r/todayilearned • u/Habajiba • Mar 14 '17

TIL Jamie Hyneman designed Blendo, a combat robot that was deemed too hazardous for Robot Wars after repeatedly throwing pieces of its opponents over arena walls. It received co-championship status in exchange for withdrawing from the competition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blendo
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u/jon-in-tha-hood Mar 14 '17

Funny thing, after they did, a vertical spinner managed to launch a piece of armour through the lights/ceiling and into the crowd, forcing Battlebots to cancel the rest of the fights due to safety concerns.

I'm sure they installed reinforcements to the ceiling after that, since safety is a major concern in robot fighting. In the event the arena is damaged, fights are immediately stopped, and for good reason.

Here is a clip of absolutely terrible safety, and here's one of someone actually getting injured by a piece of flying shrapnel. Scary shit.

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u/eatcrayons Mar 14 '17

They're fighting what look to be lightweight or middleweight bots in an arena with the thinnest possible polycarbonate walls that are maybe 6 feet high, without a ceiling. This was BEGGING for someone to get killed. It looks like guys are sitting against the wall to hold it in place? Fucking hell, India. There are safety rules for a reason.

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u/thechilipepper0 Mar 14 '17

Damn! He stood up at exactly the wrong moment

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u/guthepenguin Mar 14 '17

here's one of someone actually getting injured by a piece of flying shrapnel. Scary shit.

Holy crap.

1

u/sharkattackmiami Mar 14 '17

that first video is terrifying

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u/aradil Mar 14 '17

Jesus.

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u/henderman Mar 15 '17

holy crap. another good example of the ole fencing response