[robotic voice] robots, activate.
[audience cheering]
hey, everyone and welcome to battlebots,
the sport that puts the robot in,
"hey, look at that robot beat the crap out of that other robot."
I'm chris rose, and I'm joined, as always,
by ufc legend and our fight analyst,
say hello to kenny florian.
[audience cheering]
thanks, chris, we're in the thick of the qualifiers and I got to tell you,
I am pumped after last week's battles, I got so hyped up,
I ran out to my local best buy
and challenged a vacuum cleaner to a fistfight.
So how'd that go?
I lost by decision.
I'm guessing you mean their decision to have you removed by security.
Suck master 5000.
Don't get cocky,
I own a lot of disguises and I will be back to finish what I started.
[audience cheering]
[chris] okay, speaking of disguises,
as we get further into the qualifying rounds,
we're starting to get an idea of which bots are sheep in wolves clothing
and which might actually have what it takes to go the distance.
And in a season where each team gets a maximum of just three fights
to impress the selection committee,
you cannot take a day off.
And tonight's fight card features a handful of elite teams
desperate to prove they belong in the top 32.
That includes stars with their backs against the wall,
like the 0-1 minotaur.
Daniel freitas and the crew have traveled all the way from brazil
on a mission to hoist the giant nut this season.
Tonight, hungry rookie dragon slayer will look to stop them in their tracks.
[kenny] and we'll see another mythical monster yeti
also try to secure its first win of the season.
Co-captains greg gibson and christian karlberg
know this could be win or go home,
as they take on a buck with a drum spinner even bigger than theirs, pain train.
[chris] and at the top of the marquee tonight,
sit two of the most popular teams in all of robot combat.
After decimating their first opponent,
will bales at hypershock will look to put one of the greatest of all time,
donald hutson and lock-jaw into a serious 0-2 hole.
[kenny] this is a must-win match for lock-jaw and for fan-favorite hypershock,
a victory could mean that this season it's more than just a pretty face,
it's the contender.
[chris] and speaking of contenders,
we kick off the night with a showdown between a bot
that could survive a nuclear bomb
and another that hits as hard as one.
Black dragon squares off with victor soto and rotator.
They're both 1-0,
get ready for some serious fireworks.
You ready?
-I'm ready. -I'm ready.
You guys ready?
[audience cheering]
[chris] faruq, take it away.
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
It's robot fighting time.
[audience cheering]
[faruq] in the red square, this bot might be golden,
but it won't thank you for being a friend,
it'll straight up shake you until you're meeting your end.
It's not old, it's classic.
It's ready to fight.
It's straight up immortal, just like betty white.
It's rotator.
[audience cheering]
[chris] hey, any time you can work betty white into the equation,
you're all right with me.
And here they come, rotator,
you know, kenny, rotator looked as destructive as ever
in its decision win over kraken.
But victor soto was happy about winning the control points in that one.
[kenny] yeah, rotator has always had
one of the most devastating horizontal spinners,
but the wedge lets victor added to its backside this season are game changers.
They really help him control the fight,
and tonight he'll use those to try and get under black dragon,
then whip around for a spin attack.
In the blue square, this robot comes to us from brazil.
He has only two mottos, to crush and to kill.
So before you step in the box, you better update your will.
Introducing the tightest feature high-speeding, wire-eating, fire-breathing,
entire reason why you're bleeding, black dragon.
[audience cheering]
[chris] well, we've got two teams from brazil tonight,
but only one has the lucky duck,
black dragon took down icewave in its first fight.
Kenny, this fire-breather is tough to kill.
[kenny] yeah, it has a powerful egg-beater drum,
but their game is to outlast their opponent.
They've won fights completely engulfed in flames.
The key tonight, though, could be that wedge.
It has a slope and hardness
that were specifically designed to take a hit from rotator.
The brazilians are ready for this fight, chris.
Rotator is as ready as it can be against black dragon,
one of the unique things about rotator
is that we use both the front and the back of the robot,
so we're going to have these forks in the back.
I'm going to start off basically trying to get underneath them to see
if we can even get underneath their plow.
If not, attack with the front, see if we can actually damage some parts, bend them
and then create that clearance,
so that we can get underneath them and control them.
I want to get all the points basically, aggression, control, damage.
I want to get it all.
Over there is a really reliable bot, will be a three minutes fight.
I want to go after their weapons.
I know that's where I want to hit.
I know that's where I can handle the energy.
So we will then just fight because we have a special wedge just made for rotator.
And we'll try the most to control the fights,
counter their weapon and push them around the arena.
We have a motto that you're the best and destroy the rest.
But now, rotator is the rest.
[audience cheering]
[robotic voice] robots, activate.
[audience cheering]
[chris] for more on the crew that's from miami, florida, we bring in our bot whisperer,
pete, what do you have?
Well, you know, there's always some drama that happens in the pits,
and even a pro team like victor's can sometimes succumb to it.
They're not immune.
Victor showed up here,
all of his lithium battery packs were puffed up,
which means they were no good.
He couldn't use any.
He didn't have enough spares, because all of those were puffed.
So team mallis loaned them a complete set of packs,
which they ran in their last fight.
But the new packs have showed up,
they've put connectors on and they are ready to go.
[chris] so they'll be huffing and puffing, perhaps...
You don't want to puffing with lithium battery packs, really bad for you to puff.
[robotic voice] red team, ready?
Let's do it, man.
[chris] do it, even the little guy packs a punch.
[robotic voice] blue team, ready?
Let's go.
[audience cheering]
[chris] the brazilians versus the guy in gold,
the winner will move to 2-0 on the season.
Let the bot battle begin.
Here comes that flame.
Oh-oh, rotator gets underneath, the brazilian's right out of the gate.
That is a bad news for black dragon, kenny.
[kenny] we know victor was focused on winning the ground war,
and it looks like he's in great shape.
[chris] oh, rotator lands and power shots to that custom front wedge of black dragon.
[kenny] there goes victor with that forks first driving technique.
Let's see if he can do it again,
those forks are doing a great job of getting underneath.
[chris] yeah.
Trying to work from the side and stay away from the mouth of that weapon and rotator,
oh, did a nice job getting under black dragon momentarily.
[kenny] black dragon just needs one good fight with that egg-beater weapon, chris.
[chris] black dragon's got rotator against the rail, breaths a little fire.
Rotator lands a jab and gets itself out of a dangerous spot there.
Both drivers being very precise so far.
[kenny] yeah, they both have a lot of respect for each other's primary weapons
and both trying to get...
Oh, black dragon, right back at it.
[chris] that was some...
[kenny] black dragon, now we got a ball of flame.
[chris] wow.
Kenny, it's black dragon on fire on the right, right side.
[kenny] yeah...
[chris] we've seen him on flames before,
but this is not a good time to do it... Off rotator.
And rotator had to be working off at the side there for a segment now,
we've seen it before, we mentioned it in the pre-fight,
black dragon's been able to work while on fire.
[kenny] oh.
[chris] can they continue to do so here tonight?
[kenny] well, we all know about the durability of rotator.
Can black dragon match it here?
[chris] oh, big shot there by rotator.
Black dragon's weapon no longer spinning.
[kenny] oh.
Can he make it another minute and force a judge's decision?
[chris] now, it's become a bit of a pushing match here for black dragon.
Just follow the smoke if you can't find it, follow the smoke.
Black dragon shadowing rotator now,
preventing from doing any more damage with that undercutting blade.
Closing in on a 45-second mark
and somehow black dragon had been able to do it again, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, they're doing an amazing job with that wedge,
sticking it out here, staying alive.
[chris] victor soto pinning black dragon,
showing excellent control here.
Look for victor to tail whip the brazilians on the release.
-[victor] release. -Release.
[chris] there's the release and there's the tail whip,
20 seconds left to go in this one.
[kenny] oh.
[chris] black dragon getting underneath rotator,
but that undercutting blade won't stop spinning.
Rotator continuing to dish out the damage.
[kenny] yeah. Rotator attacking from above like an attack helicopter.
[chris] five seconds.
[loud thud]
[chris] oh, that's a big hit.
[audience cheering]
[chris] somehow black dragon made it the last 90 seconds once while on fire.
[kenny] I know which team I'm inviting to my house for the barbecue,
because those guys can party it up when there is smoke and flame.
Wow!
[audience cheering]
[chris] so this fire fest is now in the hands of the judges and, kenny,
don't tell ja rule,
but we're going to let the crew clean up this mess.
It will have the decision to this bot burner,
when we return on battlebots.
[audience cheering]
[chris] welcome back to battlebots,
where rotator and black dragon are awaiting a decision after their insane fight
that saw the brazilians on fire for more than 90 seconds.
[kenny] the smoke is still getting cleared out, but we're being told
that the judges are close to handing out their scorecards.
[chris] all three former battlebots participants,
derek young, jason bardis, lisa winter,
scoring on an 11-point system,
up to five points can be awarded for damage,
three for aggression and three for control.
You know kenny, here at battlebots, the lower bot usually wins,
and rotator proved it was the low man right out of the gate.
[kenny] yeah, rotator using its ground scraping forks to get underneath black dragon
and drive it into the pulverizer,
then start going to work with the undercutter
and that shot right there set the brazilians up in flames.
[chris] and I feel like I've seen this movie somewhere before,
but black dragon managed to put up one heck of a fight,
even though it was spewing smoke and flames for almost two minutes.
Now, this is probably the crowning shot of the night
for black dragon to get rotator on its side.
But victor soto did regain control and he delivered down the stretch.
[kenny] just an amazing all-around performance by the veteran here,
showing great control by pinning black dragon,
then attacking with the undercutter,
he managed to disable black dragon's weapon
and really dominate this fight.
[chris] rotator looking to move to 2-0,
black dragon as tough as they come,
let's send it over to faruq with the decision.
The results from the judges are in.
[audience cheering]
we have a unanimous decision...
And your winner is...
Rotator.
[audience cheering]
[man] great play, guys.
[man] thank you.
Thank you.
[chris] victor.
-Hey. -Hey.
Congratulations, usually when you set your opponent on fire,
you're like, "huh, okay, this will be easy."
for almost two minutes, that thing ran while there were smoke,
how impressed were you?
Very impressive.
Black dragon is a great machine, very reliable.
I was hoping for a knockout, but couldn't get there.
You know that was to be expected. Great machine.
But we were able to get some control,
get underneath them and I guess we had some damage.
I couldn't see really clear between the smoke and all.
All right. So what is a 2-0 start mean for you?
It's huge. We've never been 2-0 before, so this is fantastic.
Confidence is going through the roof.
We're trusting the robot more.
We're learning more about it.
We're going to keep improving.
[chris] all right, victor. Well, congratulations.
We'll see you next time.
-Thank you. -Great fight. Thank you.
[victor] thank you.
[chris] okay.
Let's keep the carnage going and jump right into fight number two
and the international theme continues.
Canada and south korea take center stage this time.
That's where our next two teams, lucky and blade hail from.
Let's start with mark demers and that flipper known as lucky.
In their first fight,
they went toe-to-toe with a semifinalist from last season, tantrum
and new driver matt olsen.
He looks like he may be the real deal.
[kenny] yeah, there's a reason he's known as one of the top rc car drivers in the world.
This rookie came out the first 30 seconds of his battlebots career
and had a top tier opponent on the ropes.
He actually could have let tantrum get counted out,
but he kept the fight going and showed some serious competitive spirit.
I'm excited to see what this kid does in his second fight, chris.
[chris] and when it comes to blade,
the bot known overseas as the korean tombstone
did go three minutes in a very tough matchup against scorpios,
but they did not live up to the hype, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, captain cheog gyu hwang
needs to show us something in this fight.
I've seen them dish out tons of damage in international matches.
Maybe it was jet lag,
maybe it was just being under the battlebots lights for the first time.
Either way, we need to see that weapon spin up
and do some serious damage tonight.
Somebody's getting win number one tonight.
Faruq.
In the red square from ottawa, canada,
here comes the canuck with all the luck,
it's lucky.
[audience cheering]
[chris] team lucky, almost looking like the canadian flag kenny.
[kenny] and going against the horizontal spinner tonight.
How do they match up?
[chris] well, you can see they've got that ar-500 armor that goes all the way around,
lucky this time.
They've seen how powerful blade has been overseas,
but lucky should be able to get under them.
And if they can trap blade in a short corner and they spin up,
matt olsen could have a field day.
[faruq] in the blue square from seoul, south korea, ready to mash your unit.
Give it up for blade.
[audience cheering]
[chris] such a cool looking robot, and once again,
the driver is ju sangeun on the right there.
She's actually a professional violinist,
so she's used to performing under pressure, kenny.
[kenny] well, all eyes are on her,
because they need a win here against scorpios,
she couldn't find space to spin up,
tonight they're using their longest bar,
it's three feet and 60 pounds of aluminum.
With that extra reach, they're hoping they can get in one big early shot
and end this fight before lucky can start the flipper.
Blade is a really tough machine.
It's going to be a lot of large hits.
We're hoping to deflect blades blade.
If we're going to win, I think we're going to have to win within three or four hits,
hopefully get them flipped over.
If it goes to the full three minutes, I'm pretty sure we're taking damage.
We're all in one right now,
so that really puts a lot of pressure on us to win that next match.
[man speaking]
[audience cheering]
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
[kenny] lucky on the charge. [loud thud]
[chris] oh, gosh.
Blade just snapped its blade and left a piece
stuck at the side of the battle box.
[kenny] it's throwing it off, get that gyroscope in motion and lucky...
[loud thud]
[chris] lucky flipping blade into the screws, oh, there's another...
[audience cheering]
[chris] you go to your room, says lucky.
[kenny] doesn't get better than that.
[chris] and look at this, the spin around,
flipper trying to knock the blade off,
but now, just got to hang out up there.
That's it, it's just going to sit and chill as lucky picks up the victory.
[referee] it's a knock-out.
[kenny] what a knockout.
[chris] wow.
Kenny, impressive, impressive run by lucky right there.
[kenny] yeah, absolutely, and a great choice to go with that ar armor,
it caused blade to slam into the rail
and broke that three-foot aluminum bar off
into the side of the battle box.
-Look at that, crazy. -[chris] yeah.
Blade on its heels after that, a little flippage from lucky,
send it politely to the top of the side rail to be counted out.
Rookie driver, matt olsen, with yet another sensational performance,
as lucky moves to 1-1.
What are you feeling, lucky, huh?
[laughing]
kenny, I love battlebots,
'show and tell', it's my favorite day of the school year.
It is. I get to hold the prop here.
-Oh my gosh. -Do not touch the top of it.
It is very sharp,
but this is the tip of the blade that broke off of blade.
-And stuck right into the wall. -[kenny] yes.
-[chris] that is incredible force. -[kenny] crazy. Very heavy.
If you didn't get your bi's and tri's then you might want to start lifting this.
No, I'm good with just the air.
You're good. Okay.
[chris] coming up.
One of the most ferocious drivers in the sport.
He's determined to will his team back into tournament contention.
Stop yelling at me,
daniel freitas in minotaur facing the undefeated rookie, dragon slayer.
That's up next on battlebots.
[audience cheering]
we are back on battlebots and guess who's back inside the box.
It's brazilian bazooka, minotaur
in desperate need of a win here tonight against rookie, dragon slayer,
and let's start with the boys from texas.
A group of young machinists led by 22-year-old captain, jordan neal.
Kenny, dragon slayer beat up on respected veteran, duck
in its very first battlebots fight ever.
[kenny] that's right.
And while dragon slayers vertical disc may not pack a nuclear punch,
it was able to rip the beak right off of duck in its debut.
But minotaur is in quite a different class offensively,
so this should be a good indicator for them to where they stand here,
amongst all teams.
[chris] and when it comes to minotaur,
this is one of the most popular robots in the entire world.
Led this year by captain, junior souza, they sit at 0-1.
And even though that loss came at the hands of one of the top teams in the field, saw blaze,
these guys cannot afford to take another l tonight,
especially against the rookie robot.
[kenny] no doubt, they are fired up and ready to go,
no one more so than their driver, daniel freitas,
his ferocity, nearly brought this team
to a battlebots championship in 2018.
But for minotaur spiritual leader,
this season is about something bigger than robots.
[daniel speaking]
[audience cheering]
[chris] kenny, it's hard not to root for daniel
and these guys on team minotaur.
[kenny] but he's here doing what he loves and he wants to win that nut.
All right, let's get it going. Faruq.
In the red square from rio de janeiro, brazil, the most ball-headed bot,
the sport has ever seen, it's minotaur.
[audience cheering]
[chris] daniel freitas, the driver, always has his game face on,
ready to lead minotaur into battle.
That drum is so nasty, kenny.
[kenny] it sure is.
That is a 55-pound drum and it's wider than we've seen it in previous seasons.
We know daniel will be aggressive,
but with dragon slayer's, huge plow,
the key will be aggressively attacking from the side.
[faruq] in the blue square from denton, texas,
giving opponents and khaleesi nightmares,
it's dragon slayer.
[audience cheering]
[chris] there is dragon slayer.
Kenny, what do they have to do to take down the raging bull?
[kenny] well, two things.
One, keep that plow square with minotaur's drum at all times
and two, get that weapon up to full speed.
Jordan said their disc wasn't functioning properly against duck.
They're going with a smaller disc tonight,
and they've also increased the battery power behind the weapon.
Let's see if those changes pay off.
For this next fight, we're juicing it up a little.
We're going from six-cell to eight-cell in all systems.
Hopefully, that's going to give us enough punch we need to fight minotaur.
We switched our weapons.
We actually went down a little bit.
We went with our lighter weapon
in order to compensate for that extra juice we're given to it.
We're open for a line of tip speed.
This weapon's got a little more reach.
We switched our scoops, they're a little more heavily armored.
Honestly, it's not the worst fight we could possibly have,
but damn if it ain't scary,
we could leave with another victory chip in our hands or a smoking wreck.
Dragon slayer is a new bot.
They did pretty well against duck.
They have a wedge on the front, so we have the old forks.
We're really hoping to get underneath their wedge and just make it gone.
We've got to avoid the weapon as well,
because it can be a really powerful and damage minotaur.
But we've got to go forward and make sure that we hit them strong as we can
to try to go for a knockout.
[audience cheering]
[robotic voice] robots, activate.
[audience cheering]
[chris] minotaur's season may rest on the shoulders of that man right there,
daniel freitas is locked and loaded.
The rookie, jordan neal, looking to take his squad to 2-0.
Dragon slayer, minotaur.
Next.
[chris] we are right back into the action here on battlebots,
where minotaur and the squad from brazil
are rallied around their outstanding driver, daniel freitas,
taking on the rookie team from texas, dragon slayer.
Minotaur needs a win to avoid falling to 0-2.
[audience cheering]
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
Here comes dragon slayer, not afraid of minotaur
until you hear that drum spinning... And two bots go weapon on weapon.
Minotaur still humming.
Dragon slayer back pedaling.
Oh, oh, look at this.
Minotaur trying to send dragon slayer into the upper deck, didn't happen.
-[loud thud] -there's a nice kiss.
-You drive this on your own money. -Okay.
[chris] and it looks like minotaur has knocked dragon slayer's weapon
out of commission to start this fight.
But here's dragon slayer pushing back.
Daniel freitas finds an angle.
Oh, starts chewing away at those tires.
[kenny] yeah. He eats tires for breakfast.
[chris] dragon slayer still has its wedge in play though, kenny.
[kenny] that's right and jordan neal has to use that big wedge
to see if he can break minotaur's weapon.
[chris] minotaur says good luck with that pal,
bending dragon slayer chewing on the underbelly on the bot from texas.
[kenny] dragon slayer needs to self-right.
[chris] running around in circles and here come minotaur again
and it's dragon slayer down for the count.
[kenny] yeah. That might have been the knockout shot.
Him on the backside.
[chris] oh, no.
-[referee] ten, nine... -[chris] here comes the count down.
Can dragon slayer find a way to free itself?
[kenny] oh, the celebration is starting.
[chris] that's going to be curtains.
-It's a knockout. -[audience cheering]
[chris] well, they may not have been the toughest opponent he's ever faced,
but daniel freitas just kept minotaur's season alive.
[audience cheering]
[daniel screaming]
yeah!
Yes!
[chris] kenny, minotaur just on it from the get go with that drum spinner.
[kenny] went right at that primary weapon,
then started attacking the tires.
They attacked from the back, they were
hitting dragon slayer anywhere they could.
[chris] you know, the relentless driving
we've come to expect from daniel freitas,
who was on full display yet again.
He just never let up.
[kenny] no, he didn't.
It was his aggressive style that he always uses,
just going out there trying to take out that bot from the get go.
They wanted the knockout and they got it.
[audience cheering]
-[chris] junior. -Me?
Yes, you, congratulations on your first win as team captain.
Thank you.
Hey, your driver, daniel freitas is an animal.
Yeah. Bring him in here, huh?
[audience cheering]
what is it like for you to watch him do his thing as a driver out there?
[junior] we hear daniel, you know, we have a tough few days.
This guy here, he deserves it, so.
[indistinct whispering]
[audience cheering] minotaur! Minotaur! Minotaur!
[chris] daniel, how does it feel to be here
with your second family at battlebots?
Uh, I had very difficult weeks.
I lost my mom.
[audience cheering and applauding]
but we are back here
and we do lot better for... Tonight.
[audience cheering]
[chris] congratulations to team minotaur.
Daniel, thank you very much for sharing your emotions with us.
-Thank you, guys. -Thank you, thank you.
[audience cheering]
[chris] well, you heard, daniel just lost his mom and his grandmother recently.
And I do think that for a lot of athletes and competitors
in whatever field you are in,
if you come back to a place where you know you are in love like battlebots,
it's not going to chase the pain away entirely.
Absolutely.
But you said it best, I mean, that is like his second family.
It's got to feel good, you know, after everything that he's dealt with
to go out there and do what he loves
and to get a win for him and his team.
-He's one of the best out there. -Yeah.
And you saw why tonight.
Congratulations to daniel freitas
and his entire work family here at battlebots.
[chris] back to the games we play.
And when we return,
it's the king of staten island versus the king of the himalayas.
As evan arias and pain train rolls into the box against the dreaded yeti.
That's next on battlebots.
[audience cheering]
we are back on battlebots and up next the meeting of a pair
of 0-1 teams that both lost by knockouts their first time out.
Let's start with the veteran team yeti, led by gibson and karlberg,
and we talked with greg gibson earlier today.
He said, listen, I have to admit I was nervous last month.
It was the first time I was in the box in two years.
He said, guess what?
I'm going to let it roll and we might see the old yeti,
I think, a little bit more tonight.
[kenny] I think so.
Listen, he said, he's always nervous for that first fight.
He said he's a complete wreck
and again, this yeti is very different from the bot we saw two years ago.
It's much smaller.
But both captains know when it comes to making the tournament,
tonight is a do or die situation.
All right, so with pain train, they're captained by evan arias,
they had a rough rookie season in 2020,
high expectations, they end up getting ko'd in their first fight.
They got a start to turn it around a little bit.
[kenny] yeah, that's right.
We talked about it.
But evan is one of the top drivers in the world,
when it comes to lower weight classes,
one of his robots actually just got put in the beetleweight hall of fame.
He really wants to prove that he belongs in the big leagues and no better way to do that
than by taking down a legendary bot, like yeti.
Somebody's getting a win number one.
Will it be pain train or will it be yeti?
Let's find out. Faruq.
[audience cheering]
in the red square from san luis obispo, california,
this ice monster will leave you shaking in your snow boots.
It's yeti.
[audience cheering]
[chris] a fan favorite, yeti,
about 80% of its size from 2019 went on the old diet.
Is that [indistinct] at all, do you think?
[kenny] you know, greg is still getting used to handling
this more compact version of yeti.
This fight is massive drum versus massive drum, though.
And yeti's got the smaller one,
so contrary to their typical game plan,
they want to be cautious and avoid going weapon to weapon here.
[audience cheering]
in the blue square from staten island, new york, known as thomas, the train's
terrifying older brother, its pain train.
[audience cheering]
[chris] pain train knocked out by deep-6 in its season debut, there's evan arias,
wearing the shades, waving to the crowd.
That weapon looks great, man.
We just want to see it connect occasionally.
[kenny] yeah, well, it was working perfectly in the test box earlier today,
and at 75 pounds,
pain train's drum is more than 30, yes, 30 pounds heavier than yeti's.
Because of that, evans says he does want to attack head on here,
so let's see if it can hold up tonight.
The yeti's been around for a little bit.
I was actually a fan of it growing up.
It has this nice seven-tooth that I'm looking to rip right off the weapon
and I'm just going to attack them, head on, rip off their forks
and have a few wheels to have fun with.
I'm more than confident that I'm going to have yeti on the heels today.
Pain train has no brakes.
I'm going to enjoy some yeti spaghetti tonight.
I can't win this fight head to head.
I have to keep my cool.
I have to drive properly and keep aiming for their sides and back.
Their drum is heavier than ours.
It probably spins faster.
If I just throw caution to the wind and go at them,
we're going to lose this fight and that's probably going to be it for the season.
[audience cheering]
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
Oh, oh, pain train passed out of the game, but just runs right into the rails.
[kenny] yeah. He's trying to line it up.
A love tap there.
[loud thud]
more than a a love tap there.
[kenny] pain train doing a great job of staying squared up to yeti.
[chris] nice shot by pain train.
Yeti, though not taking the pain, looking for the right angle.
Sniffing around those tires now.
Dragging it out there.
[kenny] oh, nice little flip.
Greg gibson driving a brilliant match so far,
showing a lot of patience in this opening stretch.
[chris] big shot.
It's a massive drum on drum action.
Yeti working up a sweat now.
[kenny] oh, this is a much better fight
from both yeti and pain train already.
[chris] oh, big shot by pain train, knocks yeti...
[indistinct commentary]
[chris] oh, no, no a big part of pain train has come off.
[kenny] yeti is about to take over, it looks like, chris.
[chris] oh, no, pain train should motor on nicely.
[kenny] it's exposed on the left side though.
[chris] oh, that's got to hurt.
[kenny] uh-oh.
[chris] yeti flipping pain train like a pancake here.
Can it hang on?
Does pain train have any control.
Yeti's trying to sniff it out.
Oh, he's grinding it into the rails.
[kenny] un-oh, that's going to be it.
I don't see controlled movement.
[chris] you saw a lot of wobbling right now
and pain train still might be...
[kenny] oh, flip.
[chris] that's it.
[loud thud]
[indistinct commentary]
[audience cheering]
[chris] greg's making up for that first fight right now my goodness.
[kenny] yeah, there's battery spilled out,
the top armor is off and the countdown has started and yeti.
Evan arias, all he can do is smile,
because he has been done in by a big time bot.
[referee] knock-out.
[audience cheering]
[chris] kenny, you get two high energy drum spinners like this,
you'd never know what could happen.
[kenny] oh, my goodness, this was an awesome fight.
Both robots really went for it,
a little bit cautious in the beginning,
and then all of a sudden they just started trading blows back and forth.
[chris] I got to tell you, pain train, you know,
we talked about at the beginning of this fight
that durability was going to be an issue for them
and things were going just fine.
They were exchanging blow for blow with yeti,
and then they ended up losing the top armor and things changed.
[kenny] yeah, listen, there were some serious energy in that battle box.
Both bots landed some great shots,
but in the end, it really did come down to the durability,
you see the shots from yeti just kind of tearing apart pain train little by little,
bot parts everywhere.
It was a very surgical approach
from greg gibson for the most part.
[chris] and then finishing it up,
knocking batteries on the battle box floor and we'll call it a night.
[audience cheering]
[chris] greg and christian,
that's the way that that machine is supposed to run, right?
Yeah. It worked out a lot better than last time.
[chris] uh-huh.
Greg, could you kind of smell it once pain train
lost its top armor where you're like,
oh, this is going to be tasty?
Sort of. The thing is their drum is really, really nasty.
It was still spinning.
So as long as that thing's going, it's scary.
Greg, it seemed like you were a cautious early on,
and then it seemed like the old yeti kind of revealed itself.
Was that the case?
Well, I had kind of promised the team I was going to try to drive smart
and not go weapon to weapon that usually lasts about 20 seconds.
We'll have to look back to see if I made it to a full 20
and then we started going drum to drum.
Well, congratulations on getting that first win.
Thanks very much, guys.
[audience cheering]
[chris] kenny, you heard it out of the mouth of greg gibson,
sometimes you just got to resort back to what you know best, huh?
Yeah, absolutely.
You can't get too far from who you are.
But make no mistake, the first 60 seconds of that fight
was maybe the most strategic driving we've ever seen from greg
and it paid off for a much needed victory.
[chris] after the break,
the devil from the deep clashes with a deadly bird of prey.
It's kraken versus hijinx.
And don't forget about the main event of the evening,
where the legendary lock-jaw will go head to head with speed demon hypershock.
It's the o.G. Donald hutson
versus consummate showman will bales,
that's later tonight on battlebots.
[audience cheering]
[chris] and welcome back to las vegas,
where the battlebots championship qualifiers roll on.
At the top of the marquee tonight,
boy, do we have a fun matchup for you?
The king of flash, will bales,
will roll hypershock into the arena
to face the legendary donald hutson and lock-jaw.
Our cameras caught the two teams sizing each other up a bit earlier.
How old were you when I first started competing?
You were, I guess you did '95, right?
-'96. -'96, I was 4.
[laughing]
[chris] it's young hotshot versus grizzled veteran in tonight's main event,
so get your popcorn ready for what is sure to be an action packed fight.
But right now, it's a matchup between a pair of robots,
who both made it to the round of 32 a season ago.
But now, both find themselves in an 0-1 hole.
Kraken versus hijinx.
Let's start with kraken engineered by matt spurk,
and you just cannot kill this thing.
Go ask rotator,
because kraken lasted the distance, even though it lost its teeth,
basically the top of its head,
but not its ability to drive and it shows just how tough kraken is.
[kenny] no doubt about it.
That really is their superpower, its unkillable,
and they do have a lot of crushing force as well.
We didn't really see that in their first fight,
but they're going to try to use it here.
In the meantime, jen herchenroeder,
who's the captain of hijinx,
they had such high expectations coming into this season.
They spent the entire off season fixing what went wrong in 2020
and all of a sudden, they got popped
right in the grill by mammoth first time out,
a little bit of a jarring situation for hijinx.
[kenny] for jen, she's the ultimate optimist.
She was really confident that she was going to come back
and bring the best bot possible.
The winner here, I'm not going to say they're sitting pretty,
but they're going to be in the thick of the race to the round of 32.
The loser is going to fall to 0-2
and is going to need some serious help to get to the postseason.
Faruq?
[audience cheering]
in the red square from titusville, florida,
he's got more bite than a vampire at a net convention.
It's kraken.
[audience cheering]
[chris] kraken and matt spurk has brought his entire family with him.
[kenny] well, you can't even tell that dragon head got screwed up last time out.
[chris] yeah, they had to scrap the frame from the first fight,
it was damaged so badly,
and this frame is actually designed for vertical,
not horizontal spinners,
so they're already a little behind the eight ball.
But if matt spurk can corner hijinx
and prevent it from spinning up,
kraken is more than capable of winning this fight.
In the blue square from oakland, california,
the pink and yellow that turns you black and blue.
It's hijinx.
[audience cheering]
[chris] hijinx's always so pretty.
The paint job is sensational,
the engineering needs a little working between fights one and two.
We'll see what jen herchenroeder and her right hand man,
orion beach have dialed up tonight.
[kenny] well, what adjustment jen made to this fight
was to add s7 tool steel teeth to that 68-pound bar.
S7 is a sharper metal.
It's better for cutting.
They know kraken is too tough to bludgeoned to death,
but if they could cut through the sea monsters head,
they might actually be able to get the knockout.
[audience cheering]
the overall strategy with kraken is always the same.
Close the distance on them as fast as possible,
light them up and then just crush them.
They've got such a long bar
and it takes a long time to get up to really deadly speed.
And I think if we can get on them and just stay on them,
I think we'll be okay.
But if we have to back off or we get separated too much,
then they're really going to tear us up pretty bad.
Matt spurk is a fantastic builder and made regular improvements.
Kraken is fully able to get their teeth
around one of our wings and controlled the fight.
So we're going to do everything we can to stay out of the mouth
and to knock the teeth out as fast as we can.
For both teams, this, this is a mandatory win,
something to be said for strength schedule,
you can have really good fights against really good robots,
but I do think it's a much larger uphill struggle
to get into the round of 32 if you don't have at least two wins.
[robotic voice] robots activate.
[audience cheering]
[chris] hijinx has its game face off, so too does kraken, assisted by his little narwhal
got torn to shreds in its last fight.
[robotic voice] red team, ready?
[ethan hits the button]
[chris] young ethan spurk hitting the button right there.
[robotic voice] blue team, ready?
[jen hits the button]
[audience cheering]
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
Kraken on these...
Oh, big shot there by hijinx, but kraken took it.
[kenny] yeah, that's a great start by kraken,
trying to jam up that weapon and they're going to stay right on hijinx.
[chris] trying to send them into the screws.
[kenny] hijinx is already upside down.
Kraken looking to take advantage.
[chris] hijinx wiggles free, now trying to create some space to spin.
Oh!
Trying to chip away those teeth,
including the two big ones in the front.
[kenny] my goodness, hijinx is still very dangerous
in this helicopter configuration.
[chris] hijinx not moving very well now, though,
and matt spurk staying aggressive, as he always does.
[kenny] kraken trying to bite down and then drag hijinx around the arena.
[matt] he's dead.
He's dead. Count, count, he's dead.
[chris] matt spurk calling for the quick count out.
[referee] you have control? Do you have control?
[chris] hijinx's weapon is spinning, but the big question,
can the robot move?
[kenny] yes. It can.
-Whoa! -[chris] whoa!
Hijinx chopping away at the mouth of kraken saying,
"get off you ugly, hideous beast".
[kenny] it's amazing, now kraken just go right in there,
creeping and jam up that weapon like that, that's just ridiculous.
[chris] hijinx still trying to find its way in this inverted position,
though, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, keep in mind, the directional controls on that robot
are actually backwards for driver orion beach now.
[chris] under 90 to go.
Kraken working hijinx into the screws.
[kenny] trying to get it under the upper deck and he does.
[chris] could this be the knockout that kraken wanted.
Hijinx has an opening and is trying to work its way down to field level.
Now, are you kidding me?
Hijinx starts spinning and get down on the surface and it does.
[kenny] brilliant move by orion beach,
using hijinx's spinner to create momentum there.
[chris] under a minute to go
and hijinx is throwing its weapon into kraken's teeth.
Both of these bots looking to make one final push before the closing bell.
[kenny] this has been a brutal grinding fight.
-[loud thud] -[chris] both teams...
Big hit by hijinx.
[kenny] kraken's going to have to send hijinx his dental bill.
[chris] kraken has way less teeth than when it started.
[kenny] oh, there goes the big one.
[chris] hijinx's leaving a strong last impression,
and I'm not even so sure kraken is moving.
[referee] you got to show me...
I have to count now.
[kenny] no, I don't think it is.
[chris] and hijinx still moving. Oh, it's caught up.
How is kraken still moving?
[kenny] both bots gasping for air as the final seconds tick away.
Kraken is crab walking.
Hijinx spun up to try to land one more shot.
[jen] one more, one more, one more.
[chris] but it looks like this one is going to go to the judge's scorecards.
[kenny] wow!
[chris] boy, was there a lot going on in this one, kenny.
[kenny] just ridiculous kraken going right at hijinx.
Hijinx with a big shot right off the bat, kraken trying to control.
They just were never able to get that good fight down on hijinx.
[chris] now, I got to give orion beach
a whole lot of credit for keeping hijinx active
and away from that bite of kraken, all while driving inverted.
[kenny] no doubt, especially when you consider that his drive controls
were reversed once hijinx got flipped.
Great job by orion.
[chris] man, this was a very close fight.
So how do you think the judges will break this one down?
[kenny] this is a tough call. To me, kraken was the more aggressive robot.
It should have the edge there, and matt spurk will win some control points
for tossing hijinx onto the upper deck.
But in the end, this could very well come down to the damage column.
Hijinx landed a bunch of heavy shots,
beat up on kraken and ripped one of its teeth out
advantage hijinx in that category,
going to be a fascinating decision either way.
[chris] here's faruq with the results.
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
Hijinx.
[audience cheering]
jen herchenroeder, is it fair to say that hijinx probably doesn't win
a fight like this a season ago?
I think that is probably true.
We've done everything we can to improve literally everything on the robot.
We made one mistake.
We made one big mistake in the pits before our first fight, we fixed it.
It'll never happen again, and you're going to see more of that from here on out.
That was a back and forth fight, jen.
Yeah.
At one point, it seemed like you were stuck there on the upper deck.
Did that worry you?
No.
We consider that it was a high probability we'd be put upside down
at some point and we can drive inverted.
It's not a problem, but just to make it a little bit easier on orion,
I added some slippery uhmw to the top of the head to help us scoot off
in the case we had one wheel on,
one wheel off some kind of balance and he did a great job.
He sure did.
Jen, congratulations.
Hijinx evens its record at 1-1 on the season.
[audience cheering]
[chris] so hijinx pulls out the decision victory,
and we're going to put the judges
scorecards up on the screen for you here.
Kenny, break it all down for us.
[kenny] yeah, the judges had it 6-5 across the board for hijinx.
Looks like kraken did end up winning the aggression and control categories,
but wow, the numbers that tell the story are in the damaged department.
You see there on jason and derek's cards,
both of them scoring damage 4-1 in favor of hijinx.
Tough to win a fight if you don't come out on top
in the most heavily weighted category.
[chris] destroy or disable your opponent, that is the mission.
So hijinx moves to 1-1, while fan favorite kraken now faces the challenge
of climbing out of an 0-2 hole.
Coming up, a showdown between two 20-year-olds,
and I'm not talking about a tik-tok battle.
Jason vasquez and his control bot defender square off
with ethan kurtz and the highly destructive drum spinner of riptide.
That's next on battlebots.
[audience cheering]
we continue on here on battlebots and up next,
let's take a closer look at tonight's marquee matchup.
It's hypershock versus lock-jaw,
a main event featuring speed,
spinners and two of the biggest stars in this sport.
[faruq] it's hypershock.
In years past, we had great weapons, we have great tech,
we had good style and we had good driving.
[kenny] that was a perfect bot crush chris, I've never seen anyone get out of this.
But for whatever reason, it never quite came together.
[chris] I don't think there's anything hypershock can do kenny.
[will] this year, we made a concerted effort to say, okay,
no more gimmicks, no more stupid little tricks, no more self-righter.
And in our fight against slamo,
basically everything went right.
[kenny] oh!
[chris] with that combination of speed and power slamo, doesn't stand a chance.
[kenny] oh, what a shot by will bales.
We felt good, the robot drove well, the weapon worked great,
and we've got it nailed.
[referee] that's a knock-out.
[kenny] hypershock is back chris. Oh, man.
[faruq] it's macho.
[donald] I have won two championships
and two's not enough.
[chris] oh, no mercy from lock-jaw.
These qualifying matches are meant to kind of seat us position us in a way to say
we have a good chance at a run for the nut.
[chris] oh, what a shot.
The last fight I had with copperhead was a complete, chaotic mess.
[chris] the left fork is bent backwards.
The left front wheel is hanging out for dear life
and lock-jaw is behind the eight ball now.
But I went all three minutes with that beating.
So that gave me just a little bit of confidence about maybe how I go into the next one.
[chris] whoa! Lock-jaw is going right at him.
Lock-jaw looks tough as nails this year. They're hard to beat.
Donald has been here since the beginning.
[chris] donald hutson, the legend.
And he's a very good driver.
[chris] unbelievable, the driving by donald hutson.
We have a good chance to win if we can avoid the hard impacts.
That's pretty beefy weapon.
[chris] hypershock coated...
We have 25% more weapon mass than we did before.
We have 40% more weapon energy than before.
If we can get the weapon to connect with lock-jaw,
we're going to see some wheels come off.
We're going to see some extra holes in lock-jaw
that they didn't have at the beginning.
I want to mangle some metal.
[chris] will bales and his best friend chaos have entered the battle box.
It's going to be a lot of back and forth going on.
I'm relentless. I'm not going to let up.
I need to win this match, so here I come, will.
[chris] oh, unbelievable.
That one is going to be fun, kenny.
Now, when donald says he's won two championships,
he's referring to the super heavyweight titles
he won with his iconic robot dissector.
He, of course, is still looking for that elusive giant nut
here in the modern era.
But before we get you to that main event,
we got one more matchup for you,
featuring two of this season's top rookies
in the field, defender and riptide.
And let's start with riptide, captained by a college kid out of los angeles.
Ethan kurtz, he was so excited just to be involved in battlebots.
Then, when he won his first match
against huge no less by a knockout in less than a minute,
the dude was basically running around here going crazy.
He couldn't catch his breath, guy's having the time of his life.
[kenny] yeah, amazing performance in that first fight.
That weapon is devastating, so he's on his way.
Taking on another college kid from the los angeles area,
but the last name you certainly know oh, so well.
Jason vasquez, the younger brother of manny vasquez,
defender lost its opener, knocked out by ribot.
Jason said, listen, we worked on it.
My brother even came over and helped out a little bit
and he certainly hasn't lost any confidence.
[kenny] no, not at all. He's been here before.
He has a lot of experience, of course, with whiplash,
and he believes he has his robot dialed in.
He loves this matchup against riptide as well.
Rookie versus rookie. Should be a fun one. Faruq?
[audience cheering]
in the red square, he's all plugged in and turned up to 11,
here to make his opponents take the stairway to heaven
like a hot guitar solo on your face,
he'll be wailing, tear you up like a master.
Call him shreddy van halen. Crank it up for defender.
[audience cheering]
[chris] all right, there's jason in front with his mom and pop and also rob,
guy that you bring in to help out,
he's great behind the scenes guy here, pushing in the bot.
[kenny] rob mastic, of course, used to be on fight force.
Now they've gone from four forks to two on front of defender.
Jason realized those were just going to get shredded against a vertical spinner
like riptide.
Now to win, he's going to have to smother wild driver ethan kurtz,
which is no easy task.
In the blue square, when this riptide takes over the battle box,
no lifeguard can save you.
Not even hasselhoff.
No pam anderson or carmen electra running in slow motion,
just you getting devoured by a murderous ocean, it's riptide.
[audience cheering]
[chris] team riptide made up of a bunch of college and high school kids,
and ethan kurtz calls just a bunch of idiots.
But there's ethan in front. He's always having fun.
[kenny] yeah, just kind of soaking it all in.
I thought this bot did a great job against huge.
[chris] yeah. It doesn't get much better than that in its first fight.
It's a powerful bot,
and I think an underrated aspect is its wide base
and low center of mass.
This makes turning easier, which is going to be crucial against an opponent
that they want to avoid approaching face first.
Riptide's got a huge weapon, and I mean,
that's something to always be concerned about.
Ribot, they destroyed our switches
and we realized from that that our electronics
placement could have been better.
By moving around some of the electronics,
we really don't think they're going to be able to kill our drive.
So if we could drive that full three minutes and stay aggressive and persistent,
I think we could definitely take the judge's decision, if not a knockout.
Our strategy for defender's to approach them at a slight angle
and try to bite into their ports
or whatever we can and get our weapon bar dig into them.
We need one hit on defender to win the fight.
As soon as we get one hit, which pound them and pound them
and pound them and it's over.
We showed last fight that we had the power to knock anyone out.
Doesn't matter who you are, even if you're huge, we knock you out.
So now we just have to sustain that.
[robotic voice] robots activate.
[audience cheering]
[chris] once again, both of these captains are only 20 years old.
We are looking at the future of this sport folks.
Can riptide start their battle box career 2-0?
Or will jason vasquez get his first win as captain of defender?
Find out when battlebots continues.
[audience cheering]
[chris] welcome back to battlebots,
where two rookie teams are inside the box
and ready to tear each other into pieces.
Its defender versus riptide, let's go.
[audience cheering]
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
Oh, defender with a nice pop to riptide and...
Running side.
[kenny] oh!
[chris] ripped off another piece and then just...
Riptide cannot get over and can get defender get back off its butt?
[kenny] defender went right at it, oh...
The primary weapon of riptide.
[chris] now, this is amazing kenny.
Riptide popped itself back over by hitting the rails,
but landed perfectly on its side.
[man] let's go.
[chris] let's see if defender lends a helping hand or just takes the win.
[kenny] and there's your answer.
Jason vasquez tips riptide onto his head.
He wants to keep the fight going.
Let's see if riptide can right itself again here.
[chris] see if defender can get a hold of him that's been able
to get that grabber going quite yet.
[kenny] anytime riptide's trying to bounce itself off of the...
Oh!
Holy smokes.
[chris] that's one way to do it.
And now he's trying to back off and here comes defender.
[kenny] oh, boy!
[chris] get right on and that was awesome.
[kenny] that was tremendous driving
from both drivers there.
[chris] remember, these are a couple of college kids
out of los angeles,
not a lot of stick time for either on these bots.
[kenny] nice driving by jason vasquez,
keeping the pressure on riptide.
[chris] oh, nice work on pulverizer, just a neck... Defender.
[kenny] defender has been the lower bot so far, chris,
able to get underneath riptide.
[chris] and it looks like riptide's primary weapon
may be slowing down now, kenny.
[kenny] yeah. They are not able to get it up to full speed.
I think they damage it on that moon shot onto the upper deck.
[chris] here's defender giving riptide
a nice little tour of the battle box,
now with no fear that dangerous egg beater weapon at all.
[kenny] let's see if riptide can find a way
to even the score cards here, chris.
Defender looks like it may be dealing with a drive issue.
[chris] big question,
can these bots hang on and make it to the closing bell?
Get on him, get on him...
[kenny] and it looks like riptide starting to smoke right now, chris.
[chris] absolutely, it is.
Primary weapon not working on either robot.
It is a driving competition.
Just about 20 seconds left to go.
Defender with a pin in the corner.
[kenny] trying to get a lift going, not quite able to do it.
[chris] have to let riptide go and does.
Smart play by jason vasquez, leaning on riptide like a boxer there,
as defender is now just crab walking around the box.
[audience cheering]
[chris] and there is the closing bell,
which means we will be going to the scorecards.
The judges are earning their paychecks tonight.
Kenny, riptide has a scary weapon,
but jason vasquez showed no fear.
He came out in all out attack mode.
[kenny] yeah, defender went right at that primary weapon
and had team riptide on the ropes early.
But how about this move,
riptide launching themselves 15 feet into the air
and onto the upper deck?
That's one way to self-right.
I mean, look how high they were.
That was insane. Craziness.
[chris] both teams weapons eventually went down,
but as the control bot, defender
was better set up to take advantage.
[kenny] exactly. Defender stayed aggressive,
it was the lower bot in this match,
which allowed it to get underneath riptide
and control the action, that should pay dividends on the scorecards.
[chris] here's our man, faruq, with the results.
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
Defender.
[audience cheering]
[chris] all right, jason.
I don't know what was tougher, getting that first win as a captain or rob masek hug?
Are you, did he break a rib there?
You okay?
Yeah, no, I'm really excited about that.
I was pretty concerned after knocking them back down,
but I just wanted the fight to keep going.
But I mean, I'm happy I won.
It was a pretty good, close fight, so.
Your first win here at battlebots, man, how does that feel?
It feels really good.
It feels so weird, I feel like I've won a thousand times at whiplash.
But I guess this is the real deal,
this nobody could say I didn't win, so I'm pretty happy with that.
Is your brother around there or did you just have to go
brag in his face now that you got one?
Oh, no.
No, no, there are no hard feelings between us.
He's... He's kind of in the shadows
around here just kind of helping me out,
giving me good vibes before the fight, so.
Good deal.
Well, congratulations on getting your first win as a team captain.
-That's awesome, dude. -[jason] thank you.
[audience cheering]
you know, it's so interesting jason vasquez has
been a part of a team that made it all the way to the final a year ago,
but, man, when you move up a chair and it's your bot,
you're making the decisions, just getting that first victory,
it's got to feel great.
[kenny] it's totally different.
Listen, both these teams were young,
but, you know, to captain up your first squad is not easy.
There's so many more responsibilities.
I thought he did a great job, by not only doing that, but also driving as well.
Yeah, both these teams are certainly the future of battlebots and right now,
they are each 1-1.
All right, stay tuned because coming up,
we've got the battle of the beaches,
as miami's own hypershock tries
to kick sand in the face of san diego's lock-jaw.
It's the main event,
when we come back on battlebots.
[donald] I've been fighting robots close to 25 years.
Everybody always looks at battlebots,
it's like, "oh, it's cool, you're on the tv show."
it takes a little time for them to get to,
you know, how'd you get into it?
I tell them all the same thing,
I started out building remote control planes
and gliders just like every other kid
that was a little different.
But really, we're just hungry or more complicated things to work on than regular kids.
Finding something you're passionate about is important for your success.
And the only way to do that is introduce yourself to new technologies.
And I think battlebots does that.
Thing about battlebots,
it's been good for me
and my career all the way from day-one of just building garage robots,
I now have my own company building sophisticated drones,
because what I was doing in my spare time just rolled into it.
That's what I think is great.
All the skills you learn here, including losing and winning,
are keys to your success in the outside world.
[audience cheering]
[chris] we are back on battlebots, and boy,
do we have a good one cooking for you right now.
Let's start with lock-jaw, which is 0-1 on the season,
it lost a decision to copperhead
in a fight that lock-jaw captain donald hutson said,
we got thrown all over the box.
I mean, they really took it to us.
How does he rebound tonight?
Well, when we talked to him, he said,
you know, this really had nothing to do with the bot itself.
It came down to me making mistakes out there.
Copperhead just fought better,
he says, I just need to go out there and outdrive will bales.
Now taking on one of the most popular robots around there,
hypershock, you just mentioned about will bales.
I talked to will before the fight,
and he said, listen, donald is one of the reasons I got into this.
I got a happy meal lock-jaw toy,
when I was a little kid,
and he is certainly happy with the way that hypershock has run so far this season.
[kenny] yeah, that's right and it's amazing.
These guys haven't fought each other,
but he feels he has a speed advantage here against lock-jaw.
Lock-jaw might have a better turning radius.
They can turn a little bit better.
I'm fascinated with this fight.
Two very similar platforms here. Can't wait.
Are you telling me that will bale's robot can improve to 2-0.
Don't tell will, he's going to get all crazy on us now. Here we go.
It's the first ever meeting between hypershock and lock-jaw.
Faruq, take it away.
[audience cheering]
[faruq] ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
[audience cheering]
it's time for the main event.
[audience cheering]
[faruq] in the red square,
matching raw combat power
with some flair and some grace.
Call this robot rupaul because, honey, he'll beat your face,
he'll drag you for filth,
but he ain't wearing mascara serving you carnage, unstoppability,
nightmares and terror, sashay shante.
It's hypershock.
[audience cheering]
[chris] hypershock with a knock-out of slamo in its season debut,
there's will bales, leading the troops out.
Oh, there's the will bales, that is just freaky.
[kenny] that's great.
But as will said, they've removed the self-righter
and the way they save there,
they put into the weapons, so those are thicker,
more powerful s7 tool steel blades sharp enough to cut,
powerful enough to kill.
[faruq] in the blue square,
a mandibular murderer is running loose on the streets,
jack the ripper, ted bundy and dahmer agree
you need the jaws of life to escape death from its teeth.
You don't mess with lock-jaw if you don't have the key.
It's lock-jaw.
[audience cheering]
[chris] donald hutson, one of the most popular drivers out there,
but he is always pointing to his machine at his crew for the credit.
[kenny] yeah, very humble guy, excellent driver.
And donald knows hypershock doesn't have a self-righter any more,
so he wants to pin them into a wall
and then flip wheel on his back now,
lock-jaw doesn't have his self-righter either,
but it can drive fully inverted,
so a little more versatile.
[audience cheering]
[chris] for more on this esthetically pleasing matchup, we bring in our bot whisperer,
pete, who has more on will bale's bot.
[pete] so having a conversation with will before this fight,
they've been studying for this one pretty intensely.
They know donald is a great driver,
but one of the things they've noticed is that lock-jaw tends to oversteer.
So what we are going to probably see
from hypershock is quite a lot of drifting with these tires,
as they spin around the outside of lock-jaw,
circling in like a thresher shark coming in on its prey to come hidden from the side.
[chris] you have a favorite in this one?
[pete] hypershock.
[chris] oh, okay.
The bot whisperer is smoking.
We'll keep it quiet, we won't tell donald.
[audience cheering]
[robotic voice] robots, activate.
[audience cheering]
[robotic voice] red team, ready?
[audience cheering]
[robotic voice] blue team, ready?
[audience cheering]
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
Will bales,
a little bit bigger bot trying to take it to lock-jaw.
[kenny] oh, yeah, some serious grinding.
[chris] oh, nice.
-[kenny] oh, nice hit there by lock-jaw. -[chris] yeah.
Will bales' hypershock got little airtime there
and are those wheels chewed up a little bit?
They are.
[kenny] yeah. That front left wheel of hypershock's...
Oh!
[chris] that's great hit by hypershock.
[kenny] yeah. And hypershock going in for more.
[chris] I'm impressed by hypershock.
Even with a bummed wheel...
[kenny] uh-oh.
[chris] ...A few of 'em, kenny...
Whoa!
That was hypershock's wheel again.
Lock-jaw...
[kenny] yeah. Lock-jaw...
[loud thud]
[audience cheering]
[chris] except without a fist each.
Whoa!
Nice work by hypershock there.
Lock-jaw in the corner having drive trouble.
Hypershock, oh, are you kidding me?
And that's going to be it.
What a fight. He knocked him out of the arena.
-[chris] will bales is shocked, -...Eight, seven, six,
[chris] ...Because the countdown has started.
That is indeed going to be a knock-out in favor of hypershock.
[audience cheering]
[chris] an unbelievable first ever meeting between hypershock and lock-jaw.
Kenny, this was non-stop action.
[kenny] yeah, it really was, I mean, a ton of weapon on weapon hits,
both these guys really going for it.
You see the wheels come off pretty early there for hypershock.
He was having issues there.
Peter, if you have the extra wheel,
you might want to give that to will.
But it was amazing that hypershock still had that much power,
even with its two front tires basically incapacitated.
[chris] you see tires flying everywhere.
They are still fighting.
I mean, that was crazy.
You know, in a nascar race, if that happens, you call their pit crew.
You cannot do that inside of the battle box
and look at the crowning blow to finish it off
as donald hutson's lock-jaw flies
several feet behind the barrier for the ko.
Thank you.
[audience cheering]
[chris] will bales.
Hey, will, explain to us how you won to fight with your tires all chewed up.
Apparently, we don't need most of them.
[laughing]
um, donald can have 'em back. The robot drives really well.
Two seasons ago, we managed most of the fight against
bite force with one wheel left,
so it tracks really well.
I've luckily gotten enough driving practice with the last version
to be able to kind of just scoot around
and we're just happy that everything worked the whole time.
It's a miracle.
Will, you went against donald hutson, a legend of the game.
What has he meant to your career?
Donald, when I was a kid,
donald was the guy who kept winning
and we all looked up to, like you said, I had his --
I had his happy meal toy, I had his rc toy,
I had everything dissector or taz-bot.
It was-- they were the coolest robots to me.
So when I grew up, I wanted to build robots as cool as his.
So to be able to fight him at all is a dream come true.
To be able to win is a fluke.
That I will take, and you can't have it back.
[laughs]
will, congratulations on your 2-0 start.
Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
[audience cheering]
thank you.
You're the best.
Year after year, we joke with will bales, one thing falls apart,
and all of a sudden his robot dies on the floor there.
I mean, how happy do you think that team is?
I mean, they've got to be elated.
This is the best they have ever looked.
I mean, the robot looked fantastic just aesthetically,
but then their driving is on point.
Their weapon is hitting hard.
Everything is going perfectly for them right now.
[chris] and what a great fight card we had tonight.
Rotator improved to 2-0 in a blazing barbeque of a battle.
We saw an emotional win by minotaur,
as driver daniel freitas got the brazilians back to their winning ways.
Team yeti got its swagger back with its first win in a demolition derby
versus pain train and again,
will bales and hypershock improved to 2-0,
could they be a dark horse to make a deep tournament run this year?
Well, this was a ton of fun, as always, so for faruq, our bot whisperer pete,
my man, kenny florian, I'm chris rose.
We'll see you next time on battlebots.