from New Zealand,
End Game.
These two are gonna meet in the first round?
Are you kidding me?
The fight is next...
on BattleBots.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Welcome back to the BattleBots
World Championship VII tournament
where it is time for the final fight of the evening.
Here we go. It's the last two winners of the Giant Nut.
End Game from season five.
Tantrum from season six.
In a shocking turn of events,
the reigning champs finished 1 and 3 in the qualifiers
and just snuck in as the 26th seed.
That earned them a date with the 7th seeded killer Kiwis
who finished 3 and 1 and have been firing on all cylinders.
But just forget the records
because when these two go head-to-head
the results have been explosive.
[Alex] We lost to them twice, everybody knows that.
But we've had some glimmers of hope in those fights.
You watch those fights back and
there's times where Tantrum was getting the upper hand there.
[Ginger] In the Golden Bolt tournament
End Game told us that we did the most damage to them
that whole year.
There's definitely some stuff broken. Like you've...
You've probably damaged us most.
I don't think they're happy to have been drawn against Tantrum
- for the first round. - Absolutely not.
I think they're terrified.
And hopefully that'll trip 'em up.
[Nick] So, Tantrum has always given us trouble in the past.
They've given us a lot of... of issues during our fights.
We've fixed those issues that we've found in the fight.
But, I think if any robot's gonna just, you know,
point our more of them to us, it's gonna be Tantrum.
[announcer] Team Tantrum!
End Game likes to play with their front end configuration.
And that definitely gives them
an advantage in some ways.
But at the same time, I do think it affects their ability to drive
and maneuver around the box.
And we've got a smaller turning radius.
And so, End Game is gonna throw
these super long forks on the robot
and they're not gonna be able to turn as easily
and so, we'll be able to swoop around them and get to their sides.
[Jack] We are just gonna be running, uh, full coverage front.
The idea is they won't be able to get underneath us.
And our piano key wedgelets will get underneath them.
This matchup should be a complete slugfest.
Neither of us will go down without a fight.
The road to the Giant Nut begins here with Tantrum
so we're gonna have to see who is the better champion, I guess.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. We have to take out the previous champion
to become the new champion again.
[announcer] BattleBots World Champion!
[Chris] Somebody's moving on,
somebody else's dream dies right here.
I don't mean to be so morbid
but that's just the facts, people.
Let's get to it. Faruq!
[Faruq] In the red square
two cute cartoon eyes staring at you
can feel out of place
when a spinning punch comes down
from the middle of its face.
If you want a nose job it'll rearrange yours for free.
Don't worry about the cost.
It doesn't bill the dead for rhinoplasty.
It's Tantrum!
[Chris] Here come the defending champions, Tantrum.
Captain Alex Grant to the left,
Ginger Schmidt on the right.
Their biggest issue this season
has been their self-righter, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, the chain on their self-righter
has been quick to malfunction after impact.
And that's led to two of their three losses.
They've built a new guard for it in anticipation of this match.
And listen, despite its struggles
he team remains supremely confident.
Tantrum is still a brickhouse.
It runs a powerful drivetrain.
And it is absolutely still one of the most well driven machines
in the sport.
[crowd chanting] Tantrum!
[Faruq] In the blue square,
this bot shares its name with a song by Taylor Swift,
'cause he'll publicly humiliate you if he gets miffed.
He's got a long list of robots
that he's beat and maimed.
He's got a blank space, baby.
And he'll write your name.
Look what you made him do.
It's End Game!
[Chris] End Game.
Winners of World Championship V
and the inaugural Golden Bolt tournament.
And, man, these guys are cool under pressure, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, and behind the unflappable personality
are engineers that outwork nearly every other team.
They've been studying their previous Tantrum fights.
And their last match, Dillon Carey was able
to bait Jack Barker into exposing his flanks.
Do not expect to see that happen again tonight.
[Chris] All right, Kenny Florian
which of these champions has more on the line, tonight?
[Kenny] Well, I think a win here for End Game
is more of a means to an end.
Not that it matters less to them. [chuckles]
But they're determined to win a second Nut.
And Tantrum is just another object in their path.
For Ginger Schmidt and Alex Grant, though,
this is a fight that could get them back on track.
An up and down season,
has to have them feeling a little defeated
but a victory here could awaken a sleeping giant.
[robotic voice] Robots activate!
[intense music]
[Chris] There are only four modern era teams with banners in the rafters.
And half of them are inside the battle box.
Can Tantrum right the ship and pull off the upset?
Or will End Game move on to the Round of 16 for the third straight year?
It is win or go home for our last two champions,
whenBattleBots continues.
[audience cheering, applause]
[Chris] Welcome back to World Championship VII, The Round of 32.
We are moments away from a brawl that will decide
which of the last two Giant Nut winners
moves on to the Round of 16.
It's the reigning champs, Tantrum,
taking on the winner from two seasons ago, End Game.
Throw out the seeds and narratives because
two champions are about to collide.
[robotic crescendo]
[audience cheering]
[audience chanting] Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
[buzzers sounding]
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin!
Tantrum starting to circle the Kiwis.
Almost had a shot at the flanks.
[Kenny] That game was so good, those quick pivots
first got caught in the floor there though.
[Chris] Getting pushed around already by the defending champ.
[Kenny] Yeah, big horse power advantage for Tantrum.
[Chris] Going weapon to weapon.
- [Kenny] Oh! - [Chris] Ow! Tantrum doin' a nice job on End Game.
[Kenny] Trying to gnaw off the Kiwi's forks there.
[Chris] Those forks playin' a huge role so far, Kenny.
[Kenny] End Game, backin' up now. Tantrum is backside.
But Tantrum can't capitalize.
[Chris] Could have been a very costly mistake there by Jack Barker.
And look at this.
[Kenny] The reigning champ take End Game 40 feet across the box
to pin up against the wall.
And now they're locking horns kinda like a couple of wild animals.
[Chris] Tantrum is still unable to deliver the weapon.
End Game forks have been holding them at bay.
They disengage, to see if they can get a shot from the corner or from the sides.
- [Kenny] You know, End Game's really struggled-- - [crowd gasping]
[Kenny] Uh-oh, Tantrum roots the round game,
gets little bit under End Game
taking 'em for a ride.
[Chris] Oh!
[Kenny] Oh, getting underneath but they're not hitting like that.
[Chris] A good counter-shot by End Game.
[Kenny] So far though, Tantrum is doing an incredible job
at controlling this fight as both teams battle for the low ground.
[Chris] Are you surprised that they're bullying End Game a little bit?
[Kenny] Oh, look at this, another great pin here, but, no.
If you saw them compete last year, this is no surprise.
They are such a good robot, such a good team,
and Dillon Carey drives extremely well.
- Oh! - [crowd gasping]
[Chris] End Game plays a massive shot, but Tantrum is able to self-right.
[Kenny] And Tantrum did lose one of their forks in that exchange.
Let's see how that affects the battle for the ground game moving forward.
- Ohh! - [crowd gasping]
[Kenny] End Game gets right under Tantrum that time.
Dillon Carey has got to be careful here.
[Chris] Approaching the one minute mark to go.
Oh, another shot...
[Kenny] And that just snapped off Tantrum's other fork.
With no more forks they're going to have to figure out
how to attack the sides now.
[Chris] Under a minute to go,
so now the killsaws are gonna be active.
[Kenny] Oh!
[Chris] Another huge shot by that vertical spinner.
[Kenny] You can see Dillon Carey is looking for an angle here.
But Chris, I think Tantrum's weapon is down.
- [both] Oh! - [crowd exclaiming]
[Kenny] Tantrum lost an eye.
[Chris] Oh yeah, the left side of their face got ripped off.
[Kenny] Kickboxing End Game taking over now.
- [Chris] Man! - How did it come back with that powerful vertical spinner
[Chris] Well, less than 30 to go.
What is the punch for a bot half left in the tank?
[Kenny] It's still moving as fast as ever, Chris.
[Chris] End Game chasing Tantrum,
trying to do something in the last 15 seconds,
to deliver some sort of shot
to impress the judges.
[Kenny] I don't think that weapon is workin' anymore.
Chris, that's not gonna look good now.
[Chris] relegated to just pushing it around.
Did End Game do enough?
[buzzer sounds]
[Chris] We will find out as this...
goes to the judges.
- [Kenny] Oh! - [crowd exclaims]
You're gonna have to--
Yeah, that's us.
[crowd chanting] Tantrum! Tantrum! Tantrum! Tantrum!
[Chris] Kenny, it started with a lot of pushing and shoving
and that grudge match was actually being won by Tantrum.
[Kenny] Yeah, Tantrum really controlled the fight
for the first 90 seconds, but during that time
they also missed a few great opportunities to deliver shots
and if you hesitate against End Game,
eventually, it'll come back to bite you.
[Chris] About half way through End Game managed to snap off
one of Tantrum's forks and then the other.
And at that point Kenny, there wasn't a whole lot, Dillon Carey could do.
[Chris] Yeah, once Tantrum's forks were gone,
the Kiwis won virtually every engagement,
eventually breaking Tantrum's weapon.
But there was a valiant effort,
maybe the best performance, of this season.
These two champions definitely rose to the occasion tonight,
but only one can move on to the Round of 16.
Here's Faruq with the decision.
[crowd cheering]
The results from the judges are in.
[crowd cheering]
The winner by unanimous decision is...
End Game!
Whoo!
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Nick and Jack, congratulations!
The match-up of the last two Giant Nut winners,
Jack, uh, boy there was a stalemate goin' on
that first minute, huh?
Yeah, there was a lot of fork locking going on.
We sort of expected that with the conflicts we've had.
Um, but we were hoping that eventually we'd be able to
get to the side and get a good hit, which we did, so yeah.
[crowd cheering]
Yeah, they had, like a really good front end this year round
and they got us... under us a lot.
We were really scared at the very beginning.
You were getting some really good control.
You snatched up one of our forks immediately,
uh, but, uh, eventually we were able to take back,
uh, command of the match and you could see what happened.
[crowd cheering]
- Congratulations, guys. - [both] Thank you.
[Chris] Ginger and Alex, I know this season didn't go the way you wanted it to,
but still, Ginger you have to be very proud,
you've made it the full three minutes here
even though you were taking some serious shots.
Every time we fight End Game, we get a little closer to winning
and who knows, maybe next time we'll get it.
I think it's clear this time we did even better
than we did last time, so we've got a lot of room
to grow and we're gonna do that.
[crowd cheering]
[applauding]
[Chris] Alex and Ginger, you have been more than worthy
and classy champions.
Congratulations on a remarkable run.
Let's hear it, for team Tantrum.
[cheering, applause]
[Chris] All right. So, the reigning champs, Tantrum,
won't hoist the trophy again this season,
and the former champs, End Game, are off and running.
They now advance to the Round of 16 for a date with Copperhead.
Now, this is usually the time we say goodbye, but oh, no, no,
we are doing something special
throughout the entire post season.
It is the debut of the Road to the Giant Nut.
So, we're gonna be joined by Adam Wrigley of team Shatter.
We're gonna do our first botopsy,
where we look inside the robot to show us exactly
what went wrong during tonight's fight.
We're also gonna talk to a couple of captains
that'll square off next week as we complete the Round of 32.
That's gonna be a blast.
It'll be Jamison Go of SawBlaze,
and Aren Hill of Blip.
Plus, we'll break down what we have seen,
what we're gonna see next week,
we're gonna be very busy.
Are you okay to work a little overtime?
I'm ready, man. Let's do this.
We'll see you on the Road to the Giant Nut.
Hold tight, everybody.
[cheering and applause]
Hey, everybody. Get on in here.
It's the first ever edition of the Road to the Giant Nut.
It is the BattleBots, Round of 32, post-game show.
Kenny Florian and Chris Rose along for the ride.
We're gonna break down what happened tonight.
We'll look ahead to the rest of the Round of 32
and Adam Wrigley from team Shatter will join us
with his... nearly-decapitated robot.
Kenny Florian, what did we see tonight? What caught your eye?
We saw a lot of great fights.
I guess, just HUGE. They were looking so dominant.
I haven't seen them make a mistake all season,
uh, and I think they have a great match-up.
I think they can go very, very far in this tournament.
Anybody likes HUGE, out there?
- [crowd cheering] - [Chris] Yeah.
I shouldn't have to ask you.
Whenever we say HUGE, you should all go nuts.
Let's try one more time.
- [crowd cheering] - [Chris] See, now that's much better.
The fans are following along, yeah.
Some really impressive wins.
You had HUGE.
Witch Doctor I thought looked great.
Copperhead was a beast
We just saw the reigning champ, Tantrum, fall to End Game.
MaDCatTer with the upset of Claw Viper.
cut its Cinderella run short.
and of course, another display of dominance by the top seed
on this side of the bracket.
Ethan Kurtz and Riptide
Boy, do they look scary.
[crowd cheering]
Oh, I love the carnage. I love the twisted metal.
Unless of course, you're on the wrong side of things.
So, unfortunately, this is one of the bots that is bidding adieu to us.
- So, put your hands together for the 31st seed... - [chuckling]
...Shatter!
[crowd cheering and applause]
Push, push Adam Wrigley.
Push!
Good God!
- [Chris] Come on. - Wow.
[Chris] Step on up here.
Uh, unfortunately, a loser to the two-seed Riptide.
Is your bot okay?
Well, I mean, it's seen better days I think.
[crowd laughs]
[Adam] There's a lot of broken parts on it.
But, it was really impressive until it stopped, I thought.
[chuckles]
[Chris] Kenny and I, both thought it was...
...the best that it had performed all year, no?
Absolutely, well again, you know,
I think you had trouble dialing in that hammer earlier in the season.
This time, you were hitting as precise as ever, man.
It was looking great.
Yeah, I think, um, you know, early in the season
we couldn't get the drive working,
so, aim was really difficult.
In this fight, we finally got the drive
pretty much dialed in, allowing us to get the hammer
where we wanted it to be.
And then, we were firing hard, the hammerhead stayed on,
despite all those impacts.
The billet was taking all the hits,
and we were bouncing practically off the ceiling, so.
We're really happy to see it, come out and perform, how we knew it could.
- Can we get into the cool stuff? - [Adam chuckles]
I know it's not that cool for you when you lose.
Come on up here, I wanted to show... what happened...
What happened to this?
[Adam] So, um, our robot uses what we call a blade of armor,
which is all these plastic parts around the outside.
Um, they get torn up by the weapons and theoretically,
that applies a less of a force to the robot.
If they get completely torn off,
it reveals the frame underneath.
So, this piece was here,
um, was protecting us pretty okay until it was gone.
- And then, um, they did that to the frame. - [Chris] Wow.
[Adam] Um, so when the frame gets dented like that,
it takes one of our wheels off the ground, it jams it.
Basically, it turns it into a brake, it makes driving a lot harder.
Adam, what's the frame made out of? Just so people get
a perspective of like how strong this thing is.
Yeah, so this is a... we call it a billet frame.
It's made out of a solid block of 6061 aluminum.
After it's machined, it still weighs about 65 pounds or so,
and it's just tearing it up like nothing.
The forces in the battle box are insane.
You know, when you see a 250-pound robot
bouncing 10-feet off the wall,
imagine how much energy that takes and, you know,
if you dropped something from 10 feet in the air,
you don't generally expect it to survive.
So, just putting on a good show and making a robot
that can survive like that, for as long as it did is,
you know, it makes us a little proud.
- [Kenny] This is unbelievable. - [crowd cheering]
[Kenny] This is our first ever botopsy, by the way, on the air.
Why don't we come back around the table real quick.
- I do want to say one thing. - What's that?
The hammerhead stayed on.
- Yay! Look at that thing. - [crowd cheering]
- [Chris] You're such a good boy. - [all laughing]
[Chris] Nice work. Is that... old Rusty?
- [Adam] This one's new Rusty. - [Chris] New Rusty.
- Sorry, I get them very confused. - Yeah.
- Different social security brackets. - Oh.
Um, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this.
But the post-match, no handshake.
Why?
So, uh, you know, I don't handshake people
who insult me during their interview.
That's just my thing.
Like, I didn't feel like they were sporting when they did that,
so I didn't feel like there was a need to do a handshake.
How much did it hurt, when he said what he said?
Well, here's the thing.
You know, that team has always been very nice to us
in the pits to our team, but I hear a lot of things
from other teams about them not being so nice.
And so, I hear a lot of rumors about them,
maybe exceeding the tip speed limit or playing games with the scale.
So, I'm gonna make sure to follow up on that
because I don't like people if they cheat.
Now, I don't know if they are or not,
but when I have a lot of people telling you that,
I'm gonna follow up on it.
I don't think that was paranoia.
I think that when you're bolting stuff on your robot
behind the wall here, when you're not supposed to,
it's a little suspicious.
When you weigh in at 250 and then after touching your robot
weigh in at 248, it's a little weird.
So, I don't know what they're doin'.
I can't prove anything.
I have a lot of people telling me things,
and I just try to follow up on it.
So, you know, they have every right to be annoyed at me for that, I suppose.
But, when you call me out on air, you know...
- That's... - We understand.
Uh, for the record, they had made weight, they had made the speed
- just need to let everybody out there know. - Yep.
- Um, it might be a little too raw right now... - [chuckles]
Is Riptide a team that can win this whole thing?
- Uh, [scoffs] yes. - [all laughing]
[crowd cheering]
I think they put on quite the show today. No one can deny that.
Uh, that weapon is even more painful than last season.
[Chris] Who is winning this thing?
- [exhales] I know who I want to win, I want-- - Do tell.
- I want Quantum to win. - [Chris] Really?
Why's that?
It's just so cool.
- It's so beautiful. - It is beautiful.
- It is really. - And it doesn't have a spinner on it.
[chuckles]
- The brothers Cooper... - Yeah.
...they're pretty good, pretty talented.
I think best driver in the world, behind Quantum.
[Chris] Really, Grant Cooper?
- Amazing driver. - Wow, interesting.
Uh, I know that this isn't the way you wanted
your season to end, but what do you take away from this?
We wanted to go a bit further, but
- at least we made the play-offs, right? - [Chris] Heck yeah, man.
- Yeah. - You're going back to Brooklyn now.
It's always great, seeing ya.
Let's hear it for the one and only,
Adam Wrigley of team Shatter.
- Thanks for hangin' out, man. Appreciate it. - Thanks for having me.
[crowd cheering]
All right, when we come back, we're gonna break down
the other side of the bracket in the Round of 32,
we got much more coming your way
here on the Road to the Giant Nut.
The first time we've ever done it.
And people love us.
Well they love him. You know what I mean.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] We are gonna have a new champion
- and its name is, Tantrum. - [crowd cheering]
[Alex] Winning a Giant Nut is great.
Being able to repeat that success is,
really, really, really hard.
[Faruq] The winner by unanimous decision is
End Game!
We had issue after issue with the robot
that we had resolved between matches.
We were having drive issues,
there were some issues with the weapon.
Had issues with the self-righter.
We are thrown into the toughest of the tough opponents,
that we had to figure it out.
We don't get a pillow fight to figure out these issues.
We're happy as a team, that we still showed up
with what we thought was the right robot,
but disappointed that we didn't quite hit the mark.
[Ginger] We were able to deliver a pretty dominant win against HYDRA,
which again re-affirmed our win last season
and no one can ever take that Giant Nut away from us.
Tantrum's banner is in the rafters
and it'll hang there forever,
no matter what happened this season.
And we're really, really proud of that.
[crowd cheering]
We are back here to continue on with the first ever edition
of the Road to the Giant Nut.
You like the name of the show? Are you okay with it?
I'm cool with it.
Yeah, I mean, we basically have to run everything past
- Kenny Florian since he is the president of the show... - [chuckling]
...of you know, the network, everything.
Let's hear it for Kenny Florian, 'cause he doesn't get clapped for enough.
- [audience clapping] - Yeah, yeah.
So, we saw the first half of the Round of 32 completed tonight.
Let's take a look at the bracket that we'll see next week.
The single elimination action will continue in quadrants one and four.
Of course, headline by the big dog, or should I say the big bull,
the number one overall seed Minotaur,
will face Reese Ewert's Fusion,
the vicious bird, Cobalt,
is gonna go head-to-head with Monsoon,
Adam Wrigley's favorite to win it all, Quantum,
has drawn a dangerous 28-seeded Ribbot.
We got the likely rookie of the RIPperoni facing Black Dragon,
HYDRA versus DeathRoll and so much more.
There's a lot of mean robots
that we will see here on BattleBots.
[Kenny] Yeah, unbelievable. Both the brackets just ridiculous.
All right, well let's get to one of the match-ups
that we'll see next week.
It's the eight versus 25.
Let's welcome in the captains of SawBlaze and Blip,
Jamison Go, Aren Hill. Get on in here.
[crowd cheering]
[applause]
- [Chris] Scooch over. Make room. - [Kenny] Oh, sorry, sorry.
- Hi, guys. - Hi, Jamison.
This is the awkward, handshake portion of the program.
- How are you? - Happy to be here for it.
- Good, good. - We're all right.
What's your history? You guys friends or...
Do you not like each other or what's the deal?
He's actually... I've competed with him before
at Norwalk Havoc, a smaller competition.
- [Chris] Oh. - I got to help him out some.
He won that championship.
He was in my pit crew. I mean, because of him
we won the first prize in 30 lbs.
and he did a lot of good repairs for me.
I just put it back together.
- He kept getting it wrecked. - Yeah.
I heard that Jamison is very jealous of you
'cause you won the Giant Nut last year with Tantrum
and he really hates your guts.
- Is that true? - [all laughing]
I get that vibe occasionally.
No, no. I got nothing but respect for the robots
that this guy and his team put out.
Who wants to spill the beans, what's the strategy next week?
Go...
I'm saying "go."
- For Go? - You, as in.
[all laughing]
- Go, go. - All right, all right, all right,
I've thought about this very carefully,
I'm planning on winning.
[crowd laughs]
That's how we're gonna do it.
I did that the last time I faced him and it worked.
- [Kenny] Yeah, that's true. - Whoa.
Hit them more than they hit you,
and stay standing at the end.
I don't think that's fair, because I think people
like to find out a little bit of strategy,
what's going on in their brain...
You guys wanna hear some strategy?
- [crowd cheering] - Of course, you do.
Yeah, I do.
You know what, here's what were' gonna do.
We're gonna put earphones on one of you...
[Kenny] Yeah, let's hear it for Bob the Builder,
who's here to deliver...
This is what? Nice job, Bob. Thank you.
There you go, put these on.
- Me first. - Yeah.
Now beat it. Why don't you go look at the battle box.
I couldn't hear you.
[Jamison] Okay.
- Just stay right there. - [laughing]
[Chris] How do you beat him?
Uh, last time I would, uh, scoop him every time
get him upset, get him tumblin', get him...
He's very much... you get him out of his groove and it's easier to keep him there.
So, it's all about that first interaction to me.
Does this require a special attachment or... yeah.
We're trying some things in qualifiers.
Didn't quite play how we wanted, but went through
and re-manufactured some entirely new stuff
- just for this fight. - Cool.
Basically, it's a kind of a combo of four piano keys setup.
- So, is this something new, that he hasn't seen before? - Correct.
- Oh. - Ooh.
We've got our... we have our tent in the pits.
He has no idea what's coming out of there.
- [Chris] Oh, that's nice. - And it's bothering him a lot.
[Chris whispering] Let's see. I'm gonna sneak up onto him.
- Come on. - [Kenny laughs]
Come on, Jamison. You couldn't hear a thing right?
You can take 'em off.
Oh, I couldn't hear anything.
[all laughing]
There you go. Borrow these.
Why don't you go hang in the crowd or something.
Yeah, there you go Aren Hill.
- [crowd cheering] - [laughing]
[Chris] Yup, there he goes.
What is the key to beating Blip?
Hmm, well, it's all good flippers. They require the ground game,
something that we usually are pretty good at.
They need to get underneath us,
they need to flip us, to disrupt us.
And to that end, we put a lot of work into making sure
that we... our fork game is even better than in the HYDRA fight.
And we've got a little something special for him too.
He's never seen... the world has never seen
a SawBlaze that performance like this.
[Kenny] Interesting.
Out of all the robots, is the flipper bot
the most challenging one for you guys?
Uh, we're always worried about the stackable damage
over time from some of these spinning robots.
Flippers are underappreciated. They cause a lot of damage,
on the launch and on the return and you know,
there's not that many of them.
You face a flipper and it is kind of like
a learning experience every time you go in there.
So, we had a good amount of practice in the HYDRA fight
and we're hoping to execute everything that we learned in this fight.
[Chris] You know what, let's bring in...
Somebody tap Aren on the shoulder.
He can come back and play.
Come on here, buddy.
- Aren wants a tap in? - Not that he can hear that.
You can take those off.
You couldn't hear a thing, right?
I understand basic gestures.
- [Chris] Is that what it was? - Yeah.
[Chris] We can't wait to see the eight versus 25 match-up
next week as we continue with the Round of 32.
Let's hear it for Blip captain, Aren Hill,
and Jamison Go of team SawBlaze.
Gentlemen, thank you very much, we appreciate...
- Aww... - [Kenny] The handshake.
Bye guys.
- Take care. - See you guys.
We wish you luck.
Hey listen. This was a lot of fun on the Road to the Giant Nut.
The first one we have ever done.
We'll be doing this throughout the post seasons.
So, thanks for joining us here on the journey.
We will finish up the Round of 32 next week,
right here on BattleBots.
World Championship VIII.
Thanks for tuning in.
[crowd cheering]
Good-bye.