[robotic voice] robots activate.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] hi, everybody, and welcome to battlebots,
where a robot's main function is total destruction.
I'm chris rose, joined by ufc legend and fight analyst.
A guy so tough,
his middle name is "torture".
It's kenny florian.
Chris, we've been through this.
It's alan.
Whatever.
"torture" sounds way cooler than "alan", dude.
Anyway, this is our fifth year doing battlebots together,
and I've got to say this.
So far, this has been the most exciting,
unpredictable and savage season ever.
Just when you thought you'd seen everything,
this box delivers even more jaw dropping
bot breaking moments.
[kenny] and tonight will be no different,
as we reach the middle of the qualified rounds,
impressing the selection committee
is what it's all about.
And this fight card features 14 teams looking to do just that.
[chris] we've got malice and madcatter.
A couple of surprise teams sitting at two and o.
You have to imagine, whoever wins this matchup
will punch their ticket to this year's tournament.
And on the other end of the spectrum,
fan favorite edward robinson
will pin his work of art sharko
against 14 year old rookie bryce yankauskas and slap box.
Both sitting at o and one, they will be fighting
for their battlebots' lives tonight.
And it all leads up to a momentous main event
between a couple of bots built by mit alums.
It's sawblaze taking on uppercut.
That's right. This one is really interesting,
because uppercut's captain alex hattori
actually used to be on jamison go's team sawblaze.
Each are coming off huge one and o starts,
but do we see the pupil become the master tonight, chris?
This one could be explosive.
[chris] and for more on this clash between the kids from cambridge,
let's head down to the third member of our team, jenny taft.
There's a lot on the line when it comes to mit bragging rights
between alex from uppercut and jamison from sawblaze.
But really, that's not how they like view this thing.
They're like family. There's so much history here.
Alex was mentored by jamison.
So much so that jamieson told me he's almost like alex's battle bot's dad.
Alex told me he got his rookie mistakes out of the way.
He's here to compete. But either way,
these two, whoever wins, it's going to be hard on the other.
[kenny] thanks very much, jenny.
[chris] both teams look like they're cramming for their final exam down there.
Hope they know we don't grade on a curve.
But boy, oh boy, do we have a treat for you to kick things off tonight.
It's a clash between two of the hardest hitting horizontal spinners on the planet.
Leanne cushing and valkyrie
take on victor soto and rotator,
and both teams are planning for an all-out slugfest.
Victor soto has established rotator
as one of the most lethal bots in the business.
That was unbelievable!
But after a controversial split decision...
Our winner... Beta!
[chris] ...And only a few fights left in the qualifiers...
Tonight is a must win match up.
Valkyrie's one and o...
[people] oh!
[chris] but after having weapons issues in their first fight...
Valkyrie's weapon has stopped moving.
...Captain leanne cushing still has everything to prove.
Tantrum is knocked out!
I'm pretty confident this season.
[chris] and against an elite driver like victor soto,
that means there's no margin...
What a shot!
...For error.
It's the heaviest weapon that we've had.
Spinning at approximately 2500 rpm.
Our weapons are made of the same material.
When you have hard versus hard, sparks are gonna fly.
They were gonna cause some damage.
[audience cheering]
buckle up for safety. Are you ready?
I'm very ready.
Faruq, let's do this.
[all cheering]
ladies and gentlemen, it's robot fighting time.
[cheering continues]
yeah!
Whoo!
In the blue square...
This bot got her name from norse mythology,
and she'll mess up your head like a forced lobotomy.
I've never studied that stuff, but this bot is pretty lethal,
so I'll just assume she's the goddess of killing people.
It's valkyrie.
[crowd cheers]
[chris] kenny, the blade is using tonight is named glory.
What are they hoping to do with it?
[kenny] yeah, their 65 pound blade there
has an extra tooth compared to rotator's bar spinner.
They're hoping when the two bots collide
glory's teeth hit at a different interval and get in some deeper shots.
[chris] leanne cushing told us she so badly wants to reach the round of 16.
If she takes down a bot like rotator, that could go a long way.
[kenny] and chris, they've got the bot and driver to do that.
Frederick moore there in the middle,
is one of the best drivers in the business.
[faruq] in the red square...
This bot's got more designs than roles johnny depp lands.
Has more blades than edward scissorhands.
Like captain jack sparrow, it will sink your ship.
Except in this world, it's your bot that will flip.
I think we just found out what's eating gilbert grape.
Just like the legend of sleepy hollow,
this bot will decapitate.
It's rotator.
[audience cheers]
[chris] well, kenny, sounds like victor soto is preparing for war.
Tell us about their armor configuration.
[kenny] well, they've added a big wedge
to the back end of rotator, and that thing is all armor.
Victor's going to use that as a shield,
and I think he might try to outlast valkyrie here.
[chris] and with that singular blade on the bottom,
it's up from 40 to 50 pounds this year,
so it could dish out even more punishment.
[kenny] either way, this should be a slugfest.
And there's a good shot of that wedge I was talking about, chris.
Tonight we're fighting valkyrie,
and I'm going with a defensive configuration
similar to what I used against icewave and tombstone.
Instead of having a high blade,
I'm gonna go with a low blade this time.
So it'll be under cutter versus under cutter.
Valkyrie is a very hard hitting robot.
They use a very powerful motor.
It's gonna be hard to stop their blade.
And we're aiming for the wheels.
We shouldn't need too much weapon power to chop up some wheels.
He's won the most destructive award.
So, yeah.
It's either gonna go really great for us, or really poorly.
Victor has a lot more experience in combat robot than us,
so we're kind of a little bit jittery there.
But like, when we went to do weigh in,
he was like 17 pounds overweight.
And so that means he was trying to put in
as much extra protection against us as possible,
which means he's scared, a little bit at least.
I don't want to be overconfident,
but like, I think that's a very good sign.
[robotic voice] robots activate.
[loud cheering]
[chris] so let's bring in our bot whisperer peter.
Pete, these bots...
Very similar in terms of what they've chosen for a weapon here.
What do you expect to see?
[peter] when rotator spins around
and goes weapon to weapon in the contact,
there is going to be a lot of sparks,
and most likely, somebody's weapon is going to break.
The wedge that rotator chose is probably his best bet
to help get valkyrie up and over at the top of it.
[chris] I like that.
Sparks and weapons coming off. Sign me up.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd chants] fight, fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight, fight, fight...
[kenny] let the bot battle begin.
[chris] rotator starting out to wedge forward here.
There's the spark pete was talking about.
Victor soto keeping that big wedge pointed towards valkyrie.
Oh! And now pops leanne cushing's bot up onto its heels!
[kenny] rotator waiting to battle for low ground here early, chris.
[chris] oh! Valkyrie knocks rotator into the side of the box.
Uh-oh! Oh, valkyrie goes over the top and there's some shrapnel.
Wow!
[kenny] and the pulvarizer just misses valkyrie.
Rotator is committed to feeding valkyrie that wedge.
[chris] oh, valerie's sent a little off kilter, but recovers nicely.
[kenny] both beings refusing to back down.
[chris] oh! Rotator launches valkyrie now keeping the pressure on.
[kenny] the driver for valkyrie, frederick moore,
doing his best to keep it centered.
And wow! Takes another big shot from rotator. Oh!
[chris] rotator trying to take valkyrie into the screws.
[kenny] victor soto with some masterful driving here, chris.
He's leading with that wedge,
but then swinging rotator's blade around
to catch valkyrie and score points with his weapon.
[chris] and how about the durability of these two bots trading shots,
oh, like a couple of heavyweight prizefighters.
And now, valkyrie propped on its heels once again.
[kenny] the momentum on that blade just keeping valkyrie suspended in air.
[chris] unreal! Look at the sparks.
Are we shooting this thing on July 4th? This is awesome.
[kenny] leanne cushing continuing to attack.
[chris] valkyrie now starting to do some damage to that wedge,
and looks like there's some damage to the tire of rotator as well.
[kenny] unbelievable! The sparks that are flying in this one!
Closing in on a minute, fifteen.
[chris] this is some amazing flagging from both teams.
Wow.
Valkyrie making a push now.
Showing no signs of the durability issues
that have plagued him in the past.
That blade is still going strong.
[kenny] some of these shots have just been insane.
Oh! There's a piece of armor from rotator now.
Beautiful! That was a beautiful hook!
[chris] I mean, how long can these two robots keep this up?
[kenny] the tide is turning a little bit here, chris.
It looks like valkyrie's trying to get the rotator...
[chris] oh! Valkyrie can smell some blood!
Going at it with rotator.
[kenny] oh, there's another big shot from valkyrie.
[chris] rotator stumbling around.
Closing in on the 30 second mark.
Do both these bots have enough strength to make the distance?
[kenny] valkyrie is really finishing strong... And how about that!
Pieces of rotator all over the battle box.
[chris] valkyrie ripped rotator's wedge off of its chassis.
Are you kidding me?
But somehow, rotator is still moving.
[kenny] it's stumbling though, chris.
It's moving, but it's stumbling.
Both these bots, somehow they're going to make it the distance
in an unbelievable epic battlebot fight.
Up on your feet and home if you aren't already.
[cheering]
that was unbelievable!
[kenny] what a fight.
We did it!
[chris] look at that.
Stuck along side-to-side of the battle box.
That was sick. [chuckles]
[all cheering]
[laughs] oh!
[chris] so now this one goes to the judges.
Derek young, lisa winter and jason bardis.
Can we look inside?
-Can we... -Make that quick, quick, quick.
[chris] and you don't see this very often
that three judges have requested to go inside the battle box
to inspect the amount of damage that's been done to each robot.
[kenny] yeah, that obviously indicates
they believe this was a very close fight.
They're going to make sure they get this one right.
And you know, victor soto has to appreciate this,
having just lost a close decision to beta.
[chris] well, we're gonna let the judges continue
to assess the carnage,
and we will have the decision
to this absolutely epic showdown when we return on battlebots.
[chris] welcome back to battlebots,
where valkyrie and rotator are awaiting the judges' decision
in what can only be described as an instant classic.
The teams are being scored on an 11 point scale.
Five points could be awarded for damage,
three apiece for control and aggression.
And early on, kenny, rotator was scoring points
in all three of those categories.
[kenny] yeah, rotator got off to a brilliant start.
Clearly, the right call to go with that big rear wedge for this matchup.
Victor was able to get underneath valkyrie,
bully it around the box,
and really put leanne's weapon to the test.
[chris] it was hard to track the number of giant blows
these two bots traded under the roar of the crowd.
But both weapons just did not stop.
[kenny] yeah, we're used to seeing rotator be indestructible
and valkyrie has had durability issues in the past,
but no sign of those tonight,
as it was able to absorb huge shots
and dish out punishment of its own.
[chris] and with about 30 seconds remaining in the fight,
valkyrie able to rip that rear wedge
clean off of rotator. It was impressive.
[kenny] it'll be tough to see either of these teams
take a loss after this amazing fight.
But valkyrie clearly winning the damage category with that shot.
[chris] well, let's see if the judges agree.
The results from the judges are in.
[all cheering]
and the winner by unanimous decision is...
[imitating fanfare]
valkyrie!
[all cheering]
leanne, hate to break up the party.
Uh, how good does it feel to be a part
of one of the greatest fights in the history of battlebots?
Oh, my god! It's...
I am so amazed that we just kept going.
I love that our robot doesn't die.
Yeah, I'm grateful. Fred did amazing driving.
We just kept going. Our new weapon worked incredibly well.
Like... Feels good.
Feels really good.
It seemed like rotator got the better of you guys early in the fight.
It seemed like fred, you made some excellent adjustments during that fight.
What were those adjustments?
I mean, one of the biggest things that we always try to do with valkyrie,
on our other fights is get a big hit right up front, right early.
Normally, that's enough to turn 'em off.
But victor, he's a very good build there.
He's been doing this forever.
And he knew that's exactly what he wanted me to do.
He was going to take those hits on his wedge.
And so, after that, get him out into the middle.
Get him baked out on the side, go for the wheels, try to hit his weapon,
because we really want to break that.
I didn't think we were going to get through his wedge,
-but I'm mighty happy that we did. - [leanne laughs]
[leanne] yeah, like a lot of chunk.
And I'm surprised we actually ate it.
Leeann, before the season started,
you told us how important it was for you
to crack the top 16 this year.
When you look at this sort of performance from your robot,
do you have bigger dreams now?
No, don't jinx anything.
[all laugh]
I'm glad we're two and o. It's awesome.
We'll see how we keep going. We'll see who we get next.
Congratulations, leanne cushing and team valkyrie.
A job well done.
Thanks for the entertainment.
[chuckles] thanks. Yeah!
Oh, my god!
Whoo!
Victor soto after a fight like that,
how tough is it when you hear that sort of judge's decision?
I'm not too surprised by the decision, to be honest.
Why?
Uh, due to the new damage system, or the new point system
where damage is highest.
They obviously did a lot more damage to us.
At the end, both our weapons weren't working.
And drive were still working, but we were missing half our bot.
Is there anything you'd like to say to the selection committee,
just based on that performance alone?
Uh, yeah. We're tough as nails. We're going to fix it up,
come right back and get big matches.
Don't lose sight of us yet.
[chris] very good, victor soto and team rotator.
An amazing, amazing fight.
I know it didn't end up the way you wanted,
but still, congratulations on an amazing performance
thank you.
[chris] whoo wee! What amazing way to get the evening started, huh?
I got to slow my heart rate down.
Uh, what a fight.
I mean, that's an absolute classic.
I mean, neither team is really a loser.
I know that rotator...
You know, you get a number under the "l" category here,
but so impressive by both bots.
Maybe a bias, but just moving forward,
no matter what happens with these teams, put 'em in the top 32.
That was just ridiculous.
[chris] all right. Well, kenny,
I certainly hope you got that heart rate under control,
because our next two bots are ready to throw down.
We've got gigabyte squaring off against extinguisher.
It's the unpredictable kinetic energy
of john mladenik's full body spinner
against a hopeful university of florida freshman john flaacke.
Both teams still looking for that elusive first "w".
Let's head on over to faruq.
In the blue square,
from oceanside, california,
ready to turn you into surf and turf...
It's gigabyte!
[people cheering]
[chris] well, that flame design on gigabyte is new for this season.
So, kenny, how did they catch fire tonight against extinguisher?
[kenny] well, they got trapped in the corner
in their first fight and got their shell knocked up.
Got to stay in the center tonight, chris.
It always works better when your head stays on.
They got to keep the head on.
[chris] huh. Details.
In red square from tampa bay, florida...
Hoping to make it champ bay...
It's extinguisher.
[kenny] john flaacke actually did some computer engineering
for his local fire department for his senior project.
That's why you see the shirts, and the bot designed that way,
and the sirens!
[chris] unless that's the cops coming to get you, kenny.
[kenny chuckles]
so when extinguisher's going right, what's working?
[kenny] well, they're going to have to utilize that wedge
to really hit gigabyte as hard as possible.
Get him up against the side of the battle box,
and get that hammer to fire down on top of him.
[people cheering]
we're fighting extinguisher.
I was confident in the last fight. That didn't work out.
So I'm... I'm cautiously optimistic on this.
I think if we can get up to speed, we're going to win that fight.
We have to be able to spin up and not break.
If we lose this, we'll have more fights,
but there's no chance of us getting into the final 32.
It's the whole season.
Today we're fighting gigabyte.
We're using our hammer module.
We wanna use a heavy wedge on the front.
Just gonna try to plough into him with the wedge
at really high speeds,
and hopefully knock something loose.
Even at the slowest speed
we're gonna try to poke the hammer through the lid
and get to some of the internal stuff.
[automated voice] robots activate.
[announcer] and, kenny, one other thing gigabytes struggled with
in its first fight was the floor.
Yeah, chris, but the floor has seasoned quite a bit since then,
so let's see if they're able to control things a little better here.
[automated voice] blue team ready.
[all cheering]
[automated voice] red team ready.
[announcer] both teams need this one.
When it comes to making the tournament,
o and two is a deep hole to climb out of.
[man shouting indistinctly]
[cheering]
[beeping]
[chris] let the bot battle begin!
The extinguisher whiffs on the box rush.
[kenny] gigabyte has time to spin...
[chris] oh, a monster shot.
Extinguisher on its back, but is able to self-right.
Wow!
Extinguisher misses with the hammer,
and gigabyte capitalizes, and, kenny, that hammer's about toast.
-[chris] whoa! -[kenny] oh-oh!
Big time energy.
[chris] and the front wedge on extinguisher, the left side of it,
is missing a chunk.
Extinguisher looking out classed here, chris.
Gigabyte is still hovering at full speed.
[both] oh!
[chris] another huge shot!
How many of those could extinguisher take?
[both] oh...
[chris] there goes some tires.
Yes!
[chris] team gigabyte already celebrating.
As for extinguisher, that fire theme robot,
may need to call the real fire department themselves
if they don't throw in the towel here.
This one looking like it's going to be over.
[man] ten, nine, eight...
[chris] he's got a counter now.
Yeah, this is going to be it.
...Seven...
[chris] gigabyte is going to keep its distance
and save its shell.
And pick up win number one.
[speaking indistinctly]
[man] gigabyte winner!
[all cheering]
we might have to mark it in.
Yeah, a little bit.
[chris] kenny, that was the second straight fight extinguisher
whipped on a box rush.
[kenny] yeah. If you give gigabyte time to spin up,
you're gonna feel the pain.
Got that great hit on extinguisher,
and extinguisher just wasn't right after that.
[chris] now here his hammer's okay.
And then watch this.
-This is the shot that twisted... -[kenny] wow!
[chris] ...That hammer,
and from there, they were sitting duck.
Hammer's not supposed to work that way way.
[kenny] gigabyte was the clear favorite in this match,
and they took care of their business.
They not only won, but won in convincing fashion,
improving their resume and making a statement.
Up next, stay out of the water because sharko returns
to the battle box to face slap box,
battlebots fight night continues.
We are back on battlebots and up next,
a pair of bots that are on the opposite ends
of the experience spectrum.
It's sharko and battlebots veteran edward robinson
versus slap box
and the 14-year-old high school freshman bryce yankauskas.
Kenny, it's a rookie squaring off against a builder
who told us earlier this year that this is going to be
his final season on battlebots.
[kenny] well, for it being ed's last season, he's really upgraded the robot.
It used to be made out of recycled parts,
but he's really put some money into this version of sharko.
And for slap box, you know, bryce has no fear.
He gave it his all against tombstone in his first fight.
He didn't win, but he definitely proved
that slap box can hang with the big boys.
Should be a ton of fun to watch.
Faruq, show us how it's done.
In the blue square, from tacoma, california,
the deep sea slayer sharko!
[chris] sharko lost a judge's decision
to speedy first time around.
That bot looks way better than one we saw in 2019.
[kenny] yeah, no doubt about it.
Sharko's a pretty powerful grappler,
and a lot of times you can't really tell
when it bites down, how strong that is.
That's 2,000 pounds of force
that's about four times harder
than the real great white bite.
[chris] they have 30 shots in order to get it done
before they run out of pressure on that bite.
In the red square from knox, indiana.
Who's your daddy?
It's slap box!
[chris] it is truly a family affair.
Now, slap box is a rookie bot,
but the yankaskas family isn't new here.
Dad dominic was on team gemini last season.
He and 11-year-old connor, the young guy on the left,
are part of gemini this season as well.
Kenny, what do we have working with slap box?
[kenny] on slap box they have an extended front hinge lifter.
They're gonna try to get underneath sharko.
And, also, utilize all the hazards of the battlebots to win this fight.
They're expecting to go the full three minutes against sharko.
[chris] and just to make sure everybody's got a gig,
the 8-year-old daughter onika will be operating the flame thrower.
Tonight we're fighting sharkoprion.
My plan is to just stay in control of 'em the whole match,
push him into the screws, used the hammers.
Really, just use the bots to my advantage.
We have a flamethrower that we're gonna be using in this match.
My little sister is actually gonna be controlling the flame.
We will be ready for this fight tonight.
We've drawn slap box tonight.
He always box rushes.
What I'm gonna do is wait for him to box rush,
and I'm gonna stop dead right in the middle of the arena.
That'll make my face drop down.
Mouth wide open.
Just try to grab him right off the bat, taking him out of the arena.
Sharks are apex predators, man.
This guy's good, but you're still relatively new.
When he gets in the box with the shark,
he's gonna be nothing but shell.
[automated voice] robots activate.
[cheering]
[electrical buzzing]
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
Here comes slap box trying to get underneath sharko,
and sharko sheds a scale.
[kenny] there's the box rush there.
[chris] whoa! Look at that tail spin!
Edward robinson's saying, "come on young buck.
You wanna wrestle?"
[kenny] yeah, ed is looking to get sharko in position
to open those jaws and clamp down on slap box.
That's what he's hunting for.
[chris] sharko pops that jaw open wide.
Slap box looks like they're having a bit of trouble
getting traction on the battle box floor here.
We've seen a lot of that with rookie drivers this season.
There's the flame thrower the 8-year-old onika's in charge of on slap box.
[kenny] yeah, slap box's gotta continue to use that lifter to try inverting sharko.
If it can do that, sharko's clamper
will be much less of a threat.
[chris] nearly admitted in and...
Oh!
Nice little bite by sharko.
[edward laughs maniacally]
[chris] listen to edward robinson, how excited he is.
[chuckling] I love that evil laugh.
Listen to the team from sharko.
[edward] bite! Bite! Bite!
Drop! Drop!
[kenny] sharko scoring some points without primary weapon, chris.
[chris] he's got another bite... Oh!
[kenny] look at this!
[exclaiming] he turned the tables!
[chris] that was awesome!
Oh!
[chris] slap box can't shake the shark loose
so it drags it across the battle box.
[kenny] sharko is able to get out of there,
kind of rolled out of there, chris.
[chris] slap box still in pursuit in what has been a very closed...
-Oh! -[kenny] oh! Look at this.
[chris] what a nice job by slap box,
and sharko is driving on its head.
[kenny] a little roasted shark.
That thing's gotta flip back over in order to be most effective.
[chris] slap box burning the tail out on sharko.
Looking very much in control now.
[kenny] look at sharko trying to flip itself.
Trying to flip itself, trying to get enough energy
and assist from slack box and then flipped it back over.
It's important to cook your meat evenly on both sides, chris.
[chris] yes, 90 seconds on each side, to be exact.
Speaking of time, we've got 45 seconds left
in what has been a highly entertaining match
between a 14-year-old and a shark.
But edward robinson's bot looks like it might have had enough
showing very little movement right now.
Sharko is trucking to pump itself over
and now he's being counted out.
Nine, eight, seven,
-six... -Slap box is gonna be able to
-celebrate its first victory ever! -...Five, four, three,
two, one!
Sharko is knocked out. The winner is slap box.
[crowd cheering]
[indistinct chatter]
great fight! That was a great fight, man.
That was awesome.
[kenny] what great sportsmanship showed by sharko as well.
Saying, "amazing fight. A great fight."
we agreed all around.
[chris] kenny, sometimes you don't know what a fight's gonna look like.
But this one was awfully entertaining.
[kenny] this was a great fight.
There's sharko getting ahold of slap box,
trying to chew him up a little bit.
-Oh. -That's the move of the man.
[kenny] without a doubt. It was so good that
the person who was in it respected it.
[chris] and then seconds later,
sharko gets flipped on over.
And this was the beginning of the end for edward robinson.
[all cheering]
-slap box! Slap box! -[edward] outward suplex was beautiful.
-It just moved! -[chris] bryce.
Bryce, you just got victory number one at battlebots.
How good does it feel?
It feels amazing.
It was well worth it.
We put in all of the effort to repair
after that fight with tombstone.
Feels great to be here.
It's awesome.
Bryce, there was a lot of action in that flight, man.
Can you take us through it?
-Quite honestly, I don't remember most of it. -[laughs]
I know we had a suplex and a couple of flips in there.
That's about it. That's all I remember.
Bryce, it was your sister that was actually
operating the flamethrower. Is that correct?
Yeah, that's correct.
How'd she do?
She did a great job.
How about you ask her yourself?
How about I do?
So, did you have fun out there?
-Yeah. -[kenny laughs]
how fun is it to win a fight at battlebots?
It's amazing.
Yeah? Do you still have to do school while you're here?
Yes.
Well, guess what? Take the day off
after you just picked up a victory.
Tell your parents I told you so, okay?
All right. Congratulations to team slap box win number one.
-Congratulations, guys. -[crowd cheering]
thank you.
Edward.
I know that, uh, you guys would rather win.
But if you're going to lose...
If you're gonna lose, that's the way to do it.
That flaming suplex was beautiful, man.
[exhales] I love this.
And it's, it's been a tough year for you.
Your longtime partner in this sport, john hoffman,
you lost him because of cancer.
How emotional has the last few months been for you?
It has been a roller coaster.
And this is the first time I'd smiled
since he went to the hospital basically.
I know I'm not gonna win the nut,
but if I get one kid interested in this sport
and he builds a robot,
and comes out here, I've done exactly what I wanted to do.
Edward robinson.
Not all heroes wear capes, my friend.
-Thank you for providing some entertainment. -I do.
-You do. You do! -[laughing]
sometimes they do.
Take a bow, sharko. Take a bow.
And that, ladies and gentlemen,
is what battlebots is all about.
Ed's loss there gives the high school freshman
his first win in his battlebots career.
That was flat out awesome.
Up next, we're about to see a couple of two-and-oh teams
take the stage
as malice squares off against madcatter.
When it comes to these two bots and the tournament tonight,
it's win and you're in.
We are back on battlebots,
and what a night it's already been.
Next up, a couple of undefeated teams
get ready to square off in malice and madcatter.
And let's get ready to have some fun with this one,
because we're gonna run the emotional gamut
with these two captains. It's pretty simple.
Let's start with malice and bunny sauriol.
For years, she's been a pit crew member for other teams.
Finally gets to captain the ship, and she's two-and-oh.
-[man] oh! Oh, my god! -Yeah!
That's how you do it!
[chris] we are learning she is one of the fiercest
trash talkers in battlebots
and, kenny, halfway through the qualifying rounds,
she has this robot looking like it could do some
serious damage in the tournament as well.
Just to be here, it's been a dream come true,
and to go two-and-oh at this point
in battlebots is just amazing.
Um, both of these guys are kind of
the biggest characters that we have here at battlebots.
But her bot is the real deal as well.
Yeah, you're talking about martin mason for madcatter.
Also, two-and-oh just like malice.
Martin mason is not like bunny sauriol.
-He's, like, all over the place. -Oh, yeah!
-Energy, fun. -[kenny laughs]
he's a teacher at a community college.
He's building up his students.
They are part of his pit crew.
They built this bot.
He's running a thousand miles an hour, dude.
That's a nice way of saying he's completely out of his mind.
-Right. -It is crazy.
But you know what? Don't be distracted by the character.
I've been telling you guys all season.
This bot is legit.
It could do some damage.
[chris] yeah, and his students love him.
Or at least that's what they say to his face
so they all get a good grade or something like that.
This is gonna be great.
Two-and-oh against two-and-oh.
Somebody's gonna solidify their spot in the top 32
and maybe grab hold of a really good seating as well.
The selection committee.
He's paying attention closely to this fight.
Faruq, it's all on you now.
[crowd cheering]
in the blue square
from san jose,
where instead of california dreaming,
you'll be california screaming.
It's malice!
[crowd cheering]
[chris] oh, she's bringing the cat food with her.
Meow.
Malice putting together a quality season so far.
And one of the reasons is that weapon.
It is so fierce, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, they call that 65lb disc big red,
and you could see why it's incredibly powerful.
A little more cumbersome though than the weapon we saw them use
in their win over another hammer bot and shatter.
But I think that means they're preparing for an all out brawl here, chris.
[faruq] in the red square,
this cat comes equipped with a giant hammer to swing
and much like simba,
he just can't wait to be it be king.
Beating him, he'll leave you with a scar
just for trying because there's nothing cowardly
about this lion.
It's madcatter!
[crowd cheering]
[chris] a knockout of fusion, a knockout of rib out
and move to a two-and-oh start.
That's one mean kitty.
[kenny] yeah, madcatter's debuting their
flaming hammer configuration tonight,
and I cannot wait to see it in action.
They really wanna flip malice over
and then pound it's slightly less armored underbelly
with that new weapon tonight.
Against madcatter we're going to be using
the s7 tooth of big red.
We're pretty sure they're gonna run their big hammer.
Normally, we'd run for playing against hammers.
But with how long theirs is
we're pretty sure they're gonna overshoot our robot.
I think it'd be the most important thing to get another win in this fight.
The more wins you have, the more likely you're gonna be
able to get into the round of 32. And that's our end goal.
We've taken some measurements off of their bot.
We're convinced we're gonna be able to slide him up in the air
and then hit the underside of their robot.
There's a little story about a robot named malice
that fought a little bunny down a rabbit hole.
And you know who's down in that rabbit hole?
There was a tea party run by a madcatter,
and at the end of that tea party
there was nothing left of alice but crumbs.
-It's malice branded cat food. -Yeah?
[automated voice] robots activate.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] kenny, martin mason may try to suplex later,
but he has a reason to be pumped up for this fight.
[kenny] yeah. Whoever wins this is basically guaranteed
a spot in the round of 32.
The stakes are very high for both of the squads.
[chris] malice. Madcatter.
Two undefeated teams looking to keep their perfect seasons intact.
The gloves come off when battlebots fight night continues.
[crowd cheering]
we are back on battlebots
and we are all set for a meeting
between a couple of undefeated teams.
It's malice facing off against madcatter.
Whoever can get to three-and-oh here will basically
solidify their spot in the round of 32.
[automated voice] blue team ready.
[crowd cheering]
[automated voice] red team ready.
-Yeah. -Yeah!
[chris] bunny sauriol captaining malice.
Martin mason for madcatter.
[crowd chanting] fight! Fight! Fight!
Let the bot battle begin!
It might be a battle to see
who get to say for whose primary weapon.
A couple of big shots in the early going.
And malice getting thrown around a little bit.
Oh, standing up.
[kenny] he's teed up. He's teed up, chris.
[chris] whoa, look at this.
Malice is trying to shake itself
so it could get its wheels back out round.
And madcatter is just gonna let it stand there.
[kenny] oh, come on, get in there, cassie cat. Come on.
Come on, big fella. There you go.
-[all shouting] -there you go.
[chris] wow! Lightening up!
But bunny sauriol's bots
still flailing like a turtle on its back.
Well, malice has got to do something,
it's trying to shift itself.
[bunny] come on. Come on.
[chris] can it get itself over? It's close.
It's close.
-Come on! -[referee] ten!
-Now malice is getting counted down. -Nine, eight...
And madcatter's just standing there looking at it, and saying...
"I'll take the dumping and thank you."
tip it over. Woo!
-[referee] two... -Nope.
-[referee] one! -Oh.
Knocked out malice. Winner madcatter.
[whooping triumphantly]
good job, guys. Yeah!
-[crowd cheering] -we're good. We're good.
[chris] a win for a hammer.
Well, kenny, a lot happened in a little bit of time,
so why don't you break it down for us.
[kenny] chris, both teams came out aggressive.
Their bots rushes almost looked like a choreographed dance,
but after an explosive start for both bots, madcatter
clipped malice's left wheel and gave it just a perfect touch.
I can't blame martin mason for laying off there,
but I do have to wonder what would have happened
if malice stop spinning its weapon.
That rotational momentum makes it harder to move.
It's physics, chris.
[chris] martin mason.
-Yeah! -Hey!
How's three and o sound?
You know, it feels great.
I got a great crew. I got a great robot.
It is driving fantastic. Everything is dialed in.
You've seen three different styles from us. You've got a lot more to see.
And how about that flamin' hammer? Those flames are fantastic.
Hey, martin, there's people that are watching on tv at home
that were rooting for you to help flip malice back over so the fight can continue.
Did you consider that at all?
You know, bunny is an incredible captain.
David is my former teammate. He's a great strategist.
We're not gonna give 'em. They're gonna give us the win. We're gonna take it.
All right. So, what about all your kids that you teach at community college?
Are they getting straight a's this semester or what?
You know what? My students get the grades they earn.
They worked their tails off. You see the results in there.
-[crowd cheering] -okay.
Martin mason, congratulations to you and your entire crew.
-You get straight a's from us. Good job. -[team hooting]
-martin mason and madcatter, three and o. -Who would have thunk it?
Unbelievable, man. They really have brought a very intense bot, a very potent bot.
They're making the right changes with their weapons.
This is a serious team.
It feels like at least a top 15 team, maybe even top 10 at this point?
It could very well be. Yeah.
[chris] and what about big picture for malice?
Because I know that bunny probably feels like that's a missed opportunity
that if we don't land on our backside, we're the ones that are three and o.
It was kind of unlucky there.
But, obviously, now they have some information
they do not want this to happen again.
They need a way to self-right, or at least get back onto the floor.
How do you adjust? That's the name of the game in battlebots.
[chris] all right, so martin mason and madcatter stay undefeated,
and we are now inching closer and closer to a main event that is sure to pack a punch.
We'll see uppercut take on sawblaze
as alex hattori tries to best
his former teammate and mentor jamison go.
But up next, it's a pair of teams looking for redemption after their first fights.
It's atom94 and tantrum when we return on battle bots.
[chris] welcome back to battlebots.
We've already seen some all-out brawls on the fight card,
and the night promises to only get better.
We are just two fights away from what should be an explosive main event.
In the meantime, let's turn our attention to a pair of robots
trying to break into the win column for the first time this season.
And let's start with a rookie bot.
Atom94 captained by yash deshmukh
he is the first indian builder in the history of battlebots,
not super excited that he lost his battlebots debut.
But he's always smiling because he feels like he's always learning here.
You've gotta love his passion.
Didn't have the best matchup against big dill.
Wasn't able to get it done.
But I think they're going to make the right adjustments to be back better.
They are taking on a bot named tantrum.
We've seen it years before, with aren hill.
Even though it lost its opening match against valkyrie,
I imagine that aren hill is feeling pretty good about his robot.
He was looking very dominant. I mean, as I was watching that fight,
this is a bot that can really go very, very far.
At the end of the day, as a bot builder,
you wanna make sure that your bot is working properly.
He struggled with that primary weapon last season.
That looks like a serious weapon this season.
If he can make the right tweaks,
he could maybe get the top 32 at least.
Let's see how it does tonight. Faruq...
In the blue square, from mountain view, california,
it's got its eyes on you. Don't upset it or else, it will throw
a tantrum!
[chris] again. Kenny, tantrum is looking for their first w of the season here,
and we can already see
some of the changes that they made as a result of their last fight.
[kenny] yeah, notice the fists are gone, chris.
They had to lose those in order to make room
for the weight of additional batteries.
They ran out of juice in that valerie fight, which probably cost them the win.
And in the red square, from calgary,
he says, "it's designed by our mind, to kick your behind",
atom94!
[chris] atom94 didn't have the debut they were looking for, kenny.
But their captain, yash deshmukh is still sounding pretty confident.
[kenny] well, they completely redid the weapon drive train after their first fight.
So they're looking to show what it can actually do tonight.
And don't forget, ray billings of tombstone mentors these guys.
So you know he had some words of wisdom for yash after their first fight.
[crowd cheering]
facing off against atom94, we're feeling pretty confident in this fight
just based on how it performed in our first one, and the upgrades we have made.
The strategy early on is gonna be
get our set up up to full potency as far as weapon goes,
see how they're driving around and then that'll dictate whether or not
we try to line in perfect punches or just take any ones we can dish.
The weapon design which we are using,
it would be getting chunks out of metal
rather than hitting and creating sparks.
If we are able to get that, after that, I don't think
tantrum might be able to make any difference.
I'm just thinking about the drivetrain
and the traction of the wall on the battlebots arena.
That's the only thing which I'm concerned right now.
Other than that, like, I'm ready to go.
[crowd cheering]
[robotic voice] robots activate.
[chris] okay, let's bring in our bot whisperer, peter abrahamson.
Pete, aren hills made some tweaks to tantrum. What do you know about it?
[peter] so, one of the things I was noticing on tantrum over there...
They've taken off the big rubber fists
and the flame throwers off their self-righting mechanism.
They've also added a few long forks.
Hopefully, that won't hinder the punch of their weapon as it comes forward,
because they still need to get that other robot up in front of their wheel.
-[chris] thanks, pete. - [crowd cheering]
[robotic voice] blue team, ready.
[robotic voice] red team, ready.
[electronic distortion noises]
[crowd cheering louder]
[buzzing]
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
Atom94 has that weapon up to speed.
Tantrum hanging-- ohh!
[kenny] nice shot there by atom94.
[chris] tantrum in trouble here out of the gate,
but manages to sell-right and escape.
Come on.
[chris] here come tantrum, approaching with those forks.
[kenny] getting underneath atom94 and taking it for a little ride?
[chris] ooh. Tantrum almost does itself in on the screws.
-Oh, nice! - [kenny] woo hoo!
[chris] bigtime sparks and a good kiss shot too by tantrum.
[kenny] aren hill waiting to battle for low ground here,
getting that puncher underneath atom94, going to work.
[chris] yash deshmukh has got to drive away from tantrum
but he can't get his wheels on the floor, kenny.
[kenny] uh, tantrum doing a great job attacking from back and-- ohh!
That might have been the kill shot.
I don't think atom94 is gonna recover from that, chris.
[chris] no, it can spin its weapon, but it can't flip back over.
-[referee] 10, 9, 8... -[chris] let the countdown commence.
This is gonna do it.
Listen to the roar of tantrum's weapon as atom94 lies helpless.
That's a knockout of atom.
-[referee] blue, tantrum wins. - [crowd cheering]
[kenny] that's what I call a knockout, chris.
That's the tantrum we've been waiting to see.
[bleep]
[chris] kenny, aren hill knew exactly what he had to do tonight,
and he did it.
[kenny] atom94 landed that big blow early on,
but tantrum did not waver from their game plan.
Aren hill used those forks brilliantly,
propping up atom94 up again and again
to just let their spinner go to town.
Tantrum, the robot was impressive,
but this was really a testament to aren hill's driving.
He was so calculated, and that got them a much needed victory.
[crowd cheering]
[indistinct shouting]
all right, it looks like the crew from tantrum is all smiles under that mask.
Aren hill, how you doing?
I'm doing pretty good. These are nice and shiny, recently disinfected.
-We're all good to go. -All right.
Got some good hits in.
It felt better, I imagine, than the first match?
Yeah, it did. Well, first one did feel pretty good till--
I'm saying we lost to ourselves on that.
Aren, it seems like you guys have really dialed in that bot
and also getting very comfortable driving tantrum.
Is that the case?
Yeah, this last offseason, I put in a lot of action,
a lot of hours running that thing around.
It gives me a lot more confidence
to see what it can take and just go for it.
So, do you think you have done enough through two fights
to impress the selection committee to get to the round of 32?
Uh, [clears throat] between the two fights we had so far, I'm feeling really confident.
I'm hoping we get a good draw for the third one,
keep up that strength of schedule, get a good seed.
Aren hill, congratulations. Nice job by team tantrum.
Thank you.
[hoots]
big picture, how much damage could this robot do
if it does make it to the round of 32?
Did you hear that thing?
It really did sound like a minotaur,
or like a jet engine is starting to get fired up.
That is a very potent weapon. He proved it again.
Just the whole bot in general is compact, it's solid, it's durable now.
These guys can go very far.
All right, let's pretend that this jib camera in front of us is the selection committee.
Uh, you can either nod yes, or you can say no.
Are you impressed so far with tantrum?
Yeah, I thought so.
Okay, aren hill, that's good news.
You're not in yet, but you impress.
All right. Coming up.
We still have four more teams
that want a head nod from the selection committee just as bad is aren hill.
But with just two fights left in the night,
-let's take a look at our made event. - [crowd cheering]
our first fight of the year, we fought whiplash.
[indistinct shouting]
I think it went pretty well.
[kenny] winner's sawblaze.
We came out with a ko victory.
[chris] what a performance from jamison go and team sawblaze.
One and o is a great start, but we have another tough opponent in uppercut.
You're going to take one straight to the gut.
From... Uppercut!
[shouts]
uppercut, last season, they proved a lot
by making it to the top 16, which is a big deal.
That's something we didn't think would happen.
And this season, they had a knockout win very quickly over gemini.
-[crowd shouting] -[chris] knocked it out of the arena!
From what I heard, it's the first time that's happened in battlebots history
that gemini has been knocked out.
[chris] kenny, what the hell just happened?
-[hooting] -I'm sorry, guys.
[jamison] it's clear uppercut has an extremely powerful weapon,
but it makes the robot really difficult to control.
[chris] uppercut trying to get that knockout punch.
So, what we're gonna try and do is to get around them,
get the shots we want, and dodge that weapon altogether.
[kenny] oh, sawblaze is attacking from behind.
This is amazing driving right now from jamison go.
This year, we've had these huge torque upgrades.
The blade gets to deadly speeds in about a second.
Well done. You guys keep getting better.
Our goal is just to keep the front end facing him
so he can't really drop that hammer-saw on us.
What I'm most concerned about fighting uppercut
is my own personal feelings for alex hattori.
He's one of my best friends.
I met alex around 2016 at mit.
My team introduced him into the world of combat robotics.
[chris] how about the kids from mit?
I was a member of sawblaze in the 2018 season.
[shouts]
and I learned a ton from working with jamison and the other people.
[jamison] now that he's, you know, split off,
it's really great to see his development as a robot fighter.
It's gonna be really tough to fight him.
-[dramatic music playing] -[alex] out of the entire competition,
jamison's one of the last people I want to fight.
But even when you're competing against your friends,
you're still gonna try your hardest.
And so, we're gonna spin up that blade, we're gonna hit...
And it means someone's gonna lose.
[jamison] I've always thought of alex as kind of like my apprentice.
I taught him everything that I know.
[chris] he's got a big future, this kid.
Let's see if the student can become the master.
[indistinct shouting]
we're not gonna hold back in this fight,
but one can hope that it's not too destructive for either one.
If we can get a ko, I think it guarantees our spot in the tournament.
[shouts]
forget the rest of tournament, it's all about this fight.
[chris] welcome back to battlebots
where we are driving towards tonight's main event.
But first, as we move closer to this year's tournament,
it's time to talk power rankings.
And kenny, you've put together a list that should be fun for the fans to debate.
[kenny] that's right, chris. Now I know this might set the internet on fire.
But here's my breakdown of the most dangerous weapons
here in this season's qualifying rounds of battlebots.
Kicking things off at number 10 is gruff's flame thrower
which just cooked will bales and hypershock earlier this season.
-[kenny] oh! -[chris] wow, look at the flame throwers on that!
[kenny] a few slots down, we see beta's hammer.
Oh, it's hammer time.
Now, they didn't fire it in their first fight,
but we have seen what it can do in the test box.
It's gone from an electric to a pneumatic power source,
and according to john reed and gabriel stroud,
the impact is equivalent
to a washing machine dropping on you from about a two story building.
At seven and six respectively, it's valkyrie and rotator.
We saw the damage they did to each other.
[chris] unbelievable, the sparks that are flying in this one.
[kenny] what a fight that was.
Now, bloodsport might be a little bit of a surprise at five.
[chris] whoa, holy smokes! Bloodsport on the attack.
[kenny] but their new blade is 77 pounds of solid s7 tool steel.
They've got two huge wins over skorpios and end game,
and the kinetic energy that thing produces
is equivalent to a blast from a 35 pound cannon ball.
In our top spots, we have two of our most powerful vertical spinners,
and then hydra's flipper, which has kept them undefeated
in the qualifying rounds, dating back to last season.
Hydra is just dominating right now.
But it's no surprise who's number one.
We strapped an accelerometer to tombstone's bar...
More than 200 g's of centripetal acceleration.
That's not quite a helicopter blade, but it's getting there.
Frankly, it's hard not to have ray billings and tombstone in the number one spot.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] good job, kenny. Do yourself a favor and don't check your mentions.
Up next, it's a fight that we could have had in one of the five boroughs.
They're new yorkers. Joe fabiani, who lives in manhattan.
He is the captain of smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,
and he's taking on pain train
and evan arias who currently lives in staten island.
[kenny] yeah, chris. Neither of these guys had the debuts they wanted,
but they both had a ton of success in the beta weight robot fighting division.
So, they know how to build great bots and drive them.
But they have to prove they can do it here in the big leagues.
I think this is a good matchup for both these guys.
And let's see if the person working on their jerseys and the sewing
can keep the e's on this time, because it went from smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee to smee.
Lost all the e's inside the box.
Faruq, do your thing.
In the blue square, from new york city,
if he can beat you there, he can beat you anywhere,
it's smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
[chris] there it is, smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,
and you have to see this thing to believe it.
It is 14 feet long or about the length of your typical mid-size sedan.
[kenny] yeah, joe built this bot out of his apartment at nyu.
It features two horizontal spinners at the tips,
and it's meant to wrap around its opponent like a snake and chip away.
In the red square, from new york city,
the monster of manhattan, pain train.
[chris] here's team pain train looking like they're straight out of the movie, the warriors
and get this, the same motors that power smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
are used by pain train, which is about a tenth of the size.
[kenny] yeah, it's a quick, compact bot, chris.
It features an egg-beater style drum
that spins at 250 miles an hour,
which is fast enough to dish out some damage
if evan can put himself in position to make contact.
[crowd cheering]
pain train has very sharp wedges on the front
which have a risk of getting under us 'cause they're steel and whereas, we're plastic.
If they get under us, they get a good hit with their drum and flip us over,
that would be very hard for us.
They're actually a local new york team.
They're on staten island, we're in manhattan,
and we've known each other for a while.
Their fearsome drum spinner, they have really good weapon,
and he's a great driver. So, it's a tough fight.
My strategy going into tonight's fight is going head on with smeeeeeeeeeeeeee,
and taking out those wheels the second I get behind him.
For this fight, I did a few modifications.
I made sure I lowered my speed down on my driving
just to make sure I get sharper turns on joe,
because his robot's a little more obtuse.
It's the biggest robot here going against the smallest robot,
and we're ready to get in the arena and tear up a little bit of smeeeeeeeeeee.
[crowd cheering]
[robotic voice] robots activate.
[dramatic music playing]
[chris] smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, obviously one of the more unique robots.
But those disk spinners you mentioned are no joke, kenny.
[kenny] each blade is 17 pounds, and those things spin at 230 miles an hour.
Let's see if they can attack the flanks
and try to get to the wheels of pain train.
[robotic voice] blue team, ready.
[robotic voice] red team, ready.
[teammate] let's do it, evan.
[electronic distortion noises]
[chris] pain train, smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, in the battle of nyc.
[buzzing]
let the bot battle begin!
Smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee on the attack.
Let's see if it can wrap all the way around pain train.
[kenny] smeeeeeeeeee is trying to envelope pain train. Not quite able to do it.
[teammate] gotta get under 'em.
[chris] both bots probing, looking for that best angle of attack--
-[metallic clang] -[kenny] there's some damage from smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
[chris] yeah, it took a shot.
-Hit pain train, - [metallic clang]
thanks to those horizontal spinners on the side.
Once again, they spin at 230 miles an hour.
Okay, smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee trying to whip itself around pain train.
Such a unique design.
[kenny] looks like pain train just confused as to how to even deal with smeeeeeeeeeeee.
Get in there, yeah!
[chris] but you can hear that spinner firing up.
Now it's just got to deliver a shot.
It's having some driving issues, real driving issues.
[kenny] yeah, I'm not sure if it's traction or the weapon momentum.
Either way, evan is struggling.
[chris] this is a problem. I mean, the weapon sounds great,
it just can't find a piece of smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee--
[kenny] there you go.
-Yes! -Yeah!
[chris] pain train draws first blood,
ripping off one of smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee's two horizontal spinners.
[kenny] yeah, and that is going to
affect the way smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee can drive, chris.
Smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee may just be moving in circles from here on out.
[chris] listen to that. Pain train's weapon sounds intimidating, kenny,
but it's really those forks on the front
that have been jabbing away at smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee most of the night,
trying to score some points.
[kenny] and for smeeeeeeeeeee, they've done a good job of trying to control the ring,
not letting pain train get behind them for a kill shot.
[chris] pain train staying aggressive.
We gotta get behind 'em.
[chris] smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee with some ground to make up here.
Remember, pain train has disabled one of their two spinners.
-[metallic crashing] - whoa.
[kenny] oh! Oh, yeah!
[chris] whoa, the weapon has come totally off of pain train.
Unbelievable! What a shot by smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
But it looks like that impact has knocked out their weapon as well.
[kenny] pain train is literally falling apart
in the battlebox right now.
That's all I could.
[chris] so we are under thirty seconds to go.
Can both of these bots continue to fight?
That is the question.
[kenny] oh, man. Pain train is just a shell right now,
but smeeeeeeeeeeeee really isn't moving too well either, is it?
[chris] so if you're keeping score,
pain train has lost its main weapon.
Smeeeeeeeeeeeee has lost both of its weapons
and this one is going to go the distance.
-[buzzer sounds] -we're done, we're done!
That was something.
[chris] both drivers looking relieved to have survived that fight,
and that means it is now in the hands of the judges.
Jason bardis, lisa winter and derek young.
So smeeeeeeeeeeeee was trying to fully encapsulate pain train
and it didn't quite work, kenny.
[kenny] no, he didn't.
And let's be honest, neither of these bots lived up to the hype in this fight.
They've got some work to do.
[chris] now, pain train did get a big time shot
right on the side of smeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Knocking off that horizontal spinner.
But then pain train as things were going swimmingly for it...
Uh-oh.
[kenny] yeah, and that was a direct hit
from the horizontal spinner of smeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Just completely disabling the primary weapon of pain train.
See you later.
The results from the judges are in.
[audiene cheering]
we have a split decision.
Judge jason scored the battle for pain train!
[audience cheering]
judge lisa scored the battle for smeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Judge derek scored the battle for the winner...
...Pain train!
[audience cheering]
[all exclaiming]
oh my god!
-Evan. -Yes.
Congratulations on win number one.
Thank you. [laughs]
for a guy who's dreamed about this his entire life
ever since he grew up in the new york city projects as a little kid,
what does it mean to you?
It's a dream come true, really.
And nothing means more than this.
Smeeeeeeeeeeeee is such an unusual bot.
What was your game plan heading into this?
I had to slow down my speed controls
to stay really on top of the game.
Last fight, I was little, you know, little switchy, little everywhere.
So now this fight, I feel more focused.
And for the next fight, I'm ready to get back in
and take care of my wheelie situation.
So, evan, be honest, when you lost your main weapon
and were barely moving,
did you think you had lost this fight?
No. You never give up with or without a weapon.
You gotta drive. You keep going.
So, evan, what has this experience been like for you?
As a guy who probably thought he would never end up here.
And here you are.
It feels unreal. I think I'm gonna have to pinch myself
a few times throughout the day.
Evan, go celebrate with your team.
Congratulations on your first ever battlebots victory.
-Thank you. [laughs] -[audience cheering]
and congratulations to evan arias
and team pain train.
That weapon,
it was workin' really well, the first 90 seconds
and they got some driving issues.
If they get that fixed, they're gonna be an interesting robot.
[kenny] yeah, they were better than last time.
There weren't wobbling around as much.
So he's getting there. He's almost there.
Both these teams... One on one.
Comin' up, a box shaking, bot breaking,
my legs are shaking, main event.
It's sawblaze versus uppercut, a colossal collision.
Next, on battlebots.
We're back on battlebots
and kenny florian, it is time right now for our main event.
It is a tasty one.
A pair of teams from mit.
You've got jamison go and sawblaze.
Uppercut captain by alex hattori.
You think maybe there's some animosity.
Maybe some bragging rights on the line.
Doesn't sound like it at all, huh?
Yeah, not really the battle for mit necessarily.
Perhaps, uh, a battle of master versus student,
uh, maybe something like that.
We know jamison was kind of a mentor to alex getting into the sport.
But jamison's girlfriend lucy,
who's also on team sawblaze,
was actually alex's ta back at mit.
So the connection between these two teams run incredibly deep.
Alex hattori actually came out and told us,
"hey, listen, if there is no sawblaze,
there is no uppercut."
but don't mistaken that for the fact that
both these guys want to win and know how important it is.
[kenny] and this is really alex hattori's chance to prove
that they truly are top contenders
for the giant nut, this season.
I mean, gemini isn't quite on the same level as sawblaze,
but uppercut was able to completely incapacitate gemini
in just 12.9 seconds, chris.
They're just so incredibly powerful.
[chris] but hey, that hammer saw on sawblaze.
It's no joke either.
[kenny] yeah, I mean, it absolutely shredded the armor on whiplash
in that first fight.
That thing packs a punch.
For more on this story with kind of an interesting twist,
we head over to the pits and jenny taft.
Well, guys, the saw on sawblaze
might not look like the one from your woodworking class,
but the physics behind that lethal weapon
are the same as any chop saw.
[chris] oh! Sawblaze on the attack.
[jenny] at just 19lbs and about a 12 inch diameter,
the weapon on sawblaze can produce the same amount of kinetic energy
as some of the bigger ones we see in the battlebots .
[chris] oh!
[jenny] but because of its design,
jamison go's hammer saw can be just as effective.
It starts with sawblazes articulated arm,
which is able to land a strike
in just 25 hundredths of a second.
That's almost twice as fast
as a strike from an attacking rattlesnake.
And when this weapon connects,
it's half-inch blade applies force over tiny area.
And since pressure is equal to force divided by surface area,
that means each strike imparts a ton of pressure.
Now all forces have an equal and opposite reaction.
And because the rotation of the weapon pulls the target
into sawblazes plow, the plow pushes back,
and this keeps the opponent stationary.
And like splitting wood down the centre
versus hitting it from the side,
the combination of forces ensures the opponent
absorbs the full impact from the hammer saw.
Helping it even cut through military grade tank armor.
[chris] son of whyachi is smoking.
[jenny] and that's why all though sawblaze
may not be able to launch bots across the arena,
the damage it can do has the potential to be even more deadly.
[chris] incredible stuff, jenny.
Between these two weapons and the mit whiz kids who built them,
there's a lot to love about this matchup.
It should be a great fight.
Somebody's about to improve to two and o.
Faruq, let's find out which one.
Ladies and gentleman...
It's robot fighting time!
[audience cheering]
in the blue square,
the engineer is named jamison,
and the whiskey is like his bot.
It'll pound you and chase you if you're taking a shot.
Try not to whine when he crushes you.
That happens a lot.
He has a plan to kill a bot.
Like it or not, it's sawblaze!
-[audience cheering] -[intense music playing]
[chris] sawblaze and jamison go ahead.
May be their most impressive victory ever in battlebots
when they knocked out whiplash.
This thing is rockin', kenny.
[kenny] jamison just continues to improve as a driver,
and I love the saw.
But don't forget about his flame thrower either.
Some serious heat coming from that thing.
In the red square...
If you think you're a contender,
drop in a quarter.
But just like glass joe being led to slaughter,
it's going to be body blow, body blow!
Knocked 'em out,
because other robots punch in, but they don't punch out.
It's uppercut!
-[rock music playing] -[audience cheering]
[chris] team uppercut had an impressive rookie season in 2019.
So the sky's the limit this year, it seems.
But, kenny, that's a different weapon
than the one they used against team gemini.
[kenny] yeah, this bot has a sharper edge
and is more suited to pierce into an opponent,
and with a driver like jamison,
they don't think they're gonna have the chance
to line up a shot like they did against gemini.
So they're gonna try to do damage
whenever they can.
Let's bring in our bot whisperer peter.
All right, pete, who's got the edge in this one?
[peter] it's difficult to actually have an edge in this one,
because if sawblaze gets in front of uppercut,
it's all on uppercut.
If sawblaze gets to the sides of uppecut,
it's all on sawblaze.
This is going to be a tough match for both.
It's going to come down to probably jamison's driving,
if it's gonna be to win, uh...
Or one really good hit by uppercut.
In the sports cliche world, we call this a toss up.
There we go.
[audience cheering]
[robot voice] robots, activate.
[chris] well, it's a story as old as time.
The master and the apprentice.
Will alex hattori solidify uppercut as a team to beat this season?
Or will jamison go continue to show that his team
is one of the most dominant forces in combat robotics?
We'll find out when we return on battlebots.
[chris] unreal! Look at the sparks. It's just awesome!
When two bots collide, we know there are some serious forces at play.
But what specifically caused all the sparks
during the clash between valkyrie and rotator?
[kenny] some of these shots have just been insane.
[jenny] well, both have weapons
made out of a ar500 steel.
This abrasion resistant material is incredibly strong
and not very malleable.
[kenny] oh! Here's another big shot from valkyrie!
[jenny] so, during the collision,
instead of losing big chunks or getting bent...
[chris] this is some amazing driving.
[jenny] ... Pieces of the weapons break off
into microscopic flakes.
And when friction transforms
some of the blade's kinetic energy into thermal energy,
those fragments of steel become tender.
[chris] do both these bots have enough strength to make it the distance?
[jenny] for one of the greatest light shows,
the battlebots has ever seen.
[chris] unreal!
Think about that when you're watching this next fight.
[chris] welcome back to battlebots.
We are here seconds away from our main event.
Alex hattori's upper kind is building a reputation
as one of the most powerful weapons in this competition.
While jamisongo's sawblaze's already considered
to be a top contender for the giant nut.
Either way, kenny, this one's going to be a blast.
[robot voice] red team, ready?
You all ready?
[robot voice] blue team, ready?
[chris] ahhh! The funky chicken.
[kenny] team uppercut managing to stay loose over there.
[futuristic music playing]
[audience cheering]
[audience chanting] fight, fight, fight!
[chris] let the main event begin.
Sawblaze trying to get around to the side of uppercut.
-[loud clang] -oh!
[indistinct] just putted sawblaze! Is it out of the arena?
Look at jamison go. Somehow get back in there.
-[loud bang] -oh my goodness!
My gosh!
[kenny] that was an actual explosion in the battlebox.
Smooth.
[chris] whoa! That was unbelievable.
Uppercut continuing to go to work.
[kenny] this is an extremely powerful weapon.
[chris] wow.
Oh! Jamison go is drowning, kenny.
Being picked upon by his own student.
Oh!
Look at the power as it's just destroying sawblaze.
Unreal.
[kenny] looks like I should have had uppercut on my top weapons list.
My bad.
Jamison go and sawblaze cannot move.
-They're being counted down. -[referee] ten, nine, eight, seven...
[chris] wow!
[referee] six, five, four, three, two, one
[chris] unbelievable performance by the youngsters from mit!
Whoa!
He's a good kid.
[chris] that was something special.
[kenny] did you feel the heat?
[laughs]
[chris] peter, that explosion happened right in front of you.
Do you still have eyebrows? [laughs]
[peter] barely. That was amazing.
Their whole flame thrower system
was just torn apart by uppercut in one fell swoop.
Peter, you've been around this sport for more than two decades.
I can't imagine you've seen something like that happen too many times.
[peter] no. Usually everybody's like fuel tanks
or deeply protective.
And that was one of those moments.
-Wow. -Unbelievable.
This is great!
So what do you think now of team uppercut?
They have so advanced in my book.
I mean, that was like... We saw this kind of damage from monsoon.
We've seen this kind of damage from tombstone.
I mean, that was serious!
[chris] boy, uppercut from the get go, kenny.
They had a plan. They stuck to it.
[kenny] yeah, and they weren't messing around either.
Jamison go made an uncharacteristic driving error,
exposing his flank early,
and uppercut shot them out of a cannon.
Just a perfect strike.
[chris] sawblaze was a sitting duck after that,
which led to one of the craziest moments
we've ever seen inside the battlebox.
Boom! Uppercut ripping into sawblaze's pressurized tank
and just about singeing the eyebrows off of the crew's faces.
[kenny] there goes the flames and the judges almost went with it.
[chris] and once again, that shot, the explosion.
-Unbelievable picture -[peter] that was right in front of me.
Nearly killed jason bardis.
Boom!
Wow.
Yeah. The judges actually said they felt the heat from that explosion.
That is crazy.
[chris] ladies and gentlemen, allow me to reintroduce you
to alex hattori and team uppercut.
What a moment!
[audience cheering]
alex hattori.
What the heck is it like when you create a fireball inside the battlebox?
It's terrifying.
-The whole fight was terrifying. -[laughs]
but a good terrifuing, right?
Yeah, we stayed spun up the whole time,
so we're really happy with how that went.
All right, alex, you saw it in real life.
Now take a look at the monitor here
and tell us exactly what your game plan was
when you went after the tank.
So we knew that jamison go was,
he's a fantastic driver
and so we just wanted to stay away from the wall.
So we spun up the blade, got to the center of the arena,
so we could try and not get pinned by him.
[kenny laughs] dude, how cool is that, though?
Oh, man.
[kenny] that's one of the most epic hits we've ever seen.
Oh, thank you.
Well, alex, congratulations.
That was an amazing show.
As you guys improved at two and o.
-Thank you. -[audience cheering]
jamison go.
You all right?
Oh, yeah. I mean, I could wish I could say more for the bot.
[laughs]
so what is it like when your bot turns into a ball of fire?
Oh, you know, sometimes it happens.
Uh, I'm more impressed
just to see, uh, see my guy grew up,
you know, alex hattori,
uh, mentoring him for a long time.
Now, he's doing quite well.
So, cheers to him.
Have you ever been knocked out like that?
I mean, that's a powerful weapon, man.
The robot to come closest to that was probably witch doctor.
Uh, so that's a new record for us.
And I mean, that's all, all more power to them.
So, cheers.
Jamison go, we will see you down the line.
-Take care of your bot. -Thank you very much.
[audience cheering]
[chris] alex. Very impressive.
When he booted gemini across the box, we went,
-"okay, that was kind of cool." -right.
When you knock off sawblaze, which was the seventh overall seed in 2019,
now you're making a name for yourself.
Absolutely.
I mean, I'm sure he got the attention
of every team out there. Knocking out sawblaze? Wow.
But did you notice alex's demeanor?
When we just talked to him.
I think he was genuinely sad that he demolished his buddy's robot.
[chris] yeah, jamison go and his team
are going to have some serious repairs to do
after basically having, like a stick of dynamite go up inside their robot.
Makes for great television, though,
but what a spectacular finish to an unforgettable night way.
We kick things off with a fight for the ages
as valkyrie triumphed over rotator, moving to two and o.
Rotator, of course, still winless in the qualifying round.
[kenny] yeah, two hard-fought losses for victor.
But if he doesn't win his next fight,
his season could be over.
[chris] madcatter finishes the qualifiers at a perfect three and o.
They're the first team to accomplish that feat this season.
Aren hill and tantrum seem to right the ship tonight.
They moved to one and one,
and are looking like a team we'll need to keep our eye on.
And we could not have asked for a better ending.
Uppercut solidifies themselves as a certified contender
with an explosion big enough for a michael bay movie.
-Did you have fun tonight? -I had a blast.
Another good evening around here
for jenny taft and faruq and our bot whisperer pete.
And my man kenny florian.
I'm chris rose, and we'll see you next time on battlebots.
[audience cheering]