Comedy Central Cancels BattleBots

Rathian writes "Bad news for BattleBot lovers, I saw on the BattleBots Builder's Forum that CC is NOT going to film Phase 6.0 of BattleBots. You can see copies of the email from the BattleBots founders Trey & Greg at RobotCombat.com, and at Team DaVinci Robots God willing, another network will pick it up and keep this sport alive!"

Comments

I can see why

[bravehamster]

I stopped watching Battlebots after season 2. It just wasn't compelling TV. Most of the matches were like watching drunk boxing--A lot of swinging, but little contact. What I think needs to happen is for them to approach it from a whole other angle. The bots must be independent.

Independent bots would force the bot makers to build navigation systems (to avoid the hazards), target acquisition systems (to find the other bots), decision making (push the bot toward the hazard, or try to flip, or run away and hide until my buzz saw starts working again?).

Additionally, they should build a better arena and allow all those weapons currently outlawed, like EMP weapons, chemical, flamethrowers, magnetic grapples, swarms of multi-bots, etc. Should be much more exciting.

Re:I can see why

[gnovos]

i'll just stop there... but i really feel strongly about this, there is a give and take, and the current rules make for good fights. the second someone has a 30 foot flamethrower/EMP, and can beat any bot in 10 seconds, the show is over, and its all about ratings.

It can't beat the tiny bot that has magnetic feet (for sticking onto the bigger bot) and a old fashioned power drill (for drilling into it's head...). Creativity would make the show interesting when the rules are throw out the window.

Re:I can see why

[Exiler]

Erm? Making them self contained is going to help with the little contact... how? Seriously, have you ever played one of those "robot programming games?" Most of the demos that come with them and everything I saw online was just pretty much a triangle spinning in circles shooting, no matter how much candy you put in the code.

Self-controlled would be cool (Re:GOOD!)

[phorm]

Actually, I did enjoy the technical aspect of the show. Making a working battlebot would require some ingenuity and skill, and it was cool to see what people came up with.

However, I must definately agree that a self-contained/controlled bot would be way-cool. Perhaps using one of the mini-ITX boards/setups mentioned previously on slashdot, you could build some decent bot AI. If the bot needed to be controlled remotely, a wireless ethernet card would work.

Anyone on slashdot want to take a shot at a mini-ITX project that makes an AI battlebot?

No T-800's please... killing audience members is frowned upon

boring anyhow

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't think much of battlebots anyhow. Most of the contestants are basically radio control cars with some simple weapon (sawblade, flipper) tacked on.

And most of the best performing bots were all of the same design anyhow... try and keep anything from getting under your bot, and try to flip over other bots.

The concept is neat, but this show got really boring really fast. Not much innovation going on.

Re:sport?

[Com2Kid]

How is it not a sport?

Preplanning and design combined with real time action and on your feet dynamic thinking.

Sounds like a sport to me.

Assloads more entertaining then that garbage that is (american)football. Yueck. Rules rules rules more time-outs then you can shake a stick at, they spend more time waiting to play then actually playing, yeick. Not to mention all that woosy ass protective gear, WTF is up with that shit? Want to make football a worthwhile watch, get rid of all of that penalty shit and just give them some leather helmets and some basic elbow/shin/knee guards and a jockstrap and throw'em on the field. Tell them to get the ball to the opponents end of the field, and let them loose. No freakin penalties, no freakin fouls, and unless somebody goes unconscious NO FREAKING STOPPING THE GAME .

Now that'd be a sport worth watching.

But until the, erhuhrm, humanitarian issues, are worked out, battle bots is the next best thing you are going to get to raw destruction in a sports arena. (well aside from Ultimate Fighting, but wasn't that canceled awhile back? Not to mention that it is pay per view any ways, bleh)

Re:GOOD!

[puff-d-dwaggie]

Why go miniITX? How about use a bot system thats already out there. Lego Mindstorms Robotics has a fully funcitonal robotic controller and pieces parts ready to go. I have built my own bots to battle against each other with mindstorms and have had fun with it but cant find anybody else around my area who does lego robots. I have, however, seen mention on the internet about lego bot contests.

"Get Moose and Squirrel!"

What about...

[chewedtoothpick]

What about Junkyard Wars? I believe that TLC really did something original with that.

Also, didn't TNN's Robot Wars come out before battlebots? I remember when battlebots first came out, the first ad I saw for them was during watching Robot Wars on TNN. I could just be mistaken and it was an ad for a new season of Battlebots and I hadn't cared.

Still, It is a shame that they are canceling battlebots. Not to be a troll, The only thing I didn't like about it is comedy central put that dumb carmen electra slut on there for sex appeal. Why couldn't they have put some prety girl on there who actually knew something about electronics.

Re:BattleBots/RobotWars

[T-Kir]

After seeing the US version of Robot Wars, it is the actual UK version but lacking some of the behind the scenes stuff (I think) and with a different presenter (Craig Charles presents it in the UK - he played 'Lister' in Red Dwarf).

This is 'cos the BBC licences it to different countries (a bit like the TellyTubbies) so they get the original tapes for them to reproduce their own versions, whereas Junkyard/Scrapheap has the same co-presenter (who is also the exec producer) and they do a combination of UK/US filming.

Far too "orderly" combat

[pla]

The idea of making a machine to go in their to kill other machines sounds really cool. Hell, for the first two seasons, I watched it religiously, making it one of only two shows I watch regularly (the other, South Park, only having like 4 new episodes every six months anyway, so not all that time consuming).

However, by the third season, I (and I think *most* people) started realizing the choices of possible machine types, as limited by the extensive rules, made every "new" combat nothing more than a replay of something I'd already seen, with a new paint job.

Even now, I would start watching it again, if they ditch 90% of the rules. As long as a bot won't explode (and even "small" explosions, such as their 3" thick plexi cages would contain, seem alright), no holds barred. Flying bots? If someone can make them, good luck. Projectiles? Yup. Fire? Yup. Electricity? Yup. Entanglement? Again, Yup.

Make it a *real* contest of who can build the better bot, rather than who can build the better table-saw-or-jackhammer-on-wheels, and it would become interesting again.

I want to see REAL robot destruction. I don't want every match to end with one bot immobilized, mildly injured from a battery wire breaking, or its antenna clipped, or havings its wheels chopped off. I want sparking circuit boards, small explosions, the smell of ozone (well, okay, the home viewer couldn't enjoy that part), chunks of metal everywhere, etc.

Until then, I don't even care if Carmen starts hosting it nude. It has completely lost its "newness" appeal.

Battlebots is pretty good - if you have a TiVo

[jlower]

That way, you can watch a 30 minute episode in about 10 minutes, skipping all the commercials and filler.

I see a lot of comments about how it wasn't innovative and didn't evolve but I think it did. And even though more fights were boring than not, when there was a good fight, it was really cool. Even though the show had the 'feel' of Pro Wrestling, I never thought the fights were pre-determined - don't see how they could have been.

I hope some other network picks it up - I would miss it.

Re:Why?

[patchmaster]

I think it started to go downhill when the hazards became almost as important as the opposing robot. I wanted to see robots do battle, not have the robots getting beaten up by the ring. It was particularly nasty for the lightweight bots that would get tossed across the box by the saws. They should have had the hazards on some random sequence and not had some guy on the controls gunning for every bot the wandered by.

BTW, I believe you can have large caliber projectile weapons, you just need to tether the projectile and reel it back in after firing.

Re:Why?

[HorsePunchKid]

I agree that it's become somewhat dull, but keep in mind that this recent (last few years?) wave of robot competition shows isn't the first. I remember watching Nova on PBS as a kid (err... well, maybe 10 years ago). My favorite ones were the robot competitions, only they generally weren't this one-on-one battle sort of situation. They'd have tasks to complete, and whichever did it best or fastest won. So they'd be building robots out of Legos and whatnot that would have to move ping pong balls from one box to another or fly magnetic discs over a net. I seem to remember them generally being autonomous, but I'm not sure. Anybody else remember these shows? (Heck, I'm sure some people here were involved directly in them!) Does this kind of thing still air anywhere?

Blessing in Disguise

[TeamRV]

Hey Folks,

Cool to see that BatttleBots has made the Slashdot news :)

My name is Jon Autry, I have competed at two of the BattleBots competitions, and at several smaller regional competitions. I have been building bots now for close to two years: http://www.robot-village.com

Here are a few comments from a BUILDERS perspective: (these comments and thoughts are my own, and in no way reflect the opinion of BattleBots INC. or any other builder)

As a competitor at BattleBots, I had mixed emotions when I heard that CC had decided NOT to extend their contract.

I remember hearing the first commercial for BattleBots on Comedy Central. I thought: "Sweet! That sounds like it will ROCK!" but I was also confused as heck as to why in the world Comedy Central would be picking up the program?! Hey, I didn't really care at the time... I just thought the idea of seeing machines fight was awesome, and would take it any way I could get it.

After watching a few episodes, I was addicted to the show. All I could think about was: "What kind of bot would I build?!". I went along like this until I finally decided to try MY hand at fighting robots.

It took me nearly six months to make my first bot, and I can tell you that I learned more in those six months than I did in High School. You cannot appreciate the time, work, and research that goes into making one of these robots, until you do it yourself. The science and physics involved in engineering one of these machines needs to be focused on more, (IMHO) instead of "dumbing the show down".

After attending my first BattleBots in Spring 2001, I couldn't wait for the new season to air on CC. However, after seeing the competition live, watching it on CC only made me frustrated. Here are a few of my "gripes" with the way CC presented the show:

• For some reason, it seemed that Comedy Central did not even SHOW a good portion of the great fights that took place. Instead, a lot of fights featured to pushy bots that meandered around the box with little contact. I know when I first tuned in to watch robots fight, this wasn't what I had in mind... :) Trust me, there is MORE than enough trashing and thrashing to fill an entire episode each week through an entire season. But for whatever reason, the powers that be chose not to show more fights / less BS.
• The sounds are fake. It blows my mind that they don't try to capture the REAL sounds from the fights. You can't appreciate how ridiculous some of the sounds are, until you hear the REAL sound of a screaming 2-stroke internal combustion engine in a robot. Or the sound of "The Judge" warping plates in the BattleBox floor with its pneumatic hammer from hell. Sounds is just TOO big a factor to fudge it up...
• Prostitutes and profanity have NOTHING to do with fighting robots. Bill Dwyer ROCKS though. That guy is sincerely into the robots, and does a fine job commentating (IMHO). The rest of the "talent" just distracts you from what I would think people are tuning in to see: robots get ripped to shreds by other robots.
• Too much talk, not enough breaking bots. More fights, more fights, more fights...

Those are a few of my main beefs with the way the show is presented. I have to give CC props for picking up the show in the first place though, otherwise I don't think that I would be building bots now. But I think that they will do more for the "sport" (or whatever you want to call it) by letting it go, than they ever did by picking it up in the first place.

If and when the show is picked up by another network, I hope the focus shifts more to the competition, and away from making it into a circus.

Just my opinion...