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They already have www.battlebots.com!!! This makes sense, because they are not a dot org! This is only happening because there are some lawyers who have way too much time on their hands.

I am a battlebots fan, and I am going to compose an email to comedy central alerting them that the "geek" fan base they count on is the same group that will abandon them if they pull this stuff. I suggest you all do the same.


www.battlebots.com contact page
Comedy Central Battlebots page (they have a message board)

They already have www.battlebots.com!!! This makes sense, because they are not a dot org! This is only happening because there are some lawyers who have way too much time on their hands.

I am a battlebots fan, and I am going to compose an email to comedy central alerting them that the "geek" fan base they count on is the same group that will abandon them if they pull this stuff. I suggest you all do the same.


www.battlebots.com contact page
Comedy Central Battlebots page (they have a message board)

dont forget Jason@BattleBots.com either. He is their creative director and directly emailed Mr. Lyon about the problem.

I sent the same message to him too. Don't flame him, that just puts the ./ community in a bad light. Lets help this guy out.

As you will not be able to use the domain (battlebots.org) in any fashion, we recommend that you transfer it to us immediately, and BattleBots Inc. will reimburse you for the expense you incurred in registering the name.

From battlebots.com:

Comments, Questions, Concerns?
Let us know what's on your mind. Contact us at the following addresses:

PRESS DESK
press@battlebots.com

GENERAL FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS
info@battlebots.com

From battlebots.com:

Comments, Questions, Concerns?
Let us know what's on your mind. Contact us at the following addresses:

PRESS DESK
press@battlebots.com

GENERAL FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS
info@battlebots.com

I thought they were talking about the flipping robot BioHazard at first. And that was before I saw the slashdot story on battlebots.

As mentioned, Christian Carlberg has made some terrific robots (Minion, in particular, has won the Super Heavyweight title in the past).

But, of the Battlebots, my favorite is Mauler. A spin-bot, Mauler rapidly spins and can do some serious damage to other robots. It's a shame, though, that Mauler has such low reliability -- in past fights, it always seemed to just sputter and die (mostly from encounters with the hazards). If Team Mauler could just make a more robust version, I think they could really go far in the event.

On another note, I've had to do without cable tv (due to my current unemployment), including Comedy Central. So, I'm looking for someone that could tape BattleBots for me. Perhaps you could fill a VHS tape at SLP, and then I'd PayPal some money to cover the cost of the tape and expenses. Or, something like that -- e-mail me if you're interested.

Alex Bischoff

As mentioned, Christian Carlberg has made some terrific robots (Minion, in particular, has won the Super Heavyweight title in the past).

But, of the Battlebots, my favorite is Mauler. A spin-bot, Mauler rapidly spins and can do some serious damage to other robots. It's a shame, though, that Mauler has such low reliability -- in past fights, it always seemed to just sputter and die (mostly from encounters with the hazards). If Team Mauler could just make a more robust version, I think they could really go far in the event.

On another note, I've had to do without cable tv (due to my current unemployment), including Comedy Central. So, I'm looking for someone that could tape BattleBots for me. Perhaps you could fill a VHS tape at SLP, and then I'd PayPal some money to cover the cost of the tape and expenses. Or, something like that -- e-mail me if you're interested.

Alex Bischoff

Yeah, I could stick a stuffed monkey in a Barbie car with spikes on the front, but I think that the kill saws and the hammer will make short shrift of said device. This ain't "lawnmower vs. weed-whacker" kids!

( "Buddy Lee Don't Play In The Street" was the bot: http://www.battlebots.com/battlebots_detail.asp?ID =66 )
--

If you employ magnets/electromagnets in your BattleBot design you must inform the Technical/Safety Inspectors of their presence and demonstrate that they will not cause radio interference. You may be disqualified at anytime if your BattleBots is found to cause radio interference.

Because they're all banned. There are reasons for all of them, if you think about it, mostly for the audience's safety and judging purposes. I don't think they're trying to make the bots wussy.

--

The first televised version of this was "Robot Wars" in the U.K. Their website mentions that "Robot Wars" is coming to the U.S. soon, but provides no further information. BTW, if you want to argue the merits of U.K. vs. U.S. robots, go to the message board at their site, the debate has been raging for months.
Battlebots is the first U.S. version, seen on Comedy Central in the U.S., The Comedy Channel in Canada, and BB2 in the U.K. Some of the robots from the British series appeared in Battlebots and did rather well. The rules and weight classes differ between the two shows. Battlebots info is here.
Finally, TLC, one of the Discovery channel networks has a series called "Robotica" which starts airing tonight at 9:00 PM E.S.T. It seems to be a hybrid of RobotWars and BattleBots, but there's not much information on the website.
Information about the robots can be found on the Robotwars and Battlebots websites, and many of the robots (or their builders) have their own sites, with more technical info than you can easy digest in one sitting. Take a look at the Suicidal Tendencies site and look at how they machined the individual tractor treads out of aluminium blocks. These people are fanatical!
-----------------

"Dude! NASA's doing RobotWars! I got $5 on the Martian Pathfinder!"

"RobotWars/BattleBots/CowboyNeal is much cooler than this and here is a link cause I'm karma whoring."

"RobotWars/Battlebots is way better than RobotWars/Battlebots!"

"This is actually the FIRST competition and is a NASA-funded educational program. The focus of this competition is not to break the other robots (which is actually against the rules), but to score points by putting balls into goals"

"Robots+destruction=bad"

"Robots+destruction=good"

"All your bots are belong to us"

http://www.battlebots.com/

Sure enough, magnets and electromagnets are allowed. However, electricity-based weapons are not. So, actually, I'm not sure where this falls ;).

Alex Bischoff
---

Sure enough, magnets and electromagnets are allowed. However, electricity-based weapons are not. So, actually, I'm not sure where this falls ;).

Alex Bischoff
---

I'm considering starting an online petition for this. Do you think that'd work?

Alex Bischoff
---

I'm considering starting an online petition for this. Do you think that'd work?

Alex Bischoff
---

GOOoooood Evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to a special Battlebot's presentation of Political Grudge Match Duels to the Death!

Tonight we have for you two hot battles: first up we have George Bush and his Team Pachyderm versus Al Gore and the Lock-Box-Rocks-Crue in the slap-down for the presidency of the United States. Our second duel-to-end-all-duels pits Bill Gate's Innovatin'-and-Devestatin' Microsoft against Janet Reno and the Department of Kicking-your-Ass Justice

But first, the Rumble for White House
This match has some baaaad blood between the combatants and they're ready for some metal shredding action tonight. Team Pachyderm's 'Bot is ready for a kill. We go to Donna D'Erico ringside with George Bush jr.:
DE: "Gov Bush, what's your strategy for tonight?"
GB: ...
DE: "Uhh, sir, please speak into the microphone, not my cleavage..."
GB: "Uhhh, sorry. Donna, we're not going to fall for Gore's fuzzy engineering. Since I'm all about inclusion, my 'Bot is going to reach across to the Democrats, grab hold, and spin them at about 1000 rpm."
DE: "Is it true, that to appease the Christian Coalition, your machine cannot make left turns, it can only go right?"
GB: "Let me make one thing straight. I'm my own man, at least that's what my daddy tells me. But yes, that's true."
DE: "Thanks, Govenor. Back to Battlebot central"

Thanks, Erica. And now for a technical analysis of Lock-Box-Rocks-Crue's "Analator", we turn to Bill Nye
BN: "The Analator has an ingenious design for a weapon. It basically sits there, lulling it's opponent into boredom, then it unleashes a barage of micro-detailed projectiles. It's only weakness is when it's near anyone's wife"

And now we go to the floor to determine the next Leader of the Free World (tm)!
["Red team, are you ready?" flip switch. "Blue team, are you ready?" flip switch]
Buzzzzzzz

And they're off! Bush swerves to the right, trying to flank Gore. Gore turns and stands his ground. Bush misses by a wide margin and slams right into the buzz saws! Gore approaches from behind and prepares to unleash a barage of projectiles. Bush breaks free from the blades, and grabs hold of Gore! The Analator gives a big audible sigh as it tries to break free of Pachyderm's grip. And Bush spins him right up against the spike wall! Unbelievable! Gore is stuck on top of the spikes! He can't move! The side-judge begins the count...
And it's over! Gore loses by Robot TKO!

And now for our next match... Oh wait! President elect Bush's first act is to declare Microsoft the winner!

Well thats all from San Francisco. Good Night!!!

• Biohazar d
• Honda P3

• Biohazar d
• Honda P3

I hope we have these things at BattleBots pretty damn soon. heh heh heh...

Try http://battlebots.com

Check out the rules. No EMP.

In fact, not much of anything weaponwise. Kinetic energy only, no projectiles. Looking over the various entrants, it seems to me that the best way to store enough KE to kill is in rotating objects: see Mauler, Blendo or Backlash for good examples.

Eric

• cost
• durability
• bandwidth - these things are controlled via RF - getting a signal with visual data back with a good framerate can get pretty complicated.

It would work, but such would be violating the rules...

It states in the Battlebot rules (Section 11.2) that there can be no RF jamming, nor electricity used as a weapon.

Personally, the thought of dropping a tesla coil on a bot, and having the output coil sent through two robot arms (which you drive over and put your opponent between) really appealled to me... Or perhaps a shot of EMP....

Looking back through slashdot's articles (via google) came across this link:Creatures from Primordial Silicon in this article http://slashdot.org/articles/99 /07/26/0238235.shtml posted by crackd.

It may not be the exact same article you were mentioning but it is still a good read.

Now if I could only get my entry for Battle Bots entry to self replicate and win by swarm :)

Now the engineers need to feed an instruction set that will generate The Crushinator and win the Battlebots championship!

It would be fun if they combined this with BATTLEBOTS.
Then it would be more like real life soccor (football or whatever you call it in your local)!

C-SPAN stands for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network. It's a completely ad-free network, with the bills footed by cable companies and perhaps some private underwriters. Its only business is government news, and it excels at that. Any station whose call-in shows have three phone numbers -- one for Democrats, one for Republicans, and one for Independents -- is on to something.

Some cable channels succeed because they do exactly one thing, and they do it much better than anyone else. Look at the Weather Channel: nothing but weather, all the time. And it's a commercial success. No sitcoms, no panel discussion shows, no killer robots necessary.

• DOT Class C devices
  
• Gunpowder/Cartridge Primers
  
• Military Explosives, etc.
  

From the rules:

Electricity - The use of electricity as a weapon shall be forbidden. This includes, but is not limited to the following:

¥ Stun Guns/Cattle Prods
¥ RF jamming equipment, etc.



Hacking your opponents' signal would constitute "jamming".

Having seen the recent BattleBot competition, we've concluded that what the audience wants is blood and shrapnel. Watching a bunch of wedges slam into eachother is rather boring, unless a bot gets pushed into the arena blades.
If we ever do an entry, it'll have at least 4 layers of Lego armor, so when the saws/flails/mower blades hit it, bits will fly everywhere. Ideally, we'll build it upside down and fill random sets of bricks with some fluid for extra blood effect.
And it'll also have hammers, and blades, and a chainsaw, and sharp sticks, and foul language...

Checked battlebots.com Apparently they consider RF jamming to fall under the category of electricity as a weapon...

http://www.battlebots.com/rules.html#11.2

Since the article did not contain links to the web sites that have some pictures and movies, here are some of the well-known sites:

• www.battlebots.com
• www.robotwars.com (look at the History section)
• www.botbash.com
• www.robotrumbles.com
• www.dangerousmachines.com
• www.sorc.org (Society of Robotic Combat)
• www.robohoo.com (a Yahoo-style index of all things robotic)

These things are really great, I've seen them on TV. It blows my mind to see people put a tremendous investment in time and money on the line in a battle that could destroy their bot.

You can check out the offical site for Battle Bots here.

PS I am not associated with Battle Bots in any way.