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On the other hand, if wars are made up of robots fighting robots, there'd be drastically lowered casualties on both sides... then, maybe, we could reduce wars to episodes of BatteBots and generate a large potential for advertising profit as the world tunes in to see the latest "war." In this way, it would be possible to turn the human craving for cyclical violence into a family friendly TV show. The advertising revenue would feed back into the "wars" much in the same manner as the current military-industrial complex uses profits from one war to develop the weapons for the next.

As someone who works in the ABC/ESPN hierarchy, and is also a big nerd, I was blown away when rumor was that ESPN was bringing back the BattleBots brand to television. Eventually it was official that ESPN was looking to display a robot fighting competition on ESPNU (the College brand for ESPN) and see how much interest there was in it. The competition was between College teams and wasn't nearly the production level of the BattleBots show that was on Comedy Central years before.

And unfortunately that all fell through...nothing ever came out of it. ESPN didn't show any robot competition on any of its branded stations (or even on the web at ESPN360).

BattleBots on Comedy Central was amazing back in the day. High end production values, commentary and color analysis, and of course machines killing each other. Live crowd reactions, story lines, personalities (of the drivers)....I can't believe ESPN missed this opportunity.

http://science.slashdot.org/story/08/03/11/064233/BattleBots-amp-ESPN-Strike-TV-Deal
http://www.battlebots.com/BattleBots.com/Events.html

I guess CBS Sports Online is going to put up footage eventually of the competition.

Either way I remember rooting for Bio-Hazard vs Vlad the Impaler as much as I root for Sox vs Yankees.

I wish stuff like this would make a comeback. Especially because it's a nice way to generate interest in science, robotics, mechanics, engineering, math, and critical thinking skills for children as well as highly entertaining.

Lastly YouTube proving it's worth for me once again:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Battlebotvideos

I think you can figure out what kind of videos are on that channel...

you do realize that jamie hyneman has a history with battlebots, right?

http://www.battlebots.com/meet_the_robots3/meet_team_profile.asp?id=47

from wikipedia: The robot had a shell made from a wok and was spun by a lawnmower engine. Blades attached to the shell caused grievous damage to its opponents, removing bodywork and in some instances causing them to be thrown over the Lexan safety shields into the audience. After two fights it was deemed too hazardous to compete by the event supervisors and the insurance company. It was given co-champion status in exchange for withdrawing from the competition.[2]

and grant imahara of the mythbusters secondary team built deadblow, a decent ranked lightweight bot:
http://www.deadblow.net/Pages/NEWCREW.htm

This guy is going to kick ass in the experimental class.

The rules are here, if you don't mind pdfs.

Weapon types that aren't allowed in the normal class include electricity and electromagnetic weapons (no EMP or Tesla coils), weapons that require significant cleanup (sand, oil, liquids, ball bearings), weapons intended to obscure vision (smoke, strobe lights), thermal weapons (no explosives or cutting torches, although you can use explosives to, say, drive a piston), mechanism fouling weapons (nets, tarps, caltrops), and no mutually destructive mechanisms.

There are also restricted weapons. Projectiles are allowed, but must be on a tether of no more than 8' in length. Covering weapons are allowed, but must be rigid and controllable. Airbags are allowed, but must conform to the rules for pneumatics, and can't be used as mechanism fouling weapons when deflated. Flywheels need to be installed properly, so that they don't fly off or apart while spinning. Large springs (20 lbs of force to extend or compress) need to be armed by the bot, not manually, and need to be able to be released manually without causing damage to the person doing the releasing.

Forget Diesector. Ziggo is awesome! While a lot of the battlebots in the lightweight division were just scoring points from judges by playing patty-cake with each other, this lightweight bot could throw its opponents across the freakin ring!

http://www.battlebots.com/battlebots_detail.asp?ID=88

The thing is very well designed. The outer armor shell *is* its weapon! A motor spins the shell up hella fast, and a clutch disengages, so the only stress is on the bearing, which is very sturdy!

Somebody's got to nominate Jay Leno's BattleBot, Chin-Killa !

From Battle Bots
Heavyweight: Blendo
http://www.battlebots.com/meet_the_robots3/meet_te am_profile.asp?id=47

Grant apparently wasn't involved in the construction according to the site.

Hell, I don't think it will even fit in the tower-space in my desk.

Did anyone else notice the "(Patent Applied For)" statement on the site? What kind of patent could they be refering to? Apple already has a Cube...

I don't see Adam in this picture; which leads me to believe his involvement with Blendo was not significant. Of course, the two of them may have worked on some robot in the past; but probably not Blendo.

http://www.battlebots.com/meet_the_robots3/meet_te am_profile.asp?id=47

http://www.battlebots.com/meet_the_robots3/meet_te am_profile.asp?id=47

Two words... Robot Wars!!!

Actually, it may be possible to extend battery life using nanotech. Obviously not in a sticker, or any exterior form, but if they (real scientists, not BatMax) were to develop either/or
A) a better dielectric material (to decrease charge leakage)
B) a nanovalve array to selectively turn on/off chemical interaction when unused.

(Neither of which would have measurable impact on charging time.) Though theoretically possible with today's technology, I'm sure a single AA would come in at least several million bux... and not last all that much longer in everyday use.

Instead, I think its wiser to stick with what nanotechnology was originally intended for: microsopic BattleBots!

Robotics competition = people scared of being called nerds and geeks

Programming fair = people NOT scared of being called nerds and geeks

Emachineshop seems to be a bit limited in the parts they can make. I prefer to use the services of the fellow robot builders at Team Whyachi. They don't mind handling small quantities and have great prices.

Think of your lawnmower as a BattleBot. You've got a drive system (wheels) and a "weapon" (the blade). Okay, it's not the greatest analogy, but we're talking about components of the same caliber, and I know a little bit about this type of robotics.

Building your mower from scratch would be something fun and geeky and not *too* difficult if you know how to weld and such. If you take this route, consider using battery power for the drive train and a small engine for the blade. I recommend electric power because it is easier to interface with a navigation computer and allows for easy reverse if you get stuck up against an obstacle. You could even use another electric motor for the blade. In any case, a good source of electric motors is NPC Robotics. They also have wheels you could use. I think a remote control system would be neat, even if you don't want to drive it around all the time. You could use it to guide the mower if it's "lost" or as an emergency shutoff from inside the house. A manual override feature would be cool to just drive it around for fun, too. Of course, this makes things expensive. But a neat way to do this would be to use an IFI Robotics Isaac 16. This system includes a radio and transmitter plus a BASIC Stamp computer that is easily programmable and allows the reading of 4 analog inputs and 8 digital inputs (sensors on the mower). This would allow you to have, for example, an "RC startup" button inside your house that would remotely trigger the mower to begin running, then use the programming features for automated mowing. It could be both RC and autonomous, really. With that system, you could use a couple of Victor 883 speed controllers to regulate your drive motors. There's also a spin controller that would be perfect for your blade if that were electric powered. Otherwise, a simple gas engine with a servo on the carburetor throttle would suffice for control of that.

If you don't choose to go with this (very expensive but neat) RC setup, you could use a much simpler BASIC Stamp. This is the "brain" of the Isaac 16, but minus the radio and PWM signal drivers (for speed controllers, servos, etc.). They run a lot cheaper ($150 for a basic setup) and are still very easy to program (a modified BASIC syntax) but you would have to wire your own interfaces to speed controllers. This can be done, but I have no experience with it. In any case, the BASIC Stamp would allow you to connect various types of sensors that you could use to gather data and then modify your path accordingly. The Stamp is probably a better choice than a Mini-ITX or similar because it is cheap, not overkill :-P and has all the programming tools set up, ready to go, and designed almost specifically for robotic applications.

So check some of that out. I hope that helps if you're looking to build something from scratch.

Oh yeah, if you're concerned about powering an electrical system for long enough to mow your lawn, a few 12 volt lead-acid batteries of the type used in motorcycles or smaller car ones will likely suffice. I believe they can deliver around 14 Amp-hours or so.

Battlebots, Mars Edition, here we come.

And you can keep under budget simply by cleaning out your garage.

Battlebots, Mars Edition, here we come.

Model it after Battlebots or the DARPA Grand Challenge. Let entrants audition their robots in the same groundside Hubble-repair simulations used by Astronauts. Give the best entrant a ride to Hubble to make real fixes.

More discussion at Send Asimo to Save Hubble and Hubble Rescue Battlebots .

let's see how well he does on battlebots!

i'm guessing he would be in the heavyweight class.

Next match on battlebots! A $200 vacuum versus a $2000 dog? Let's place your bet!

Freakin' eh! I want one so I can win BattleBots. A robot that can keep killing after it's been damaged - ain't technology great?!

The images show a human remote-controlling two of the machines. Sorry, if they are human-controlled, they aren't robots (despite what pop culture calls such machines).

The word 'robot' implies some degree of autonomy. At the end of the article, it says one of the machines is nearly autonomous and can be programmed to patrol a perimeter. Ok, that one's a robot. The rest seem to be remote-control security cameras...

Heat and fire cannot be used directly as weapons. This includes, but is not limited to:

...

c. Flammable liquids such as gasoline, alcohol and MEK.

d. Flammable gasses such as propane, butane and acetylene.

e. High-temperature devices such as flame throwers or plasma torches.

SCO sues IBM, Red Hat sues SCO, IBM sues SCO, et cetera, ad nauseum, ad infinitum.

I say forget the legal process. It's too slow. Let's get each company to build their own BattleBot and go on Robot Wars to settle this whole mess. Just imagine: "Big Blue", a huge flipper bot flinging "SCObot" through the air while a big red bowler hat smashes into SCO at every opportunity. Chunks of metal flying, flames licking up from dismembered metallic remains.

Ah I love the smell of burnt electric motors and battery acid in the morning!

Wireless robots performing dangerous tasks? You mean like competing in death matches inside "the box?" Hmm...

But I digress. 4-5 years ago it was double-the-weight for non-wheeled robots. I guess they finally got smart.

You know it's gonna happen.

Next time, I am sure they could use a little more fire power. They are currently recruiting from the ranks of recently disenfranchised battle bot designers. A scaled down version of this seems to be in serious consideration.

We can only hope that ESPN picks this up.. then they'd have something to show on ESPN2 that's not jocks having a pissing contest.

We can only hope that ESPN picks this up.. then they'd have something to show on ESPN2 that's not jocks having a pissing contest.

We can only hope that ESPN picks this up.. then they'd have something to show on ESPN2 that's not jocks having a pissing contest.

We can only hope that ESPN picks this up.. then they'd have something to show on ESPN2 that's not jocks having a pissing contest.

We can only hope that ESPN picks this up.. then they'd have something to show on ESPN2 that's not jocks having a pissing contest.

Actually, ranged weapons are allowed if they're tethered. Battlebots Regulations, top of page 48. To be fair, however, things like lasers, electricity weapons (tazer, etc), explosives, liquids, etc, are not allowed.

By the way, have you noticed the privacy statement at Battlebots. Have you noticed that they reserve the right to supply 3rd party companies with your info??

I haven't heard about any BSD based bots yet - have you?.

I would also like to whine about "the lack of jobs where you get paid to fire foam darts at colleagues". </test>

I don't know why it is, but the moment American media gets hold of something, it turns it into bland, flavorless mush. Is it really so hard to come up with a half hour of entertaining television, devoid of filler?

Um, the Americans had this before the UK. Biohazard astounded the crowd by self-righting, a full two years before Rex's legendary backflip. Blendo tore opponents to shreds long before Hypnodisc came up with an inferior implementation of the flywheel weapon.

I think the main reason UK Robot Wars is so good as regards the action / bullshit ratio is that we have so _many_ robots to get through. There's simply no time for filler material. Anyone with a bit of mechanical ability can knock together a robot, and getting it down to London is hardly a transcontinental commute.

Personally, I just want to get hold of a video of Razer on Battlebots. Their website brags like mad about that.

Although as the article says, it will be a while before we can pit androids vs humans on the same field....."

Unless, of course, those androids happen to be buzzsaw wielding, flame throwing, high voltage instruments of death himself (and we mix up the rules a bit)

Let's face it, you'd watch it :)

Who wants to watch robots play soccer?

Its not very often that a piece of mail arrives in my snail mail box that I actually read, but when this envelope arrived, I had to open it. It was labeled with enticing comments like "What do women want" in a font that spanned almost the entire height of the envelope on both sides. And since Dragonball Z wasn't on for another 5 minutes, I opened it. If only I had known.

Now I'm not sure what I bought where that allowed my name to fall into the clutches of the warped corporation that sent this letter to me. I suspect that it was that copy of 'Girls Gone Wild' purchased one evening after 6 shots of whiskey, while watching Howard Stern on E! with Kurt The Pope and Sarcasta (Don't get it. Its horrible. After 60 seconds, it becomes remarkably similiar to pulling teeth as a "Real Girl" after "Real Girl" takes it off for a crowd of learing men. "Real" is code for "won't ever be in a magazine accused of exploiting women". The only really attractive women are the ones you've already seen in the ads. And when you add this soundtrack, it just makes it all seem evil).

So at this point, I've made the fatal mistake: I've opened the letter. never do that! They start fast and hard by attacking my belief system and forcing me to question my own manhood. Now I've never been particularly concerned in this dept. But here's the thing: even John Holmes would've been curious about this. He would open this package and think "Hrm, 2 extra inches! Why, that'd be nifty" and immediately order a case of LONGitude. And odds are it'd work and he'd end up gaining another foot and killing some poor chick on the set. Thank god LONGitude didn't exist in the 70s or there would have been a lot less porno, and lot more "John Holmes Kills Again" headlines.

So being good marketroids, they take things that I considered conventional wisdom, and they attack them in a carefully planned campaign designed to destroy any chance of ever having any sort of pride in my own sexuality again. In fact, if these statistics are true, I'm embarassed for our whole gender:

• 85% of women say they NEVER achieve an orgasm during sex...
• 72% of women said they FAKED orgasms they never had..
• 67% of women say they're UNHAPPY with their lover's penis size...

Sorry. Got a little out of hand there. I'm back now.

Now I am a college graduate. This doesn't make me smart: frankly, I'm not exactly sure how I managed to graduate in the first place. I just skipped 1 class less then allowed, and managed to squeeze by, setting records in "Collegiate Minimilaism" (this works really well in art. Less well in history). But during my academic sentence, I managed to take a whole biology class and its required lab. I learned much in these classes about biology, but even more important, they taught us all about "The Scientific Method (lather, rinse, repeat.)". This means that I can't just make stuff up and have it be true (as evidenced by the large number of "C's" I got in my labs). I mean, at first glance, this looks good: Its from a "Former Viagra Pharmacist". I mean, they don't say which viagra pharmacist, but if he's anything like my old pharmacist, he's like 50, and he hates it when you spend to much time playing tag in his store and reading his baseball card price lists without paying for them. This man is most definitely qualified to invent a Scientific Breakthrough like LONGitude.

Obviously he doesn't get much: the sad little white jacket is proof enough that he ain't a big hit with the ladies. So he's got incentive. Plus he works at a pharmacy. LONGitude's marketing materials explain that their product is 100% safe and natural, and contains Zinc, 300 Yohimbe, Maca, Catuaba, Muira Pauma, Oyster Meat, I-Arginee, Oat Stra, Nettle Leaf, Cayenne, Pumpkin Seed, Sarsaparilla, Orchic Substance, Licorice Root, Astragalus, Tribulus, Boron, and Ginseng. I bet this bored pharmacist has access to many of these chemicals, and since its not like it takes all day to give dirty looks to the teenagers that buy birth control and condoms. He would still have plenty of time to try every conceivably combination of these substances until he discovers the one that makes his dick bigger. I mean, with that many chemicals, one combination practically has to do it, so at least he had a goal.

So I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, 'So all this does is make my dick bigger?'. But NO thats not ALL. It has OTHER features that are just as important... the following features are quoted directly from the marketing materials, as I am not creative enough to actually concoct this stuff myself:

Strengthen and harden your erections like a length of STEEL PIPE! what exactly does this mean? My grammar resolution engine is confused by this sentance. And my grammar resolution engine is really generous all things considered, as evidenced by the fact that I ran this column through babelfish it came out in german for gods sake! What a shitty grammar checker!
Develop your PC Muscle to form a truly "muscular" looking penis that will impress and arouse your lover. I guarantee they'll brag to their friends. First off, I'm kind of opposed to developing a muscular looking anything. Second, I didn't know that there was an aesthetic for a muscular looking penis, and finally, I don't want my "lover" talking about my manhood to anyone (except girls who refused to date me in high school. She may brag to them all she wants). But now that I know there is an aesthetic that my penis should strive for, I have another part of my body to be embarassed about. And I thought it was just my bad haircut, beer gut, and teeth.

Enlarge your penis 1-4" or more AT HOME, without vacuum pumps, weights, or surgery. OR MORE! ADDING MORE THEN 4 INCHES?! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT! OH MY GOD! FOUR FUCKING INCHES?! WHAT SORT OF CRAZY FOOL WOULD WOULD ATTEMPT TO ADD MORE THEN FOUR INCHES ONTO THEIR DICK! WHAT THE FUCK! ARE LOOKING FOR FUCKING RETARDS HERE?! ISN'T ENOUGH ENOUGH!? STOP THIS CRAZINESS!

Intensify your orgasms So you're telling me that this miracle herbal breakthrough will not only give me a wang that would make porn stars envious, but it will make orgasms better? Lets be honest here: there isn't much on this planet better then an orgasm in the first place. Telling me you can make them better is like like saying you figured out how to make heroin more pure, or removed the annoying sportscaster commentary from battlebots leaving only robots doing battle for the full 30 minutes, without commercials or annoying banter from lame broadcasters who weren't cool enough to compete with Dennis Miller.

And much, much more! Like what? Global peace and harmony? A recording contract with Sony for 3 albums with a multi-million dollar signing bonus? Sex with Jennifer Aniston (note: not year 2000 Jennifer Aniston as fucked by Brad Pitt, I'm talking about 1995 Jennifer Aniston, as nipples scene each week on "Friends"). But really, haven't you offered me enough? Length, Girth, Intensification, A bragging Girlfriend, and a more aesthetically pleasing muscular dick? What more could you provide? Could my semen taste like chocolate, or maybe be 100% pure liquid gold that I could sell on the market for a grand a jizz? I have to say that I suspect that I speak for all recipients of this random mass mailing when I say "No LONGitude, you've done enough. Thanks. But there's just no need for you to give me 'Much Much More' for this 'Low Price'".

With great power also comes greater responsibilities. 'CP Direct- Creators of LONGitutude' warn you that if you continue to take this miracle breakthrough in herbal medicine, you will continue to grow. They warn you not to grow beyond 9 inches because you will start damaging your dates! This is a fair warning: you just know some dude who burned his dick with scalding lethal McDonalds Coffee will overgrow his penis and impale some girl on his 17 inch piece, and he'll sue. And win. This is America, land of the free, where we should all be entitled to 17" cocks without fear of lawsuits.

8===========D

8===D

This diagram shows to scale just how much bigger LONGitude claims it can make you.

1. Your penis is small.
2. You thought LONGitude was a worthy investment towards solving #1
3. Your penis is still small.
4. You are fucking cheap and willing to swallow the embarassment of admitting all of the above just to reclaim your sixty bucks, even tho any male with one drop of self respect would simply forget the 60 bucks to save himself the embarassment of admitting that he is stupid, cheap and has a small dick.

He explains us that his drug will make the chambers of erectile tissue larger. Now I don't know about you, but I'm thinking of a balloon here, and what happens when you plug it into the helium machine and hold the lever down a little to long: yup, thats right. The balloon explodes and coats the room with a fine layer of human blood. I can't think of anything less sexy then having your dick explode, and coating you, your lover, and most importantly of all: your bedsheets with a mixture of seman, erectile tissue, and dozens of natural chemicals mixed together by former viagra pharmacists.

I hate doing laundry, and if your dick blows up on your "Lover", I'm willing to bet that not only will she never ever have sexual relations with you, but she will not speak a single word to you ever again. And believe you me, you will most definitely not scrub the erectile tissue out of your sheets... and that stuff just isn't gonna come out either.

Now I don't think that LONGitude would work any more then a penis pump. But I also have never tried a penis pump. And I know that there is a market for these things since I've seen them regularly at novelty shops next to the 14 inch double ended jet black vibrating dildo. However the fact that things like this exist proves that there is a market of people who would be willing to send their $59.95 to these guys. I considered it. Not for me of course. Purely in the name of science, I wanted to administer it to Kurt The Pope and Ryan the Felon before I risking my own genitals. After no deliberation, they both said no. Fuckers. This is science we're talking about. Maybe I should explain the scientific method to them again. I doubt it would matter... Dragonball Z is on. Its pretty tough to talk them into anything while Dragonball Z is on.

• 85% of women say they NEVER achieve an orgasm during sex...
• 72% of women said they FAKED orgasms they never had..
• 67% of women say they're UNHAPPY with their lover's penis size...

8===========D
8===D
This diagram shows to scale just how much bigger LONGitude claims it can make you.

1. Your penis is small.
2. You thought LONGitude was a worthy investment towards solving #1
3. Your penis is still small.
4. You are fucking cheap and willing to swallow the embarassment of admitting all of the above just to reclaim your sixty bucks, even tho any male with one drop of self respect would simply forget the 60 bucks to save himself the embarassment of admitting that he is stupid, cheap and has a small dick.

How about a nice alternative to Flash.

• The plugin
• A cool example of SVG.

a BattleBot made of these?

Wham! --The pulverizer knocks off an arm, several nodes crawl out from a compartment and shed the broken nodes, reattach to form a new arm.

From what I have read in the Tournament Rules and Procedures and the Technical Regulations, there is nothing restricting a bot from self-regeneration.

a BattleBot made of these?

Wham! --The pulverizer knocks off an arm, several nodes crawl out from a compartment and shed the broken nodes, reattach to form a new arm.

From what I have read in the Tournament Rules and Procedures and the Technical Regulations, there is nothing restricting a bot from self-regeneration.

a BattleBot made of these?

Wham! --The pulverizer knocks off an arm, several nodes crawl out from a compartment and shed the broken nodes, reattach to form a new arm.

From what I have read in the Tournament Rules and Procedures and the Technical Regulations, there is nothing restricting a bot from self-regeneration.

Many of the robot builders really dislike this proven stratedgy saying that it's too easy and prefer to try bludgen their opponents instead. Those builders generally lose.

Let's have that little LEGO robot (covered here) duke it out with NASA's space droid a'la BattleBots!
Any bets on the winner?

Check out the battlebots web site for an SVG app. Note that it's an Adobe product. Sigh.

When will we see these on Battlebots?

Sorry, but the Battlebots rules (160 KB PDF) do not yet provide for a powered flight category. See rule 3.5.

8. Entanglement Devices - Any device specifically designed to entangle another BattleBot shall be forbidden. This includes, but is not limited to the following:

• Any type of net.
• Fishing Line, String, etc.
• Tape