Behind the Bots

BattleBots S4E8 Recap (Black Dragon Captain João Marcos Giacometti Cavalheiro)

We recap S4E8 of BattleBots, which featured the Desperado Tournament, where eight bots fought in seven sudden death matches to automatically secure one spot in the Top 16. Competing in the Desperado this year: Minotaur, Lucky, End Game, Gruff, Black Dragon, Captain Shrederator, WAR Hawk and Ragnarok, plus the bonus fight! Deep Six versus Axe Backwards.

We interview Black Dragon captain (and Desperado Tournament champion!) João Marcos Giacometti Cavalheiro, who tells us about his early experience with combat robotics, his team's other famous bots, and exactly how they won their lucky mascot.

This week’s combat robotics event calendar:
> Aug. 3: Robot Riot Summer 2019 in Miami FL
> Aug. 3: Combat Robotics at the Ohio State Fair, Columbus OH
> Aug. 3: Rocket City Robot Assault 3, Madison AL
> Aug. 4: Robot Rebellion 3.2, Rockwall TX

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BattleBots S4E7 Recap (Bot Makes and Cheesesteaks With Jackson Cutrone)

We recap S4E7 of BattleBots, which featured Death Roll/Quantum, Bombshell/Cobalt, Gemini/Tantrum, Lock-Jaw/Duck, SawBlaze/Blacksmith, Railgun MAX/Shellshock, Ribbot/Falcon and the main event: Tombstone versus Rotator.

We interview future BattleBots captain Jackson Cutrone, age 11, who tells us about starting his school's first robotics club, why his dream matchup is Blacksmith versus Minotaur, and the advice he shared with SawBlaze captain Jamison Go.

This week’s combat robotics event calendar:
> July 27: Destruction Under the Stars in Walnut, CA
> July 27: Winter Whack in Oakleigh, Victoria AUS

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BattleBots S4E6 Recap (Plus Our Interview With the Unbreakable Paul Ventimiglia From Bite Force)

We recap S4E6 of BattleBots, which featured Hydra/WAR Hawk, Sidewinder/Skorpios, Valkyrie/Ragnarok, Free Shipping/Yeti, Gruff/Copperhead, HyperShock/Monsoon, and the main event: Bronco versus Bite Force.

Later, our interview with Bite Force captain Paul Ventimiglia, who tells us about his first bot, and why he wanted to originally name Bite Force “Chompy.”

This week’s combat robotics event calendar:

• July 20: Deadline to enter the 2019 Canadian National Championship in Saskatoon, Canada

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BattleBots S4E5 Recap (Plus Our Hypnotizing Interview With Andrea Gellatly From Witch Doctor)

We recap S4E5 of BattleBots, which featured Black Dragon/Bloodsport, Captain Shrederator/Witch Doctor, Jasper/HUGE, Gigabyte/Minotaur, Mammoth/Uppercut, Wan Hoo/Shatter and the main event: Son of Whyachi versus Whiplash.

Later, our interview with Witch Doctor captain Andrea Gellatly, who tells us how she got into the sport, why Miami is such an epicenter for combat robotics, and why she wears a little piece of Witch Doctor every day.

This week’s combat robotics event calendar:
> July 12: BattleBots watch party with WAR Hawk in Seattle, WA
> July 13: Beetle Bonanza in Blackstone, Queensland AUS
> July 20: Deadline to enter the 2019 Canadian National Championship in Saskatoon, Canada

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BattleBots S4E4 Recap (The Meaning of Life, With Hannah Rucker of Team 42 Robotics)

We recap S4E4 of BattleBots, which featured Duck versus Cobalt, Rotator versus Bombshell, Nelly the Ellybot versus Rainbow, Quantum versus Lock-Jaw, Kraken versus Blacksmith, End Game versus Ribbot, Death Roll versus Foxtrot and the main event, Tombstone versus SawBlaze.

Later, our interview with Team 42 Robotics captain Hannah Rucker, her teammate Julia Chernushevich (former captain of the team behind Bucktooth Burl), plus a surprise pop-in from Hannah's dad Hal. Hannah tells us about falling in love with the sport at 5, competing regionally at 6, and appearing three times on BattleBots--all before her 15th birthday.

This week’s combat robotics event calendar:

> July 5: BattleBots watch party with Shatter! In Brooklyn, NY
> July 6 and 7: Seattle Bot Battles 2019 in Seattle, WA
> July 6 and 7: Colorado Robot Battles in Colorado Springs, CO

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BattleBots S4E3 Recap (Bath Salts and BattleBots: Will Bales of HyperShock)

We recap S4E3 of BattleBots, which featured Skorpios versus Copperhead, Bloodsport versus Lucky, Hydra versus Free Shipping, Monsoon versus Ragnarok, Railgun MAX versus MadCatter, Breaker Box versus Falcon, WAR Hawk versus Petunia and the main event: Bite Force versus Yeti.

Later, we sit down with HyperShock captain Will Bales, to talk about changes he made to the bot for the 2019 season, how much it costs, and why so many great BattleBots teams come from Florida.

This week’s combat robotics event calendar:
> July 29: Antweight World Series in Dunchurch, England
> July 29 and 30: Robot Havoc in Adelaide, Australia

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BattleBots S4E2 Recap (Plus Our Big Interview with HUGE!)

We recap S4E2 of BattleBots, which featured Son of Whyachi versus Huge, Texas Twister versus Black Dragon, Duck! versus Bombshell, Shatter! versus Witch Doctor, Axe Backwards versus Mammoth, WanHoo versus Captain Shrederator, and the main event, Minotaur versus Whiplash.

Later, our interview with HUGE captain Jonathan Schultz and his teammate, Peter Lombardo. They take a half-dozen listener questions, and talk about the improvements they made to their bot this year.

We’ll wrap up our show with this week’s combat robotics event calendar:

> Saturday, June 22: WAR at the Northwest Kids Fest in Monroe, Washington
> Saturday, June 22: Indi Robot Games in Ulft, Netherlands

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BattleBots S4E1 Recap (We're in Deep Six! An Interview with Dustin Esswein)

We recap S4E1 of BattleBots, which featured Blacksmith versus Quantum, HyperShock versus Valkyrie, Kraken versus Ribbot, End Game versus Death Roll, Cobalt versus SubZero, SawBlaze versus Rotator and the main event, Tombstone versus Lock-Jaw.

Later, we interview Deep Six team captain Dustin Esswein, a U.S. Navy diver who was inspired to build one of this year’s most ambitious combat robots, a 4-foot-tall vertical spinner with a 100-pound bar.

We’ll wrap up our show with this week’s combat robotics event calendar:

> Friday, June 14: S4E2 of BattleBots on the Discovery Channel
> Friday, June 14: BattleBots watch parties with Mammoth (Towson, Maryland), Gruff (New Port Richey, Florida), Shatter! (Brooklyn, New York), Axe Backwards (Jensen Beach, Florida) and BattleSaw (Wichita, Kansas)
> Saturday, June 15: Clash of the Bots in Gastonia, North Carolina and BotBrawl in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
> Sunday, June 16: Bristol Bot Builders in Bristol, England

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BattleBots 2019 New Team Preview (Part 3)

We wrap up our preview of 7 first-time BattleBots teams competing this season: Rainbow, Ribbot, Shatter, Shellshock, Sidewinder, Uppercut and WanHoo. Later, we'll highlight this week's local combat robotics event calendar. BattleBots returns to Discovery Channel on Friday, June 7.

** This week's combat robotics event calendar **
> Thursday, June 6 at 8:45 p.m. Pacific: One-day exhibition match livestreamed at twitch.tv/battlebots
> Friday, June 7 at 8 p.m.: BattleBots episode 1 airs on the Discovery Channel
> Friday, June 7: BattleBots watch party with BattleSaw in Wichita, Kansas
> Friday, June 7: BattleBots watch party with Kraken in Melbourne, Florida 
> Friday, June 7: BattleBots watch party with WAR Hawk in Seattle, Washington
> Saturday, June 8: Bay Area Robotic Combat club in Richmond, California

BattleBots 2019 New Team Preview (Part 2)

We take a deeper look at 8 first-time BattleBots teams competing this season: Kingpin, MadCatter, Mammoth, Marvin, Nelly the Ellybot, Quantum, Ragnarok and RailGun Max. Later, we'll highlight this week's local combat robotics event calendar. BattleBots returns to Discovery Channel on Friday, June 7.