[robotic voice] Robots activate.
[audience cheering]
[applause]
[audience cheering]
Hey everybody. And welcome to BattleBots World Championship VII.
I am Chris Rose, joined as always by UFC legend
and the best robot fighting analyst
east and west of the Mississippi.
- [chuckles] - The one and only Kenny Florian.
[audience cheering]
Thanks, Chris. Tonight's gonna be incredible.
These teams have been working their butts off back in the pits
to prepare for these fights.
That is right, Kenny.
50 teams brought as much as 5,000 pounds of hardware each
to be ready for this season.
Weapons, chassis, armor,
controllers, the list goes on.
[Kenny] No doubt every configuration for these robots
factors into what they've hauled into the pits for World Championships VII.
[Chris] And their work is just getting started.
Only 28 squads have put their designs to the test.
Inside the BattleBox here in our first round of qualifying fights.
And tonight, 14 new teams begin their quest
for the most coveted trophy in all of sports, the Giant Nut.
[audience cheering]
Let's take a look at the fight card.
Two fan favorites will square off
in a kill or be Killed popularity contest,
when Bunny Sauriol Malice collides with Donald Hutson's Lock-Jaw.
[Kenny] We'll also see a kinetic clash of the Titans
as Bloodsport looks to cut the head off
of the slithering serpent Copperhead.
[Chris] And tonight's main event is gonna be a flippin good time.
The bad boy ofBattleBots, Jake Ewert and Hydra
takes on 28 teams most destructive Robot Rotator
captained by the golden boy, Victor Soto.
[Kenny] Jake's been talking a big game.
He wants Rotator to scrape our 16 foot ceiling,
but Victor hope before he flies, Hydra dies.
You do not want to miss that.
[Chris] But we're kicking things off with some thunder from down under.
After two years away, Australia's own death world
reenters the BattleBox against the British basher, Cobalt.
[Kenny] Back in World Championship for DeathRoll
made it all the way to the semifinals
and it's ready to pick up where it left off.
But this field is exponentially more violent.
No better example than Cobalt's decimation of Ghost Raptor last season.
Get your popcorn ready for this one or for the Aussies,
your vegemite.
[audience cheering]
These fans are ready Kenny. So let's get this thing started.
- What do you say? - Let's do it.
Faruq, take it away.
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
[audience cheering]
It's robot fighting time.
[audience cheering]
In Red Square,
Cobalt was discovered in 1735 by a Swedish guy named Georg.
But mess with this Cobalt, and they'll discover you in the morgue.
And as a tribute to Sweden, he'll not only beat you.
But leave your body in more pieces than furniture from IKEA.
Seriously, I bought a couch last year,
and I still haven't finished putting it together.
Anyway, give it up for Cobalt.
[audience cheering and applause]
[Chris] He's Cobalt in for the first of their four qualifying fights.
The robots designer UK's Dave Moulds pushing Cobalt in
and Kenny there is his co-captain, John Mladenik.
[Kenny] Yeah, John also owns Gigabyte
but he's all in on Cobalt this year.
They've got a tough schedule.
You can see Minotaur is up next,
but there's no looking past a dangerous foe like DeathRoll.
[audience cheering]
In the Blue Square, this robot reminds me of one of those thrillers
where white people are dumb and run straight toward the killer.
The dude's got a knife, so you better beware.
No, you idiot. Don't go in there.
They never listen. It's DeathRoll.
[Chris] There's team captain Steven Martin.
He says DeathRoll's basically been in a crate the last couple of years.
Hey, it looks pretty good. No dust.
[Kenny] Their win over End Game at World Championship IV
is still one of the greatest fights I've ever seen.
Notice no forks on the front of this robot.
The question is, can a two-year-old design
compete with a state-of-the-art bot like Cobalt?
[audience cheering]
DeathRoll is very similar to 2019.
We've made some tweaks and some improvements,
but it's pretty much the same old robot.
Cobalt's a very similar design, a big vertical spinner.
When two big vertical spinners meet,
there is some spectacular carnage.
I expect to see sparks flying everywhere,
robots flying around the arena.
The chance that this ends in a knockout, I reckon, is about 90%.
If we can stay on the offensive
and try and get around the back of Cobalt.
Hopefully we can come out on top.
We're fighting DeathRoll.
He's got a weapon like Cobalt, and he's a great driver and he doesn't break.
I think this season I think the way it's driven is gonna make a big difference.
I'm going to try and do it kind of cautiously to start with
and then really go for the knock out if we get the upper hand.
I think it's gonna be whoever gets the first big hit really
is gonna win the whole match.
I just really hope we get that first hit before they do.
- This side? - Yeah, wherever the hell you want.
[robotic voice] Robots activate.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] All right, Kenny. Two weapons straight out of a horror movie.
Dial us in.
[Kenny] Cobalt wants to use those piano key wedgelets to control the Aussie bot,
feed it up into that single tooth 45 pound disc.
But he'll need to survive the all-out offense from DeathRoll.
And it's 50 pound spin.
[robotic voice] Red team ready?
[audience cheering]
[robotic voice] Blue team ready?
[audience cheering]
[Kenny] These fans are foaming at the mouth
for some good old-fashioned robot carnage.
Here we go.
Anything can happen.
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin and here comes DeathRoll.
Wow, what a shot as it cascades backward.
- [Kenny] Oh, my goodness. - [Chris] Oh, man.
All right, there goes those green piano keys got another shot.
I'm at telling you Cobalt's nasty.
[Kenny] Cobalt's so much lower than DeathRoll
and that is bad news for the Aussies.
[Chris] Now going face to face again and look at this, Kenny. It's just topping itself.
And now it takes the shot from the pulverizer.
- [Kenny] Wow! - [Chris] ...this is a terrible spot to be.
[Kenny] Stuck between a rock and a hard place they are pinned.
[Chris] Oh, man, the pulverizer is holding that dude down.
You can see him try to climb out with a spin.
- [Kenny] Oh! - [Chris] Cobalt says "Mercy is for the weak".
[Kenny] Oh!
[Chris] Look at it. This is just flat.
Look at this thing.
Oh, it's just. Oh, come on now.
[Kenny] Oh, it took a huge gash on the underbelly of DeathRoll.
My goodness. I don't think that thing is going anywhere, Chris.
[Chris] DeathRoll's used to being the bully here at BattleBots.
It's getting punched in the mouth,
in its return can it self-right?
- [Kenny] Oh. - [Chris] Oh.
[Kenny] Almost able to self right there.
[Chris] It is... Is it alive?
Is it alive Kenny Florian?
[Kenny] Cobalt just sitting there. Come on, I dare you.
[Chris] Kenny, look at this it's missing some fingers...
- Oh, my God. - Two, one.
- Knock out! - [Chris] That gotta be it.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] DeathRoll, RIP.
- Courtesy of Cobalt. - [Kenny] Wow.
[Chris] Kenny, it was a serious box rush
and I'll tell you, DeathRoll had a death wish.
[Kenny] Yeah, you know, these are exchanges
that DeathRoll is used to winning, but Cobalt just to low to the ground here,
fed DeathRoll, right up into the weapon.
And without a ground game, the Aussies came out
on the wrong side of every single impact, Chris.
[Chris] And DeathRoll's weapon is spinning so viciously
every time it gets knocked head over tails.
You knew that that thing was gonna be bouncing like a basketball.
[Kenny] DeathRoll is one heck of a machine, but it was no match for Cobalt tonight.
[Chris] And DeathRoll tried and tried and tried,
but in the end just took too much of a pounding
and dead.
[audience cheering]
John Mladenik, Oh, you got Dave Moulds all over you, I understand.
- Hey, John. - [laughter]
Dude that weapon is nasty, huh?
- Hey, well, it... - It still works.
- Yeah. - [laughs]
[audience cheering]
It seemed like DeathRoll wanted to go.
weapon to weapon with you guys.
Do you think that was a miscalculation on their part?
- No, we have the same idea. - [laughter]
I think it was... There's not a lot either of us could do.
They're very similarly matched robots.
And, yeah, it's about as best as either of us could have done.
So it was who got lucky first, really.
And fortunately for us, it was, it was us.
Dave, is there any question that you can take the Giant Nut back overseas?
Yeah, there's no question it's gonna happen.
Oh, really?
[audience cheering]
Guys, Congratulations. Great job!
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Listen, this was a big time win for Cobalt.
[Kenny] Absolutely. And the good news is the boss gonna be
in great shape heading into that second fight against Minotaur.
Mark your calendars for that one.
[Chris] And after a two year hiatus, the jury's out on DeathRoll.
[Kenny] Yeah, you know, two years is an eternity here atBattleBots.
Last time we saw DeathRoll, they were top of the food chain.
They'll have a chance to rebound in fight number two against Switchback.
All right. Up next, the debut of a rookie that floats like a butterfly
and stings like a speed.
Hopefully it's more dangerous than me.
It's ominous taking on the speed demon Claw Viper.
That's when they return here on BattleBots.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] We are back on BattleBots World Championship VII.
That is Kenny Florian. I am Chris Rose.
And up next is the return of Claw Viper, captained by Kevin Milczewski.
Kenny, Claw Viper is one of the fastest robots in the entire field,
but as a grappler it's had its troubles.
How does this team with three career wins turn things around?
[Kenny] Well, Kevin says this version of Claw Viper is even faster.
But he told us the most important change
is its ability to hold onto its prey.
In previous years, Claw Viper would lift opponents
and immediately suplex them,
leaving the bot vulnerable to shots in the back.
Kevin designed a new strap for the grappling arm he calls the idiot strap.
This locks the arm in place, so Claw Viper can now grab and carry opponents with ease.
The team was working late into the night to get the strap dialed in.
We'll see if this new design helps Claw Viper dominate the control category.
[Chris] They're taking on a rookie robot named Ominous.
The architect is Tim Bouwens. He is from the Netherlands.
He's been here before.
Back in 2018, he captained a bot called Reality,
which had a career record of two and two.
Not bad. Tell us about this robot, Kenny.
[Kenny] Ominous is one of only three bots in the field
featuring omni directional wheels,
which allows the robot to move seamlessly in any direction.
That kind of agility is vital to escaping trouble,
avoiding hazards and controlling the center of the box.
Ominous features a 50 pound vertical disk spinner
with a tip speed of 240 miles per hour
while Claw Viper wants to control you.
Ominous wants to destroy you.
I love to fight where I have no idea what's gonna happen,
which is actually most of the time around here at BattleBots.
Faruq
[audience cheering]
In the Red Square, from Seattle, Washington.
He came from the Pacific Northwest to deliver your death.
It's Claw Viper!
[Chris] Kevin Milczewski, there all the way to the left.
Told us he lives for these three minutes inside the BattleBox.
Says it's the only time a buttoned up engineer like himself
can satisfy some bloodlust.
[Kenny] Well, he's got to let Claw Viper loose tonight.
It can accelerate from 0 to 20 miles per hour in half a second.
That's almost twice as fast as a Lamborghini off the line,
if you've never seen this bot in person, buckle up.
In the Blue Square from Tilburg Netherlands
and speaking fluent Netherlandian,
it's Ominous.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] From Holland it's known for its windmills,
tulips and, of course, murderous robots.
Here is Captain Tim Bouwens, and here's our first look at Ominous.
I've got to tell you, that thing is looking pretty cool.
[Kenny] Yeah, it's a gorgeous design, but BattleBots
isn't a beauty contest.
It's kill or be killed.
We'll find out very soon if Ominous is as effective as it is beautiful.
Claw Viper uses permanent magnets to suck it to the floor
the way a race car uses aerodynamics.
So we have increased the magnet from last year four times
that let's Claw Viper accelerate even faster.
If you thought Claw Viper was fast last year,
look out it's even faster this year.
I've been dreaming about this robot for three years.
It now finally drives like I want it to drive.
Those Claw Vipers you've seen the last two years
that's not what it's supposed to do.
This is what it's supposed to do.
Claw Viper is known for bulk slashing the opponent.
So I'm just gonna have to avoid him until the weapon spins up to full speed.
And then we can engage.
Once the fight starts, I'm just gonna go sideways.
The only directional drive is really maneuverable drive system.
But it's not it's not the creepiest.
So the weapon really compensates for that. It can really pack a punch.
So hopefully that combination will be perfect for this competition.
[robotic voice] Robots activate.
[audience cheering]
[Kenny] All right, folks.
Here's how all the team members back in the pits.
See this one going down.
They seem to think it's the rookie bot that has the edge.
[Chris] Listen, when a new robot comes along,
the builders see fresh meat.
They're sizing it up in the pits in the test box.
Clearly, they've seen something that has them believing
Ominous is the real deal.
[Kenny] That's some serious bulletin board material for Claw Viper.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin.
And holy smokes, look how fast Claw Viper is.
[Kenny] It is lightning fast.
[Chris] Oh, yeah. Ominous get thrown into the corner.
[Kenny] Ominous needs to stay squared up.
[Chris] Oh, every which way I took a shot. Now it's on its head.
[Kenny] Tim Bouwens just trying to get his bearings.
Claw Viper super aggressive to start.
[Chris] Can Ominous find a way to self, right?
- Uh, or maybe Claw Viper will? - [Kenny] Oh.
[Chris] Do the heavy lifting literally.
Ominous breaks free. Claw Viper just misses a nice hold there.
[Kenny] That's what Kevin is looking for.
He wants to pick up Ominous and carry it around the box.
- Look at this speed? - [Chris] Holy smokes! This is the best Claw Viper.
Look as he takes Ominous and puts it up on the screws.
[Kenny] Uh-oh.
[Chris] Yeah, those screws will reverse.
Let's see if it spits out Ominous.
- Let me go here, please. - [Kenny] Little help?
- [Chris] Can you reverse the... - [Kenny] And...bam!
[Kenny] Claw Viper looking for the right angle to get a good bite.
Which is Ominous back on the screw system.
[Chris] Hey, why don't you hang out there for a second while I run some numbers?
Oh, boy.
Ominous trying to get down and get out of town.
There you go. Tim Bouwens searching for space.
But the lightning bolt Claw Viper continues to close the gap.
[Kenny] Claw Viper is crazy fast.
[Chris] Man, oh, man.
Claw Viper gets a huge hit on top of it all.
[Kenny] Yeah, they continue to win the ground game. They're there on a nice...
[Chris] Taking our BattleBotssign down.
Ominous on its head again.
Claw Viper still looking to get a bite.
Look at that. Stay up there.
- [Kenny] Ominous looking for an exit here. - [Chris] Yeah.
[Kenny] And he gets it.
[Chris] Claw Viper all over it has the grabber arm wide open,
still looking for a bite.
Ominous, inverted yet again.
How you doing, guys? Hi.
Approaching a minute remaining in what has been a one-sided fight.
Claw Viper has Ominous on its nose,
now teetering against the rail.
This is a precarious spot for the Dutch bot, Kenny.
[Kenny] Oh wow. He's up on his wedge.
He can't make contact with the floor.
[Chris] Is he waving goodbye like I'm done?
- Hello? - [Kenny] Oh, boy.
[Kenny] I know that team trying to get that weapon going.
Seeing if the force can rattle it free.
[Chris] Oh, that's it. The countdown has started.
Kevin Milczewski bot dominant
for the entire two and half minutes in this one.
[audience cheering]
- Yeah. - Yeah.
[Chris] Kenny, I would say even in slow motion,
that Claw Viper is really fast.
[Kenny] Yeah. I mean, it's like trying to swat a mosquito,
except this is a 250 pound mosquito.
[Chris] And check this out. We didn't speed this footage up.
The agility of Claw Viper clearly overwhelmed Ominous in this one.
Both the Omni drive and the self-righter on the Dutch bot
looked sluggish in comparison.
But how do you think Kevin will grade Claw Viper's new grappling system Kenny?
[Kenny] Yeah, obviously he was hell bent on getting
a bite with that new idiot strap design.
Wasn't able to execute in fully control Ominous here,
but once the team dials it in, look out.
This is going to be a tough bot to beat.
[Chris] Ominous did work its way down from the upper deck,
but it got cornered in a bad, bad way and eventually
got put to rest by Claw Viper.
[Chris] Kevin Milczewski.
[laughter]
Why are you so pumped?
'Cause it works. That's the real Claw Viper.
[audience cheering]
Kevin, that speed is just tremendous out there.
It's unbelievable to watch it.
Is that the most dangerous aspect of your bot?
No you saw us grab and hold him, right?
We can hold people up in the air now and carry 'em around.
That's what we want to do.
[audience cheering]
You know, Kevin, so many bot builders
want to use this first fight to learn something about their robot.
What did you learn about yours?
Uh, that that we can stop and hold up there?
That was brand new. We built that last night, so it works.
That's pretty good late night work by you and your crew.
Congratulations on the wonderful start.
My crew and I are the great people.
- Good job! - Thank you.
Good fight, man. That was a lot of fun too. That thing hits hard.
Hey, Kenny, I don't care what sport you're talking about. Speed kills.
[Kenny] Claw Viper is insanely fast, but for me,
seeing a grabber lifter have that kind of success
against another vertical spinner, it's great to see.
I think they can go really fast.
Yeah. Claw Viper was underwhelming early in its career.
We saw that reflected in the pit pole favoring Ominous.
But Kevin Milczewski told us, "Listen,
I was a little disappointed in our performance the past few seasons.
He's worked hard and now it's kind of...
- Is paying off. Yeah. - ...It's making the big time leap.
All right. When we return, two of the nastiest weapons in the game clash
as Copperhead takes on the sanguine striker Bloodsport.
That's coming your way next onBattleBots.
We continue on here on BattleBots.
And up next Bloodsport taking on Copperhead.
And let's start it off with Bloodsport,
a team captained by Justin Marple.
Back in World Championship V, Bloodsport went undefeated in the qualifiers,
earning the number two overall tournament seed.
But last season was a rude awakening
as they got stomped in the round of 32 by the hooves of Minotaur.
What do we expect to see out of the team this time around?
[Kenny] Well, after that early tournament exit,
Justin was talking about retiring Bloodsport.
Instead, he redesigned it from the ground up.
The weapon now spins faster, hits harder,
and Justin thinks Bloodsport will be more destructive than ever.
[Chris] His opponent is slithering in the shadows, ready to strike.
It's Copperhead, led by new team captain Luke Quintal.
He takes over for Robert and Kimberly Cowan,
who previously took over for Zack Gough.
It's been a revolving door of leadership for this team.
Do we expect any massive changes here?
[Kenny] Well, no. This bot is tried, tested and deadly.
At first glance, Copperhead looks pretty basic,
but the brilliance of this robot is that simplicity
like Minotaur the drum can take a ton of punishment and keep on spinning.
It pummels opponents as well as any robot in the field.
Six of its ten career wins have come by knockout,
and the game plan is always the same.
Smash that powerful drop into opponents at top speed.
[Chris] Let's remember when they walked out
of the tunnel a season ago, they had a live snake.
If that thing is back, y'all are gonna have...
What's that up your leg... Oh, no that's...
Believe me, if we see that thing, I'm out of here. It's that simple, Faruq.
[audience cheering]
In the Red Square as the Philly fan,
this intro was painful to be doing,
but this bot's from out near Boston.
So, you know, trouble is brewing.
He'll leave you with red socks after he cuts off your feet.
And unlike the Patriots, he doesn't even have to cheat.
Give it up for Bloodsport.
[Chris] Justin Marple there to the right leading this team out for their fourth season.
And holy smokes, I'm loving the new Bloodsport,
Kenny do not, do not look directly into those eyes.
You might turn to stone.
[Kenny] Yeah. Those eyes are mounted on a new more powerful weapon motor,
because it's so large they had to move it out of the chassis
to the top of Bloodsport.
It'll power the new 75 pound weapon called Chunky.
The blades almost as big as Copperhead and Justin says it hits like a truck.
In the Blue Square, this snake is made of metal and has one in its name.
It's a hardcore thrashing killer, bringing Megadeth and pain.
It's more poisonous than anthrax.
It's disturbed and kills with quickness,
so don't let it sink its teeth in you
or you're sure to get down with the sickness.
Oh!
It's Copperhead!
[Chris] Here's Luke Quintal and talk about an entrance.
You don't see a lot of captains surfing on their bot.
And hey, I don't see any live snakes,
but they do have a small live boy.
What?
[Kenny] Well, I don't know how hard the kid hits,
but that drum spinner is 50 pounds of punishment.
Now, it only has a 140 mile per hour tip speed,
but they've learned faster isn't always better.
This lower tip speed actually allows the weapon to get more of a bite
instead of just chipping away.
Bloodsport is an extremely experienced team
as far as horizontals go, I think they hit as hard as they come,
so they have the chance of doing extreme damage to us.
But because their blade is so high up,
we're just really hoping for that uppercut.
My plan is pretty much to box rush them as quickly as possible,
get the weapon up to speed and try to hit them hard
before they get up to full speed.
I think with my driving skill and style, we'll be able
to take Copperhead to victory.
It feels amazing to be back here at BattleBotsagain.
We've come back with a brand new robot, brand new Bloodsport,
completely rebuilt from the ground up.
So new to this season, we have something called a flexlet.
This helps us get under the other robot
so the strategy against Copperhead is to avoid their drum
as much as possible. Hit them on the side. Go for the wheels.
If we can get under them even better,
we just know if they hit us or they hit our bar,
we're going to go flying.
So we want to avoid that.
[robotic voice] Robots activate.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Kenny, some brutal weapons in this match up.
What's gonna be the difference maker?
[Kenny] I like the addition of those flexlets on Bloodsport,
but we'll see how they hold up
to Copperheads unstoppable drum.
[robotic voice] Red team, ready?
Let's get bloody!
[audience cheering]
[robotic voice] Blue team, ready?
[audience cheering]
- How about it? Yeah. - Nice.
A little jab.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] The vertical drum spinner, the horizontal blade,
the selection committee craves violence.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin.
Weapons up to full speed.
[Chris] Oh, look at the Copperhead...
What did it do to Bloodsport?
- [Kenny] Oh, my goodness! - It burst a blade.
[Chris] It just destroyed it with one shot.
[Kenny] Wow. The chain just fallen out of Bloodsport there.
[Chris] Unbelievable!
Bloodsport, a bloody mess.
Won and done. Courtesy of Copperhead.
[audience cheering]
[Kenny] Well, Kenny, this didn't take long, did it?
[Chris] Yeah. What a shot.
[Kenny] And it wasn't kind of flat on.
It was just a little edge that it caught Copperhead is that powerful.
I mean, take a look at the force of this collision.
The transfer of energy snaps, Bloodsport, self-righter in half in mid-air.
Ridiculous.
[Chris] I mean, you're talking about sending a 250 pound robot
half way through the battle box.
[Kenny] And immediately Bloodsport went up in flames
and just a devastating shot.
[Chris] Yeah. Anti-venom ain't gonna help with that snake bite.
Bloodsport is DOA.
- Luke. - Whoa!
- Congratulations, man. - Oh! Thank you!
Yeah, well, now, Kenny and I thought you could finish him in under 10 seconds,
so we were a little disappointed.
- Uh, 12 seconds that's got to do. - Yeah.
Did you expect something like that to happen?
Oh, no. One hit knockout I was not expecting that.
That was a massive collision.
We obviously had some drive issues there at the end,
so I'm kind of glad it happened in one hit.
So, yeah, that was, that was insane.
Luke, what was the strategy heading into this fight?
We definitely wanted to hit the left side of their robot
because of the rotation that they spin in.
I think we got the hit we were looking for.
I think we clipped the bottom of their weapon
and did some serious damage there.
We know that in recent seasons that Copperhead has gone full throttle
and been right there in the mix.
Do you think that this robot has what it takes to lift the Giant Nut?
I mean, Copperhead's, an amazing robot, it's built like a tank.
And every year we get better and better.
I mean, we only lost one fight last season,
and right now we're undefeated.
- So I think we got it. - So is that a yes or a no?
- That's a yes. - Okay. Thank you.
- Good job, Luke. Congratulations. - Thank you. Thank you.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Kenny, this might have been Copperhead's toughest matchup
in the qualifiers and they made it look easy.
[Kenny] Yeah, they've got the rookie Triton up next.
We're gonna see them later tonight.
Right now, Luke's got to be feeling good about his path to the tournament.
[Chris] As for Bloodsport, this new design clearly
needs some more time in the oven.
[Kenny] Yeah, unfortunately, there's not much you can learn from a one hit knockout.
Their runway to work out the kinks of this new bill just got a whole lot shorter.
[Chris] All right. Coming up, we've got a bot chock full of ill will
and taking on a mandibular murderer
as Bunny Sauriol Malice looks to snatch an early victory
from Donald Hutson and Lock-Jaw.
That's next onBattleBots.
You've returned for more of BattleBots World Championship VII
that is Kenny Florian, I am Chris Rose.
We've been treated to some world class combat tonight.
And coming up later in our main event,
we have got a monster matchup between Hydra and Rotator.
But Kenny, we're hearing whispers that Victor Soto's team
is experiencing some issues with the bot.
[Kenny] Yeah, they've been struggling with their radio transmitter
and they've spent most of their time
in the test box troubleshooting it.
Every robot here is controlled by radio transmission.
A bad radio signal means you can't control the bot.
Think driving through a tunnel and dropping a call.
But in the battle box, it's a recipe for disaster.
[Victor] The transmitter is fully charged, so it's a brand new issue.
[Chris] Well, his opponent, Jake Ewert, is circling
the test box like a shark, and he smells blood.
We'll keep an eye on this story as it develops.
But up next, we've got Bunny Sauriol and Malice squaring off
with aBattleBots OG in Lock-Jaw.
But do not call Donald Hutson O-L-D.
Some people wanted to say that last season, after Lock-Jaw went winless,
they went 0-4 overall in all their fights.
But Donald Hutson, he's got the spry attitude
of like a 20-year-old.
He says, "Listen, I'm ready to be battle tested.
I can't wait to get it back out there."
I think that's the attitude we love about Donald Hutson.
- He loves this stuff. - Yeah.
Since he was 22-years-old, he said he's been building things.
He's accomplished so much in this sport.
But the reality is he's not getting any younger
and he's desperate to prove he can still compete here
in the modern era.
He's completely redesigned the electronics inside of Lock-Jaw,
and he has determined to have a bounce back season here
at World Championship VII.
[Chris] And Kenny, tonight with Malice for the first time,
it is a family affair.
Bunny and teammate David Liaw got married in the off season.
A win tonight against Lock-Jaw would be the perfect wedding present.
[Kenny] Funny, I never got the registry link.
Listen, Malice has struggled mightily with weapon reliability issues
in its first two seasons,
and until they prove that they can consistently keep their spinner active
for the full three minutes, they are a team in jeopardy of falling out of the top 50.
David Liaw is grabbing the controls for them.
He has a ton of experience in other competitions,
has racked up a lot of awards.
Bunny feels it's the right time to move on from former driver David Rush.
Mr. Liaw's got a big test right out of the gate here against Lock-Jaw.
- You ready to check it out? - Let's do it.
Faruq, do your thing.
[audience cheering]
In the Red Square from San Diego, California.
If you get near his jaw, you'll be drinking your meals through a straw,
it's Lock-Jaw!
[audience cheering]
[Chris] There is the man, Donald Hutson
with his big infectious smile.
He spent half his life eating in robot combat
and he has unfinished business, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, this is a critical season for Lock-Jaw.
Check out that V-shaped plough on the back.
That thing looks angry.
He wants to back that thing up and jam up Malice's weapon,
then put that big vertical spinner to work.
[audience cheering]
In the Blue Square, from San Jose, California.
Your bots like her ears. They're about to get lit up.
Give it up for Malice.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Here we go. Our first look at Malice.
And there she is, Bunny Sauriol in all of her glory.
She always makes quite the entrance, and so does that robot.
And you know what? I always forget how imposing Malice is.
Especially because Bunny is so sweet.
[Kenny] She's sweet and spice and everything nice
until she gets into the arena, then look out.
They're going with their mischief set up to combat Lock-Jaw's plough.
Malice has that 55 pound aluminum bar called drumstick
and new forks to fight for the low ground.
[audience cheering]
Bunny and her team have had this robot for many years.
It's got a big nasty heavy spinning mass.
Our plan is to go in with a configuration
that allows us both the ability to destroy them
and a little bit of armor to help protect
against some of the big hits that weapons gonna put on.
So Lock-Jaw instead of having a wedge,
which comes at more of a slope.
He has a plough which is more, more vertical.
So we have to adjust and use our lighter weapon.
Our plan is to get into that plough and toss them so hard.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[robotic voice] Robots activate.
[Chris] All right. Big time fight here.
Will a new driver make the difference for Malice?
Or will offseason upgrades turn Lock-Jaw back into a championship contender?
We're gonna find out when BattleBotscontinues.
[Chris] We are back on BattleBots
and we are now moments away from brawl in the box
between the heavy horizontal Malice and a retooled Lock-Jaw.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Malice, Lock-Jaw,
two teams in need of a bounce back season.
Who's gonna get that all-important first win?
[audience cheering]
[Kenny] Let the bot battle begin.
Connects to Lock-Jaw, the aggressor, trying to slow down Malice.
Throw it into the screws.
[Chris] I expected that box rush to try to test that reliability
of that active weapon on Malice.
[Kenny] And Malice's weapons being jammed up.
Good job by Donald Hutson.
[Chris] Donald's so good at configuring
for his opponent so many years of experience in this sport.
He is a master strategist.
[Kenny] He's going plough first right into that 55 pound weapon of Malice.
He's done a great job not allowing it to spin up.
[Chris] Yeah. And he's laying the ground game.
He's getting underneath Malice.
[Kenny] Oh, big hit there, weapon to weapon.
[Chris] Lock-Jaw with the vertical spinner in the mix now,
looking for the right angle to land a kill shot on Malice.
David Liaw for the new driver of Malice,
trying to get around Lock-Jaw
And now take it right to the weapon.
[Kenny] Hutson seems to be having some issues there. He's kind of spinning around.
[Chris] Maybe having a little trouble with some ground clearance on the floor.
[Kenny] Let's see if Malice can take advantage.
Chris, David Liaw looking for space to spin up.
[Chris] Malice looking for the right way to deliver...
Instead it takes one right to the kisser.
[Kenny] Yeah. Big shot there by Lock-Jaw.
I don't think the tires of Lock-Jaw are making great contact to the floor.
[Chris] Oh, weapon to weapon action here.
Malice now playing the aggressor, trying to corner the veteran.
[Kenny] Donald, alternating between the plough and that vertical spinner.
He's looking to do damage.
[Chris] Huge hit. That's the best one of match so far.
And in fact, Malice has been inverted now.
It can't thrive isn't as efficient, though.
[Kenny] And I think this is where Donald Hutson really is gonna step on the gas.
But he's helped Malice out there.
[Chris] Yeah, turned it back over, a minute 15 to go.
[Kenny] And Chris, the primary weapon on Malice has slowed and stopped.
This is the issue that's haunted this team
throughout its career weapon reliability.
[Chris] Donald Hutson knows it and he capitalized.
[Kenny] It looks like that weapon is about to fall off of Malice right now.
- Serious damage there. - [Chris] Under a minute to go.
Lock-Jaw definitely on the attack.
Oh, we have smoke in Lock-Jaw.
That has been trouble in seasons past.
[Kenny] Keep an eye on Lock-Jaw's weapon, can it stay active?
If Malice can stop that vertical spinner,
it could even the score cards here.
[Chris] It's not much, but there is some life in that weapon.
The judges definitely take note.
[Kenny] Malice trying to get underneath Lock-Jaw.
There they have those forks.
That's a new configuration for them getting underneath Lock-Jaw.
Lock-Jaw having some issues there with its tires.
[Chris] Under 30 to go.
As weapon on weapon fireworks to start this match.
These two now pushing their way to the finish line,
both trying to earn any last points they can
in the aggression and control categories.
Lock-Jaw, still smoking under 10 seconds remaining.
And we will head to the judges' scorecards.
They are Derek Young, Lisa Winter, and Fon Davis.
Scoring on an 11 point system.
Five points to be awarded for damage.
Three apiece for aggression and control.
All right, Kenny, what'd you see early on in this one?
[Kenny] Well, these are the kind of fights that Bunny and Donald
love to be a part of.
It was a back and forth war here.
Both teams willing to stand in and trade shots.
But strategically, I thought that V-shaped rear plough on Lock-Jaw
was very effective and gave Donald the early edge.
[Chris] Lock-Jaw did a nice job
of leading with that plough in order to slow down Malice's weapon
and then whipping around for attacks
with the vertical spinner eventually landing this monster shot.
[Kenny] Big time shot right there.
And this is where the fight really turned Chris.
The boogie man came for team Malice
in the form of their weapon, breaking down again.
[Chris] Donald Hutson looked to be in control
until a plume of smoke popped out of Lock-Jaw.
Its weapon was ineffective from that point forward,
but the veteran was able to push on through to the closing bell.
Let's go to Faruq, who has the decision.
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
Lock-Jaw!
[audience cheering]
Donald Hutson, congratulations.
Donald, I know you are a proud, proud man.
You didn't get a W last season.
How nice is it to get back in the winner's circle?
Well, you know, it's a bit overdue, isn't it? Yeah.
[audience cheering]
Donald, it seems like those are the kind of fights
that you really love to be a part of.
What did you learn about your robot?
Well, I thought the robot performed well.
It took a heck of a beating from some pretty serious hits,
and it feels really good for my whole team, myself, to actually get a win.
And we're gonna plan to keep it going, aren't we?
- Yeah. - Yeah, we will.
[applause]
Congratulations on the win to Donald Hutson and Team Lock-Jaw.
Thank you so much.
Well, Kenny, Donald Hutson you may exhale.
It is it's got to be so nice for him
just to get back there with a W.
[Kenny] Absolutely.
This is a huge confidence booster
and with a world class bot like Saw Blaze next on the schedule.
This opening win also gives Donald some breathing room.
[Chris] And for Malice, despite the loss,
they showed off some nice durability.
[Kenny] Yeah, but weapon reliability remains an issue.
At some point that becomes inexcusable.
And up next for them is the rookie bot emulsifier
who looked pretty impressive last week.
Look, the season is young, but this loss to Lock-Jaw
could come back to haunt Malice.
[Chris] Hey on deck.
It's a rookie robot pushing theBattleBots limits
with an 80 pound weapon Triton and its havoc wreaking horizontal blade
makes its debut against the Canadian flipper Lucky.
That's next, when we return onBattleBots.
[audience cheering]
All right. We are back on BattleBots.
And up next, it is a rookie bot in Triton
taking on a true veteran Mark Demers team.
Lucky, a bunch of really fun good dudes from up north in Canada.
The hard-nosed pneumatic flipper Lucky is coming off its best season yet,
earning the 25th seed in World Championship VI,
before bowing out in the round of 32.
Kenny, how does this squad take the next big step?
[Kenny] Well, Mark is bringing back his secret weapon
world class RC driver Matt Olsen.
Matt was a revelation last year
in hisBattleBots debut against Tantrum.
He had the eventual champs on the ropes but was overly aggressive,
allowing Tantrum to turn the tide.
With the year of robot combat under his belt.
We'll see if Matt can find the balance of aggression and patience.
And step one tonight, they'll have to deal with a rookie bot in Triton.
They're captained by Bradley Hanstad.
He was part of the team Deep Six a season ago.
Deep six, of course, featured a 100 pound weapon that was so violent and unpredictable
thatBattleBots said, "Yeah, let's make 80 pounds the limit okay."
[Kenny] That's right. And Bradley said,
"Fine, I'll make Triton's weapon 80 pounds then."
This bot hits as hard as Deep Six.
But the horizontal setup should give the robot more stability.
Bradley built Triton in his small one bedroom apartment
here in Las Vegas.
He's ready to unleash it here against the Canadian.
Wait, till you see this weapon.
Let's get you all set for this fight, Faruq.
[audience cheering]
In the Red Square from Las Vegas, Nevada,
the son of Poseidon that totally disregards
his tour will responsibilities.
It's Triton!
[audience cheering]
[Chris] There we go.
Bradley Hanstad, bring it up to rear here and Team Triton is out.
What you are getting, dude that weapon is enormous.
[Kenny] That thing is just awesome.
[Chris] I'm not seeing much armor, Kenny.
[Kenny] Well, listen, when you have an 80 pound weapon,
you're clearly not too concerned with defense.
Triton's basically a voided out tombstone.
It wants to hit you early and hit you hard.
They don't plan on going three minutes with Lucky.
In the Blue Square from Ottawa, Canada,
the bot that will beat you black and Labatt blue.
It's Lucky!
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Oh, Canada.
Yes. Sweaters for everybody.
[Kenny] I love this look.
[Chris] A career record of six and 11 for Lucky,
but their poutine, on their best faces this season, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, you know, despite that tournament bid last year,
Lucky is a perfect example of a team that needs to deliver
a quality performance here at World Championship VII
in order to stake its claim in next season's field of 50.
There are hundreds of young engineers hungry
to grab your spot in this sport.
Win, remain relevant. That's the goal.
Triton is designed to have one of the hardest hits in the sport.
It has a good drive system so we can push around in theory,
but it's all about that weapon,
and that's what we're bringing.
In order to win this fight we just need to spin up.
And if we keep spinning, that means Lucky's dying.
Sorry, eh.
Triton is a new machine, but the team is very experienced.
They are known for packing a really big punch.
Our plan is get on them.
Try to get that blade running into the wall.
We want to stay right on top of them,
be really aggressive in their face,
and just keep on them deflecting that energy.
[robotic voice] Robots activate.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Kenny, bots with oversized weapons
have a tendency to damage themselves as much as their opponents.
[Kenny] Lucky, clearly has that in mind.
I mean, check out the size of that front wedge. Looks like an armored car.
They want to get under Triton, knock it off balance
and dish out a 11,000 pounds of force with that haymaker flipper.
[Chris] Hope he bought some extra insurance for this one.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin. Triton spinning up.
And Lucky gets underneath and pops it in the air.
Put that big front wedge to work right out of the gate.
[Kenny] Triton. A little wild here to start, Chris.
[Chris] The Canadians using that wedge, kind of like a snow plough
ramming Triton into the screws.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Looking to deliver Triton into the teeth
of those screws, Triton escapes.
Now Bradley Hanstad looking for space, spin back up.
Kenny, do you hear the sound of that weapon, by the way?
[Kenny] It is nasty.
[Chris] Oh, big blow. Triton lands a power shot.
Gonna get something going here.
[Kenny] Watch for that whip around action.
[Chris] Oh, nice call Kenny Florian.
Oh! This one blasted backward after that collision.
That was nice.
[Kenny] But the Canadians right back in the mix, Chris,
that big front wedge is the perfect counter for Triton to play.
[Chris] And also doing a great job of tracking, right.
Preventing it from getting around to the back of Lucky.
That's good work.
Oh, another classic blow by Triton.
[Kenny] Team Triton's inexperience showing with the driving in this fight
[Chris] And look at Lucky, trying to flip it out of here again.
Oh, they're underneath. Oh, nice work. Put it right on its side.
Lucky, making it look easy, dropping this anchor right where they want it.
It's the chef's kiss.
[Kenny] What a beautiful little finesse flip there by Matt Olson.
And Matt's just gonna leave him there.
[Chris] Here comes the countdown. Lucky backs away.
Battles to gain the champs pass for new life and a fight last season.
But no, not this time.
Team Lucky's gonna move to 1 and 0.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Kenny, how impressed for you
that Lucky was able to keep its opponent from really doing any damage,
even with an 80 pound weapon?
[Kenny] Yeah, this was the combination of a great defensive configuration
and excellent driving from Matt Olson.
[Chris] And Lucky did a great job of staying squared up
with that big front wedge.
[Kenny] No doubt. And when you're talking about a spinning weapon
as big as Triton, that is a lot of energy to keep under control.
It only has those two small wheels as its primary points of contact with the ground.
Bradley Hanstad gonna need some more stick time to tame this beast.
Hey, Mark. Congratulations.
I know you love sending your opponent up into the sky,
but I was super impressed with that, with that wedge in front.
You like the gentle touch right at the end.
That was wasn't really big, but it did the job, you know.
[Chris] So, Mark, how did you end up getting
that robot on its side perfectly?
I thought it was fantastic.
I think we were taking some damage there,
maybe damaged our power a little bit,
and we just had just enough to get him up on the side.
I think we were sticking after they bent us
that we're sticking on the wedge on the front a little bit.
And like I said, "Just enough to get them where they can't move."
So, we'll take it. Got a little lucky. We'll take it.
All right. Well, congrats, Mark. Great start to the season.
[audience cheering]
So luck be a lady tonight.
Team Lucky off to a strong start.
Next up, the Canadian squad will look to flip Kraken like a pancake.
Then it's Shreddit Bro! And finally, Cobalt.
And with Triton 80 pound weapon,
but if you can't land that huge shot,
doesn't matter how much you weigh, right?
Yeah. That's right.
But the weapon did stay active for the full fight.
If Bradley can master the controls and keep Triton facing forward.
This bot is one to watch.
Well, I know their next opponent, Copperhead,
is definitely watching because snakes don't blink.
Get it, Kenny.
All right.
Well, coming up, will hometown hero Jackpot go home with all the winnings.
Or will Skorpios sting deliver a debut victory?
Find out next here on BattleBots.
[audience cheering]
We are back on BattleBots World Championship VII.
Up next, we've got the blue collar bot jackpot
taking on a bot that's blue Skorpios.
Let's start with Jackpot, who had very little distance to travel
because they are based right here in Las Vegas led by a local plumber.
Jeff Waters now in his third season. And guess what?
He's never lost a single fight in the regular season.
[Kenny] Well, even more impressive,
he's done that on a shoestring budget,
spending only a few thousand dollars on Jackpot.
Some of these teams spent closer to a 100 grand.
But the secret sauce is that 22-inch disk,
which extends nine inches past the front of the chassis.
It hits hard.
It gives them an incredible reach advantage.
Going undefeated in the qualifiers
two seasons in a row is no accident.
[Chris] They're taking on Skorpios,
led by the dynamic husband and wife duo of Zach Lytle and Diana Tarlson.
They won a bounty a few years ago,
but they've never made it out of the first round
of the world Championship tournament.
Kenny, has this team peaked?
[Kenny] Well, if you asked Zach and Diana, the best is yet to come.
They believe they've finally fixed the weapon reliability issues
that have plagued them and listen Scorpios is a tank.
In fact, they have more wins by judge's decision than any other team.
If they can keep that weapon going,
this could be their year for a run at the Giant Nut.
That's right.
It's something like it's like a, this is like the stinger.
This is getting really strange.
- We're not very good with our hands. - Faruq, save us.
[audience cheering]
In the Red Square from Las Vegas, Nevada.
Insurance, insurance, life insurance.
You'll need it against Jackpot!
[Chris] Yes, the local team ready to deal
with some pain in your direction.
An unblemished record in the regular season
and you dress for success, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, but this year might be a little different with four fights
and what looks like a tough schedule.
Those big forks on Jackpot's front will be key tonight, though.
If they can win the ground game,
that weapon reach will cause a lot of problems for Skorpios.
In the blue square from Lafayette, California.
When your honeydew list is just kill, kill, kill.
It's Skorpios!
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Oh, Zach and Diana
they always come out with so much passion, so much energy.
All right.
Talk me through what they're working with tonight, Kenny.
[Kenny] Well, they're not going with their typical plough.
This is a new front armor set up,
specifically designed for vertical weapons.
It's meant to get under opponents and deflect blows.
Skorpios has lost almost every match against Berk's.
They're hoping that ends tonight.
[audience cheering and applauding]
We put all our effort into our new lifter
ground game self-righting hybrid system that we got going on.
I feel like the way Jackpot is gonna win this fight
is going to be either going right up that ramp
and getting that hammer saw knocked out immediately
or get to one of the wheels or cut the mobility down.
We cut some weight out of the robot to bring in our mini bot,
which I feel like is going to be a game changer against Skorpios.
What makes Jackpot so hard and Jeff, such a tough builder to beat.
Robot's got massive reach.
So you're gonna hit the blade before you hit him.
This is how he took so many people by storm in his rookie year.
Trying to figure out how to deal with that is relatively tricky.
We could kill just about any horizontal.
We've proven that to death.
In the off season, we developed a new type of armor
that's going to be our answer to the vertical spinners,
and we cannot wait to test it out tonight
and show it off in our fight against Jackpot.
[robotic voice] Robots activate.
[Chris] Okay, Jackpots tournament exits
were due to a lack of a self-righter.
- Problem solved, Kenny? - [Kenny] Yeah.
They've actually added a lifting mechanism to the forks.
Jackpot's raising them now. We'll see if it pays off.
[Chris] And there's their mini bot, Ace
out of the sleeve and onto the table.
[robotic voice] Red team, ready?
[audience cheering]
[robotic voice] Blue team, ready?
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Let the bots battle begin.
Oh, man, both weapons up to full speed already.
Skorpios shows Jackpot its side.
Zach Lytle playing with fire there.
[Kenny] Skorpios runs the mini bot now taking on the big boy,
pushing Jackpot towards the upper deck that's a big time shot.
Now hovering with the hammer saw.
Oh, he splits the aces, but uh-oh,
we got a fire coming out of Skorpios now.
[Chris] Yeah. Skorpios is burning up already,
but they've got a great hit on Jackpot.
And I don't think that self-righter is working right now.
[Kenny] I don't think anything is working.
Hey, you just heard Jeff Waters there.
That new self-righter they were hyping is not working.
Skorpios doing just fine. The smoke is clear.
And the countdown has started.
Skorpios trying to chase after the little mini bot.
Can they get him?
Yes!
Skorpios get mini KO, the major KO.
And win number one of this season.
Oh, there's the fire from Jackpot.
The boys from Vegas going down in flames in fight number one.
[Chris] Kenny, some shaky driving from Zach Lytle early,
but once he got Skorpios pointed in the right direction,
it was game over for Jackpot.
[Kenny] Yeah, and Skorpios is so well known for its defensive capabilities
that front wedge and those forks in particular
is really what won them the battle here against Jackpot in my opinion.
[Chris] Skorpios dropping the hammer saw their
jackpot finally added a self-righter this season
but here in fight number one came up snake eyes.
Zach and Diana, Congratulations.
That is a great way to jumpstart your season, right?
No kidding. Oh, my God!
I think that's as good as that could have possibly gone.
[audience cheering and applauding]
So, Zach, what did you guys do right?
It worked.
We, we...
This is our brand new vertical armor to finally
have a solution for the verticals.
It went right under it, fought the forks
like it was supposed to, and it let us get that critical hit.
And we know the reach Jackpot has is super scary.
And we have a lot of juicy bits that stick out of our frame
that a lot of previous verticals have hit.
So we had a plan to hopefully not.
I had to control myself a lot more.
It was really hard. I couldn't just swing like I wanted to.
I had to actually wait. And you know what?
Sometimes when you wait for that good hit, it works.
[audience cheering and applauding]
Zach and Diana, congratulations
and good luck in your next fight.
- [Diana] Thank you. - Thank you.
Viva Las Vegas!
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Hey, if you're Zack and Diana,
pulling off a dominant win
against a vertical spinner has got to feel fantastic.
[Kenny] Yeah, that's a big monkey off their back.
But they've got some gorillas on their schedule
in Sawblaze and Ribbot tough road to the tournament.
And as far as Jackpot, hey, that's what a regular season loss tastes like.
You go back in the pits, you revamp and you try to get a W in your next fight.
It's that simple.
All right. Coming up next, it's our high flying finale.
Jake Ewert is determined to bring the Giant Nut
back to the Whyachi clan with his flipper Hydra.
But first, he's got to take down Miami's own Victor Soto and Rotator.
Let's take a closer look at tonight's main event.
Semifinals, Hydra, Tantrum.
You want to talk about Tantrum, huh?
[Chris] Oh, nice flip from a Hydra. Oh, nice job there.
Here comes Tantrum targeting Hydra's weapon.
Honestly, I didn't get beat last year.
[Chris] Tantrum scored some damage points with that shot.
Whoa! What a finishing shot by Hydra.
It'd be fine to lose and lose because they beat you.
We have a split decision.
[Jake] But not because the judges gave them the win.
- Tantrum! - Yeah!
For this season I got to come in and dominate
because I can't let the judges steal it from me.
So I'm looking for knockouts every step of the way.
[Faruq] It's Rotator.
Last season, in round of 16, we faced off against Tantrum.
[Chris] Victor Soto dishing out the punishment now.
[Victor] But we got knocked out in the last 10 seconds.
[Chris] Whoa.
[Faruq] A remarkable shot by Tantrum as they move on
to the round of 8.
It's, this is the third time now we got knocked out
by the eventual champion.
We've just got to break that cycle.
We don't want to be the gatekeeper.
We want to be the guy who's getting to the end.
This year, we ended up making a brand new Rotator
from the ground up,
using these new motors that are more powerful, lighter.
Total powerhouse.
I think the Rotator fight is actually
gonna be a fairly tough matchup
because he just doesn't go out, in a KO like ever.
I'm gonna have to go with my heavy wedge.
Because for me to get a lot of flips in on him,
I'm gonna have to take a lot of hits.
[Kenny] Rotator continuing its all out assault.
HYDRA's a very challenging robot just because Jake
is very fearless in using the flipper
and he'll flip it even if our spinners right over it.
We don't want a lot of armor pieces that Jake
can catch with his flipper.
So we're gonna reduce a lot of weight on the robot.
And that's also gonna make Rotator a little more nimble,
if we've got everything down.
I think we have a very good chance of knocking out HYDRA.
[Chris] Oh, I felt that in my stomach.
[Jake] People fear HYDRA
because I will go in and I will flip
into anything at this point and people know that.
They should be scared.
[Victor] Every year we come in with the mentality
of going all the way to get the Giant Nut.
It doesn't matter who's in front of us.
We want to take them down.
Victor, I'm coming for you.
[laughter]
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Jake, you were clearly a man on a mission
who wants to send Rotator on a mission to Mars.
Kenny, what's the latest on Victor Soto's robot?
[man] Uh, needle nose.
But guys, guys, what's the scope. Come on.
[man2] ...right around here.
[Kenny] Well, we saw Rotator having issues
earlier and look at this.
Victor Soto is literally right outside the arena,
desperately working on that radio transmitter.
[Victor] Got it.
- Don't pull it up. - No, no.
Hold on. I got it, Carl.
Here, Carl. Will you please...
[Kenny] Unreal. This fight is only minutes away.
Can Rotator make the starting bell
for this crucial main event?
We'll have our answer, next onBattleBots.
[Chris] We continue on, here on BattleBots.
And Kenny Florian,
it's time right now for our main event.
Now, before the break, we saw Captain Victor Soto
in panic mode, scrambling to get Rotator
ready to roll for this match.
[man] Yeah, I got it. Hang on.
[Chris] But there is a welcome sight.
The bot is being wheeled into the arena.
Now, we don't know yet what type of shape
Rotator is in, but we do know it's scheduled to face
the preseason fifth ranked robot here at WCVII, HYDRA.
HYDRA, of course, the hydraulic flipper
led by the one and only Jake Ewert
as part of team Whyachi.
He is a perennial favorite to win the Giant Nut.
But last season, his deepest tournament run
yet was derailed in the semi's after
what was an incredibly controversial
judge's decision, Kenny.
Tantrum!
[cheering]
[Kenny] Yeah, and we heard him earlier.
Jake still feels like the judges got it wrong,
and he's not alone.
That decision split the judges,
split the builders,
split the entireBattleBots community.
But the loss lit a fire under Jake.
He's not gonna leave his fate
in the judge's hands anymore.
He doesn't care about the damage he takes.
He's going to be the aggressor this season.
And it all starts tonight against Rotator.
By the way, later on in the regular season,
HYDRA will get a rematch with Tantrum,
the current defending champion.
As for Rotator, last year, it also got knocked out
of the tournament by Tantrum that was in the round of 16,
and that loss spurred a complete rebuild, Kenny.
[Kenny] That's right.
While it looks similar to last year's robot,
the insides are more compact and much more powerful.
The team shaved a full second off the weapons,
spin up time and it reportedly hits with a whopping
50% more power.
Victor wants to be back in the conversation
for most destructive robot.
[Chris] All right. Well, the report is that Rotator
has been given the green light to fight.
So problem number one solved.
But now it's time for final jeopardy, Kenny.
[Kenny] A robot that can launch
you into the stratosphere.
[Chris] What is HYDRA?
Ding, ding, ding.
And let's check out how the career numbers stack up.
You can see it right there.
These are two of the winningest bots
in the modern era.
[Kenny] Yeah. And the preseason rankings say HYDRA is the favorite.
But don't sleep on Victor's squad.
Rotator's been just as deadly and has been just
as difficult to knock out.
You could see in the KOA's category,
both teams have only suffered three career knockouts
against them.
But this does also highlight the power of Hydra's flipper.
It's currently tied with Bronko for the most
knockouts by a flipper bot inBattleBots history.
[Chris] Two world class teams, two of the top robots
on the planet.
Let's do it.
Faruq.
[Faruq] Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
[crowd cheering]
It's time for the main event!
In the red square after you meet
this next bot, you'll need a real spin doctor.
That's what I said, now.
To save you from its blades, that spin like a helicopter.
That's what I said now.
It's the king that killed two princes.
I know, you know how with its razor sharp spinner.
That's what I said now.
Give it up for Rotator!
[Chris] There he is.
Miami's own Victor Soto.
He's looking cool, calm, and collected.
You would ever know just a few minutes ago,
this team was struggling to even make it to the arena.
And Kenny, it looks like they're running upside down.
[Kenny] Stranger things have happened.
They've got that 40 pound blade on top
instead of their standard under cutter.
HYDRA is very well armored for low attack,
so Victor wants to focus on the more
vulnerable spots up top.
[crowd cheering]
[Faruq] In the blue square,
remember that old video game, NBA Jam, where you could jump
from half court and still put down a slam?
I always thought that was merely
an optical illusion until I saw this bot launch,
people that high.
Now it's a logical conclusion.
Boom Shaka Laka, he's on fire.
It's HYDRA!
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Jake Ewert pushing it out and yeah,
playing to the crowd already.
Although I think he kind of likes playing
the role of villain too.
He absolutely does.
But he's a very lovable villain.
We were just talking about Rotator's top cutter.
Jake's betting his AR500 top armor plate
can hold up to it, if it can.
He won't have any hesitation going flip hunting.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Kenny. Despite HYDRA's controversial
exit last season, Jake did receive some criticism.
A lot of people felt he would plop HYDRA
right in the center of the box and just wait around.
[Kenny] And there's an argument to be made on both sides.
Some people call that smart.
Others call it poor sportsmanship.
Either way, if you just sit there against a powerhouse
like Rotator, you're asking for trouble.
Perfect.
[robot voice] Robots activate.
[Chris] All right.
Two preseason top 15 behemoths here.
Whoever prevails adds a massive W
to their resume.
Can Victor Soto return to most destructive form?
Will Jake's warpath to the Giant Nut begin tonight.
We're gonna find out, when BattleBotscontinues.
[Chris] We kicked off the night talking about
the thousands of pounds of gear teams
brought to make it through this unprecedented season.
And you can see with one look back at the Pits.
We weren't kidding.
[man] Everybody is just so prepared this year.
The level of attrition has been getting
higher and higher every season.
And this season everybody just brought their A-game.
[man1] We have multiple weapons.
We can run anywhere from 40 pounds
to about 55 pounds.
[man2] We came into the season knowing that this was gonna
be something we had to do, and so we were ready for it.
Four different drum configurations,
we have different wedge front configurations.
[man3] We have a pit full of plastic.
We have all sorts of different new plastics.
We're trying new stuff.
A lot of teams come to us to get plastic,
to get our tools for the plastic.
We've got lots of spares with us.
So many attachments.
Winning at this level really requires success in the pits.
We put a lot of time into that.
[Chris] Welcome back to BattleBots World Championship VII.
We've got one of the most disruptive horizontals
in the sport, Rotator set to clash
with what may be the greatest flipper of all time in HYDRA.
Kenny, this main event has the full attention
of the teams back in the pits.
How do they see this one going down?
[Kenny] Well, they clearly don't see
this as much of a contest.
A whopping 75% think Hydra will lock this up.
But listen, 60% of Rotators wins have come by KO.
I'm expecting a competitive match.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Uh, ladies and gentlemen,
this is your host, Chris Rose speaking.
Please stow your tray tables and buckle your seatbelts.
This main event is ready for takeoff.
[Kenny] Let the bot battle begin.
Whoa, HYDRA gets hung up on the BattleBot'sfloor.
Both bots looking to win low ground.
HYDRA just misses on the flip but catches...
...through the flipper there.
That was nice.
Jake Ewert all over Victor Soto
to start the match.
[Chris] Rotator up against the rail.
Breaks free and gets right underneath HYDRA.
That's a good sign for Victor Soto.
Those forks doing their job.
[crowd] Whoa!
[Kenny] And that's a big shock.
Oh boy.
Wow.
When Jake gets going.
He does not let up, Chris. And Rotator is feeling it.
Whoa!
Wow.
Look at the lights there,
that's how high Rotator went up in the air.
[Chris] That's always been Jake Ewert's dream.
Rotator in serious trouble here.
[Kenny] HYDRA's got it in the fourth quarter
and it's up three for more.
That tire on Rotator is not really rotating
and it looks like it's caught maybe on the rails
it's done for the day.
[Chris] Jake Ewert never broke a sweat.
He looks like a man on a mission.
[Kenny] The countdown has started.
HYDRA off and running, here in BattleBotsseason 7.
...two, one. Knock out.
[buzzer blaring]
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Well, Kenny, we know that Rotator was fighting
technical issues coming into this match.
Did Victor's robot look 100% to you?
[Kenny] You know, it's hard to say.
The weapon never really got up to full speed,
which is uncharacteristic for a bot
as well built as Rotator.
But let's give HYDRA due credit here.
Jake was all over Rotator from the opening bell.
He won the battle for the low ground and never let up.
HYDRA handled its business.
[Chris] What a display of flipping power by HYDRA.
Eleven total flips in the match.
This one launched Rotator 14 feet in the air.
HYDRA Airlines is open for business, folks.
And tonight, business was good.
[Jake] Heck, yeah!
[Chris] Hey, Jake.
[Jake] I can hear you.
[Chris] Okay.
Eleven flips, did you impress yourself?
It worked 100% this time.
So that's a start, I guess.
Uh-huh.
So, Jake, what is your realistic goal this year?
Is it simply the Giant Nut or the season is a failure?
I keep making it one step further,
and I was semi-finals last year.
That means, what are we gonna do?
Yeah, the Giant Nut.
I'm gonna get to that match.
That's the one I'm going for.
Jake, they say reach for the sky.
You almost hit Rotator up into the lights.
I know that's something you've been looking for.
Honestly, he went a little higher than I thought
he was on that one.
Yeah, he was... he was quite a ways up there.
So that was pretty good.
It demonstrates that the bot still works.
We're hopefully we don't have the gremlins
we had last season and we can just go forward
and just keep punting people.
Hey, Jake, you know who you fight
in your next match?
Oh, probably that champ, I guess.
Yeah. You get your shot at Tantrum and Redemption,
when you lost to them last season in the semifinals.
I'll just kick his ass again.
[Chris] All right, Jake.
We look forward to it. We'll see you then.
[Jake] Thank you. See you guys.
[Chris] Victor, it must be the most helpless feeling
when you're just flying through the air against
HYDRA, isn't it?
Yeah. Yeah. And it's not ideal,
but at least it looks like just we got caught in a weird position.
Everything was still functional,
so we, you know, learned from last season, improved a lot.
It's robust.
We just have a lot of bugs to work out with.
All right. Well, Victor, best of luck.
We'll see you in your next fight.
Thank you.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Well, Kenny, no big surprise that HYDRA came out
flipping at his opponent left and right.
I'm just curious, is it something you said?
Because I thought he was trying to throw
Rotator over on our desk here.
I'm telling you, we almost got hit with no doubt about it.
It was crazy.
[Chris] And looking at the rest of the Jake
schedule, this was a huge win for him.
[Kenny] That's right. No gimmes for Jake this year.
And if you thought he was aggressive tonight,
just wait until that rematch with reigning
world champions Tantrum.
The past might get unburied in that one.
[Chris] And for Victor Soto and Rotator, I think
this is a loss that they could certainly accept.
[Kenny] Yeah. HYDRA has one of the highest
win percentages in the sport's history.
No shame here.
If anything, the team will be pleased
that they nearly touched the ceiling
and walked away in one piece.
They've got a winnable fight
up next against Jackpot, who we saw struggle earlier.
Tonight, big picture, seven fights, six knockouts.
Cobalt proved they are still
one of the deadliest verticals of the sport.
And how about Claw Viper.
[Chris] Holy smokes.
I'm happy this wasn't in a school zone
in there would have been pulled over for speeding.
And that thing is incredibly fast.
[Chris] All right, Kenny, at this point in the season,
we've already seen more than 80%
of the World Championship VII field.
In your eyes, who's trending up and who is trending down
through the first round of fights?
[Kenny] Well, here's my top 16 as of right now,
as well as where they were ranked during the preseason.
Now, reminder, I am not part of the highly exclusive
selection committee, but I've got our current
world champions falling outside the top five.
But you can't knock them too much
for their hard fought loss against Daniel Freitas
and the Brazilian Bull Minotaur.
Now, two teams that really impressed
me in their first fights are Riptide and MaDCatTer.
In week one. Ethan Kurtz, One hit KO Glitch,
a preseason top ten team that had only been beaten
once before that.
And then last week we saw the gritty kitty absolutely
maul the 2020 runners up Whiplash.
Both teams are full of college kids who look like
they did their off season homework.
And guess what?
They'll see each other in the box,
two weeks from today.
[Chris] Anybody that's outside of your top 16
that's flying under the radar.
[Kenny] Yeah, I'd say Quantum.
They hadn't competed here since 2019,
but the crusher bot looked sharp
in just about every possible way
in fight number one.
Next week, the boys from Britain
will take on the 1 and 0, Gruff,
which is one of the most heavily armored bots in the field.
It'll be a good litmus test to see just how sharp
Quantum's teeth really are.
And there are still some exciting teams
making their season debut next week too,
like the legendary Hammer bot Beta
and one of the biggest vertical spinners
in the competition, Monsoon.
Just an incredible field this year.
[Chris] Well, lots of good teams are sitting at 0-1
and they'll have three more fights
to get things figured out.
But get this, in the modern era every team
that has gone on to win the championship
has started that season with a win.
Well, we continue on here with an amazing
season here on BattleBots.
Hope you had fun tonight. Hope you had fun as well.
For Faruq and Kenny Florian, I am Chris Rose.
We'll see you next time here on BattleBots.
[crowd cheering]