BattleBots

Now also a Weekly program on Comedy Central Complete with commentators and a BayWatch Babe!

Bill Nye adds his own brand of humorous scientific commentary to the show. It's much better than the re-runs of old stand-up routines they used to have.

New episodes air Tuesdays at 10 PM.

The Battlebot divisions are:

Lightweights: 25-58 lbs (wheeled) 25-87 lbs(nonwheeled)
Middleweights: 59-115 lbs (wheeled) 88-173 lbs(nonwheeled)
heavyweights: 116- 210 lbs (wheeled) 174-315 lbs(nonwheeled)
Superheavyweights: 211-325 lbs (wheeled) 316-488 lbs(nonwheeled)

This is truly the coolest thing happening on TV, forget Survivor or Big Brother, I wanna watch metal machines of destruction battling to the death!

Each battle is three minutes long, or until a "knock-out" (a robot is made non-functional by an opponent), If there is no knock-out judges tally up points much like a boxing match. the whole thing takes place in a square arena with plexiglass walls. The floor of the arena has retractable ramps, spikes and saw-blades, as well there are hammers at the walls. Robots may use their own weapons or push opponents into these hazards. There are also Robot Rumbles in which up to 16 Battlebots vie in the arena for supremecy!

Note: The BattleBots event is the Successor to RobotWars.

I must give kudos to Team Sinister. These geniuses behind the battlebots Mechadon and the new Snake really create battlebots that look like the images that one creates when they think of battle bots. Unfortunatley they haven't fared so well in the actual competition (Snake was taken out in the first super-heavyweight round during the recent Las Vegas competition). The Head of Team Sinister is Mark Setrakian, a special effects wizard who has worked on such films as Men In Black and Mighty Joe Young. I think he embodies the true spirit of battlebots.

Whoever at Comedy Central decided to give Battlebots the amount of coverage it has deserves major kudos. Its popularity is no surprise; this is the true successor to flesh and bone gladiatorial combat.

True, Pro Wrestling had the whole personal combat thing going for a while, but it really only appeals to people who can get over the fact that none of it is real in the slightest - like a really cheap movie action sequence. Battlebots, on the other hand, thrives on the same appeal that made real-life gladiators so exciting - the fact that this is real honest to god combat. Sure, martial arts might be closer to the spirit of the real thing, but it's never had the publicity, plus it's moderated so as to avoid any real damage.

Battlebots, however, not only employs real, unlimited destruction, but also feeds on 20th century Man's general love of big machines - machines with big shiny moving parts of destruction moreso. I mean, let's face it - this is the start of mecha combat - in the future, if we're lucky, Battlebots will feature 20 ton robots in gigantic arenas firing missiles and going at it with vibroblades... And it all starts here.

Then there's the geek appeal - Not only are they big shiny machines, but it's all built by individuals, whom people like LordOmar obviously identify very strongly with. Of course, I myself am still hoping for the day that it all gets co-opted by Boeing and Lockheed-Martin for some truly impressive bots to be built.

Upon first hearing of the show Battle Bots, I found the concept incredibly enticing. “Fighting robots” what could be better? But after actually watching an episode I found it to be rather disappointing, and have talked to many who agree. After seeing a PBS special on Artificial Intelligence and robotic research I believe I discovered why. It’s not really the robots fighting, it’s their pilots. While I was craving little angry electronic demons battling with all they had, I got "twenty-something" engineers playing with heavily armed home made remote controlled cars. (Which is actually rather entertaining to me now, I was just expecting something better.)

Part of the PBS special included footage of past robotic soccer games. With exception to the lack of violence, I found them to be far more entertaining because there was no human participation during the matches. As wanna be programer (I'm only in high school; give me time.) I would much rather see amazing feats of software design than hardware design.