BattleBots Delayed, Will Go Brains Over Babes

An anonymous reader writes "We got all excited earlier this week about robo-combat returning to TV with ESPN, but now PopMech super geek Erik Sofge talks to the folks at BattleBots and finds out that because of so many early entries, the competition will be delayed until at least November. The reason? Gone are the babes and predictable wedge fights, in are eager engineering students, a crazy ramp arena and lots of new rules. Worth the wait, or do we miss the Comedy Central version?"

Comments

Robots?

[Bitsy Boffin]

Pah. The first (and last) time I watched one of these "battle bots" programmes, I was left thinking "where are the robots". All I saw was (somewhat dangerous) remote controlled toys.

When your battle bot can battle even somewhat autonomously, then I'll watch.

Re:Robots?

[Chris Burke]

When your battle bot can battle even somewhat autonomously, then I'll watch.

We're not even close to being able to have an AI that would be able to adapt to a new opponent with a new weapon system or form of motion. We've been able to make decent autonomous robots that operate in a strictly controlled environment where they can be programmed to expect everything that can happen -- e.g. robots that play soccer, now toss a football at one, or make the floor like a mogul ski slope, and see what it does. Heck, a lot of AIs go completely mental when faced with unknown stimulus.

So given the practical realities of AI today, you'd essentially have to get rid of all the engineering and design aspects of the robots, and basically have a standard robot so that you could make the necessary assumptions about what enemies it would face. Not that this kind of thing isn't interesting -- I always loved programming crobots which had only one robot with standard abilities. It's just that practically speaking you have to choose between software engineering and hardware engineering, and at this point I just think unique human-controlled fighting machines is more exciting.

Well, being a geek...

[Jugalator]

... it's the bots that turn me on, so I'm not sure I understand what the loss would be.

(seriously though, I think focusing on the main content instead of "babes" will give the show much better longevity -- while Kari Byron can be pretty in MythBusters, that's not the main reason to why I watch that show)

Re:Well, being a geek...

[palegray.net]

Seen on BattleBots fan forums:

"My God, look how that bot's exoskeleton shines in the moonlight."

"Those mechanical legs go all the way up, baby."

"Seeing the lubricating oil spewing from that gouged bot makes me tingle in all the right places."

"Hot three on one bot action!"

"Man, those two bots just kept ramming the other one into submission! I had to change my underwear."

First one suffered from faux excitement

[SendBot]

I remember being SO excited for the BB premiere and being totally disappointed at how lame it felt to actually watch it. It was all WWE-style hyperactive and the announcers were just annoying as hell and wouldn't shut up with their inane drivel. I remember one bot had a cheesy head thing mounted on it and they went NUTS when it got knocked off, even though it was just a superficial piece and in no way connected to function of the actual robot.

Sounds like they're taking the right approach this time!

Funny you mention Mythbusters

[Manfesto]

As much of their crew are former competitors in the BattleBots league. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadblow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blendo Grant's bot was Deadblow - it ranked #2 in the middleweight division and had quite the badass hammer (I remember it putting holes in a number of competitors). Jamie and Adam's robot was Blendo, and my favorite quote from the wikipedia page: "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."

Re:Yes and yes.

[somersault]

Wow, I've never seen a dll linked from that position before! :o

Re:Yeahh....

[glavenoid]

Especially if they actually got a host that new what a servo was. (and got carmen back) Or, better yet, they could let Tom Servo host!!

I disagree.

[jd]

The Micromouse tournaments have had systems that can navigate unfamiliar and changeable environments for something like 30+ years. Robot Table-Tennis has been going on for well over 15 years now and competitors can aim at (and hit) very dynamic targets. Robot Soccer is progressing to the point where multiple machines can target an individual object in an environment of moving targets. Open Source code available from NASA simplifies the development of mission-oriented robot devices. Open Source code available from various other groups simplifies the development of autonomous vehicles.

Given where student robotics already is, and given the software availability, what more can you possibly need for a perfectly viable autonomous robot league for Battlebots?