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Ahhh... Finally some true Robot wars!

Roboteers stand by!

I appreciate that the DARPA teams are working in a different ballpark from your average garden shed RW team. But the same basic economic rules apply and looking at the web site the sense of deja vu is increased. If they've got these sponsors then power to them but yet again the www site is a little sparse on the subject. You need more than just a shared sense of rejection to make a business model.

how would it fair over here?

I see no flame throwers or hydraulic crushing devices.

Yah! And I can see Scott Adams doing the writing for it.

There was a British series called "Attachments" that actually had some decent programmer content/activity, though it was dominated by dotcom management pratfalls and consequences that we've all seen in real life by now, so why make yourself sick watching it on TV.

What's more interesting is the "junkyard wars" format, with Robot Wars and Robotica. And yet you don't get very good representation of the interesting part -- they're presented like Pro Wrestling.

How do you illustrate the process of problem solving in a visually compelling way? Better yet, how do you engage the viewer intellectually in the process? There's the dramatic twist, the quirky character, the suspense -- but the most engaging it gets, really, is in the whodunit or the spy "thriller". And these are so formulaic, predictable and worn-out by now, that there's just no fun in them.

Science and Techno documentaries are by far the worst-- their Breathless Admiration of The Great Man Of Science and His Great Discovery, or This Wonderful New Technology And How It Will Change Our Lives. How utterly boring.

>Did anyone else see that MATILDA robot and think of it as only a slightly more advanced Dobie-O-Matic?

Actually my first thought was Matilda from RobotWars.

>Did anyone else see that MATILDA robot and think of it as only a slightly more advanced Dobie-O-Matic?

Actually my first thought was Matilda from RobotWars.

It's alive and kicking.

Seems like it has to happen, but I really don't like the implications. IMHO a machine capable of harm but incapable of moral reasoning should not be autonomous. What about a police force? Under a repressive regime? Call me old fashioned, but I think maybe only people should kill people. (or better yet, not.)

(or robots kill robots!)

For those who don't know, Noel Sharkey judges the UK Robot Wars. I wonder if he's borrowed any of the house robots for the predators :)

For those who don't know, Noel Sharkey judges the UK Robot Wars. I wonder if he's borrowed any of the house robots for the predators :)

Design your own USB coffee maker or animitronic toy. Put a real robot in robot wars instead of a glorified remote control car. Break in by doing not begging

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Given the huge prominence given on TV to those misnamed radio-controlled go-karts, I'm relieved to see that there is still a lot of grassroots interest in building true autonomous machines of this kind.

They should stick 'em into Robot Wars (after arming it with a little more than some lego bricks. It'll be cool, a mix of Robojox[1] and Combat Zone[2]).

[1] An OLD film, does anyone else remember it?
[2] An OLD computer game (Win 3.11), does anyone else remember it?

CS!

It looks a bit like robotwars of which I always was a big fan.

ow wait... had to be said:
Imagine a beowulf cluster of those ;-)

I saw Robot Wars UK, last week for the first time, it comes on at 10:30 PM EST on our public television station MPT There are no sports casters (yeah!) The host is Craig Charles of whom many of you may know from the UK sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf When I watched the show they went through maybe 6 matches, of course this was on Public Television (no commercials!) and last 30 minutes. The game runs a bit differnet than battlebots, there are 'House' robots in the corners, and if you are pushed or happen to wander into there area you are free game, or if your bot has been incapacitated they will take you out and dump you in the pit, yes there is a pit you fall into. ROBOT WARS UK

Bit of clarification - in actuality the show is about radio controlled fighting machines. The competition is as much about human remote control skill as it is about good 'vehicle' design. Calling it Robot Wars is a bit of a stretch ... perhaps a better name would be "remote control wrestling machines"

Robot Wars (entering its fifth season) has been rebroadcasted in the United States for many years on scattered PBS stations (including WCNY). Hosted by Craig Charles (best known as Red Dwarf's intergalactic space traveller Lister), the twenty-five minute program (no commercial interruption) is just plain, ungimmicky fun. The format is fairly simple; a series of elimination bouts, mostly involved with running some kind of guantlet. Have no fear, each show culmnates with a no-holds-barred bashing match between the survivors and the house robots. No macho BS, no WWF announcing... Robot Wars is just good British entertainment.

It is hosted by Craig Charles, formerly of Red Dwarf fame. Not just a simple elimination match, but you get to over come challenges like obstacle courses, etc. All while avoiding the infamous house robots.

It used to be on PBS, but it moved out of their lineup last year. However, they are planning a US tournament. Check out the website http://www.robotwars.co.uk/

Will it be road tested?

What I love about that show is how robots built from elastic bands, cardboard and milk bottle tops manage to beat the big guys.

Having seen both the Robot Olympics and Robot Wars, on the BBC, made by the same company, I came to the opinion that AI robots built with routines in advance are tedious and dull. Robots being piloted by little (or big) kids that want to smash up the opponent robot are great fun, especially when they knacker their opponent and go after the house robots twice their size and twenty times their cost... and win.

Even with 'advanced AI', I'd bet that most robots would spend matches searching the arena for their opponent in a weaving search pattern. Perhaps you've been playing those FPS arena games if you think AI robots would be good, because I can tell AI is rubbish in the real world.

Some of this years entrants have been really quite impressive, and might acheive parity with the US creations in the 180lb division. We haven't had any really good walkers yet though.

In the UK we've had this kind of stuff for years - as a TV programme produced by the BBC!