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Interview with Battlebots Champion

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the rip-mix-burn dept.

Scoop writes "With the fifth season of BattleBots debuting a few days ago on Comedy Central, UGO.com chatted up contestant Jim Smentowski, creator of champion BattleBot, Nightmare. Jim shared his views on the hit show, his experience with Gary Coleman and robotics in general. No word yet on the rumored love-child between Smentowski and BB host, Carmen Electra."

6 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Some improvements by Mulletproof · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When the robots become autonomous, battling without human intervention, then I'll start showing real interest. That, and lets include some serious offensive weapons. Sure, spinning around like a mad top is ok, but how about projectiles? Flamethrowers? Tazer devices? That's what I'm talking about... And maybe serious, bot-bunching obstacles. Sure you'd have to hide the audiance behind bulletproof/shatterproof glass and make them sign waivers, but hey, it'd all be hella fun.

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano
    1. Re:Some improvements by garcia · · Score: 3, Insightful

      yeah, everyone wants this. Would it be safe to implement and would it be smart to implement?

      I much prefered this when it wasn't a TV show that was on all the time. When it was a once a year deal that I read about it was exciting to see.

      Now all the bots are terribly boring, the obstacles are boring, and it's not football.

      Just my worthless .02

  2. Battlebots are inspirational by Caractacus+Potts · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Battlebots should really be called Battle-RCs, but who cares. The show is good clean fun and is inspiring the next generation to inch another step closer to creating real robots. Maybe in another 25 years or so, we'll get there. Back to my regular programming...

  3. Re:Slashdot Karma HOWTO by jukal · · Score: 5, Funny
    Ok, let's try. I heard that the MIT BattleBots team is looking for new members. Here's an article about the TuxBot - the Linux based Battlebot. It would be nice to see Linux based bot beating a Microsoft based one to hell and back.

    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>

  4. But who won the award for... by SporkKnight · · Score: 4, Funny
    "Most Lame Opening Line"?

    And in this corner! He puts the "evil" in "weevil", he will make you cry, and he is not your father's can of corn....The Human Robot!

    Announcer Guy 1: That was quite a match!
    Announcer Guy 2: Thats right Guy#1! Lets go to the floor with our large chested eye-candy!

    Carmen Elektra: Hi Guys! I'm here with the winner of this match, Middle-aged car shop guy! So tell me, how were you able to pull off this exciting and lucrative win?
    Middle-aged Car Shop Guy: Uhhhhhh, I like, ran into the other guy, and the hammer thing hit it. A lot.
    Close-up of Carmen's Breasts
    Announcer Guy 1: Join us next time for another exciting edition... of Battle Breasts! uhh Bots!

  5. Re:this is taken to seriously.... by MattHawk · · Score: 3, Informative

    That (somewhat) exists. It isn't possible to just fight whatever you bring, due to not wanting to off and kill all the spectators with exploding robots, but there are smaller non-televised competitions that are builder/live-audience focused. Most of them are on the east coast, started due to the fact that it costs as much to go to San Fran to compete as it does to build a robot if you don't live in or near California. Anyone in North Carolina, there's one coming up in a week - Details are available at http://www.secr.org