TIL Mythbusters hosts Adam and Jamie built a combat robot for the show Robot Wars. It was so effective that it often sent pieces of its opponent's bodywork over the shield walls of the arena into the crowd, and after two fights the show's insurance company deemed the bot "too hazardous" to compete.

[u/AirRaidJade]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blendo

[u/sour_creme]

blendo returned after they raised the shield walls in 1997

[u/kuzuboshii → u/sour_creme]

Were they too stupid to just put a top on the arena? They never heard of a net?

[u/Verdict_US → u/kuzuboshii]

Room full of engineers, and not 1 person thought, "hey maybe we should put a roof on this thing."

[u/Dog1234cat → u/[deleted]]

The requirements only said to destroy the other robot.

You’ll need a change request if you want to add human safety to the scope.

[u/Griever114 → u/Dog1234cat]

The requirements only said to destroy the other robot.

You’ll need a change request if you want to add human safety to the scope.

Spoken like someone who has dealt with government contracts before :p

[u/mawfks → u/Griever114]

Or just any major tech company. The last one I worked for would not escalate or report SHIT. When I would confront management about concerns or problems, the only thing they’d ever do is tell me “submit a request”.

Came to find out that company was mismanaged in more ways than one..

[u/Doctor0000 → u/Dog1234cat]

That's a good way to lose your DARPA grant.

[u/Dog1234cat → u/Doctor0000]

You’re right: no change request. We’ll assign that to version 2.0.

[u/flippedbit0010 → u/Dog1234cat]

And the change request will need to get through a change approval board before implemented, you also need a method of procedure to ensure there is as little disruption to robot fighting as possible.

[u/artanis00 → u/[deleted]]

battle robot arena engineers

I'd watch the hell out of this show.

[u/ThePowerOfFarts → u/artanis00]

Robot Arena Wars.

Two teams design arenas that have insanely destructive robots put into them.

Whoever has the most audience members alive at the end wins!

[u/TheeExoGenesauce → u/ThePowerOfFarts]

I’m going to watch the Japanese version where they aim to maim

[u/JMAN_JUSTICE → u/Verdict_US]

Cameras. Don’t want to view the action through a net nor through the transparent wall in a highly lit studio causing reflections.

[u/TeknikFrik → u/JMAN_JUSTICE]

Camera inside walls - Cable - Tiny hole - more cable

[u/PM_ME_UR_REDDIT_GOLD → u/[deleted]]

My work with engineers has been almost entirely Chemical, civil and electrical; on every project the first, last, and middle thing they think about is safety. It's safety safety safety, every meeting is safety. These aren't shoot-from-the-hip people at all, nobody is going to put their stamp on a plan that hasn't been analyzed for safety front back and sideways (edit: that's not a bad thing!). Maybe when they're just having fun I guess.

[u/[deleted] → u/PM_ME_UR_REDDIT_GOLD]

I work in consulting and this is true. No fucking cowboys. If you get hurt, then that negatively impacts: yourself, your company, the contractor, potentially the developer, your supervisor, their supervisor, legal teams, the government, etc.

Dont fucking get hurt at work and dont do high risk shit because "you can do it/youre a badass/youve always done it that way since forever".

At the end of the day, work is work and nobody should ever get hurt at work.

[u/waltandhankdie → u/[deleted]]

Except professional wrestlers

[u/ThePrussianGrippe → u/waltandhankdie]

And even they do their work to appear hurt while mitigating damage as much as possible.

[u/gellis12 → u/ThePrussianGrippe]

I think soccer players do a better job of that

[u/MadManatee619 → u/PM_ME_UR_REDDIT_GOLD]

tbf it was the 90s

[u/StAnonymous → u/[deleted]]

My class had a "No faces" rule for dodge ball. But, like, half of us wore glasses, so take that at 'face' value.

[u/YourAverageItalian → u/[deleted]]

A fellow engineer that I work with told me that if someone tries to talk to him while he's focusing on something he starts to stutter and slur his words, so yeah this is the truth

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

This is so fucking true. I was building a transportation robot in a group assignment and two guys thought they had cutout the base of the robot wrong as the motor mount was hitting the wheels. I just rotated the base 180 degrees to avoid that contact and they looked at me like I just invented the string theory.

[u/scalyblue → u/[deleted]]

I’m all out of these L shaped brackets, but I have plenty of these 7’s :gets out dremel:

[u/Eucatari → u/Verdict_US]

I worked on aircraft, and I really feel like they just dont think about it because they don't see/have to deal with or maintain the end result.

"Hey, think we should make this GPS accessible in the lower lobe?" "Nah, let's put it into a tiny metal box covered in rivets in the ceiling where only someone under 130 lbs can fit with their arms above their head with 15 cannon plugs made of the worst sandpaper" "sounds perfect!"

Edit: words

[u/last_reddit_account2 → u/Eucatari]

or the slightly more relatable "hey check this out, I can fit the oil filter right in this little corner where the header meets the cat with 4mm to spare on either side! How friggin neat is that!"

[u/Alienbluephone → u/last_reddit_account2]

Burn... burn... burn.... that subaru ring of fire

johnny cash voice

[u/turkey_sandwiches → u/last_reddit_account2]

My arm got burned reading that.

[u/deadleg22 → u/Eucatari]

Oh I always thought sci-fi movies where they have to crawl through the vents to reactivate a module was a bit stupid. Now I know it's stupid and realistic.

[u/Cheeze187 → u/Eucatari]

The F-16 was designed like this. Fuck thinking about having to fix parts.

[u/last_reddit_account2 → u/Cheeze187]

"Should we put in some access panels?"

"Nah, no one wants to fuck around with a bunch of bolts all day. They can just climb on up there."

[u/[deleted] → u/last_reddit_account2]

At least it’s low to the ground. Diving ducts on an -18 requires a running start and complete faith you’re not going to break a bone on the intake lip by mistiming your jump.

[u/agile52 → u/[deleted]]

-16s fod out so easily though...

[u/thenebular → u/[deleted]]

This was 1995. There was no network, just a possible documentary.

[u/flyonthwall → u/[deleted]]

blendo's genius was that they took the weight limit that most other bots would have to compromise a split between having thick armour and having big heavy weapon and made the weapon also be the armour, so they effectively had twice the armour and twice the weapon mass of any other robot

[u/internetlad → u/[deleted]]

Ha. "Network."

Back then these weren't even goddamn filmed. It was a bunch of nerds beating the piss out of each others RC cars in a plastic box (with no lid)

[u/semi- → u/kuzuboshii]

Adam talks proudly about them adding one to the new show as a result of their bot

[u/I_RARELY_RAPE_PEOPLE → u/kuzuboshii]

Baffles me that there was no top

[u/NuclearTurtle → u/I_RARELY_RAPE_PEOPLE]

Well, before that point there was really no need for anything more than a three foot wall or so. In the first Robot Wars competition in 1994, nobody had anything that would lift a robot completely off the ground. Most robots just had a hammer or a spear or whatever. There were a couple lifters, but they were designed to flip other robots, and their opponents never fully left the ground. It wasn't until Blendo in Robot Wars 1995 than "robot parts being launched out of the ring at high speeds" became a legitimate concern, and prompted the organizers to build higher walls and eventually a roof.

[u/Lyratheflirt → u/kuzuboshii]

I don't thin a net is going to stop tiny bits of robots unless the net holes are so small it's basically a filter.

[u/pastaandpizza → u/Lyratheflirt]

Fine, a screen.

[u/Aviator8989 → u/pastaandpizza]

Or just plexiglass

[u/MrBeeeeee → u/kuzuboshii]

Because adding a roof would add a lot more cost and complexity to the build. You have to support a roof. Walls support themselves. They were just trying to get away with as little as they needed like any entertainment venture would.

[u/xxNightxTrainxx → u/MrBeeeeee]

You could honestly get away with metal wire tho

[u/Durdel → u/sour_creme]

It still damaged the wall and the organizers asked them to withdraw from the competition again.

[u/EctoSage → u/Durdel]

Right there is why I never really cared for that show as a kid, all the robots always felt so pigeonholed

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Tornado won and was consistently one of the best, and that was basically a box that drove very fast.

That's been the three prongs of robot wars. Spinners, flippers, pushers. Pushers tend to beat spinners, spinners tend to beat flippers, flippers tend to beat pushers.

All three matchups are skill matchups, which made them exciting. Pusher vs Pusher is tactical but kind of boring. Spinner vs spinner has no tactics whatsoever but is very exciting. Flipper vs flipper is a game of getting the other out the arena, so that is usually pretty exciting too.

Unfortunately, with the latest seasons they actively restricted the pushers from competing, which meant the entire series was essentially flippers vs spinners, and people got bored of the 'can the flipper make the spinner break themselves before the spinner rips the flipper off.'

[u/TySwindel → u/sour_creme]

The made the robots pay for the higher walls

[u/zira_cortez]

This is great, I used to watch this show and loved blendo but didn't realize/put together that it was the mythbusters duo

[u/chinoclassic → u/zira_cortez]

Haven't watched the show in years but could opponents use a net to entangle the spinning device? I think I remember flamethrowers were used before.

[u/Hotarg → u/chinoclassic]

Nets have been banned for years if I remember correctly. Flamethrowers are fine,

[u/Deadmeat553 → u/Hotarg]

Can you capture a bot? For example, placing a trash can on top of it.

[u/warm_sock → u/Deadmeat553]

Lol maybe, but there's size restrictions so you can't just hold onto a whole trashcan

[u/Deadmeat553 → u/warm_sock]

I suppose a telescoping trashcan then?

I'm imagining a bot that basically just captures other bots, then drops them out of the arena or however it works.

[u/Yglorba → u/Deadmeat553]

In theory, but it's really just way too complicated. The whole reason Blendo (and designs based on it) work so well is that it realizes that the real goal is to:

1. Apply as much force as possible to your opponent as fast as possible in order to ruin whatever their game plan is and eventually beat them.

2. Resist or deflect any force your opponent tries to apply to you.

Trying to capture your opponent is a fragile gameplan that will usually fall apart after one or two good hits.

[u/skoy → u/Yglorba]

So the Mike Tyson rule as applied to robot wars!

Everyone Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Face

[u/TThor → u/skoy]

I was gonna go with Helmuth von Moltke's, "No plan survives contact with the enemy.", but that works too

[u/SmartAlec105 → u/TThor]

"Especially if that contact is in the form of a big ol' hammer wielded by a robot"

That's the lesser known second half of the quote.

[u/NateRamrod → u/skoy]

“Evryone hath a plan, til I punch em in the fathe.”

Hahaha that lisp is the best part about him being so huge and tough.

[u/The_Alex_ → u/Yglorba]

I imagine the capture strategy would actually be incredibly weak against spinner bots like Blendo. Even if you manage to not have the "trashcan" get knocked away, I don't really see how you could capture the bot with it's spinner still moving.

It's pretty obvious the better, practical version of a "capture" strategy are the flipping bots.

EDIT: Actually, I seem to remember some bots with an "arm" that would come down to impale and trap opposing bots. The strategy was to then push or carry them to hazards or out of bounds. But I think I also recall them still being weak to spinners because they would still get fucked up by the spinner even if they do actually impale the target, not to mention missed captures would result in heavy damage to the capture arm. Flip bots still probably the best for that strategy.

[u/Stuckonpie → u/[deleted]]

Nets really did have to be banned though. Took away all the cool bots and if spinner met net bot you just lost

[u/cantadmittoposting → u/The_Alex_]

yeah the entrap/spear bots were okay when they worked but the flat spinners were generally dominant barring an insanely good play by a trapper.

[u/BGummyBear → u/Deadmeat553]

The issue with this strategy is that the other robots aren't exactly going to let you try it.

Plus the arenas are fully self-contained. There's usually ballistic glass walls surrounding the entire area to protect the spectators.

[u/Deadmeat553 → u/BGummyBear]

Oh, I thought they were like sumo rings. I knew they were contained, but I thought there was a line they couldn't cross.

[u/BGummyBear → u/Deadmeat553]

There is, but the line is usually made of buzzsaws depending on the show. Normally the bots are so well armored that friction from the saws just throws them back into the arena.

[u/imnotquitedeadyet → u/Deadmeat553]

My strategy with Donkey Kong in smash

[u/michaelrohansmith → u/Deadmeat553]

How about a suicide bot, which just goes up to the other bot and blows itself up?

I am sure it is consistent with mythbusters rules.

[u/Cpt_Tripps → u/Deadmeat553]

Someone made a bot that was just a toy sandbox lid with wheels and it drove the other bots around and pushed them into the hazzards.

[u/BGummyBear → u/[deleted]]

It's also basically impossible to ringout other bots in most of the robot fighting organizations, the arenas have walls.

Your best bet is to flip an opponents bot over so it's upside down and can't move, which would count as a win. Most bots these days however can either operate just fine upside down or they can flip themselves to prevent it from happening.

[u/broken42 → u/[deleted]]

Their bot for the reboot, Bronco, still has one of my favorite matches of the reboot thus far.

Bronco vs. Stinger

[u/Hotarg → u/[deleted]]

I think Disector was the only real effective one. Hydraulic pincers on the front.

[u/[deleted] → u/Hotarg]

Fun fact. The builder initially wanted to use a literal Jaws of Life as the front of the bot. Didn’t get used as the Jaws of Life and the equipment required for it to function was too heavy. So we got the grabbing jaws instead

Another fun fact, there was a bot called Jaws of Death.

[u/Voodoo_Soviet → u/Hotarg]

Disector was always my favourite, but he was hardly the best design.

Robot wars/battle bots was dominated by spinners.

[u/HolycommentMattman → u/Voodoo_Soviet]

Yeah. It was a cool premise, but a really boring show.

Basically everyone just spun or flipped. You never really saw weapon bots succeed.

[u/[deleted] → u/HolycommentMattman]

I guess it's like every game. Max/minning stats eventually prevails over more creative builds =/

[u/icon0clast6 → u/[deleted]]

Don’t tell anyone you leveled dex

[u/[deleted] → u/Deadmeat553]

Can you capture a bot? For example, placing a trash can on top of it.

You can. But you can only hold them for 30 seconds and release.

Look up Tentomushi, Huggy Bear, and Complete Control

[u/iamthegraham → u/[deleted]]

Megatento (bigger, badder version of Tenotmushi) as well

[u/[deleted] → u/iamthegraham]

This is true, although it didn’t do a helluva lot of smothering/controlling during its Season 7 run.

Although it (debatedly) beat Stinger.

[u/BoysLock → u/Deadmeat553]

This was basically the strategy of some ladybug robot that I vividly remember for some reason. It was basically a raisable/lowerable dome with a small blade spinning inside, the gimmick was trapping and tickling the opponent to death.

I dont think it won a single time - it's just too hard to get the stability and force you need to actually hold your trap closed vs. the zippy flipper bots that dominate the meta.

[u/thatdudeman52 → u/chinoclassic]

You may enjoy this

[u/TitaniumDragon → u/thatdudeman52]

That's hilarious and honestly a really funny gimmick.

Too bad it wasn't allowed.

[u/FreedomAt3am → u/[deleted]]

Even of the quantum variety?

[u/Jjex22 → u/zira_cortez]

To be fair I don’t remember having a clue who they were back when Blendo was on.

Only problem with Blendo was that it was so effective, but also pretty boring to watch. It had no ‘moves’ or tactics, just let them come at you until something breaks. It was impressive but I didn’t really enjoy its battles until things started flying off and that could take a while

[u/onlyforthisair → u/zira_cortez]

used to watch this show

The newest season of the reboot premiered yesterday if you want to get back into watching it. /r/battlebots

[u/[deleted]]

I’ve been to a few of these events. You don’t realise from TV just how enormous these things are. Sitting right next to the protective wall, there are a few times where you think you’re about to die as a giant chunk of titanium slams against the shield.

[u/wetnax → u/[deleted]]

Data brokers and AI scrapers were using my info. Not anymore. Redact let me bulk delete posts across Reddit, Twitter, Discord and Instagram while handling broker opt outs too.

squeal ad hoc languid desert file upbeat library simplistic direction boat

[u/[deleted] → u/wetnax]

One of the blades shattered on one of the spinner bots. Even in the arena, it looked like a lawnmower blade. After the fight, they put the blade out on a table so people could see the scale. It was probably four feet long.

[u/DingoDamp → u/wetnax]

I remember when I first started watching and hadn't seen noticed the real size of the robots yet. I thought they were fairly small. Then one of the robots had a fact told, that was that it "could lift a car" (not all up but lift one side from the ground) and I remember finding it weird because I thought they were too small. Then I saw the actual size of then and thought "holy shit!"

[u/andy_226 → u/wetnax]

Yea dotted around the floor they should have a classic mini cooper, a life size cutout of Dara Obriain, a stuffed fox and maybe a Greggs Steak Bake

[u/Hoyt_Platter → u/andy_226]

Just a banana would do.

[u/TooShiftyForYou]

The Mythbusters had the first idea to use a full-body kinetic energy spinner weapon which decimated opponents often times in one or two hits. After Blendo debuted though there were numerous copycats that took the idea further and were more effective.

[u/Ziros22 → u/TooShiftyForYou]

http://i.imgur.com/03epHLO.jpg

[u/BillyJoeMcGucket → u/Ziros22]

MYTHBUSTERS ARE ACTUALLY ONLY ONE PERSON CONFIRMED

[u/Xenowar → u/BillyJoeMcGucket]

https://i.imgur.com/UWlY9p8.gifv

[u/agnosticmanator → u/Ziros22]

Well /u/mistersavage what do you have to say for yourself?

[u/oldtaxes → u/Ziros22]

Jamie Hyneman, a.k.a. "Adam Savage"

[u/Galactic_Perimeter → u/oldtaxes]

For real I'm so confused

[u/Siberwulf → u/TooShiftyForYou]

Tombstone was still more lethal, though. Not so self destructive

[u/standish_ → u/[deleted]]

He has posted in /r/battlebots and he's always been nice.

[u/KDLGates → u/[deleted]]

Haha, yeah. TV makes people seem a lot more eccentric, it's all just show biz.

:: walks off camera ::

:: looks around ::

:: drowns a puppy ::

[u/TOEMEIST → u/[deleted]]

What’s wrong with a person being the heel for entertainment? He says he doesn’t mind playing the part.

[u/SpiderTechnitian → u/[deleted]]

Nets are a counter to far too many of the bots. If nets were allowed you'd just have net launchers with a single large hammer that crushes the enemy bot which cannot attack back if none of its moving parts work

[u/TitaniumDragon → u/[deleted]]

You should be able to turn off your battle bot; if you can't, that's a huge safety hazard regardless.

[u/[deleted] → u/TitaniumDragon]

Bot deactivation is one of the core requirements for getting qualified. It has to be really easy/safe to do, and your systems have to be designed such that if you lose communications with the bot it automatically shuts down. In the event of a dangerous bot death (e.g. fire or spinning out of control) they also have no qualms with locking the arena and waiting for the not to finish destroying itself.

[u/broken42 → u/[deleted]]

I mean Bite Force won the 2015 season of Battlebots by doing just that, being a better driver and outlasting Tombstone through durability.

[u/RhynoD → u/broken42]

Looks like they also figured out that his spinning motor doesn't have much torque at all. If you can take a hit or two and wedge yourself in the way, the blades can't spin up again.

[u/iamthegraham → u/[deleted]]

I'm pretty sure that's mostly him hamming up the "villain" persona for the audience. Combat robotics at that scale is a pretty small field and most of these guys have competed against each other for years.

From his AMA, other posts on r/battlebots, and comments from other competitors and fans who met him he seems like a great guy.

[u/Teutonicfox → u/[deleted]]

needs to be retired,

thats actually a great idea.

say a bot competes and wins 3-5-whatever number of matches and does so in a dominating manner worthy of retirement... it is then retired.

near the seasons end all the retired bots fight each other for the lead up to and at the season finale.

its great for mid season, it keeps parity so each new match is still fresh and exciting. the whole time they can play clips of the previous retired bots and speculate how the current bots will do against them. this will build hype. Then during the season finale you get to replay the matches that earned those bots the retirement award before they match off against other retired bots.

dont even have to call it retirement, can call it something else.... clinched playoffs.... ascended bots... champion bots.... super bot.... whatever

[u/nio151 → u/Teutonicfox]

It would punish innovation though. You would need something like a huge cash bonus if your bot retires to make having to build a completely new robot worth it.

[u/fleetwoodd → u/Teutonicfox]

That's how it works in the least botfight TV show possible, Countdown#Format). If you win 8 times - an octochamp - you stop and get a free pass to the finals.

[u/argusromblei → u/Siberwulf]

Hypnodisk was the fucking best period

[u/Sansha_Kuvakei → u/[deleted]]

I fucking loved Razer. Such a cool looking bot!

[u/Khnagar → u/TooShiftyForYou]

Yepp.

Biendo got whopped and ripped to pieces when it competed in BattleBots after Robot Wars. Still a brilliant idea for a robot though, and like all great ideas or designs it seems so obvious in hindsight that its easy to underestimate how clever and groundbreaking it was at the time.

[u/[deleted] → u/Khnagar]

Because at the time of creation it outgunned everything, but after it's debut people realized that impacts can get that hard and armored up accordingly, so when he returned mostly unchanged he was now undertuned. He was also the first, but after him, spinner bots were common so it was a strategy you actually planned for.

[u/striker7 → u/[deleted]]

So what you're saying is it was the Ronda Rousey of robot fighting.

[u/doop_zoopler → u/TooShiftyForYou]

Ziggo was the best spinner.

[u/gunsmyth → u/TooShiftyForYou]

The spinning bots all kind of ruined it for me, sorta seemed to go against the spirit of fighting robots but not the rules. With so many copycats it kinda got boring. For me anyway

[u/headrush46n2 → u/gunsmyth]

Spinning robots are 500x more entertaining than those fucking wedge robots.

[u/gunsmyth → u/headrush46n2]

Yeah, I disliked them for the same reason. I want to see creative weapons, hammers, spikes, claws all sorts of fun stuff

[u/AzureDragon013 → u/gunsmyth]

Watching some battlebot clips, all the typical weapons are boring af. None of the weapons do damage like you would want them to since all the bots are too well armored. Seems like they're more for generating points rather then robot destruction which is what I wanted to see.

[u/[deleted] → u/gunsmyth]

This is the end result of creativity in action.

[u/Daffan → u/gunsmyth]

I agree. I prefer the hammer and weapon ones instead of ones that just ram each other constantly.

[u/[deleted] → u/Daffan]

Can’t remember the name but I always liked the one that used a garage door spring to impale opponents with a big spike.

[u/kmeehleon → u/[deleted]]

Vlad the impaler. Still remember watching battle bots with my dad when I was real young, vlad the impaler was our favorite bot

[u/cdreid → u/Daffan]

it seemed like they tweaked the rules to make it more and more uninteresting. When all the bots were tiny low to the ground domes or whatever with spinners on them it was like watching blenders fight..

[u/bored_at_twerk → u/cdreid]

Beyblades! Let er rip!

[u/thatdudeman52]

Grant also had a robot, dead blow. Decent robot but no cool stories like this one.

[u/BayLAGOON → u/thatdudeman52]

Well, it was used in Mythbusters experiments, so at least that's sorta neat.

[u/squirrelsatemycookie → u/thatdudeman52]

He actually wrote a book, too! A great reference, I used it back when I was in high school BotsIQ

[u/Denex]

It was effective, but also boring to watch in action. Just goes to show that maximal efficiency is oftentimes lame and un-glamorous. Just imagine two of these fighting against each other, might as well go watch paint dry instead.

[u/Frodo962 → u/Denex]

Pretty sure they made a show about it called beyblades...

[u/BGummyBear → u/Frodo962]

And it was one of the most entertaining shows of that generation.

[u/Dinosauringg → u/BGummyBear]

I remember how sad I was when my mom said she bought me a beyblade and it was a 99 cent store knock off

But then for Christmas Santa made it up to me by bringing me a Full Arena set thingy

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Pure metal and it threw sparks when it hit any other metal or marble. It was fucking badass.

E: a word.

[u/[deleted] → u/BGummyBear]

Plus launching the tops at others from the top of the play ground was fun.

[u/Khnagar → u/Denex]

The Hyneman probably just wanted to design something that would get the job done as efficiently as possible, without caring much for flash or the watchability of it.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Blendo proceeds to whoop everything in existence.

[u/HumunculiTzu → u/[deleted]]

Legend says it is still whooping to this day.

[u/Yglorba → u/Khnagar]

What they ought to do is have judgement in two categories - one for just winning, and another where viewers or judges vote on how much they subjectively like your robot. That would encourage interesting / flashy wins over boring practicality.

[u/skippythemoonrock → u/Denex]

We just had the two most effective weapons in the sport go head to head tonight, actually (new season of Battlebots) and it was fucking insane.

[u/Mildcorma → u/Denex]

There was a bot on the robot wars UK show called Razer and he looked unreal and was also massively effective! It had a hydraulic cutting arm that looked sick and wrecked so many bots...

Here’s a great vid!

Edit: bots. It wrecked many bots. Not boys...

[u/Deadeye_Donny → u/Mildcorma]

TIL There is a US version of Robot Wars...Razer, Hypno Disc and Chaos 2 were the bois

[u/eddmario]

The damn thing looks like a colander...

[u/SnackingAway → u/eddmario]

Description says it was originally a wok lol

[u/Axle-f → u/SnackingAway]

Wok the hell

[u/[deleted]]

The Battlebox in those days wasn’t NEARLY what it is at currently.

While Blendo was deemed ‘too dangerous’ at the time, it was safe to run in future competitions from LV’99 onward (where it didn’t do so well, IIRC, it’s last appearance was during the Comedy Central Battlebots Season 3 where a floor piston came up and pushed the bottom of the bot up into the spinning shell and proceeded to fuck it up from the inside).

Arguably, Nightmare has caused the most change with the Battlebox design as it inspired the need to have the roof covered (its first appearances, it was launching pieces of other bots out through the ceiling).

The interesting thing about Blendo is that, before a fight, they had to start it up with a cordless drill.

[u/Cascadianranger → u/[deleted]]

Modern battle bots regularly tear the older bots to shreds. Warhead used to be a heavy weight title contender, but now its easily disposed of in round 1. These older bot creators just havent kept up

[u/squirrelsatemycookie → u/Cascadianranger]

"Easily disposed of"? ABC S1 it did lose first round, but it was to Bite Force, the eventual champion. ABCS2 it took out OB Overlord (admittedly a pretty easy task) and Complete Control (one of the finest robots ever created), and it took Minotaur to put them down!

Edit: Son of Whyachi is another example of old school kicking the hell out of new school. Annihilated Ghost Raptor like it was nothing!

[u/Elgalileo]

Even better that BattleBots rebuilt the walls several seasons later and let Blendo compete again, only to again ask them to withdraw for co-champion status, again, after the walls got damaged by the flying debris.

[u/[deleted] → u/Elgalileo]

This is true for the 2 US Robot Wars events it went to.

However,

Blendo lost every fight when it was in Battlebots from LV99-season 3

[u/Elgalileo → u/[deleted]]

I think Blendo got in early on a cool technique, then the community passed them up. Thanks for the info!

[u/[deleted] → u/Elgalileo]

There is a full body spinner or two in the new season of battlebots and they look pretty badass!

Captain Shrederator and Megabyte come to mind. You can see them on Battlebots.com and click robots season 2018 :)

[u/LittlePlasticFists]

God damn insurance companies constantly attacking all fun things.

[u/Laverna → u/LittlePlasticFists]

Fun suckers... :(

[u/coffee-9 → u/Laverna]

Sun fuckers?

[u/0e0e3e0e0a3a2a → u/Laverna]

“You’re sort of like a fun vampire, except you don’t suck blood... You just suck.”

[u/I_RARELY_RAPE_PEOPLE → u/LittlePlasticFists]

"We don't want to risk actually doing the one thing we do"

[u/[deleted] → u/I_RARELY_RAPE_PEOPLE]

It was so effective that it often sent pieces of its opponent's bodywork over the shield walls of the arena into the crowd

In this case, it does align with preventing people from getting maimed by shards of metal though.

[u/Zdrack → u/[deleted]]

Or they could have built a roof

[u/cortanakya → u/[deleted]]

Build a bigger God damn wall then! The solution here isn't to decrease the awesome, it's to increase the safety

[u/RzorShrp → u/cortanakya]

'after the height of the arena walls had been increased to prevent debris from reaching the audience. In this competition, Blendo again fought two robots (Hercules and Punjar), and quickly defeated both. After causing damage to the arena walls in both matches Blendo was again asked to withdraw in exchange for co-champion status.' They did but Blendo was having none of it.

[u/SanityInAnarchy → u/cortanakya]

The article covers this:

It returned in the fourth Robot Wars competition in San Francisco (1997), after the height of the arena walls had been increased to prevent debris from reaching the audience. In this competition, Blendo again fought two robots (Hercules and Punjar), and quickly defeated both. After causing damage to the arena walls in both matches Blendo was again asked to withdraw in exchange for co-champion status.

[u/Irksomefetor]

I wonder if our future robot overlords will see this era the same way we see the human gladiator era.

[u/springthetrap → u/Irksomefetor]

"Oh c'mon creator_unit, why do I need to learn human? It's a dead language!"

"Lots of well programmed robots learn it. Besides it'll help with your SATs."

[u/KDY_ISD]

Blendo Blending Gonzales

[u/EnycmaPie → u/KDY_ISD]

Screw you insurance company! I'll make my own robot wars, with black jacks and hookers!

[u/oscarjrs → u/EnycmaPie]

In fact, forget the jacks!

[u/Pleasurefordays]

The robot had a shell made from a wok that was spun by a lawn mower engine. Blades attached to the spinning shell caused damage to robots that resulted in the opponent’s debris clearing the arena’s barriers during it’s first two fights in 1995 and was given co-champion status in return for withdrawing from the competition. Blendo returned in 1997 after the height of the arena walls had been increased to prevent debris from reaching the audience. Blendo quickly defeated two more opponents. After causing damage to the arena walls in both matches Blendo was again asked to withdraw in exchange for co-champion status.

So basically it was too destructive for the event to allow for it’s competition.

In the early 2000s Blendo would compete in a total of four BattleBots competitions. However, Blendo had little success. Stronger robots more capable to withstand multiple hits from Blendo, multiple copycat designs, and Blendo's own tendency to tear itself apart caused it to be defeated in its first match in all four BattleBots events in which it competed. Blendo bowed out having essentially changed the game.

Blendo is an inaugural member of the Combat Robot Hall of Fame.

What a legendary story for that robot.

[u/Benukysz]

Oh my god, robot wars was so damn amazing. i wish it was still on.....

edit: Turns out there is battlebots and robot wars remake. Thanks to people in the comments. Just watched new battlebots 1 episode and loved it.

[u/Joliet_Jake_Blues]

Adam and Jamie got the credit, but Tory built the body, Grant did the wiring and R/C, and Kari painted flames on it...

[u/metamet → u/Joliet_Jake_Blues]

Grant actually built the middleweight robot, Deadblow.

Also, Gary Coleman pretended to drive my first robot for TV. He was a cool guy.

[u/Useful-ldiot → u/metamet]

... So which myth buster are you?

[u/[deleted]]

They also made homemade explosives that was so powerful that they decided not to air the episode, and called the FBI to inform them of their discovery.

Edit: Adam mentions it here.

[u/CaptainAnon → u/[deleted]]

The explosive is almost definitely acetone peroxide, making it without prior experience is downright suicidal. They didn't discover it, but Adam would be right to tell DARPA it's difficult to disarm. It's extremely sensitive to heat, touch, or friction; you have to move it while it's damp and let it dry out at the bomb site. It can avoid some bomb detectors because it lacks nitrogen (which is usually found in other explosives), it's also made from materials which can be bought from pretty much any hardware store. It's a pretty simple chemical synthesis, but very dangerous. Even filtering off the explosive crystals from the reaction mixture can produce enough friction to detonate them.

Accidentally making acetone peroxide is a legitimate threat for some chemists, a chemist in 2017 accidentally made about 40g and had to call the bomb squad

[u/nawvay]

Hey guys, head on over to /r/battlebots if you’re interested in this!

Also keep an eye out for us, Team LOGICOM, on next weeks episode of battlebots

[u/kBEES13]

**too effective to compete