[narrator] From around the world, they heed the call.
Humankind's most ingenious minds,
the fearless fringe of robotic design.
Settle in for the ride and adjust your screens
for the mind-bending blending of man and machine.
[man] Let the bot battle begin.
[narrator] Welcome to World Championship VII.
Let's go!
[narrator] This is BattleBots.
Watch where you're going.
[automated voice] Robots, activate.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
Welcome.
We are back.
[man] What do you got?
Hey, everybody, and welcome to BattleBots.
Tonight, the chaos and the carnage begin
as we kick off World Championship VII.
I am Chris Rose, joined as always by the main man,
the UFC legend, the greatest robot combat analyst on the planet Earth.
Say hello to the one and only Kenny Florian.
Thanks, Chris. It's great to be here.
How do we feel, Vegas?
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] I'd say pretty good.
Ah, Kenny, BattleBots is a global phenomenon that just keeps
getting bigger and better, and this year is no exception.
Absolutely.
And we've got exciting new changes this year to ensure that
this world championship season will be the best yet.
[Chris] That's right.
The field is leaner and meaner than ever,
with only the 50 baddest bots on earth allowed entry.
Top to bottom.
This roster features cutting edge designs,
revolutionary engineers and an unrivaled appetite for destruction.
There ain't no cupcakes this time around.
[Kenny] And we have two more game changing announcements this season.
Every team will have four guaranteed fights
in the qualifiers leading up to the World Championship Tournament.
And for the first time ever, you, the fans can go
to battlebots.com right now to see every robot's complete schedule.
No more making everybody wait to find out who is fighting and when.
Every team back in the pits knows the roadmap
to the promised land and the opponents
they'll have to destroy along the way.
At the end of the season, one team will tear
through their foes and hoist the Giant Nut.
It's the ultimate prize for this world class field
of 50, including the competitors on tonight's fight card.
Tell them what they've got, Kenny.
[Kenny] Well, Chris, they say sharing is caring,
but these two don't believe that for a second.
2022 Rookie of the Year, Glitch, will take on 2022 co-rookie of the Year,
Riptide, to prove which sophomore bot
is ready for the ascent to greatness.
And we'll see the maestro of monstrosities HUGE take on Adam Wrigley
and Shatter who are looking to chop it down to size.
[Chris] And get ready because in our main event,
reigning world champion Tantrum is in the house.
It begins its title defense against none other
than the raging bull Minotaur.
But we'll start things off with two of the heaviest hitters
in the game coming off their second runner up finish
for the Giant Nut last season, the legendary team
Witch Doctor will be out for blood as they take on
the amphibious assassin Ribbot.
I don't know about you, Kenny.
-I'm ready to go. -Me, too.
You guys ready to go?
[crowd cheering and applauding]
Faruq, kick off this season in style.
Let's go.
[Faruq] Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
It's robot fighting time.
In the red square, this team lives out in Worcester,
where the R is silent.
And they don't say much either, but their aura is violent.
So, beware the quiet night at the pond
when the only noise is crickets because your life
is about to end after you hear the Ribbot.
Give it up for Ribbot.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Definitely David Jin there on the right.
He leads a team of students and alumni from WPI up in Boston.
And Kenny, this frog doesn't pull its punches.
[Kenny] Ribbot's a vicious striker.
And in the off season, the team completely reworked
their weapon motor to hit even harder.
They're pumping 33 horsepower into that deadly vertical spinner.
Most bots here barely touch 20.
[Chris] Hey, that's a lot of horses for a frog.
In the blue square, this doctor is strange.
Her spells will put you in a sling, man.
Marvel at her madness when she slaps you with her ring hand.
She didn't come to bargain, she came to do some burying.
She'll open a portal to the multiverse
and slaughter all your variants.
It's Witch Doctor.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Team Witch Doctor out of the tunnel
for the first of their four fights in the qualifiers,
led of course by the husband and wife
tandem of Mike and Andrea Gellantly.
Getting this squad all in on their new weapons system.
[Kenny] Yeah, for the first time they're running
their spinner at the literal maximum speed
here at BattleBots of 250 miles an hour.
And look at that, not a single fork on the robot.
They want to showcase that power
and take the fight to Ribbot.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
Ribbot is a very terrifying robot,
and because they have multiple configurations,
we could definitely be at a disadvantage
if we don't pick the right one and they drive
aggressively all of the time.
So, it's definitely gonna...
I'm gonna have my hands full with this fight.
We have a long path to the...
to the tournament, to the Giant Nut, and we have to survive
the game of attrition as well.
But if we don't win this fight,
then there might be no tournaments.
So, it's... it's a balance to leave it all out there.
Our strategy against Witch Doctor will be to either survive
the hits but also dish out the hits.
We know that Witch Doctor hits really hard and we know
that at some point during the match it's gonna take a really bad hit.
Um, however, at the same time, we're hoping before that
happens, we're actually able to damage them ourselves.
After not going very far in the main tournament last year,
I think we all have a little chip on our shoulder.
I think we all want to show that our top eight run
a few seasons ago wasn't a fluke and that
we actually deserve to get there.
We brought the best robot we've ever had this year,
so hopefully we set ourselves up for success.
[automated voice] Robots, activate.
[Chris] All right. Let's break down the rules of the game.
Each fight is a single three minute battle.
The goal, destroy or disable your opponent.
If you can't do that, our panel of judges will declare a victor.
And remember, the BattleBox is alive and ready
to inflict its own pain.
The upper deck is back.
We've got Scrooge pulverizers controlled by the teams
and kill saws that become active
in the final minute of the fight.
[automated voice] Red team, ready?
-[cheering] -Good.
[automated voice] Blue team, ready?
We are.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[crowd chanting]
[Chris] We are ready.
The chase for a championship begins now.
Let the bot battle begin.
[Kenny] Oh.
[Chris] Face to face.
[Kenny] That's two aggressive drivers with world class
vertical weapons.
Who draws first blood? Oh.
[Chris] Oh.
Witch Doctor rips the left front tire off the Ribbot.
[Kenny] Ooh.
The driving error there by David Jin.
[Chris] Oh, Michael Gellatly just surgical.
[Kenny] Witch Doctor grinding down the frog.
Ribbot's trying to stay squared up on three wheels.
[Chris] And that is really gonna limit the driving on Ribbot.
Now, Witch Doctor can kind of pick...
Oh, what a hit.
Oh.
[Kenny] And there comes the face of the frog.
And another huge hit on Ribbot.
So, I missed that.
[Chris] Ribbot in big trouble right now.
[Kenny] Dan gets stuck to finish the job.
There goes another tire.
[Chris] Wow.
[Kenny] Michael Gellatly backing away.
No movement out of Ribbot, Chris.
That is the Witch Doctor these fans know and love.
Both are scary.
[man] Ten, nine...
[Chris] The countdown has started.
[man] Seven, six...
[Chris] Ribbot is done as Witch Doctor does the deed.
[man] Two, one. That's a knockout.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[cheering]
[Chris] Kenny, we were all curious to see what Witch Doctor
would do with a 250-mile-an-hour weapon.
I think we got our answer.
[Kenny] Yeah, this was the showcase of raw power.
And listen, it takes a lot of confidence to go weapon
to a weapon with a robot as destructive as Ribbot.
But look at these shots.
Mike won every duel here.
He didn't give Ribbot any room to work.
No voodoo necessary. This was domination.
[Chris] And Witch Doctor again putting the finishing touches
on Ribbot there in the corner.
And eventually lulling the frog to sleep.
Andrea and Mike Gellatly, team Witch Doctor, congratulations.
Thank you.
Andrea, you guys said you didn't know what to expect
out of a high-powered weapon like that.
What did you see?
I am so happy it worked.
[laughing]
When you change so many things in the robot
and you can't battle test it anywhere safely,
it's impossible to know how it's gonna work.
And our first match against a robot like Ribbot,
there is no room for error.
We decided not to run our forks. We have forks.
That's been the theme of the last couple of seasons.
We took a risk not running them.
Put all the pressure on Mike to drive and he delivered.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Kenny] You guys were hitting extremely hard last season.
This season might be hitting even harder.
Is this the hardest hitting Witch Doctor that we've seen?
Oh yeah, for sure, for sure.
Normally, we're at 200 miles an hour at tip speed just
'cause we wanted to make sure that we had reliability.
Um, and we threw caution to the wind, threw
reliability right out the window and bumped it up to 250.
Um, so...
-It worked. -And it worked.
For the entirety of the match, at least, I don't know.
We'll have to see when we take the robot apart.
All right, guys, congratulations.
[Andrea] Thank you.
[Chris] All right, Kenny.
Witch Doctor, they're just trying to take that final step.
So, they reconfigured their weapon.
Now they got some serious pop.
I'm not betting against that group.
[Kenny] Listen, they're always gonna be a favorite.
This was a big W on their schedule.
And check out that fourth qualifying fight against Minotaur.
[Chris] Mark that one down on your calendar, folks.
As for Team Ribbot, they have dug themselves
a bit of a hole here at O and 1.
[Kenny] Yeah, but this was always going to be their toughest matchup.
Ribbot's got a good shot to right the ship
in their next fight against Claw Viper.
[Chris] All right. When we come back, it's international warfare.
We know Brian Nave won't be civil,
but can the British bot have a revolutionary start to its season?
It's Captain Shrederator versus Quantum.
And it's up next on BattleBots.
Welcome back to BattleBots.
So, we kickoff the World Championship VII.
We've got six more monster matchups for you tonight.
Let's dive right back into the action.
Kenny, the great thing about this season,
we see some old friends like Quantum.
We last saw this crusher bot from the United Kingdom
engineered by James and Grant Cooper in World Championship IV.
What do we need to know?
[Kenny] Well, it won the award for best design that season,
and it may very well win it again.
No armor we know of can withstand the crushing
power of its jaws.
They're taking on an old head around here,
Captain Shrederator, led by Brian Nave.
And while it's been a struggle for the captain
in recent years, no one can forget its opening night knockout
at Tombstone just last season.
[Kenny] Yeah. Could we see match one magic again?
Listen, we'll see how Captain Shrederator holds up
to the attrition of this four-fight schedule.
But it's in mint condition right now.
And that's bad news for Quantum.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Chris] All right. The bots are locked and loaded inside the Box.
Let's get ready for this fight.
[automated voice] Red team, ready?
Ready.
[Chris] Kenny, do not stick your hand inside the teeth of that Quantum.
Please, okay.
[Kenny] Yeah. I know. I will definitely not be doing that.
They have those hydraulic crushing jaws,
and they are capable of putting out 35,000 pounds of force.
That's more than any known animal in history.
But in order for them to work, they're gonna have to get in close.
[automated voice] Blue team, ready?
Get it away.
Let's go!
[Chris] And it's pretty simple for Captain Shrederator.
Just keep spinning and hit.
[Kenny] Yeah. Brian Nave wants to control the center of the BattleBox.
New look for Captain Shrederator as well with that wedge attachment
under the front side, hoping to dominate
the ground game in this one.
[Chris] The British bot, Quantum, returns for the first time
in three years with a star spangled
Shrederator have it waving the white flag.
Let the bot battle begin.
And here comes Quantum on the Box,
trying to get Shrederator before it can spin up.
[Kenny] Quantum forcing Shrederator to give up the center of the Box.
Oh.
[Chris] Oh, here comes that crusher ability.
[Kenny] Oh.
[Chris] And shredded its jaws, but couldn't lower the teeth and grab a bite.
[Kenny] He's gonna try to crush down, see if he can destroy
some of the internals on Captain Shrederator.
[Chris] Quantum, look at the feet, spread to the pulverizer.
Mission accomplished.
That is a 100-pound hammer doing some damage.
And there's the release.
[Kenny] Quantum dominating the ground game so far.
All over Shrederator looking for an opportunity to sink those teeth in.
[Chris] But Shrederator's got to do whatever it can
to get some separation, spin up to full speed,
which takes a couple of seconds.
[Kenny] Oh, like a hot knife through butter.
[Chris] Oh-oh. Come on.
Wow. That is just nasty.
[Kenny] That is exactly what Quantum is designed to do, Chris.
[Chris] Just doing whatever it wants to at Shrederator.
[Kenny] Oh.
[Chris] From end to end.
[Kenny] Uh-oh.
[Chris] Oh, oh, oh.
Geez.
[Kenny] This is a control planning.
And I think Shrederator may have lost the ability to spin up.
[Chris] And who knows what Quantum
with those teeth is doing to the internals.
[Kenny] And no telling what Quantum may find under that shelf
it could be a trip to the Bahamas,
could be Shrederator's battling.
[Chris] Oh.
[Kenny] Again into the rail.
[Chris] Oh, more hits.
[Kenny] And here comes the pulverizer.
[Chris] Ah, it's like a pit bull with a Frisbee, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, Quantum doing a great job of introducing
the BattleBox to Captain Shrederator.
[Chris] I mean, we're more than halfway through.
Oh.
[Kenny] Oh.
Shrederator has seen every part of his bots.
[Chris] And literally it's getting screwed now.
[Kenny] Oh. Oh.
[Chris] Let's see.
Quantum gives it a little distance.
Does he want to try and pop it over?
[Kenny] Oh.
[Chris] Oh, yeah. And let's see.
One, two, three.
Is there a sink job in there?
Oh, again.
Oh, man.
[Kenny] How much more does Shrederator take?
[Chris] He's gonna need some...
Oh, wow.
That's got wider a little bit.
[Kenny] Yes, it is.
The Cooper brothers may have struck paydirt in that fight.
[Chris] Forty-five seconds to go.
Oh, ow, ow, ow.
Oh, look at that... Look at that cut through.
[Kenny] Oh, my goodness.
[Chris] Man, oh, man.
Quantum backs away from its kill.
Captain Shrederator is smoking.
And here comes the countdown.
And look at the Cooper brothers.
They are so excited.
After a three-year hiatus, what a return to the BattleBox.
Knockout.
[indistinct chatter]
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Hey, Kenny, if you want to know
how effective control bots can be in this sport,
Quantum just taught a master class.
[Kenny] No doubt, this bot rush at the start set the tone for the fight.
Captain Shrederator had no space to spin up to full speed.
And once Quantum clamped down with those jaws,
it was the beginning of the end.
[Chris] You could see those teeth piercing through
Captain Shrederator's shell, oh, gosh, just nasty.
[Kenny] Unless you have some adamantium handy,
nothing's gonna stop those jaws.
But Quantum also moving very fast out there
showed some great durability.
This robot is gonna be trouble for the field.
[Chris] Grant and James.
Congratulations, guys.
This was three years in the making.
How does a W stateside taste?
Oh, it's a really...
I have to say, it's...
Yeah, we've been...
we've been all around the world with Brian,
and we've got this close to fighting him so many
times and it's never happened.
And yeah, it's just amazing to get in there in the arena,
be back for the first time here in three years
and yeah, everything just went well.
So, it's such a relief.
And the... Yeah, amazing.
[Kenny] It was a beautiful fight, guys.
Can you break it down for us?
I think when you look at a machine like Shrederator,
it's got so much energy and it's...
our machine is so vulnerable to...
that you have to be like a dog with a bone.
You cannot let that thing get up to speed.
Otherwise, it's toast.
And yeah, Grant drove brilliantly.
We were really, really good on the accuracy,
really pleased with it.
If we have to go home now, then that's... that's...
-[Chris] No, no, no. -That's great.
-No, no, no. -You have to stick around.
Yeah. You're not going to... Hey, grant,
I'm curious.
Do you guys carry with you extra large dental floss
after a fight like this to work on those teeth?
All right.
He's gonna need to clean after that smoke. So, yeah,
it's a full stripped down for us, I think now.
Hey, congratulations, guys.
We'll see you in your next fight.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
Kenny, it's that bot?
Oh, man. I mean, unbelievable.
That's about as perfect as it gets.
Yeah. I mean, there's no question, I...
I forgot how lethal those teeth can be,
because I've never seen anything with crushing ability like that.
Of course, I didn't have a pet T-Rex back in the day either.
I think that thing's more powerful than a T-Rex, by the way.
[Chris] Coming up next, a rookie debut
that has the pit buzzing, a 250-pound killer pizza.
You got to see it to believe it.
That's next on BattleBots.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
All right. We are back on BattleBots.
And up next, it is the return of Gruff,
the A-Team captained by Sam McAmis.
With a career record of six and ten
the Gruff hasn't exactly lit the world on fire.
Despite those heavy duty flamethrowers, Kenny.
Yeah, no question about it.
This is a team that is really known for their durability.
And I got to tell you, Chris, they're gonna need that
durability in this upcoming matchup
because we might witness something cataclysmic.
[Chris] That's right.
They have a dinner date with an incredibly
volatile rookie robot captained by a former member of Team Uppercut.
And there's just one item on the menu, pizza.
Let's beat team RIPperoni.
[Anna] My name is Anna Zoinikov,
and I'm the captain of RIPperoni.
BattleBots is how I got into engineering.
I actually really love competition engineering, prototyping,
building systems that have never been built before.
I just love watching something go from a design on paper
to something that you can watch in real life.
I loved working on Uppercut.
Oh.
[Anna] Uppercut, Deep Six and Nightmare,
those robots are just so fantastic to watch.
Those are definitely the robots that I'm using
as inspiration for RIPperoni.
RIPperoni is a very big vertical spinner.
The weapon is a 70-pound disc.
It's got a three-inch tooth.
And we use it not only to hit, but also to flip ourselves over.
It's our self-writing mechanism.
In robots like Uppercut, Deep Six,
the gyroscopic procession makes it lift one wheel as they're turning.
So, you'll see that RIPperoni has a big weapon in the front,
but then another bulge out the back.
Our big goal here is to prove that our flywheel
can cancel that gyroscopic precession out,
and it will drive like a robot with a much smaller weapon.
I want to bring a really fun vibe to BattleBots.
We want to show that you don't have to be tough
and serious to be a serious contender.
We want to spin up the weapon to full speed.
We want to drive maneuverable and we want to absolutely
send a robot to the moon.
The pizza is not here to play.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
Are you still waiting for that pie to be delivered?
We're hungry over here. Come on, Anna.
Let's see what you and your team deliver.
Faruq.
In the red square from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Like a pizza party at the office.
Everyone can get a slice, from RIPperoni.
[Chris] Oh, yes.
They are delivering the RIPperoni.
Okay, if you put that pizza anywhere near your mouth,
I don't want to be anywhere close to you.
[Kenny] Yeah, listen, no one has mastered a weapon
this wild, but team RIPperoni thinks they're a lion tamer.
And with that flywheel attachment countering the energy of the disc,
we could be looking at a stroke of genius here.
It could also be a total disaster.
In the blue square, from Pond Harbor, Florida,
might as well call him Dylan because he spits hot fire.
You're getting too close to him.
To Gruff.
[Chris] Oh, I love this look from Gruff.
The extra crispy.
Oh, we have two trash talking teams.
-[Kenny] It's kind of cute. -I love it.
Well, they do have the nastiest flame in the business.
Those twin burners reach 3000 degrees
and do serious damage to a robot's internals.
[Chris] And team Gruff runs deep.
They got a total of one, two, three...
fourteen people on their pit crew.
We'll see if Sam's got them and Gruff dialed in.
The fire is really intense with Gruff.
They're a great lifter. They're maneuverable.
We're gonna try to hit him with our really big weapon
and try to send them flying, get them over,
like tipped over on their back,
and then hopefully we can just keep hitting them from there.
We've done a lot of testing.
We've knocked stuff around in parking lots,
but we've never done everything at full power, full speed.
We're really excited to see what the weapon can do.
My strategy is pretty much the same as it is every fight.
It's to go in there and try to make them
break themselves against our bot.
Going up against RIPperoni, we feel like there's a lot
of spots where we can get our forks underneath them and...
and lift them up.
And I was scoping out their chassis
and some parts of it are made out of plastic
and we'll see if we can melt it like mozzarella.
[crowd chanting]
[Chris] That giant pizza disk on RIPperoni is primed for delivery.
Is Gruff gonna toss it back in the oven
or is he gonna get served?
Let the bot battle begin.
And uh-oh.
Oh, it's sitting duck early on.
And you got Gruff on the attack.
[Kenny] Great Box brushed by Gruff there.
Got right under RIPperoni and upended it.
[Chris] We know Gruff is tough as nails.
Sam McAmis is happy to drive straight
into that big vertical disc.
[Kenny] Oh, great shot there.
[Chris] That's nice.
RIPperoni and that 70-pound weapon.
This has the makings of a serious brawl.
Oh, big shot there by RIPperoni.
[Kenny] That's one spicy pizza.
[Chris] Gets caught in the kill sauce.
[Kenny] Oh-oh.
[Chris] Oh-oh. Look out now. It's taking itself for a ride.
Oh.
There now.
[Kenny] You see that force generated by that massive weapon, Chris.
When a bomb like this loses control,
it really loses control.
[Chris] Shades of Uppercut here.
Let's see if they can settle things down.
Gruff already smells blood in the water.
[Kenny] Uh-oh.
[Chris] Gruff trying to stay away from the weapon.
Takes them into the rails.
[Kenny] Oh, big hit.
[Chris] Oh, my God. Wow.
RIPperoni trying to get out of that corner and then trying
to dodge the 100-pound hammer that would really
make your pizza thin.
[Kenny] Chris, it looks to me like RIPperoni bent one
of their front wedges at some point,
and that's what's throwing their balance off.
Two-wheel bots like this have to have that third point
of contact to maintain stability.
[Chris] Oh.
Oh, man.
That pizza's getting a little crispier now.
Can he... incredible that RIPperoni's weapon is still spinning.
[Kenny] Yeah. This is one durable robot.
As long as you have an active weapon
in this sport, you are never out of a fight.
[Chris] Oh, look at this.
Oh, God. Easy there.
Gruff doing an excellent job of navigating this chaos.
Now, Gruff, call him Suplex samba tamba.
That was...
[Kenny] Whoa.
This is why your pizza never gets to your house on time.
Because this is the way they drive.
[Chris] I'll tell you what, your eye
obviously follows RIPperoni in a fight like this,
but Gruff has been on point under control
and just corralling the action.
[Kenny] And check out Fred Moore,
the driver of RIPperoni is all over the Black Dragon's bite.
[Chris] Can they make it to the closing bell?
Gruff, cutting up the ring much like a boxer out there.
[Kenny] Yes, Sam McAmis doesn't want to make
a mistake here in the late stages of this fight.
Great job by Gruff, shoving RIPperoni into the pulverizer.
[Chris] Major driving issues for this rookie.
Whoa, whoa.
That's... breakdance moves.
[Kenny] RIPperoni doing a number on the...
on the floor there.
Some issues over there.
[Chris] And now it's starting to smoke.
-[Kenny] Gets in by itself. -[Chris] Yeah.
Well, let's give the rookie back credit.
It's gonna make it the full 3 minutes.
Even though it's got a ton of issues.
All right. It advances. RIPperoni, lead.
We will be going to the score cards.
Our three judges are all former BattleBots participants.
We welcome back Fon Davis there on the right,
making his return to the panel.
And there, of course, is Lisa Winter and Derek Young.
They'll be scoring on an 11-point system.
Five points can be awarded for damage,
three for aggression and three for control.
Kenny, that is the kind of toughness we expected
to see from Gruff.
But what the heck was going on with RIPperoni?
[Kenny] Yeah, it was just complete chaos in there.
Early in the fight, their wedge got clipped.
Just couldn't control the robot after that.
[Chris] I mean, you have to respect the durability
on the pizza bot.
That spinner was at full speed from the start to finish.
Oh-wee!
[Kenny] Listen, they could have powered down the weapon,
but team RIPperoni wants data on their robot.
Hitting your own face a few dozen times
is one way to go about it.
[Chris] And then how about this?
A one, a two, a three.
Let's go for a little ride.
Whee.
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
Gruff.
[laughing]
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] Well, Sam McAmis will be happy with this start to his season.
Gruff is 1-0, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah.
Went into this unpredictable fight with a game plan
and executed it to perfection.
But when you're a rookie bot like RIPperoni
and you're trying new technology.
I don't know, how would you feel after that first fight?
[Kenny] I don't know.
Maybe rename the bot like Sliperoni, Triperoni.
It was all over the place.
[Chris] Well, they'll have three fights remaining
on their schedule with some bot called Endgame up next.
Hey, no time but the present to dial in that robot, Anna.
And there's a look at one half of our upcoming fight.
It shattered.
[Kenny] Oh.
[Chris] Is it lumberjack or kung-fu master?
We're about to find out.
It's Shatter! versus HUGE.
That's coming up next on BattleBots.
We are back on BattleBots.
Kenny Florian and Chris Rose along the way.
And up next, Shatter! taking on HUGE.
And HUGE when we met it five seasons ago,
immediately became one of the most popular bots out there.
But they haven't been able to climb that mountain.
[Kenny] Yeah, absolutely.
You know, in fighting there's a saying, either
you win or you learn, right?
And losing isn't a terrible thing.
It's just showing you what you need to prove on, durability,
reliability and the impact of its weapon have been problems for HUGE.
But this team hasn't lost a single pit crew member
since HUGE's debut.
They are all in on improving this crazy design.
For his part, Jonathan's been obsessive about improving
his driving skills.
He's probably put in more off-season work
at local competitions than anyone here.
He truly believes HUGE can smash the BattleBots myth.
And he'll try it against Shatter!
tonight, in a team that is captained by Adam Wrigley,
one of our favorites from up there in Brooklyn, New York.
Shatter! cruised through the qualifiers last season,
but kind of got lost at sea after a run in with Riptide
in the round of 32.
So, could Adam Wrigley make a deeper run this year, Kenny?
[Kenny] Well, I think when he came into the game,
he kind of changed the Hammer bot game a little bit.
He uses it more as like a precision tool.
But this is the nuclear era of weaponry.
And when HUGE is on its game, it is an atom bomb.
So those strikes from Shatter!
will need to be more accurate than ever if he wants to disable HUGE.
But Adam Wrigley is always hunting for the perfect shot.
And he is never shy on the trigger.
[Chris] Kenny, we're always discussing the BattleBots
better with so many Compact, violent spinners in this field of 50.
These two robots are as outside the Box as they come,
and both designs have the potential to shift
the balance of power in this sport.
This could be an interesting fight.
Faruq.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
In the red square, from South Windsor,
Connecticut, spanning nearly 70% of its home state
and a little bit of Rhode Island.
It's HUGE.
[Chris] There he is, Jonathan Schultz,
captain of one of the most popular robots around.
He's a sensor engineer out of South Windsor, Connecticut.
Eleven career wins with HUGE never advance past
the first round of the world championships.
But, Kenny, I love this robot.
[Kenny] It's an awesome looking robot.
Very creative.
Really changed the game when it came in to BattleBots.
You know, they're going with their S-blade,
which is a cutting style of late,
and they also added some extra armor to HUGE
to expect that attack from above fromShatter!
[Faruq] In the blue square from Brooklyn, New York,
destroying every reasonably priced apartment in Williamsburg.
It's Shatter!
[Chris] All right.
[cheering]
[Chris] Adam Wrigley, all the way on the left.
James, the engineer of Team Shatter!
Oh.
Oh, it's mocking huge with these eyes.
Come on, Wrigley.
[Kenny] Well, those eyes are mounted
on a very durable plastic, and they'll protect the hammer system.
They're also using two layers of top armor.
Shatter! needs to close the gap to land solid strikes.
But getting too close will mean absorbing some
heavy shots from HUGE. Distance control is everything in this fight.
Shatter! is a hammer-type robot.
So, it comes with the problem such as they can hit us
right in the body, which is, you know,
something we've prepared for at this point.
We're used to finding people right up on top of us.
They're gonna be backed off a little bit.
If their hammer's a little bit weaker.
We need to hit it more.
We're not fighting something that we know is gonna
annihilate us, but we're not fighting anything we know we can annihilate.
It's hard to get a lot of power into swings
when we're hitting such a tall robot.
When we can't rely on power and piercing ability,
we're gonna try and rely more on slicing, cutting, hitting weak points.
When we're hitting so high, we have maybe about 50% power.
So, we have to rely on something else.
And the Mary special is designed to cut belts
and kind of tangle into things.
They've got all these holes in their wheels.
We can jam that up.
I don't think it's gonna end in a knockout.
I think it's gonna go to the judges.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[automated voice] Robots, activate.
[Chris] This rocking Vegas crowd seems to have crowned
its champion in HUGE.
But hey, if Adam's brother, Eric Wrigley's face
is any indication, Team Shatter!
isn't backing down.
Relax, dude. I get it, though.
It's opening night.
We'll have the fight when we return here on BattleBots.
Welcome back to BattleBots, where Shatter!
and HUGE are locked inside the Box,
ready to begin their quest for the Giant Nut.
[crowd chanting]
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin.
Shatter! slides across the Box on those omni wheels,
but it's HUGE that lands the first shot.
That is a blade of armor you saw fly off Shatter! there.
It is designed to actually come off.
[Kenny] HUGE trying to...
[Chris] Oh, great shot there by Jonathan Schultz.
Yeah, he told us they were gonna be more offensive.
He wasn't...
[Kenny] Oh, nice counter shot by Shatter!
[Chris] But HUGE returns the favor, back and forth action here.
Whoa.
[Kenny] Shatter! is going right at that weapon of HUGE,
maybe trying to break it.
[Chris] Adam Wrigley flies in with the Mary special,
but HUGE deflects the shot.
Shatter! with those omni wheels trying to get the right angle.
But it's been on the wrong side of it so far.
[Kenny] Oh, Jonathan Schultz is on point tonight here against Shatter!
[Chris] Oh, nice jab by Shatter!
Put the... HUGE's balance bars.
[Kenny] Oh, huge shot.
[Chris] Great shot as he lifted Shatter! into the air.
HUGE racking up the points now.
[Kenny] I like how he's using those Tetris wheels
as shields as well for the side.
[Chris] Shatter! getting desperate now
but one well-placed shot could still turn this fight.
Oh.
[Kenny] Here's a big hit.
That just...
[Chris] Oh, another HUGE shot.
[Kenny] Adam doesn't have great options here, Chris.
He has to get close to deliver the weapon,
but when he does, Shatter!
is getting cracked.
There goes that top armor off of Shatter!
[Chris] Oh, you can see the insides of Shatter!
[Kenny] That is not a blade of armor.
[Chris] That is not at all.
Look at... he's on the attack.
[Kenny] Oh, HUGE pulling Shatter!
up onto the rail.
This could be trouble, Chris.
[Chris] Let's see if Shatter! can work itself free.
If it can't, the countdown could be coming.
There's no movement at all from that hammer.
And there it is.
Shatter! is being counted out.
Jonathan Schultz is gonna be very pleased with this performance.
That will do it.
And Houston, a very impressive debut.
Yes!
[Chris] This team put in a ton of work in the offseason
and it showed there in fight number one.
Kenny, a lot of folks argue whether defense or offense
is more important.
How about when they're both working to perfection?
[Kenny] Yeah, this was a masterful fight from HUGE.
The weapon was hitting with so much force.
It pummeled a very good opponent in Shatter!
from start to finish.
[Chris] Yeah, Shatter! tried to take the fight to HUGE.
Got in a few hits.
But even though Adam Wrigley's hammer was working at full capacity,
it never got that one critical shot
to get it back in this match.
[Kenny] And that's a credit to HUGE's defensive play.
Jonathan used the wheels as a shield, a brilliant move,
and he followed it up with some devastating strikes.
[Chris] Yeah, I mean, we just haven't seen the sort of
weapon on HUGE, pull off this sort of offensive attack,
-maybe ever. -[Kenny] HUGE was dominant there.
Teams are gonna have to respect HUGE this season,
no doubt about it.
Jonathan Schultz.
I could see the smiles from here.
I'm guessing that's exactly what you dreamt about
in the off-season, right?
That's everything it's always supposed to have been doing.
That's everything we've been designing it to be doing,
everything we were waiting for it to doing for years
to an incredible robot and an incredible team.
So that's how we know it's quality.
[Chris] You know, you guys have done so much
and accomplished so much here in five seasons at BattleBots.
But is that the best we've ever seen HUGE?
All right. If it's not, then the best is coming.
'Cause that sure looked as good as it's ever been.
[Kenny] And Jonathan, you're driving really was on point.
I know you've been working on that in the off season, man.
Just tremendous stuff.
You said you wanted to be more offensive this season.
That's exactly what you did.
That's absolutely. It's all out.
You know, since COVID, we hadn't been to a lot of local events,
but we started going back this year and we've all had a lot of success.
We have a lot of robots, and we're always practicing
with different versions of HUGE, trying to learn things.
And it's all going right into this, so it's paying off.
Jonathan, does a win like this allow you to dream big again?
It does, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself.
You know, we've been high, high and we've had a couple
of years of pretty low, and I think we're a little bit
more humble because of it.
We don't want to promise the world, but, you know,
I'd like to see that fight Endgame.
I want to see what it would do.
Oh.
Is that a special request?
Oh, I'd take it if they gave it to me.
Okay. Well, maybe we'll see that in the postseason.
But still, three more regular season fights.
We've had a long ways to go to get there,
and we're very prepared for it.
Nice. Jonathan, it's good to see you smiling again.
Thank you very much.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Kenny, it's so interesting.
For four seasons, we've been used to seeing HUGE work one way.
Right.
And now everybody back in the pits is going,
"Oh, that's what we have to game plan for now."
Yeah, I mean, they are a big time problem, no question about it.
Jonathan's off season driving work paid off big in this fight.
His level of control was elite tonight.
Great start to the season for Team HUGE.
[Chris] Well coming up next, we have got the reigning
co-rookies of the year, Riptide and Glitch, squaring off.
Despite its success, Glitch was absolutely riddled
with technical issues last year,
even having to withdraw from the tournament.
And we're hearing back there in the pits,
the team from Berkeley is experiencing some deja vu.
As a team, we're trying to just get ready to... to pass safety.
If we don't, we're disqualified from the whole competition.
So, all hands on deck.
[Chris] Welcome back to BattleBots.
It is opening night.
You can definitely feel the excitement in here.
Up next, it's a pair of teams that actually shared Rookie
of the year honors a season ago.
Riptide and Glitch.
And Kenny, I think I can hear Ethan Kurtz yelling from here.
-Let's go! -Let's go.
But he's yelling...
he's not yelling because he's angry.
He's yelling 'cause he's happy.
And he had an amazing run a season to go all the way
to the top eight.
[Kenny] Yeah.
Five of their six wins last season were by way of knockout.
And Ethan Kurtz has this sport on red alert.
He's taking the semester off from UC Riverside
to fully focus on BattleBots and making a run at the Giant Nut.
First step, facing Glitch led by Kyle Miller,
he's a student up at Berkeley in California.
Last season, they won their first seven fights
and went unbeaten in the qualifiers.
But come tournament time, they couldn't make it
to the Box for their round of 32 match up
with Witch Doctor and had to withdraw.
Now this team battled issues with the bot all season long,
but time and again Glitch showed off their otherworldly power.
I mean, who could forget their jaw dropping knockout
of rotator and their golden volt qualifying match?
Now, Kenny, we saw team Glitch struggling
once again tonight, earlier in the pits.
So as of right now, what's their status?
[Kenny] All right. Take a look.
This went down just moments ago.
Every robot needs to pass a safety test before entering
the BattleBox.
With the volatility of these machines, the teams, the crew,
even the crowd need some assurances.
So, you now, so you have control again.
[Kenny] The safety crew asks each team to fail safe their weapon.
Well, nicely. Was it within the time limit?
Okay. Go ahead and power back on.
[Kenny] Show the robot has power.
[man] Excellent.
[Kenny] And most importantly, show it can power down.
An out of control robot is a safety nightmare.
Did it pass?
Now, we'll see it.
They have to turn this off.
[man 1] Is that it?
That it?
[cheering]
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] Hey, there you go.
Glitch received the green light,
and they have been cleared to fight.
[Kenny] Well, you just know Ethan Kurtz
was salivating watching that.
Glitch got a lot of attention for its 7 and 0 start last season.
But remember, it was Riptide that made it all the way to the top eight.
A phenomenal run for a newcomer in this sport.
[Chris] Kenny, are these two Rookies of the Year heading
in completely opposite directions?
[Kenny] Riptide has been firing on all cylinders
for sure, and there's a reason Ethan was standing there
watching Glitch in the test box.
He sees a wounded animal.
But listen, when you have one-punch knockout power
like Glitch, you're always a threat.
[Chris] All right, Kenny.
And for the first time ever, we're pulling the pits
before all of these match ups.
How does our field of 50 see this battle going down?
[Kenny] Check this out. It's close.
But despite all those technical issues,
the pit still think this is Glitch's fight
to lose a lot of respect for this sophomore bot.
How did you do as a sophomore?
Ah, I did okay. Not too bad.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
The third time I was a sophomore, I did great.
Nailed it. Faruq.
In the red square, there's plenty of reasons
to stay away from the ocean, if we're keeping it real.
Like a jellyfish, for instance.
I mean, what the hell is that thing's deal?
But deep in the sea, the water's had
the most violent of notions to grab you and pull you down
to the depths of the ocean.
Give it up for Riptide.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Few people had more fun
than this team last season.
Riptide, you can see it.
We can't even keep up with them.
Kenny, tell us about this beast of a bot.
[Kenny] Riptide's egg beater drop is 6 pounds heavier
this season, weighing in at 56 pounds.
They've ramped up in spin time by about 40%.
And Ethan is quickly gaining a reputation as one
of the most aggressive drivers in the field.
In the blue square...
in the blue square... in the blue square...
Sorry, y'all.
That must have been a Glitch.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Well, that's funny because we stumble
all the time on this show.
It's not part of our script.
Here you go, Glitch, a bunch of college kids,
mostly from Berkeley.
Oh. Oh, no.
They're mocking Riptide.
Is that what they're doing?
Yeah. Get after it.
Get after it.
[Kenny] Listen, I gave a lot of love to Riptide's whipping,
but no one should sleep on Glitch's drum.
It's the first thing Kyle Miller designed for this robot.
It has so much bite, so much energy transfer.
We saw it spinning up earlier in the test box.
Looked to be in good shape.
We'll see if they've got those troubles figured out.
[crowd chanting]
Riptide is an extremely fast robot.
Because of our armor system, we don't have the traction that they have.
And so, they can definitely out-maneuver us
with acceleration and speed.
Our winning fight against Riptide,
I think for us it's just weapon on weapon.
That's... that's what we want to do.
There's... there's a lot of risk in there.
They have a hugely powerful weapon.
But we think with our faster weapon,
we can be the one to edge it out.
I think there will be a lot of jockeying for position
and both robots trying to get a good angle on the other
'cause I don't think Glitch is gonna want to go face to face with us.
I don't think we're gonna want to go face to face with Glitch.
As soon as we start landing hits on our opponent.
They're usually incapacitated after that.
This fight will have a knockout.
Whoever lands that first like meaty hit, it's over.
[automated voice] Robots, activate.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Chris] All right, Kenny, how did these two teams handle
sharing that Rookie of the Year title?
[Kenny] Well, I'll tell you this.
Ethan wasn't a fan.
He doesn't think trophies are meant to be shared.
That's not a chip on his shoulder.
It's the whole potato.
[automated voice] Red team, ready?
[indistinct chatter]
[automated voice] Blue team, ready?
Weapon on weapon.
[Kenny] Oh.
[Chris] Kyle Miller inviting Ethan to go head-on there.
All right, Let's see what we get.
[crowd chanting]
[Chris] Riptide, Glitch.
Which team can avoid the dreaded sophomore slump
with an opening night win?
Let the bot battle begin.
[Kenny] Look out. Both weapons firing up.
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] Lands on its head.
Is this a one and done?
[Kenny] Oh, my goodness.
[Chris] Let's just sit there.
[Kenny] Are you kidding me?
Oh.
[Chris] Wow. Going for another shot.
Try to set it on the upper deck
and now it'll go nighty night in the upper bunk.
[Kenny] That thing hit so hard.
[Chris] Wow.
Wow.
Listen to that.
Count coming from Riptide.
Wow.
That was ridiculous.
Glitch is stunned, as is this crowd.
A one-shot wonder from Riptide.
[cheering]
[Chris] Kenny, I think Riptide found the solution
for Glitch's weapon.
Don't let him use it.
[Kenny] Well, when you have other worldly power like this.
Wow.
The game plan becomes pretty simple.
[Chris] Yeah, one punch, lights out.
But Riptide more than happy to go in for that extra shot.
[Kenny] Yeah, we talked about it earlier.
This squad didn't like sharing the Rookie of the Year trophy.
This was a statement victory.
They're not here to make friends.
Team Riptide's here to knock you out.
[Chris] Ethan Kurtz, congratulations.
[screaming]
[bleep] did it.
Ethan, were you shocked?
It was just one shot and done.
Um, so, Glitch is a very powerful weapon.
Riptide is a very powerful weapon.
It was really just a game of who wins that first shot.
Um, they have knockout capacity.
They could have taken us out one hit and we knew
we could have taken them out in one hit.
So, we were really just jogging for that position,
trying to get to their sides.
And we did exactly what we needed to do to win.
And that's what we do.
Give us your next one.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Hey, Ethan, I got to admit,
I like yelling and screaming, Ethan, much more than subdued Ethan.
So, can you finish me up with a yell and a scream?
Let's go!
[cheering]
This is why you always make it to a fight on time.
Because if you sit down 30 seconds late,
you might miss the entire fight.
Yeah, absolutely. Glitch actually missed the entire fight.
I know.
What did you think, though of Riptide?
Unbelievable. They are definitely one of the teams to watch.
Again, just got off to a great start
and did exactly what they did last season.
[Chris] Well, as we all like to say in the world of Ethan.
Let's go!
Well, coming up later tonight, we've got an insane
main event as Tantrum squares off with Minotaur.
But first, will Gigabyte find the storage space
for Gary Gin's dead robot?
Or will Free Shipping deliver a knockout in 3 to 5 business days?
Find out next on BattleBots.
Welcome back to opening night here on BattleBots.
We have been treated to an incredible variety
of robot combat so far, and we are now just one fight
away from our marquee matchup featuring two
of the biggest names in the entire sport.
Let's take a closer look at tonight's main event.
[roaring]
[Faruq] It's Minotaur.
[Chris] Oh, what a shot by Minotaur.
In the last season, beating Endgame
looked like a championship final.
[indistinct screaming]
[Chris] Freitas talking trash to the champs.
That's when I saw that we really had
a real good shot at the Giant Nut.
Unfortunately, it didn't happen last year.
[Chris] Oh.
[Kenny] Now Minotaur's missing a tire.
This could cost them.
Witch Doctor was waiting for us to get counted out.
[Chris] Minotaur having serious mobility issues.
And we were waiting for Witch Doctor to attack.
Witch Doctor.
[Marco] Of course, I'm sad about the decision.
Maybe if we had a chance to keep fighting,
maybe we could cripple them.
But, you know, you can't change the past.
So, let's look into the future.
[Chris] We are gonna have a new champion.
And its name is Tantrum.
[cheering]
Our championship run was unexpected.
[Chris] Oh. Gosh.
[Alex] We went into last season legitimately
just wanting to get one win.
And to be able to go undefeated through the entire thing.
[Chris] Tantrum gets the K.O.
[Alex] It's literally impossible
to do better than that.
[Ginger] Tantrum always has a chance.
He chugs along, he drives fast,
and he's not afraid to get hit.
[Chris] Oh.
When you have such strengths, you always have a chance.
[Marco] Tantrum was the champion not...
not by chance.
It's a very fast robot, it's very compact, very resilient.
You want to be aggressive.
And to be aggressive, you have to be able to win face to face.
[Chris] And Minotaur said, "I'm coming to say hello."
Minotaur is the scariest robot in this building.
[Ginger] Their weapon is really terrifying.
And one hit, it could all go wrong.
[Chris] Oh, look at that huge hit.
We're gonna try to engage them slowly and get under the drum.
Most people don't control a drum bot.
And so, we're really hoping to control the pace of the match.
[Chris] What a remarkable shot by Tantrum.
We're gonna fight until the end, no matter what.
We're not gonna be afraid. We're gonna be aggressive.
If we win, it'll send a clear message that Tantrum
is gonna take it all the way to the end again.
[Chris] Champion.
Wow.
That was ridiculous.
And that's coming your way later tonight.
But up next, it's the return of one of our favorites,
Gary Gin and Free Shipping.
Now, Gary is the OG of the old school here at BattleBots.
One of the most experienced drivers and captains in the sport.
And his bot Free Shipping is definitely
a throwback design.
But Kenny, with the so called meta of BattleBots
favoring kinetic spinning weapons,
Gary Gin has finally said, "I'm in."
[Kenny] Yeah, Free Shipping has that wide base kind of
a SUV in an era of sports cars,
but it's now packing some firepower
with the addition of a new vertical spinner.
Gary knows he has to start scoring damage points
if he wants to keep up with this field of killers.
If he can, the promised land awaits.
[Chris] He's going to be facing a new look Gigabyte,
not the bot, but the man at the controls.
Former captain, John Mladenik has ceded the sticks to his top lieutenants,
Camden Wallraff and Derek Tran.
Kenny, what are these youngsters in for?
[Kenny] Well, Gigabyte is a full body spinner
capable of inflicting maximum destruction.
It's such a difficult design to tame, though.
This is like handing a bazooka to a couple of pre-schoolers.
I have no idea how they'll handle it.
And you better believe, Gary Gin will be full steam ahead.
This will be exciting.
Are we going to see fire?
I hope so. We're gonna see fire.
Now it's time to see Faruq.
And the red square, from San Leandro, California.
The only bot that puts a tracking number
on your death certificate, it's Free Shipping.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Our first look at the new and improved,
question mark, Free Shipping.
Oh, I love all the boxes.
Of course, they're going to overcharge for those as well.
But that's Gary Gin there at the controls.
Kenny, that spinner doesn't look very big.
Is it going to be able to reach its opponents?
[Kenny] Well, those huge wedges up front are designed
to help Free Shipping win the ground game.
The question is, can he get underneath Gigabyte enough
to give that new weapon a chance?
In the blue square, from Oceanside, California,
it's shaped like a hockey puck and about to get a five minute major for murder.
It's Gigabyte!
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Derek Tran from UC Santa Cruz.
Now with the controls of Gigabyte.
His co-captain Camden Wallraff pushing out the bot there
and, Kenny, Gigabyte with a little extra padding on its shell these days.
Of course, it's got that self-righter and self-indicator on top
so it knows which way it's spinning.
What else?
[Kenny] Well, it's got a brand-new drive system
topping out at 18 miles an hour.
That speed can lead to huge shots
if Derek can rein in the wild ride that is Gigabyte.
[audience cheering and applauding]
With Gigabyte, we have to worry about them taking chunks out of us.
We can hopefully keep Gigabyte from ripping us apart
by just hitting them as soon as we can, as fast as we can,
and hopefully pop them up into the air,
get them bouncing around the arena
and hopefully break something inside of him.
We're going to try our new teeth
and we're going to try our...
our refined special mechanism to get under Free Shipping.
I believe we have a good bot.
I believe we have a winning strategy
and I believe everyone should watch out for us.
[robotic voice] Robots activate.
[audience cheering and applauding]
-[Kenny] Hey. -[Chris] All right.
The flame's back.
[Kenny] Yeah.
Hard to imagine that flame can penetrate Gigabyte's shell but who cares, right?
You can't have Free Shipping fight
without the potential for some third degree burns.
[Chris] The new look Free Shipping,
the new captains of Gigabyte.
All right, fellas.
Green light means go.
Let the bot rattle begin.
[Kenny] Oh, hesitation by Gigabyte.
[Chris] Gigabyte couldn't get out of its own way
and it's going in reverse.
[Kenny] Oh, boy.
[Chris] Oh, and Free Shipping got under him not once, but twice.
So far, that new weapon on Free Shipping is looking good.
[Kenny] There's a big hit.
Gary Gin all over Gigabyte right now.
[Chris] Gigabyte dodges that one,
but runs itself face first into the corner
then manages to escape.
Gigabyte trying to get itself to the center of the Box.
Oh, big ricochet!
[Kenny] That's the classic Gigabyte collision.
Can the kids recover?
[audience exclaiming]
[indistinct commentary]
[Chris] What a huge... Oh!
Take the number one and it got flipped over.
[Kenny] Oh, man. Uh-oh.
Chris, Chris, just be ready to duck.
I think-- Hands up. Hands up at all times.
[Chris] Yeah. This is the largest top I've ever seen.
That self-righter has broken off.
[Kenny] I think it's wild.
It's about to go flying, I think.
[Chris] Oh, my God!
Kenny, just stop it with the top of your finger, that's all.
[Kenny] I'm not going in there.
[Chris] Gigabyte redefining
what it means to be a full body spinner there.
[Kenny] Oh, look at that.
[Chris] Oh, my gosh.
-That is... -[Kenny] Little breakdancing.
Not bad.
[Chris] That is some Olympic gymnastics type stuff.
[Kenny] Free Shipping not impressed.
Gary Gin continues to engage.
He wants to end this fight.
[Chris] The question is, can it work its way back out over.
Maybe Gary Gin's trying to lend a helping hand.
[Kenny] Gary's a lovely guy, but he's looking for a win here.
Gigabyte slowing down.
[Chris] Under 90 to go.
We said it before this fight.
It was going to be a battle between a super veteran
in Gary Gin and a pair of youngsters,
Camden and Derek of team Gigabyte
that had some big time bot shoes to fill,
and it has played out pretty much like we expected.
Ten, nine, eight...
-[Kenny] Look at that. -[Chris] It's over.
The countdown has started.
And there's a little celebratory flaming
-from the legend. -...two, one!
Knock out!
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Kenny, some painful driving issues for team Gigabyte
and Free Shipping definitely took advantage.
[Kenny] Well, Gigabyte is one of the hardest robots in the world to control.
We knew there would be a learning curve for these young captains.
[Chris] What do you think overall about Gary Gin's weapon?
[Kenny] I think he did a great job,
first of all, of getting underneath Gigabyte.
And when he was hitting, he was hitting extremely hard,
both with the speed of his robot
and the speed of that active weapon.
[Chris] There's Gigabyte spinning like a top, right
into the loss column, and Gary Gin locking up his first win in these qualifiers
since World Championship IV.
[audience chanting]
[Chris] Hey, Gary.
We just saw you all bent over in disbelief.
Why?
I am so tired right now.
Why?
Because you've never had an active weapon like that before in Kickbot?
Yeah. You know, it actually worked.
Can you believe that?
[sighs]
Gary, you told us before the season started,
we asked you about your new weapon.
We said, "How is it?"
And you went, "Um, not very good."
Yeah, you know.
It's, you know, the first time I've had a heavyweight
with an active weapon, you know.
So in... in that department, I'm kind of a rookie.
It was classic Gary Gin driving, though.
You were aggressive right from the beginning.
Yeah.
I mean, that's what it takes, you know?
I got to use the entire robot as a weapon
and just get after him.
You know, with a robot like Gigabyte,
spins up so fast, hits so hard,
but it doesn't matter where you hit them, so you just got to hit them.
So, Gary, now, with your driving ability and a pretty badass weapon,
are you a robot to be reckoned with?
You know, sure.
-Yeah. The audience thinks so. -[audience cheering]
So, sure. Yeah.
Let's go with that one.
Gary Gin, congratulations.
Thanks.
[audience cheering and applauding]
I love talking to Gary Gin.
How's your weapon?
"Uh, not very good."
Are you a serious contender?
"The audience thinks so."
Keep doing your thing, Gary.
[Kenny] Ah, he's hilarious.
Listen, I think it's a little too early to tell
whether he's going to be a contender in this,
but that was a great result and a great fight.
[Chris] Coming up, two of the sport's biggest names
are going to clash.
Minotaur had the Giant Nut in their sights last season before it all fell apart.
Its revenge tour begins tonight against the reigning
defending Giant Nut winner Tantrum.
It's opening night's main event
and it is next here on BattleBots.
All right.
We are back on BattleBots and it is time right now
for our first main event of the season.
And let's welcome back the defending champion,
the holder of the Giant Nut, Tantrum is here.
[audience cheering and applauding]
They, of course, are captained
by Alex Grant and Ginger Schmidt
and we caught up with them back in the pits.
They said they had an amazing off-season
that was really culminated by them,
renting out an IMAX theater
and inviting almost 300 of their closest friends and family
to watch the final episode from a season ago.
They said it was flat out unbelievable.
[Kenny] They deserved every second of that celebration.
Tantrum isn't some one-note wonder,
this robot is a symphony of design.
The retractable weapon used to raise eyebrows,
now it cracks skulls.
[Chris] Oh, my gosh!
[Kenny] It beats up opponents with every part of its body.
It moves around the BattleBox like an F1 car.
And their driver, Dillon Carey, is a world beater.
[Chris] There really aren't any holes in Tantrum's game,
but Kenny, it's a whole new season, a whole new ball game.
And so now they are taking on Minotaur,
a team that I think is still hurting based on how they got
bounced out of the playoffs last season in that loss against Witch Doctor.
[Kenny] Yeah, you know, Minotaur had a ton of momentum
knocking off the defending champs, End Game,
in the round of 16
but it all came crashing down when the judges gave the nod
to Witch Doctor in the quarterfinals.
This squad felt they won that match.
Frankly, they didn't take it well.
Now they're out for revenge.
And that's where Marco Meggiolaro's return is so critical.
His experience, his ability to calm this team,
that's a huge boost for the Brazilians.
And taking a look at how these two stack up.
Tantrum with a big drivetrain advantage.
Minotaur does have the heavier weapon, but to me,
Tantrum's armor could be the difference maker in this one.
This is going to be a great main event,
plus something special for the champs.
Let's turn it on over to Faruq.
[audience cheering and applauding]
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
[audience cheering and applauding]
It's time for the main event.
[audience cheering and applauding]
In the red square,
this slap-happy bot got the smack that brings pain.
Don't call him G.I. Jane or he'll go G.T. insane.
You'll get Chris Rocked in the jaw,
your odds of winning or going south.
So keep this bot's name out your mouth.
It's Tantrum.
[Chris] For the first time ever they enter
the BattleBox as winners of the Giant Nut.
Ginger to the right, Alex to the left slapping five.
And Kenny, we got something real special planned
for team Tantrum right before this fight, but first,
how about that killer schedule?
[Kenny] Some of the biggest names
in the sport right there.
Hydra, Blip, Whiplash, all tournament favorites.
[Chris] A schedule befitting a champion.
[Faruq] In the blue square.
Saddle up, partner, this bull's bucking up a ruckus.
But you won't make it eight seconds
because he turns cowboys into suckers.
When the gate opens up, he charges lightning fast,
this isn't his first rodeo, but he'll make it your last.
It's Minotaur.
[Chris] Minotaur made it to the round of eight before bowing
out last season, and the man on the right who is clapping,
so happy to be back, Marco Meggiolaro,
one of the good dudes here at BattleBots.
And there is Daniel Freitas, the intense driver all the way to the left.
He's already got his game face on, Kenny.
[Kenny] He's always got his game face on, doesn't he?
So this will be the question for Minotaur all season,
'Can they stay composed?
Can they stay locked in?'
Marco will have his hands full,
but we know he's up to the challenge.
[Chris] All right.
You may have noticed some beautiful banners
hanging over the tunnel tonight.
Well, every great sport has its traditions,
and BattleBots is starting a new one.
Let's throw it back to Faruq.
[Faruq] Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please?
Before we begin tonight's main event,
I'd like everyone to stay on your feet
and direct your attention to the banners
above the entrance way.
Now, these banners represent the legendary bots
who have reached the pinnacle of our great sport.
And now it's time to add one more to the list.
It's time to unveil the banner for the reigning
and defending world champion captained
by Alex Grant and Ginger Schmidt.
Make some noise for Tantrum!
[audience cheering and applauding]
The logo. The eyes look so good.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] What a moment for team Tantrum.
Well, wipe away those tears because there's a fight brewing.
I mean, congratulations, Tantrum, but an angry bull
is waiting for you at the after party,
if you know what I mean.
In fact, there's the champ, the number two ranked robot
in the world, ready to trade hands
with the number six ranked Minotaur.
So how do you see this one, Kenny?
[Kenny] Well, for Minotaur, it's all about that 55-pound drum.
And even though the bot looks out of control at times,
Daniel Freitas is a master of gyro driving.
He's in complete control.
On the other side, Tantrum has that new wedge
they call the swordfish.
They want to get underneath Minotaur as much
as possible to dictate the action.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[robotic voice] Robots activate!
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Okay. We are all systems go.
Can Tantrum follow up its banner reveal
with an opening night win or will Minotaur crash
the party like a bull in a China shop?
It's opening night's main event
when we return on BattleBots.
[audience cheering and applauding]
Holding the title of World Champion has been unreal.
It didn't sink in until Alex and I saw it on TV.
[Chris] We are going to have a new champion
and its name is Tantrum!
Tantrum went into every match fully functioning.
But to be honest, behind the scenes,
it was definitely the little robot that could.
[Ginger] You know, our organization with Tantrum
and Blip has such a breadth of knowledge and skills
that I wouldn't think any other team here
could pull off what we're able to do.
[Chris] Oh!
My goodness!
We feel a lot more confident this time
and we're really excited to go all the way.
And winning the championship, gets you a little bit of practice.
[Chris] Welcome back to BattleBots World Championship VII,
where it is opening night and this is the main event.
Tantrum beginning its quest to repeat as World Champions,
Minotaur ready to turn the orange robot red.
Sin City is on its feet.
Here we go.
The winners of the Giant Nut want a second trophy
for their collection.
Their title defense begins now.
Let the bot battle begin.
Here comes Tantrum fast out of the gate.
[Kenny] See the speed of Tantrum right away, Chris.
One of the fastest robots in the world.
[Chris] Tantrum on the attack playing the aggressor to start,
gets underneath Minotaur, but Daniel Freitas self-rights.
Tantrum keeping the pressure on.
[Kenny] Nice counter shot there by Minotaur.
Both bots still feeling each other out.
A lot of respect here.
[Chris] A lot of power, too.
Who's going to land that first big... Oh!
There's Daniel Freitas, and he got the...
And another huge shot.
The champ is now inverted.
Wow!
[Kenny] Tantrum's in trouble, lost the self-righting arm there.
[Chris] Oh, another!
Tantrum can't afford to be flipped back over.
But here it's again punching back.
There is no surrender.
-[Kenny] Oh! -[Chris] Big collision.
Both bots back on their heels.
Now Tantrum's on its head again.
Can it self-right?
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] Minotaur's hovering.
Threatening.
Tantrum's searching for the power to right itself.
-Up right. Up, up. -Up right?
[Chris] Oh, they're trying to crawl on their weapon.
[Jenny] This would be huge momentum for team Minotaur.
What a win this would be.
Ten, nine...
[Chris] And the countdown has started.
[Kenny] Wow.
[Chris] The champs are down for the count.
Minotaur, for the first time in the last four seasons
will win its season opener.
[audience cheering]
[team cheering]
[Kenny] Wow!
[indistinct chatter]
[team cheering]
[Chris] Kenny, this was two of the best robots
in the world going shot for shot early on.
[Kenny] Yeah.
Tantrum got underneath Minotaur with that swordfish wedge,
but there's more proof that Daniel Freitas is a master of gyro driving.
What a save.
[Chris] Minotaur was just relentless
with its drum spinner, had Tantrum teetering on the edge down the stretch.
[Kenny] Yeah, and this is what that multitooth weapon
on Minotaur does best.
It tees you up for these massive power shots.
[Chris] Tantrum lost that self-righting arm,
didn't go down without a fight,
but the world champs start out their title defense
clearly on their backs.
[Kenny] And credit to Marco Meggiolaro,
an instant impact for team Minotaur.
[audience cheering and applauding]
Marco, this wasn't just another win, was it?
No, that was the big win, the big start for us.
For the last three seasons, we've lost our first fight
and right here going against the champions.
So, I was feeling that it's going to happen again.
So, thanks, thanks that it didn't happen.
Hey, Daniel, what is it like when you knock off
the world champions?
It's good.
[laughter]
I think Tantrum is a great robots
and have a great building.
We're really happy for this victory.
All right, Daniel, great job.
Congratulations to you and Marco
and team Minotaur passed out of the gate.
Thank you.
[audience cheering and applauding]
Hey, Alex and Ginger.
-Hey. -Hey.
I know... I... I don't think you tasted defeat last season.
This is a little strange, right, Alex?
It's a little strange, but, you know, we brought the robot,
we made a lot of changes this year,
and sometimes it doesn't work out in your favor.
I think there's something that broke inside,
and so we got to fix that here.
And going into the next fight, we should have it all worked out.
[Kenny] You guys brought in a brand new robot.
You guys were kind of expecting this at some point, right?
Yeah.
I think if we were going to lose our first match,
there's no one else we'd rather lose against.
We had a totally new weapon and a totally new Tantrum,
and the self-righter might have worked, not worked,
but the weapon delivered some pretty big hits.
So we're actually really happy about that and how it went
the first time in the Box.
Ginger, you guys are the first champion to have
a banner unveiled right before you ended up fighting.
What were those emotions like?
I mean, I can't even describe it to you.
Honestly, it's really cool.
We got to do it here with a live audience
and see Tantrum up in the rafters.
[Alex] Thank you. Thank you.
[Ginger] Next to a bunch of really incredible world class robots.
So it's sort of unreal.
We feel like we have to live up to that.
So we got a lot of work in the pits to do today.
Still have three more regular season fights left to go.
Ginger and Alex, thanks for the time.
-Thank you. -Thank you very much.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Kenny, I don't know about you,
but I think Minotaur is on a mission this season.
They looked unbelievable.
I mean, again, Daniel Freitas is one of the best drivers
in the world, but more than anything else,
you know, their bot is dialed in and ready to rock.
[Chris] And since we now know the complete schedule,
let's take a look at who Minotaur is going to rock against.
Marco's squad has Free Shipping on deck,
coming off that big win earlier tonight.
Then it's the deadly spinner of Cobalt.
And finally, a rematch of last year's quarterfinal,
none other than Witch Doctor.
[Kenny] That's as tough a schedule as you'll see.
Just goes to show how important
this opening night win over Tantrum was for the Brazilians.
Big picture tonight, a lot of impressive fights.
Witch Doctor leapfrogged Ribbot early on.
Quantum, welcome back to BattleBots.
They were really impressive against Captain Shrederator.
How about Jonathan Schultz and huge opening up
a lot of eyes with a dominant win?
But what about Riptide right out of the gate?
[Kenny] Yeah. Riptide is picking up where they left off.
Off to another great start.
It is so good to be back.
-You had fun tonight? -Oh, I had a blast.
For Faruq, my man, Kenny Florian, I am Chris Rose.
We will see you next time here on BattleBots.
[audience cheering and applauding]