BattleBots (2015–…): Season 5, Episode 11 - Episode #5.11 - full transcript
[faruq] tonight...
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
...The 2020 battlebots world
championship tournament begins.
This is gonna be a good one.
[chris] oh! This is trouble.
[faruq] after a punishing
season of destruction...
- [chris] oh, my goodness.
- [kenny] my gosh.
...Only the top 32 bots remain.
[chris] oh, my god,
it got thrown out of the arena!
[laughing hysterically]
[faruq] but in a
wide open field...
[yells]
...Danger lurks
in every corner...
[chris] oh!
...And every fight
could be your last.
[chris] let the world
championship tournament begin.
[commentators] oh!
Back off!
[commentators] oh!
[faruq] the only
way to survive...
[chris] wow.
[yelling]
...Destroy everything
in... Your... Path.
Yeah!
[faruq] who will claim the
ultimate prize in robot combat?
The battle for
immortality begins...
- Oh! - Okay, how you doing?
...Now.
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[cheering]
[chris] welcome to the 2020 battlebots
world championship tournament.
Now, for some of our builders,
this is a dream literally
decades in the making.
Every one of them
has sacrificed so much,
and it all comes down to this.
[kenny] this has been a
season unlike any other,
from shocking upsets of some of the
most legendary names in the sport...
[chris] end game has
done the unthinkable.
[kenny] ... To
the thrilling rise
of the next generation
of champion.
[chris] an amazing
performance by hydra.
[chris] the 32 most impressive
bots earned a spot in the tournament,
and they have been seeded based on their
performances in the qualifying rounds.
And all of them are here
with the same mission in mind,
to kick the living
scrap out of each other
and make it all the
way to the finals.
But to get there,
they have to win tonight, full stop.
We're talking
single elimination.
If a team loses,
they're headed back home
with broken parts
and broken hearts.
If they win,
they're only four fights away
from taking home the giant nut.
[chris] and there she is,
the most coveted prize
in all of robot combat.
So let's take a closer
look at our bracket.
It's broken down into
four quadrants or groups,
each headlined by one
of our top four seeds,
hydra, bloodsport,
copperhead and uppercut.
Tonight we're focusing on groups
one and four, featuring eight epic fights
for some of the biggest
names in the sport.
We'll break down the
matchups as we go,
but kenny,
it only feels right to kick things off
with the biggest
name of them all...
Ray billings and the
legendary tombstone.
[kenny] tombstone is the only
previous champion in this year's field.
But ray is actually the
lower seed in this fight.
That's because martin mason is having
the season of his life with madcatter.
The cat is undefeated and looking to
stick its claws into the 2017 world champ.
[chris] yeah, martin's wins have
been as big as his personality,
but only a fool would underestimate
ray billings and tombstone.
This one should be electric.
Let's find out who's moving
on to the next round right now.
Faruq, take it away.
[cheering]
ladies and gentlemen,
are you ready?
It's robot-fighting time!
[cheering]
in the blue square,
here, kitty, kitty.
Be careful who
you're cat-calling.
When these claws come out,
prepare for the mauling.
After he kills you,
your season will be done,
because this cat has nine lives
but you only have one.
It's madcatter.
[audience cheering]
[chris] martin
mason and madcatter
coming in as the 12 seed after
dominating the qualifying rounds.
How did he get rewarded?
Oh, just a little matchup with
one of the baddest bots in history.
[kenny] well,
if you want to contend for the crown,
you have to slay some
giants along the way.
And if you know anything
about martin mason,
you know he's not
afraid to take on anybody.
They took apart and
inspected every piece of this bot
to make sure they are in perfect
shape to take on tombstone.
[all cheering]
[man] looking good, madcatter.
In the red square,
one of the greatest of all time.
They call him the goat.
His horizontal spinner
will straight cut your throat.
The home-run hitter that'll
knock you out the park,
leaving you battered,
bruised and left in the dark.
It's the living legend,
tombstone.
[audience cheering]
[chris] tombstone dropped all
the the way to the 21st seed,
thanks to that disappointing
one-in-two record.
But I don't care
what the record says,
I would still be afraid of 'em.
[kenny] yeah, and ray even told us,
"look, there's not a single person
back there in the pits who
wants to go up against us."
that's the kind of fear
this bot strikes in people.
[chris] what's the blade of choice,
kenny?
[kenny] oh,
he's going with a new blade, actually.
It's an ar500 steel blade
that weighs 72 pounds.
-[chris whoops] -[kenny] he
says that heavier bar is tougher
and can better withstand collisions
with a sturdy bot like madcatter.
[man] tombstone!
My strategy is to start
sucking a little less,
and maybe, you know,
turn up the kick-ass a little bit.
I will not feel bad at all about
sending madcatter down.
So that's what we're
looking forward to is,
you know, mad over here,
catter over here.
We're gonna scatter
it all over the place.
Let me tell you
what's gonna happen.
Tombstone is gonna
be in another time zone.
That's what's gonna happen,
all right?
You're gonna see them up in the air,
spinning around.
You're not gonna
know where they are.
It's gonna be us all the way.
We're gonna have a tea party
and we're serving tomb scones.
[audience cheering]
let's get us some cat.
[ray chuckling]
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[audience cheering]
[chris] kenny,
after getting knocked out this season
by end game and skorpios,
do you think tombstone's
shaking at all?
[kenny] I don't. You know, he really considers
battlebots to be two separate stages.
There's the qualifying rounds,
and then the season truly starts here
in the championship tournament.
He feels like he
has a clean slate,
and he's very confident
about his chances.
[chris] let's check in
with our bot whisperer.
Pete,
madcatter have any shot here?
Well, you know, madcatter has
taken a playbook out of bite force
by going with a
36-pound disc as well as...
They're spinning only about
a 125 mile-an-hour tip speed.
The interest here is
not to be super-fast,
but to have a continuous
punch and not slow down.
That's what they're looking for.
[chris] and one thing
to always watch out for
when tombstone is in the box,
they hit with such high
energy and such force,
sometimes they do themselves in.
[audience cheering and whooping]
[man] tombstone!
[automated voice] blue team,
ready?
[slamming]
[automated voice] red team,
ready?
[audience whooping]
[breathes deeply]
[chris] here we go.
The opening fight of the battlebots
world championship tournament.
Can tombstone right the ship
and make another run at a title?
Or will madcatter
continue their hot streak
and send the former
champion to an early exit?
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the world
championship tournament begin.
[chris] yeah,
that weapon of tombstone... whoa!
There's a big shot
that madcatter takes.
[kenny] madcatter's got to
be careful with those wheels
on the back side of that bot,
chris.
[chris] whoa!
Huge hit! There was already
some shrapnel in there.
And another shot to the
front wedge of madcatter.
[kenny] yeah,
madcatter is having some drive issues
and I think their weapon
might be down now.
[chris] oh! Tombstone takes a
chunk of armor off the madcatter.
Oh,
but here's madcatter with a countershot.
And tombstone goes wide.
Can ray billings recover?
Lands a shot there.
[kenny] there goes some armor off
the madcatter. That wheel is exposed.
-[chris] oh! Tombstone, face-first...
-[kenny] oh!
[chris] face-first into
madcatter's wedge!
Oh!
[kenny] some of
these hits are so epic.
Madcatter struggling out there.
[chris] yeah,
it's going in circles right now.
If it shows no controlled movement,
that's a problem.
Oh, ray trying to end
this fight. He can smell it.
[kenny] he's got to be careful as
they get close to those screws, though.
Madcatter, I'm not seeing controlled
movement, I'm seeing circles.
[chris] madcatter gets
a warning from the ref.
[kenny] tombstone may want
to think about backing off here.
[crashing]
[commentators] whoa!
[chris] ray gets
itself into the screws.
That is such dangerous
territory for tombstone.
Oh! More armor gets
thrown into the lighting grid.
[kenny] oh,
I think that's gonna be it for madcatter.
I think they've had enough,
chris.
[man] going, going, going.
-[chris] well, look at this. Madcatter is
actually moving, -[kenny] still moving.
[chris] uh, like an old lady
across the street, but it's moving.
- [kenny laughs] - [chris] excuse me,
miss?
- Are you in need of some assistance here?
- Very polite of you, chris.
Oh, man.
[chris] tombstone
just circling its prey.
- Now madcatter hasn't moved, and the countdown is starting.
-[referee] ten, nine...
[chris] ray going in for
one last shot at the wheels,
-and tombstone is going to move on to the round of 16.
-[referee counting]
[buzzer sounds]
[ray] we got it.
[martin] nicely done, guys.
[chris] well, they say there's
more than one way to skin a cat.
But I think ray billings may
have just shown us all of them.
[laughing]
[chris] well, that brand-new blade
of tombstone worked out a-okay.
[kenny] yeah, it sure did.
It's a tougher material
that is less likely to snap.
And you could see how well
it held up against madcatter,
just ripping along the sides of
the bot and tearing off pieces.
Madcatter got in
some good licks as well,
but tombstone looks like it
has figured things out, chris.
[chris] what did you think
of madcatter's approach?
Did you see any
strategic issues here?
[kenny] you know, I think they
might have tried to get a little too cute.
Instead of going head on with that
wedge to attack tombstone's weapon
and send them flying,
madcatter tried to get
around to those wheels,
and that left them exposed
to some devastating hits.
[chris] yeah,
you see in the last few shots,
and madcatter kept plowing
away and plowing away,
but eventually rolling
around in circles
en route to the
end of its season.
[audience cheering and whooping]
[whoops] all right.
Ray billings, we did not see a ton
of smiles during the regular season,
but you told us the
playoffs is a different game.
Everybody starts out
0-0 at this point in time.
So, uh, tombstone's back,
we're ready to keep going.
Ray,
right before the fight started,
our cameras caught you with
this enormous grin on your face.
-Did you know something the rest of us did not?
-[ray laughs]
dude, I love this sport.
This is the best thing in the world to me,
is to get out there.
When I got that
control in my hand,
it doesn't get better than that.
Ray, there were a lot of great
exchanges between both of you guys.
Can you take us
through the fight?
Well,
yeah. It's a very solid machine.
It's got a lot of, you know,
ar plate up front for me to hit.
So it's a well-built machine.
Um, I gave a pretty good exchange
to one of the screws in there, too.
So, you know, I'm kind of beating
up the arena and the other guy.
Ray, keep smiling,
man. You're on to the round of 16.
All right. Sounds
good. Thank you.
[audience cheering]
[chris] so tombstone becomes the first
team to punch its ticket to the next round.
Ray billings will await the winner
of black dragon versus slammow!
But coming up,
it's hard hits versus a bag of tricks
as uppercut faces
off against hijinx.
That's next on battlebots.
[audience cheering]
[chris] welcome
back to battlebots.
The world championship
tournament is officially underway
after tombstone
declawed madcatter
to advance to the round of 16.
We'll know their next
opponent by the end of the night,
but right now the action
continues in group four,
as the 29th seed, hijinx takes on
the fourth overall seed, uppercut.
And alex hattori is feeling
great about his robot,
even though they suffered a
loss in the regular season finale.
Why's that?
[kenny] well, he's feeling confident
because this is a bot on the rise.
And, yes, they lost to hydra,
but these guys were
rookies just one year ago,
and now they're one of the top-ranked
teams in the whole tournament.
Uppercut has all the things you
look for in a championship bot.
It's dangerous, it's repairable,
and it's reliable.
[chris] and tonight,
they're taking on a rookie bot, hijinx,
captained by jen herchenroeder.
They're 2-1, but they didn't face
any tournament teams, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, uppercut will be by far the
toughest opponent they've fought this year.
But when jen split away
from her former team, skorpios,
it was for
opportunities like this,
to build a bot that could win
these big tournament fights.
[chris] can hijinx
deliver a major upset?
Faruq, it's all you.
In the blue square,
from cambridge, massachusetts,
you can duck, bob and weave,
but you can't get away from uppercut.
[audience cheering]
[chris] the number four seed,
alex hattori and uppercut hailing from mit.
Last year, this squad, in its first
season in battlebots competition,
surprisingly made
it to the top 16.
What do they got
working on the weaponry?
[kenny] well, it's that vertical
bar that was so devastating
in their win over sawblaze.
It's hard to contend
with because it spins up
in less than two seconds, with a
tip speed of about 180 miles an hour.
So any impact can
be absolutely crushing.
In the red square,
from oakland, california,
about to jinx your chance at winning,
it's hijinx.
[audience cheering]
[chris] here's the 29th seed,
hijinx,
led by jen herchenroeder,
who was previously a
member of team skorpios
since 2016.
She made the point that
uppercut ended skorpios'
run a season ago.
She's out for a little revenge
as the captain of a new squad.
[kenny] that's right. She
was with skorpios last year
when they lost to uppercut,
so she has seen firsthand
how dangerous uppercut can be.
But having that experience
in terms of facing alex hattori,
seeing what he likes to do
could be an advantage.
[man 1] go hijinx!
[man 2] you got this, hijinx!
[audience cheering]
hijinx has a really big spinner,
so they could hit us anywhere,
but hopefully we
can keep the front
of the robot pointed
towards them.
Like, our blade is one of the
strongest parts of our robot.
So,
hopefully that'll stand up to that.
Our strategy is to spin
up and hit something.
It's just really awesome to
be considered in the top 32.
We thought we were
building a sort of funny robot,
and it turns out
it's a little more
scary than we thought.
This is gonna be a hard fight,
and we have to be
really specific about
when we make hits
and not stop for any reason.
We have to be
precise and relentless.
Every hit is going to count.
Uppercut packs a lot of damage,
and it's very maneuverable
on two wheels.
This is not a joke robot.
This is one to
absolutely take seriously.
[audience cheering]
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[chris] let's bring in our bot whisperer,
pete.
Did hijinx make any kind
of adjustments for this fight?
[pete] uh,
they're going with the shorter bar
so they can spin up faster.
Now,
one of the things that jen had told me,
that they had designed
this bot for verticals.
The undersides of the
main support structure
are slightly sloped,
so that hopefully there
won't be as much of a catch
by the vertical weapon.
But that weapon of
uppercut is just so nasty
that I don't see
this going their way.
[audience cheering]
[man] you got this!
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
Here comes uppercut.
[kenny] oh, boy.
Uppercut.
- [all exclaiming] - [chris] oh,
my gosh!
It landed right in front of us!
-[kenny] whoa!
-[chris] what an amazing way
to start and finish that fight,
kenny.
Look, a shooting star.
- [referee] ten, nine...
- [kenny] unbelievable.
- Uppercut over to...
- ...Eight, seven...
...Antagonize its opponent
and talk crap to it while
it's down for the count.
Good job, dude. Good job.
- [referee] one! - [chris] wow.
- Knockout!
- [chris] oh, my gosh!
- [audience
cheering] - thank you.
That was it.
- Wow. - All right.
[chris] in just 33 seconds,
uppercut has moved
on to the round of 16.
Kenny, see if those wheels work.
Can you touch 'em?
[kenny] no.
[audience chanting]
uppercut! Uppercut!
[chris] don't blink, kenny,
you're gonna miss it.
[kenny] man, it's unbelievable
what uppercut can do.
They landed just
the perfect shot.
- Look at that. - [chris] jeez.
- I mean, right in the basket.
-[kenny] unbelievable.
And I love seeing
exactly how this weapon works.
I know the bot is
named uppercut,
but it's actually
more like a jab
and then an uppercut.
That first hit popped
hijinx up in the air
and then the second
hit just blows them out,
clear out of the battlebox.
What a beautiful design.
[chanting] uppercut! Uppercut!
[chris] how about that
for an opening statement
from uppercut, kenny?
That is a very dangerous bot,
it's very scary,
and I think it's
gonna go very far.
[chris] I think if
you're looking at
the rest of the field right now,
you say that thing
might be the favorite.
[kenny] if it hits you,
it will destroy you.
It's that simple.
There's not a whole lot of bots
with a primary
weapon that powerful.
[chris] so uppercut
advances to the round of 16.
They will face the winner
of beta versus ribbot.
That fight is heading
your way shortly.
But coming up,
it's the lawn lower
versus the flame thrower
when slammow! Faces
off against black dragon.
That's next on battlebots.
We are back on battlebots.
After tombstone's
win earlier tonight,
ray billings awaits the winner
of black dragon and slammow!
Let's check in with the
number-five seed overall,
black dragon,
the robot from brazil.
And boy, they followed up
an amazing first season
with a special kind of year.
It looks like this bot is gonna
be around for a while, huh?
[kenny] yeah,
they're a young team,
but underestimate
them at your own risk.
They're the number-five
seed for a reason.
This bot could legitimately
contend for a championship.
[chris] last year,
they lost out in the round of 16
when the veteran donald
hutson and lock-jaw beat them.
They are taking on the 28th seed,
slammow!
And craig danby,
to be honest with you,
he's just thrilled to
have won any sort of fight
during the regular season.
[kenny] the turnaround
that he's made
from previous
seasons is remarkable.
Despite doing
this for a long time,
this is his first time
here at battlebots
going into the postseason.
So, no question that he's a
major underdog in this fight.
But he does bring a lot
of experience in this sport,
and that might help
level the playing field
as he tries to spring the upset.
Faruq, bring the noise.
[audience cheering]
in the blue square,
from itajuba, brazil,
a bot of mythological
proportions,
it's black dragon!
[audience cheering]
[chris] well,
here comes the five seed.
They've always got
that duck in hand.
And what sort of
weapon they going with?
[kenny] well,
they ditched the egg-beater weapon
even though that
thing hits harder,
they went with the
vertical dual disc spinner.
Doesn't hit as hard,
but the idea is to
cut into slammow!
And use those discs
to rip off pieces
of the other robot.
[chris] these guys
know that a win
would put them in a
matchup with tombstone,
a bot they have long
dreamed of fighting,
but they have to take
care of business here first.
[faruq] in the red square,
from raleigh, north carolina,
bringing "lawn and order,"
it's slammow!
[audience cheering]
[chris] here comes the 28 seed,
slammow!
Kenny, if it's possible,
craig told us he has 36
different weapon
configurations for this robot
depending on who he's fighting.
[kenny] yeah,
but he's going with ol' faithful.
He's keeping it in that
grappling bot configuration
with that strong wedge.
[craig yells]
[audience cheering]
we are using the
double disc spinner
for fast spinner
and the capability
of shredding pieces.
And we are using wedge legs
so we can go underneath them.
I think that
this is the best
way to win this fight.
We'll have black
dragon spiting fire tonight.
So, tonight,
we are facing black dragon.
We want to get a
nice little grip on him.
Get a little squeeze on him.
And then hopefully
get one suplex.
We only need one.
My wife made a cross of
st. George for the front of it
because st. George,
the patron saint of England,
slayed a dragon.
So, hopefully,
we can mimic that
and slay another one.
[audience chanting]
slammow! Slammow!
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
Slammow! On the offensive,
gets underneath black dragon
but can't quite get the lift.
Dragon retreats and lands a shot
to the underbelly of slammow!
[woman] come on, slammow!
-[chris] whoa!
-[kenny] great hit there by black dragon.
[chris] that's right.
Adding some pop
and pushing
slammow! Into the rails.
[kenny] they're trying to get
their flame thrower going, chris,
but seems like the
igniter's having an issue.
[chris] black dragon's
still on the attack.
Oh, big flip there!
A beautiful backhand spring.
That should impress the judges.
Just not in the way
slammow!'s looking for.
[kenny] slammow!'s front wedge is beat up,
chris.
[chris] whoa! Uh-oh.
Oh,
craig danby could be in trouble.
Slammow! Near the screws.
Black dragon, however, backs up.
Slammow! Resets,
has to find a way to
score some points here.
But black dragon
has been able to
get underneath them at will.
And here it is again.
-[kenny] oh...
-[chris] and taking him for a ride.
Where's he gonna end up?
[kenny] uh-oh.
[chris] oh! Big hit!
[kenny] uh-oh,
I see some belts on the floor
coming out of slammow!
That's no good.
[chris] slammow!
Trying to reset itself.
And the number-five
overall seed,
black dragon,
has been chewing up slammow!
Like an appetizer.
- Oh!
- [commentators exclaiming]
[chris] huge flame!
Slammow! Is on its head.
Black dragon is leaking fire
and this may be it for the 28 seed,
slammow!
[commentators exclaiming]
[chris] black dragon
introduces slammow!
To some serious
brazilian barbecue.
You can hear 'em.
The team's going crazy!
They think this
one's in the bag!
-[referee] nine, eight...
- And here comes the countdown!
[crowd] ...Seven,
six, five, four...
Back off!
[audience] ...Two, one...
Slammow has gone down. Winner!
[cheering]
[chris] yeah,
tensions running high
here on night one
of the tournament.
Craig danby's season is over.
Black dragon is moving
on to the round of 16.
Nearly had 'em.
Sick of nearly having people.
[speaking portuguese]
[chris] well,
black dragon went on the attack,
delivered a shot and
really never looked back.
[kenny] that's right. Very
aggressive driving, yet very precise.
Right here,
coming in from the perfect angle
to attack the side
and avoid the plow up front.
They never really gave
slammow! An opportunity
to clamp down on them.
Just a dominant performance.
[chris] where do you think
this bot is right now, kenny?
[kenny] this is
definitely a top-ten bot.
I think they can go far.
They have the experience
despite being very young,
they can drive. Definitely
an impressive team.
[cheering]
[chris] so, black dragon
flaps its wings
to the next round,
setting up an epic showdown
with ray billings and tombstone.
[kenny] what a matchup.
These kids have been dying
to get a crack at tombstone,
but you know ray is just
as eager to show the world
that he's ready to make
another run at the giant nut.
[chris] all right, coming up,
13th-seed beta
looks to stay unbeaten
against the amphibious assassin,
ribbot.
That's next battle
on battlebots.
[chris] welcome back
to the 2020 battlebots world
championship tournament.
The pits are buzzing with energy
as teams make their
final preparations
for tonight's fights,
including our number-one overall seed,
hydra.
[kenny] that's right. Captain
jake ewert is gearing up
for a marquee showdown
with hypershock.
After dominating in
the qualifying rounds,
hydra proved once again
that they might be the
greatest flipper in the sport.
[chris] but don't just
take our word for it.
Even the team behind the most
iconic flipper of all time,
bronco,
is high on hydra.
[commentators exclaim]
[kenny] that's that huge flip right there,
chris rose.
[chris] and hydra's gonna try
and throw him out of the box...
- Whoa! - [audience cheering]
[chris] bronco,
welcome to the hydra era.
With our loss to
hydra last year,
it was... You know,
nobody wants to lose,
and especially not
at your own game.
[chris] a changing of the guard.
A passing of the torch.
There's a new flipper in town.
It's a different take
on what we're doing.
They're all hydraulic...
[chris] no mercy from hydra!
...And we're pneumatic.
-[kenny] unbelievable!
-[chris] wow!
To see people doing
different things...
We're really proud
of what they built.
It's a beautiful machine,
and we're pretty
stoked to see them
doing well with it, honestly.
[chris] oh,
I can't wait to see that nasty flipper
in action later tonight.
But let's dig into this beta
versus ribbot matchup.
Beta brings a lot of
momentum into this fight
after going 3-0 in
the qualifying rounds.
And it also brought
into the battlebox
the cute little bodkin.
What is a bodkin?
- It's this. - Oh, man.
It is so pointy and sharp
they're gonna attach it
to the end of the hammer.
Good luck, ribbot.
[kenny] yeah,
it's modeled after arrowheads
in the middle ages
that pierce through
armor of medieval knights.
So, the idea is to puncture
the soft top of ribbot,
potentially damaging
the electronics
and ending the fight
with one fatal blow.
[chris] this is beta's first
trip to the tournament
since 2016 after
taking four years off.
But remember, they advanced
all the way to the
quarterfinals that season,
so john reid knows what
it takes to make a run.
As for ribbot,
david jin's team was very good
during the qualifying rounds.
[kenny] well,
this is a young team,
it's their first time
in the tournament.
But sometimes,
when you're the underdog,
it actually takes a little
bit of the pressure off.
They could just go out there,
swing for the fences
and try to make
something happen.
Winner moves on
to the round of 16,
should be a good one.
Faruq, make your magic.
[cheering]
[faruq] in the blue square...
[in british accent]
...From jolly old England,
this bot's on a steady climb.
And when he opens your wounds,
he'll have a bloody good time.
When he wages war,
it'll be revolutionary,
definitely not civil.
And his hammer will have you
looking like pip-pip cheerio
with a big hole in the middle.
It's beta!
[audience cheering]
[chris] despite going 3-0,
beta is ranked 13th,
that is the lowest seed
of all the undefeated bots.
What gives, kenny?
[kenny] well,
that powerful hammer
didn't get used much, chris.
They were very
hesitant to attack
with their primary weapon
throughout the
qualifying rounds.
And that lack of aggression
definitely hurt their seeding.
They need to let loose
now that it's do or die
here in the tournament.
It's time to empty your tank
and give everything you got.
[chris] john reid has
been tantalizingly close
to the giant nut in the past.
Could this finally be
the year he gets it done?
[faruq] in the red square,
when I look at this bot,
I think frogger with
its eight-bit graphics,
the old video game
where you have to
hop through traffic.
Only difference is,
the frog in that game
was way slower.
And when you die in the box,
the screen says...
[imitates powering
down] game over.
It's ribbot!
[audience cheering]
[chris] ribbot, the underdog,
coming in as the number-20 seed.
David jin told us
his rookie season
of 2019 was good,
but only gave himself a b-plus
because the bot didn't
make it to the top 16.
Guess where they will
land if they win tonight.
[kenny] well,
if they want to pull off the upset,
they have to figure
out a way to adjust
to the most powerful weapon
they've faced all season.
It's gonna take
some slick driving
to keep that frog's
vulnerable back
away from beta's hammer.
[woman] yay, ribbot!
The stakes are raised now
because we're in the top 32.
All the bots now
are really strong.
All the fights are
gonna be hard fights.
One of the biggest
threat from ribbot
is if they use
their vertical disc.
So, we've fought with a
wedge before many times,
and the vertical disc is
the one that always kills us.
So, that is a big fear for us.
Our fight against beta
is probably our most
intense fight we've ever had.
Beta, being a hammer,
is a very interesting
weapon type to fight against.
Most bots, including ourselves,
don't really put that much
armor on top of their robot.
So, for this fight,
we're gonna be adding a
little bit of extra top armor.
I think everyone
does that against beta.
But he's a great driver. This is
gonna be a driving match for sure.
It's gonna be very tactical
and should be fun, though.
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[audience cheering]
[chris] beta's going with a
different armor configuration tonight.
What's the strategy there,
kenny?
[kenny] instead of
their traditional wedge,
they're using what they
call their mullet armor, chris.
A little extra business up front
and the usual party in
the back with that hammer.
It's designed specifically
for vertical spinners.
They think it'll be harder for ribbot
to bite into that vertical front wall.
Kenny, did you have a mullet?
- Never. - Oh, I did.
-[kenny] I'm sure.
- Oh, it was shaggy and it was sensational.
A spot in the round of 16 and a
date with uppercut is on the line.
Will ribbot become roadkill?
Or can the young guns from wpi
send beta to an early brexit?
That's coming up
next on battlebots.
We are back on battlebots.
We've got the 13th seed,
beta, about to throw down
with the number-20 seed, ribbot.
A spot in the round
of 16 is on the line.
It is win or go home.
- All good? - Yeah.
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
Little kissy action...
And the frog taking
beta into the rails.
[kenny] nice start...
Oh! What a hit!
[chris] that's a nice
hit! And another one!
Oh, beta's up on the screws!
- Can beta get off? Yes.
- [kenny] jeez!
[chris] but there's
ribbot to knock it over.
[indistinct]
-[chris] can beta help itself?
- Get up!
[chris] oh! I guess
there's your answer.
Kenny,
that hammer looks cockeyed.
Oh, but it fired off a shot!
[kenny] beta in serious trouble.
Oh!
My goodness!
[chris] oh,
ribbot is trying to take beta
over the rails,
out of the battlebox.
You're good,
you're good, you're good.
[chris] beta can barely
move at this point.
[kenny] this is gonna be a knockout,
chris.
I'm not sure that armor
configuration worked out for beta.
[chris] beta has gotta show
some sort of control movement
- or this fight's gonna be over.
-[referee] ten, nine...
[chris] the countdown is on!
[referee] ...Seven, six...
[kenny] amazing
aggression and control.
[chris] this is gonna be it!
The kids from wpi with the ko!
[cheering]
whoo!
[kenny] wow! Chris, I'm not sure
team beta knows what just happened.
[man] that's a powerful weapon.
[chris] david jin, he said,
"I don't take my foot off the gas,"
kenny.
[kenny] he did not at all.
He did exactly what he
needed to do to win this fight.
You know, we talk about the analogy
of rock, paper, scissors all the time.
This was just not a
good matchup for beta.
[chris] that's spinner on ribbot
didn't seem to be slowed
at all by the mullet armor.
[kenny] absolutely not.
But I don't think their
traditional configuration
would have fared any better,
given how strong ribbot looked.
They inflicted so much damage.
This second hit
popped beta's gas tank,
and once that was gone,
it was curtains for beta.
David jin. That worked out pretty well,
huh?
That worked out pretty well.
They actually put on an attachment
that we've never seen before.
So usually beta runs
a nice big wedge,
but this time they
tried a vertical surface,
and we weren't sure if
we'd be able to bite on it.
- Turns out we can.
- [chris laughs]
david, you were super
aggressive throughout this fight.
Did you fear that hammer at all?
To be honest,
I wasn't really thinking about it.
We did take a nasty
hit in the middle there,
so we're gonna definitely
have to check for damages.
But I knew from the beginning.
- We just got to go.
- Well, wait a second.
How do you not think about the most
lethal hammer that is at battlebots?
Because if you always think about
the hammer, you'll always drive in fear.
No fear here.
I love it.
All right, so,
before the season,
you said that last year,
your rookie year,
you gave yourself a b-plus grade
because you did not
make it to the round of 16.
You're now on
to the round of 16.
So what sort of grade
do you give yourselves?
Does that sound like an a, boys?
[all] yeah!
Uh, can you add the giant
nut to that report card?
Uh, yeah?
[all] yeah!
Okay,
there you go. There's the old college try.
David jin,
congratulations to you and team ribbot.
Thank you very much.
[audience cheering]
[chris] so with that upset win,
ribbot moves on
to the next round.
And would you look at this?
One boston area
school against another.
Mit's uppercut
squaring off
against wpi's ribbot.
We got ourselves
a beantown brawl.
Kenny,
it's your old stomping grounds.
[kenny] yeah,
I can't wait for that one.
Two groups of whiz kids,
some of the best young
minds in the sport going at it.
[chris] all right, coming up...
The action shifts to
group number one,
where marquee teams like gigabyte,
valkyrie,
and the number-one overall seed,
hydra,
will begin their
campaigns for the giant nut.
But it all kicks off with a
rematch one year in the making
as huge looks to exact some
revenge against whiplash.
The 2020 battlebots world
championship continues, next.
We are back on battlebots
as we continue on
with the round of 32.
The action in group
number four is complete,
and we now move on
to group number one,
where we have a clash
between the eight seed, whiplash,
and the 25 seed, huge.
[audience cheering]
the vasquez family has said that
anything less than the giant nut
would be a disappointment
for team whiplash.
On the other side of the box,
huge didn't even think
they would be in the tournament
after a disastrous 0-2 start,
but a late-season
victory over kraken
helped them sneak their way in.
With a new lease on life,
jonathan schultz thinks huge
could deliver a big surprise.
Our own jenny taft got the
inside scoop on the strategies
these teams will
be using tonight.
When it comes to
whiplash and huge,
this is a rematch from
the top 16 last year,
and it is a loss that jonathan and team
huge had spent hours thinking about.
They believe that they lost
because they were spinning upward
on team whiplash.
The strategy this season
is to go the other direction.
Matt vasquez told
me he needs to do
the exact same thing this time around,
just better.
Get up underneath huge and
then let the weapon go to work.
And he also has so
much more confidence
in the durability of his wheels.
[chris] thanks, jenny.
So if something didn't
work the first time around,
you can change it.
- Right, kenny?
- [kenny] exactly.
And that first fight with
the blades spinning upward,
it wasn't able to
do a lot of damage
because most of the hits
struck that armor on the front.
So, jonathan said he looked
back at what other bots
did against whiplash,
and he saw that sawblaze
was able to damage whiplash
by hitting down on them.
He'll try to do the same tonight
as he looks to pull
off a major upset.
Faruq, bring it on.
[cheering]
in the blue square,
from thousand oaks, california,
here to whip it all night,
it's whiplash!
[chris] it's number eight, whiplash,
and the entire vasquez family.
They've been to
the quarterfinals,
they've been to the semifinals.
There's only one
mountain left to climb.
Kenny,
what makes whiplash so good?
[kenny] well, you know, matt vasquez
was talking about the speed advantage
he's going to have over huge.
He loves the fact that they have way
better tires than they did last season,
and you'll notice their spinner is back,
chris.
[chris] ah,
welcome back, spinner.
In the red square from south windsor,
connecticut,
here to knock you back to
the pee-wee leagues, it's huge!
[chris] just one victory in the
qualifying rounds for the 25 seed, huge.
But that win made jonathan
schultz an entirely different man.
[kenny] that's right. Once he
made it into the postseason,
everything kind of went away.
This is a great
opportunity for this team.
[chris] so how is
huge performing?
[kenny] well, as they demonstrated
against kraken, that weapon
can deliver some monster
hits when it gets up to full speed.
They just need to hit
whiplash in the right spots.
[chris] yeah,
that vertical bar spinner
is about ten pounds
heavier than a season ago.
The thing about fighting
huge is you have to have armor
in a lot of places you
normally wouldn't have armor.
So we need to make sure
the top is very well-protected.
And we need to make
sure that I drive well enough
that they can't get
too many hits on it.
I think if we stay
underneath them,
no matter what weapon they use,
their weapon won't
be able to spin
and we can just chew up the
bottom of their robot with our spinner.
As long as we keep their weapon
from spinning, I think we'll be okay.
Whiplash is honestly
the biggest threat to us.
They're super maneuverable
and they can take the hits
if we're not all
the way spun up.
I'm not gonna have
ten or 12 seconds
to run around to get
my blade spun up.
So the faster it
can get spun up,
the more energy we can put
into them every time we hit them.
If the blade is spinning,
they can't get close enough to hurt us.
That what we're gonna
need to win the fight.
[audience cheering]
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[chris] pete,
we know the key for huge
is getting that blade
up to full speed.
What have they done to
make it as deadly as possible?
[pete] they actually
reduced their gear ratio,
so they're going to
get a lower top speed,
but they're going to
get a higher acceleration
and a little more
torque out of it.
So they should be spinning down
to make a nice,
hard attack on the top of whiplash.
[man] come on, whiplash!
- Let's go!
- [audience cheering]
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[chris] two teams looking
to move one step closer
to the giant nut.
Win and advance,
lose and it's game over.
- Let's do this. - Yeah!
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
And whiplash right on the attack
and going after that spinning bar,
kenny.
Oh, huge takes a chunk out of
whiplash with that front spinning blade.
Here comes whiplash.
Huge all over the place.
Wheels coming off the ground.
Matt vasquez on the attack.
Oh, yeah!
So far, that front spinning
strategy paying off for huge.
Able to land some nice
shots to the top of whiplash.
[kenny] but matt
vasquez not backing down.
[chris] oh, boy!
Huge got up on the screws.
That's a danger zone.
Earlier this season,
we saw mammoth throw huge
right out of the arena
and whiplash is trying
to do the same thing!
But jonathan schultz able to work
its way back into the center of the box.
[kenny] that vasquez,
just so precise,
so aggressive with his driving.
[chris] oh! And look at this!
Whiplash is willing to just take
the shots and stop the bar of huge!
And now, try to score some
points with that disc spinner.
[kenny] oh, yeah,
matt just wedging himself in close,
now chasing huge into the corner,
cutting off the angles here.
[chris] boy, whiplash has no fear
of sticking its nose right in that bar.
[kenny] there was some great
driving from jonathan schultz
to get away from whiplash there.
[chris] pretty remarkable job by huge
to actually get away from whiplash.
And whiplash...
-[kenny] oh.
-[chris] once again sticking its nose in there.
[kenny] but whiplash absorbed
that with the front wedge, chris.
- [chris] whoa!
- [kenny] nice shot by huge,
felt like that one got to
the weapon of whiplash.
But whiplash has been so
durable in this fight, chris,
just absorbing punishment
and driving right through it.
[chris] more than 90 seconds in,
huge's bar is fully functional
but whiplash has been able
to dictate where huge ends up.
[kenny] yeah,
this is just a classic whiplash flight.
It's a brawler.
[chris] now, whiplash getting
into the underbelly of huge.
Huge spinning that weapon up again,
and there is a big shot!
[kenny] that actually did some
damage to whiplash, I believe, chris.
[chris] but look at that,
whiplash's main weapon still going
and now they're trying
to take apart the wheels.
Matt vasquez still dictating
the pace of this fight
and showing off his
world-class control skills.
Forty seconds to go,
huge's weapon looks to be slowing down now,
but you couldn't say for sure,
as whiplash refuses to give
it the time it needs to spin up.
To both bots,
they've been aggressive,
they've landed
their share of shots,
but it's been the eighth seed,
whiplash,
that has controlled the
majority of this fight, kenny.
[kenny] that's right. This has
been a steady, tactical assault
by team whiplash,
and huge just hasn't been able
to land the knockout
shot they're looking for.
[chris] well, these bots are
gonna end up going the distance.
What an all-out brawl!
-Whiplash, sticking its face in there.
-[timer counting down]
huge dishing up some shots.
-[buzzer sounds] -[chris]
1-1 in the round of 32.
[audience cheering]
all right,
let's bring in our bot whisperer.
Pete, what'd you see?
[pete] "oh,
my god" is what I saw.
You know,
I love both these bots.
I wanna see both advance because
I want to see the chaos of huge
- in the 16...
-[chris] pete, enough kissing butt!
What did you see over there?
[pete] what I saw was,
I'm pretty sure this is whiplash's fight.
They had more control in this.
They probably had
bigger aggression points
and they definitely
got the damage.
If you look around the arena, there
are lots of small bits of huge everywhere.
[chris] good job, pete. I don't
mean to yell you, but let's go.
People need the truth.
Once again, the judges are
scoring on an 11-point system.
Up to five points can
be awarded for damage,
three for aggression
and three for control.
And your judges are all
former battlebots participants,
derek younger,
lisa winter and jason bardis.
Kenny, matty vasquez,
the driving skills
on full display.
[kenny] vintage whiplash. He wanted
to be positioned underneath huge,
and that's exactly where he was,
sticking his nose right into that
vertical blade to stop it from spinning.
That aggression will
play well with the judges.
[chris] however, when huge did get that
weapon spun up, it landed some nice shots.
[kenny] yeah,
I think that new spin direction
actually was effective
when the hits landed.
The problem was that
whiplash did such a good job
of limiting the number of times
they could get up to speed.
[chris] no doubt about
it. Outstanding control
as always by matty vasquez,
pushing huge
around the battlebox.
[kenny] absolutely. Even when
he couldn't get underneath huge,
he was still able
to dictate the action,
using the lifter when necessary
and in the most important category,
damage.
That spinner got in there
and chunked up those
wheels and a lot of that frame.
[chris] now let's go to faruq to see
who's moving on to the round of 16.
The results from
the judges are in.
We have a unanimous decision.
The winner is...
Whiplash!
[audience cheering]
[audience chanting]
whiplash! Whiplash! Whiplash!
Matt vasquez, you told us before the
fight you really weren't all that worried.
But did you end up being worried
because this one
went the distance?
I knew it would
100% go the distance.
I wasn't worried
before the fight
because I knew
we had a strategy.
But the second you step up here,
that totally changes.
My hands were shaking and I was just like,
let's get this over with.
[kenny] whiplash is a true brawler,
and this seemed like
a vintage performance
from you guys.
What was your strategy?
Our strategy against huge is
if you stay underneath them,
they can't spin,
so that was our goal for the fight.
If you're underneath them,
the bar can't spin all the way around.
So we tried to do that, but, I mean,
they were a great driver, this fight,
and they sort of kept
their wheels into me
and sort of blocked
me from doing that.
So that was kind of concerning.
They got their weapon
spun up quite a few times,
but the armor we put were great.
That was our
second line of defense
if I couldn't pull off
that driving strategy.
So, yeah, our plan worked,
and we're very happy.
[chris] sounds good.
Congratulations.
You're on to the round of 16.
Thank you.
[cheering]
so I guess matty
vasquez was right.
He had nothing to worry about, although
he admitted he got a little nervous
once the controllers
got in his hand.
Listen, huge is a great bot,
they're a great team.
There's some excellent
driving out there,
but the way they matched up, I mean,
he knew what he was talking about.
So jonathan schultz and huge
get knocked out of the tournament
by whiplash
for the second year in a row,
and the vasquez family
marches on to the round of 16.
They await the winner of our next fight,
valkyrie versus subzero.
That's coming up on battlebots.
We are back on battlebots,
and up next
it is the ninth seed, valkyrie,
taking on the 24th seed, subzero.
And let's start with leanne
cushing's robot, valkyrie.
A wonderful regular season,
and she's been doing her
homework for this matchup.
She went on social media and subzero's
page actually told the entire world
about how subzero is made,
what the components are.
So valkyrie could sit there
and figure out the strengths
and weaknesses of the robots.
So logan davis,
you have a little bit of work to do.
How does he now upend
somebody that knows exactly
what his bot is all about?
[kenny] well,
he's also been making adjustments.
He added a lot of armor to his bot
to protect against valkyrie's blade,
but because of the added weight,
he had to strip out
some of the compressed air
that he uses to power that lifter.
So he's going to have to be
selective about when he fires them.
Logan davis was super excited to get
subzero up and running the way he wanted.
He actually got a call from
the selection committee
that woke him out of bed to
find out he was in the postseason.
Let's see if he can now
answer the call tonight.
Faruq, do your thing.
In the blue square,
she's the first viking of robot fighting,
it's valkyrie.
[audience cheering]
[chris] the ninth seed, valkyrie,
an outstanding season,
their lone loss was to whiplash.
First thing you always notice about them,
kenny, weapon choice.
[kenny] that's right.
There is dr. Teeth.
That is a menacing blade
right there from valkyrie.
[chris] leanne said it can hit
with the power of a bar spinner
without sacrificing the
reach they get with a disc.
[cheering]
in the red square,
from irving, texas,
everything's bigger there,
even the wins.
It's subzero.
[audience cheering]
[chris] number 24,
subzero looking for an upset.
What's new with the bot for this fight,
kenny?
[kenny] well, they've added a
new titanium wedge on the back.
That's part of the extra armor that logan
is using to counteract valkyrie's disc,
and then additional heavy armor
up front to help protect the wheels.
So I think the sides of subzero
are going to be prime for us.
Their wheels are out
with a fair amount of gaps.
So we're gonna be able to pull
that off probably pretty easily.
And then right through there, that
side panel is about an eighth-inch thick.
So if we gnaw away at that, we're
hopefully gonna be able to disable it.
I'm gonna need to corral
and get them out of the arena
before they can tear me up.
There's really not much area for
us to touch that isn't their blade.
I've got to be very,
very careful
to keep my armor pointed at
them and take those hits there.
If they're able to scoot
around to the side, we're done.
[audience cheering]
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[audience cheering]
[chris] neither of these
bots has ever made it
to the round of 16,
but that is about to change.
[audience cheering]
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[chris] valkyrie, subzero,
winner will meet whiplash.
We got this. Let's do it.
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
Subzero leading
with a new wedge.
Valkyrie testing it.
Uh-oh. And again, oh!
- Wow!
- [kenny] oh, my goodness.
[chris] subzero launches
valkyrie against the glass,
valkyrie luck to
make it out alive.
But can it recover?
[kenny] subzero
keeping the pressure on,
forcing the action
with its wedge.
[chris] now valkyrie
chewing at that armor.
And, oh,
subzero shows its front side
and valkyrie lands a clean,
clean shot.
[kenny] uh-oh,
I think that part of the flipper
might be compromised on subzero.
[chris] oh,
valkyrie on the comeback trail.
- [kenny] oh!
- [chris] another one.
[indistinct]
I'm rolling it back,
don't worry about it.
[chris] what a shot. That
titanium plate of armor
is bent completely
off on subzero.
[chris] can subzero find
a way to stay alive here?
Valkyrie freaking
out of control!
[commentators exclaim]
[kenny] what a
comeback shot by subzero.
[chris] holy smokes!
A huge part of
subzero just came off.
[kenny] this is like a world
championship heavyweight boxing fight.
[chris] valkyrie trying to
clean up the floor a little bit.
Subzero's having
driving issues now.
[kenny] is valkyrie
gonna go in for the kill?
[chris] it goes in
for a little love tap.
Yes, subzero just cannot move.
It's inching. That is not going to be
good enough in the referee's eyes.
The countdown
must be starting soon.
Like, now!
Nine, eight, seven...
That was a great fight,
man. We took a lot of hits there.
[chris] the unbelievable
run of subzero is over
as valkyrie finally
reaches round of 16.
[buzzer sounds]
[audience cheering]
[chris] kenny, subzero looked like it was
shot out of a cannon to start this fight.
Logan davis,
he was not messing around.
[kenny] oh, my goodness.
He drove valkyrie
straight into the screws.
Popped them into the air.
This thing could have
been over after one hit.
[chris] no question.
A lot of bots,
they wouldn't have survived that exchange,
but valkyrie managed to get back on
its feet and then go into attack mode.
[kenny] yeah,
that disc was unrelenting
as valkyrie continued
to strike from all angles.
But I was so impressed
at subzero's ability
to withstand a
lot of those hits.
[chris] and the durability
of valkyrie as well,
it is a big difference
from seasons past.
[kenny] last season,
have a couple really big shots.
But if it didn't knock
you out after two or three,
valkyrie would
basically be destroyed.
That is not the case
this time around.
This bot has improved so much.
[audience cheering]
[chris] leanne cushing.
Welcome to the round of 16.
Finally!
Yeah, wow.
Leanne,
that was a back-and-forth war.
Talk us through that fight.
So, we obviously knew
that one of the strategies
for going against valkyrie,
before we can fully spin up is to rush us.
So we tried not to
let them get to us.
That's why we pivoted over.
And then it was just a matter of,
like, staying in the center,
not getting cornered,
hitting as much as possible.
What makes valkyrie
so durable this year?
I honestly think
that it's the luck...
We've now had over ten matches
in our whole entire career,
and I think that's it's the multiple...
Having the iteration
and learning more and more every time,
lose or win.
We learn so much,
and it really helps with making
a bigger and better design.
Congratulations.
Welcome to the round of 16.
- Thank you. - [cheering]
[chris] leanne cushing and team
valkyrie with a well-earned celebration
after finally breaking
into the top 16,
setting up a rematch
with whiplash.
That should be a ton of fun.
[kenny] these two bots
went the full three minutes
in whiplash's win
earlier this season.
Now valkyrie gets a
chance to turn the tables.
[chris] but coming up,
one of the season's biggest surprises,
the rookie bot malice
takes on gigabyte.
That's next on battlebots.
We are back on battlebots,
and up next,
it's a matchup between
two bots making their
tournament debuts...
Malice and gigabyte.
Let's turn our attention to
bunny sauriol's bot malice,
an outstanding
regular season for them.
She told us she was so excited
not only to make it to the round of 32,
but to have a great seeding,
16th overall.
Then she saw that
she drew gigabyte.
She was like,
"this is a terrible matchup for us. Why?"
yeah, you know,
she was so happy just to be here.
Then to make it to the 32,
she feels like she's
accomplished a huge goal
as a female captain
here at battlebots.
But, yeah,
she does not like this matchup,
and it's because of the
angle of gigabytes shell.
She's worried that it will get
underneath her horizontal spinner
and prevent them from getting any
kind of meaningful force behind their hits.
They're not sure how
this is gonna go down.
They're not confident anymore.
So when you talk about john mladenik's bot,
next by gigabyte,
it's a full body spinner, it displaces
so much energy inside the battlebox.
Is that malice's
best shot at victory?
[kenny] absolutely.
They have to allow
that full body spinner
to really destroy itself.
We keep saying that
throughout the season,
but that's just the way you got
to approach a full body spinner.
So, of course,
bunny wants to win the fight,
not only to move
on to the round of 16,
but also to hold on to
some bragging rights.
Her best friend ever since they were
little girls, thy, is on team gigabyte.
Let's see how it goes.
Faruq, take it away.
In the blue square,
from san jose, california,
she's one bad bunny,
it's malice!
[audience cheering]
[chris] oh, yeah, team malice.
A 2-1 season,
they check in as the 16th seed.
Kenny, how effective will that
weapon be against gigabyte?
[kenny] well, bunny's just not
sure. They could be in major trouble
if the angle of gigabyte's shell
gets underneath their weapon.
We will soon find out.
[faruq] in the red square,
from oceanside, california,
about to clear your hard drive,
it's gigabyte!
[audience cheering]
[chris] so there is the 17th seed,
gigabyte,
after ending the qualifying
rounds with back-to-back wins.
Captain john mladenik told
us his bot is indeed primed
for a deep tournament run.
[kenny] one thing that makes
gigabyte so fun to watch,
all three of their fights this
season ended by ko, chris.
They're either gonna smash you to bits
or they're going to do it to themselves.
Our strategy to
take out a gigabyte
is to hit them as hard as we
can before they get spun up.
We are faster in our spin-up
time than gigabyte is on theirs.
So we should be able to box-rush them,
hit them
and hopefully crack their shell or
get them to stop spinning before we do.
We're going to fight a really tough robot,
malice.
It's going to be the same
strategy as the last two fights
as we got to get up to speed and
these guys don't have a wedge anyway.
So it's a weapon to weapon,
horizontal against horizontal,
and the better
weapon is going to win.
They're so solid and we're so solid now,
neither of us break.
So I think it's gonna go
three minutes of big hits.
[audience cheering]
they're all talk and no bite.
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
Here comes malice,
looking to mix it up.
There's a few sparks.
[kenny] you see, right away,
this is what bunny was worried about,
gigabyte is going to
dominate the low ground.
So malice is going to have to
look for another strategy here
and be very patient.
Oh! There's a nice
shot by gigabyte.
[chris] but, kenny, when you're talking
about damage in your primary weapon,
what other strategy
can malice take?
[kenny] jeez, I don't know.
They might try to drive
up over the top of gigabyte
or try to get it over towards
the sides of the battlebox,
wait for a mistake, perhaps.
[chris] look at the pounding
that malice continues...
Like they're flying across the battlebox,
kenny.
[kenny] this is an incredibly sturdy bot,
they may be thinking
they need to wear gigabyte down,
see if they can use
its energy against itself.
[chris] just little
chip by chip.
- And gigabyte biding its time.
- [kenny] oh.
[chris] some serious damage.
[kenny] john mladenik doing a good job of
keeping gigabyte in the center of the box.
[chris] malice, though, going face-first,
said, "I don't mind the big shots.
I'll take 'em."
[kenny] those shots might be
taking their toll, though, chris.
[chris] yep, they are.
There's no question, oh!
There is a big hit,
the biggest one of the match.
He lost a wheel, didn't he?
[chris] uh-oh.
And gigabyte now trying
to attack the tires of malice,
and malice severely
compromised now.
Trying to stay alive
against the full body spinner.
There's 90 seconds to go.
Can bunny sauriol's team
find a way to hang on here?
[kenny] uh-oh. I think
gigabyte realizes malice
is about to get
knocked out here.
[chris] yeah, gigabyte might
be going in for the kill. Oh!
[kenny] that might've
been the kill shot.
Bot parts everywhere,
getting flung over by us.
[chris] malice has to show
some sort control of movement
or the referee will
begin a countdown.
Gigabyte has malice
pinned near the rails.
[commentators exclaim]
[kenny] this is
what they wanted.
Gigabyte's still moving, though.
That was a risky move.
[chris] that might have been
the best chance for malice
as gigabyte would
have done in itself.
But no, gigabyte's still moving,
still functioning.
Malice, just kind of the
drunk stumble at this point.
Just hang in there.
Bunny sauriol not ready to
throw in the towel just yet.
[referee] ten, nine...
[chris] but the ref
has other ideas.
-He has seen enough. Malice...
-...Seven, six...
[chris] ...Receiving
its last rites.
Gigabyte is going to
move on to the round of 16.
Malice is knocked out!
[audience cheering]
whoo!
[indistinct chatter]
[cheering]
[chris] kenny,
I guess you gotta give malice some credit
for trying to get in there and,
you know, have gigabyte
destroy itself at some point,
it just never happened.
[kenny] yeah, you know,
they were attempting to try to
chip away at gigabyte as well.
They realize that attacking straight
on was not going to be effective.
So they tried to get creative,
trying to drive over them
and nearly got a hit
on the self-righter here.
But again,
just a bad matchup for them, chris.
[chris] and then here is the shot
that pretty much ended it all for malice.
Just had it stumbling
around the box.
After that, gigabyte gets a ko
and a date in the round of 16.
John mladenik is all smiles,
knowing gigabytes
journey will continue.
And he will now meet the winner
of our final fight in the evening.
It is the number-one overall seed,
hydra,
looking to unleash
that fearsome flipper
against will bales
and hypershock.
That's coming up
next on battlebots.
[jenny] with 32 teams
in the field this season,
the 2020 battlebots championship
tournament will be a war of attrition.
[jeff] they did a lot of
damage to that wedge,
so we're gonna have to
spend all of our time fixing that
and getting it
ready to go again.
[jenny] it'll take five wins in
a row to hoist the giant nut,
and the ability to repair and
rebuild your bot in between matches
is more important than ever.
Doesn't sound good at all.
[indistinct chatter]
the job does not stop.
[jenny] thanks to the
experts at lincoln electric,
this year's builders have access
to state-of-the-art
welding equipment
right on site in the pits,
meaning they have the support
they need to get their robots
into fighting shape
as quickly as possible.
Lincoln electric welded some
extra little things on our shell
to deal with robots.
And their welds are perfect.
[jenny] good luck to all the
builders in this year's tournament,
and may the best bot win.
[audience cheering]
all right,
the round of 32 continues.
Seven robots have already smashed
and spun their way into the round of 16,
but we have saved
the best for last.
The number-one overall seed,
hydra,
taking on number 32, hypershock.
Kenny,
why is hydra the top team this year?
[kenny] it's pretty simple,
chris.
They fought great teams,
and they beat great teams.
Oh! Beautiful timing by hydra!
They're dominating
this fight right now.
A perfect 3-0 record against a
murderer's row of witch doctor,
huge and uppercut.
They are battle-tested,
and they are hungry.
[chris] and builder
jake ewert told us
he'd like to put an end to what
he called the whyachi curse.
Since battlebots
returned in 2015,
no whyachi robot has ever made it
out of the first round of the tournament.
Last time around,
they were knocked out by minotaur.
That's a knockout!
[chris] this indeed the year?
[kenny] well,
the guys on the other side of the box
might have something
to say about that.
Hypershock has a little curse of
their own they would like to break.
Will bales and company have
never advanced to the round of 16.
They faced a brutal
schedule this season,
so going up against
hydra will not faze them.
This is gonna be a tasty one. Faruq,
take it away.
[cheering]
in the blue square,
the number-one seed.
He beat every bot
on the schedule,
and had opponents
bouncing off the walls
like they just
pounded some red bull.
His launch is so good,
you might start in the battlebox,
but take one hit and
end up in the parking lot.
It's hydra!
[audience cheering]
[chris] interesting note, kenny.
A season ago,
hydra fought five times,
all of them involved knockouts.
Three regular season
fights this season
all went to the
judge's scorecard.
Are we seeing a different hydra?
[kenny] you know, to me it
indicates we're seeing a smarter team,
better driving,
and a more durable bot.
[chris] unquestionably, it has
become the premier flipper in this sport.
[kenny] absolutely. And despite
him saying that it's his match to lose,
it looks like jake isn't
feeling any of that pressure.
He's having a great time.
[cheering]
[faruq] in the red square...
Enjoy this moment.
I'm not sure you'll
be living later
when this bot shocks
you like a defibrillator.
He's been on battlebots
for five seasons,
hoping this is the year when
his opponents get sent to the er,
with the doc yelling, "clear!"
it's hypershock!
[audience cheering]
[chris] after a 1-2
mark in the qualifiers,
hypershock snuck into the
tournament as the number-32 seed.
They were the
last team to get in,
and they have a tall task in front
of them to make it to the round of 16
for the first time.
[chuckles] and would you look at this,
kenny?
Will bales tinkering with that
thing until the very last second.
Are you kidding me?
This guy never stops.
[kenny] he said he didn't like those
wedges for a couple different reasons.
He doesn't wanna get
stuck on the battlebox floor.
He thought he was scraping a little
bit too much in his previous fights.
That's also gonna make it
a little bit more challenging
for hydra to get
underneath it and flip it.
My strategy against hypershock
is I want him on his wheels.
He's more dangerous
when he's upside down.
So if I flip him, I'm gonna wait
for him to use the self-righter,
get back over,
and then I'm gonna flip him again.
I don't want to come after
him when he's upside down,
or he can use his weapon
and just climb me with it,
and then start putting holes in the
top of my shell, which I don't want.
He's a lot more
dangerous upside down.
It's a driving match, 100%.
Jake is smart, jake is patient.
He'll just sit there and wait and
wait and wait. And I'll run up to him,
and if I'm not careful, he'll...
Even if I'm up against his side,
he'll just do a little bit of a turn
and go... Bink. And I'm down, so...
Or up. Like, very up.
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[chris] well, now that hydra has
seen the configuration of hypershock,
kenny, do you think the
strategy has changed at all?
[kenny] I imagine jake
was eyeing those wedges
as nice,
big targets for his flipper.
But even without them, I think the
basic strategy remains the same.
[chris] well,
there you get another look at hypershock.
Does will bales finally
have his store in order?
[kenny] it's a real treat when you see him
at his best when he's driving hypershock.
And typically that happens
when he's being very aggressive.
But tonight, he said, "I need to
be patient if I want to win this one."
[audience cheering]
[automated voice] blue team,
ready?
I'm coming. I'm coming for you,
will.
[automated voice] red team,
ready?
[audience cheering]
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
Be patient.
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
Hydra a little slow
out of the gate.
Oh, just misses a flip.
But there's a little mini
flyer for hypershock.
Oh. And again,
hypershock trying to get its footing.
Oh, boy. Dangerous trying
to climb on top of hydra
[kenny] yeah, but a nice shot
landed there by hypershock, chris.
Will's trying to find just
the right angle to attack
without exposing
hypershock to that flipper.
Trying to thread
the needle here.
[chris] he's got him
in the spin cycle.
[kenny] yeah, hypershock
literally driving circles around hydra.
[chris] what a
shot by will bales!
- Wow! - [kenny] my goodness!
[chris] nice return of serve
by hydra and jake ewert.
[kenny] now hydra
believes that hypershock
will still be very
dangerous in this position
if that weapon can
still stay spinning.
Do not burn up the drive.
[kenny] but it's not
spinning right now.
[chris] oh! Look at that!
And he sticks the landing.
Hydra may have done
hypershock a favor there.
[kenny] get a little high
with the help of his friends.
What a flip by
hydra. Unbelievable.
But hypershock like a cat.
[chris] meow! It
lands on all fours.
[kenny] there is some damage
to the corner of hydra right now,
and I believe one of the belts
off of hypershock just came off.
[chris] yeah, it looks like it's
having a little trouble driving,
in part because it keeps
flying through the air.
And now it's trying to
drive it... This is dangerous.
Oh, hydra almost got
hypershock out of the arena.
[kenny] yeah, almost did the exactly
same thing that end game did to hypershock.
[chris] holy smokes.
[kenny] hydra now
really going on the attack,
and hypershock struggling there.
[chris] will bales digging deep,
trying to find a way
to get back into this.
Oh! Hydra with another flip!
Hypershock up on the screws.
Can he get him out of the arena?
Hey, will,
you ready for this, buddy?
Take it apart.
[kenny] hydra looks like he's...
What a shot!
Unbelievable, again!
Hypershock still hanging
in there. My goodness.
Showing a lot of toughness.
We are under a minute
to go in this 1-32 matchup.
Hypershock up on the
screws. This is trouble.
Put an end to this madness.
Can will bales get off of there?
Of course,
those screws will reverse.
[audience cheering]
[kenny] that's some serious
airtime. What a shot by hydra.
[chris] hypershock now
officially an astronaut.
[kenny] this reminds me of bronco
versus stinger, but without the fire.
[chris] what a performance!
And it looks like hypershock is
starting to smoke just a tad bit.
Oh! Look at this. Bang!
The pulverizer tried to do some
damage in the last 20 seconds.
[all cheering]
[kenny] and it's good!
[chris] hydra has booted
hypershock out of the arena!
- Three, two, one!
- [kenny] whoa.
[chris] thirteen
major flips by hydra
en route to the ko
with two seconds to go.
What a performance
by the top seed.
[chris] kenny,
while you do these replays,
I want to remind you to
please fasten your seat belt.
[kenny] oh, man.
This was one of the most
dominant flipper performances
we have ever seen on battlebots.
And again, you know,
for people watching at home,
this is a 250-pound bot that's being
thrown around like a piece of candy.
So impressed with hydra.
[chris] and pete,
explain to people at home
because it looks like that
flipper isn't even that enormous
to do this sort of power.
[pete] it is not. It is a very
thin little piece of titanium
that is just getting
in the right spot.
And with the snap
that they've got
with the valve control
underneath there,
it just produces
power that is so high,
sends these bots flying.
[kenny] and let's give some
credit to hypershock, too.
There are not a lot
of bots sturdy enough
to withstand 13 colossal flips
and keep driving
till the very end.
Both of these teams put
on an incredible show.
[chris] jake ewert.
Jake ewert, hydra has some serious hops,
don't you think?
Uh,
it's got a little bit more of this time.
We had a sticky valve
in all the rest of the fights,
so we swapped out everything.
We put new hydraulic fluid in,
so we were ready for this one.
Jake,
that was a campaign of carnage.
My goodness. Can you
take us through the fight?
I mean, right off the bat,
I see this weapon working,
and he was actually
starting to hit me,
so I was getting
a little afraid there.
But, I mean,
once I got him tipped over
and I seen the weapon was dead,
it's just free game then.
Did it throw off your game plan
when he removed those
front wedges off of hypershock?
No, I don't care what they put on
that crap. I'm still gonna flip him.
[chuckles] do you have
any idea how many times
you got hypershock in the air?
I think was eight, maybe.
- Try 13, man.
- Oh, that's better yet.
And less misses is even better.
And you said there
was a little bit of a curse,
and you're a little
bit nervous about
maybe getting ousted
in the first round.
Uh-huh. We finally broke the
whyachi curse. That is right.
We made it out of the first
round in any tournament.
So, I mean,
maybe it's giant nut time, right?
Well, I know that that's the
biggest prize for you and your family.
Congratulations, as you now
successfully move on to the round of 16.
Thanks, guys.
[audience cheering]
[chris] so,
hydra snaps the whyachi curse
and advances to
the second round,
where they will square
off against gigabyte, kenny.
[kenny] a total
contrast of styles.
It will be fascinating to
see whether hydra's flipper
can get underneath
that full body spinner.
[chris] and what a start to
the round of 32 we had tonight.
We saw eight bots punch
their tickets to the next round.
Big names like
hydra and tombstone,
but also some low-seeded
surprises like ribbot.
[kenny] what a night,
chris. We got some spectacular fights,
and we're still only halfway
done with the first round.
[chris] that's right. Next time,
we're gonna dive head-first
into the other
side of the bracket.
What jumps off the page to you,
kenny?
[kenny] well,
I can't wait to see what bloodsport can do
after going undefeated
in the qualifying rounds.
And I really like the
fight between skorpios
and last year's runner-up,
witch doctor,
hoping to recapture
their old magic
after looking shaky
in the qualifiers.
I'm also watching
out for copperhead.
Zach goff has
dreams of the giant nut
after earning the
number-three seed,
but he faces a
tricky matchup there
against ricky willems
and mammoth.
[chris] a full slate of
explosive matchups
heading your way
as we move closer
to crowning the 2020
battlebots world champion.
For jenny taft and faruq
and our bot whisperer, pete,
and my man kenny florian,
I am chris rose.
We'll see you next time as
we complete the round of 32.
Think you have what it takes to be
the next battlebots world champion?
Go to... [reading]
add find out how to join in
on the action.
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
...The 2020 battlebots world
championship tournament begins.
This is gonna be a good one.
[chris] oh! This is trouble.
[faruq] after a punishing
season of destruction...
- [chris] oh, my goodness.
- [kenny] my gosh.
...Only the top 32 bots remain.
[chris] oh, my god,
it got thrown out of the arena!
[laughing hysterically]
[faruq] but in a
wide open field...
[yells]
...Danger lurks
in every corner...
[chris] oh!
...And every fight
could be your last.
[chris] let the world
championship tournament begin.
[commentators] oh!
Back off!
[commentators] oh!
[faruq] the only
way to survive...
[chris] wow.
[yelling]
...Destroy everything
in... Your... Path.
Yeah!
[faruq] who will claim the
ultimate prize in robot combat?
The battle for
immortality begins...
- Oh! - Okay, how you doing?
...Now.
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[cheering]
[chris] welcome to the 2020 battlebots
world championship tournament.
Now, for some of our builders,
this is a dream literally
decades in the making.
Every one of them
has sacrificed so much,
and it all comes down to this.
[kenny] this has been a
season unlike any other,
from shocking upsets of some of the
most legendary names in the sport...
[chris] end game has
done the unthinkable.
[kenny] ... To
the thrilling rise
of the next generation
of champion.
[chris] an amazing
performance by hydra.
[chris] the 32 most impressive
bots earned a spot in the tournament,
and they have been seeded based on their
performances in the qualifying rounds.
And all of them are here
with the same mission in mind,
to kick the living
scrap out of each other
and make it all the
way to the finals.
But to get there,
they have to win tonight, full stop.
We're talking
single elimination.
If a team loses,
they're headed back home
with broken parts
and broken hearts.
If they win,
they're only four fights away
from taking home the giant nut.
[chris] and there she is,
the most coveted prize
in all of robot combat.
So let's take a closer
look at our bracket.
It's broken down into
four quadrants or groups,
each headlined by one
of our top four seeds,
hydra, bloodsport,
copperhead and uppercut.
Tonight we're focusing on groups
one and four, featuring eight epic fights
for some of the biggest
names in the sport.
We'll break down the
matchups as we go,
but kenny,
it only feels right to kick things off
with the biggest
name of them all...
Ray billings and the
legendary tombstone.
[kenny] tombstone is the only
previous champion in this year's field.
But ray is actually the
lower seed in this fight.
That's because martin mason is having
the season of his life with madcatter.
The cat is undefeated and looking to
stick its claws into the 2017 world champ.
[chris] yeah, martin's wins have
been as big as his personality,
but only a fool would underestimate
ray billings and tombstone.
This one should be electric.
Let's find out who's moving
on to the next round right now.
Faruq, take it away.
[cheering]
ladies and gentlemen,
are you ready?
It's robot-fighting time!
[cheering]
in the blue square,
here, kitty, kitty.
Be careful who
you're cat-calling.
When these claws come out,
prepare for the mauling.
After he kills you,
your season will be done,
because this cat has nine lives
but you only have one.
It's madcatter.
[audience cheering]
[chris] martin
mason and madcatter
coming in as the 12 seed after
dominating the qualifying rounds.
How did he get rewarded?
Oh, just a little matchup with
one of the baddest bots in history.
[kenny] well,
if you want to contend for the crown,
you have to slay some
giants along the way.
And if you know anything
about martin mason,
you know he's not
afraid to take on anybody.
They took apart and
inspected every piece of this bot
to make sure they are in perfect
shape to take on tombstone.
[all cheering]
[man] looking good, madcatter.
In the red square,
one of the greatest of all time.
They call him the goat.
His horizontal spinner
will straight cut your throat.
The home-run hitter that'll
knock you out the park,
leaving you battered,
bruised and left in the dark.
It's the living legend,
tombstone.
[audience cheering]
[chris] tombstone dropped all
the the way to the 21st seed,
thanks to that disappointing
one-in-two record.
But I don't care
what the record says,
I would still be afraid of 'em.
[kenny] yeah, and ray even told us,
"look, there's not a single person
back there in the pits who
wants to go up against us."
that's the kind of fear
this bot strikes in people.
[chris] what's the blade of choice,
kenny?
[kenny] oh,
he's going with a new blade, actually.
It's an ar500 steel blade
that weighs 72 pounds.
-[chris whoops] -[kenny] he
says that heavier bar is tougher
and can better withstand collisions
with a sturdy bot like madcatter.
[man] tombstone!
My strategy is to start
sucking a little less,
and maybe, you know,
turn up the kick-ass a little bit.
I will not feel bad at all about
sending madcatter down.
So that's what we're
looking forward to is,
you know, mad over here,
catter over here.
We're gonna scatter
it all over the place.
Let me tell you
what's gonna happen.
Tombstone is gonna
be in another time zone.
That's what's gonna happen,
all right?
You're gonna see them up in the air,
spinning around.
You're not gonna
know where they are.
It's gonna be us all the way.
We're gonna have a tea party
and we're serving tomb scones.
[audience cheering]
let's get us some cat.
[ray chuckling]
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[audience cheering]
[chris] kenny,
after getting knocked out this season
by end game and skorpios,
do you think tombstone's
shaking at all?
[kenny] I don't. You know, he really considers
battlebots to be two separate stages.
There's the qualifying rounds,
and then the season truly starts here
in the championship tournament.
He feels like he
has a clean slate,
and he's very confident
about his chances.
[chris] let's check in
with our bot whisperer.
Pete,
madcatter have any shot here?
Well, you know, madcatter has
taken a playbook out of bite force
by going with a
36-pound disc as well as...
They're spinning only about
a 125 mile-an-hour tip speed.
The interest here is
not to be super-fast,
but to have a continuous
punch and not slow down.
That's what they're looking for.
[chris] and one thing
to always watch out for
when tombstone is in the box,
they hit with such high
energy and such force,
sometimes they do themselves in.
[audience cheering and whooping]
[man] tombstone!
[automated voice] blue team,
ready?
[slamming]
[automated voice] red team,
ready?
[audience whooping]
[breathes deeply]
[chris] here we go.
The opening fight of the battlebots
world championship tournament.
Can tombstone right the ship
and make another run at a title?
Or will madcatter
continue their hot streak
and send the former
champion to an early exit?
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the world
championship tournament begin.
[chris] yeah,
that weapon of tombstone... whoa!
There's a big shot
that madcatter takes.
[kenny] madcatter's got to
be careful with those wheels
on the back side of that bot,
chris.
[chris] whoa!
Huge hit! There was already
some shrapnel in there.
And another shot to the
front wedge of madcatter.
[kenny] yeah,
madcatter is having some drive issues
and I think their weapon
might be down now.
[chris] oh! Tombstone takes a
chunk of armor off the madcatter.
Oh,
but here's madcatter with a countershot.
And tombstone goes wide.
Can ray billings recover?
Lands a shot there.
[kenny] there goes some armor off
the madcatter. That wheel is exposed.
-[chris] oh! Tombstone, face-first...
-[kenny] oh!
[chris] face-first into
madcatter's wedge!
Oh!
[kenny] some of
these hits are so epic.
Madcatter struggling out there.
[chris] yeah,
it's going in circles right now.
If it shows no controlled movement,
that's a problem.
Oh, ray trying to end
this fight. He can smell it.
[kenny] he's got to be careful as
they get close to those screws, though.
Madcatter, I'm not seeing controlled
movement, I'm seeing circles.
[chris] madcatter gets
a warning from the ref.
[kenny] tombstone may want
to think about backing off here.
[crashing]
[commentators] whoa!
[chris] ray gets
itself into the screws.
That is such dangerous
territory for tombstone.
Oh! More armor gets
thrown into the lighting grid.
[kenny] oh,
I think that's gonna be it for madcatter.
I think they've had enough,
chris.
[man] going, going, going.
-[chris] well, look at this. Madcatter is
actually moving, -[kenny] still moving.
[chris] uh, like an old lady
across the street, but it's moving.
- [kenny laughs] - [chris] excuse me,
miss?
- Are you in need of some assistance here?
- Very polite of you, chris.
Oh, man.
[chris] tombstone
just circling its prey.
- Now madcatter hasn't moved, and the countdown is starting.
-[referee] ten, nine...
[chris] ray going in for
one last shot at the wheels,
-and tombstone is going to move on to the round of 16.
-[referee counting]
[buzzer sounds]
[ray] we got it.
[martin] nicely done, guys.
[chris] well, they say there's
more than one way to skin a cat.
But I think ray billings may
have just shown us all of them.
[laughing]
[chris] well, that brand-new blade
of tombstone worked out a-okay.
[kenny] yeah, it sure did.
It's a tougher material
that is less likely to snap.
And you could see how well
it held up against madcatter,
just ripping along the sides of
the bot and tearing off pieces.
Madcatter got in
some good licks as well,
but tombstone looks like it
has figured things out, chris.
[chris] what did you think
of madcatter's approach?
Did you see any
strategic issues here?
[kenny] you know, I think they
might have tried to get a little too cute.
Instead of going head on with that
wedge to attack tombstone's weapon
and send them flying,
madcatter tried to get
around to those wheels,
and that left them exposed
to some devastating hits.
[chris] yeah,
you see in the last few shots,
and madcatter kept plowing
away and plowing away,
but eventually rolling
around in circles
en route to the
end of its season.
[audience cheering and whooping]
[whoops] all right.
Ray billings, we did not see a ton
of smiles during the regular season,
but you told us the
playoffs is a different game.
Everybody starts out
0-0 at this point in time.
So, uh, tombstone's back,
we're ready to keep going.
Ray,
right before the fight started,
our cameras caught you with
this enormous grin on your face.
-Did you know something the rest of us did not?
-[ray laughs]
dude, I love this sport.
This is the best thing in the world to me,
is to get out there.
When I got that
control in my hand,
it doesn't get better than that.
Ray, there were a lot of great
exchanges between both of you guys.
Can you take us
through the fight?
Well,
yeah. It's a very solid machine.
It's got a lot of, you know,
ar plate up front for me to hit.
So it's a well-built machine.
Um, I gave a pretty good exchange
to one of the screws in there, too.
So, you know, I'm kind of beating
up the arena and the other guy.
Ray, keep smiling,
man. You're on to the round of 16.
All right. Sounds
good. Thank you.
[audience cheering]
[chris] so tombstone becomes the first
team to punch its ticket to the next round.
Ray billings will await the winner
of black dragon versus slammow!
But coming up,
it's hard hits versus a bag of tricks
as uppercut faces
off against hijinx.
That's next on battlebots.
[audience cheering]
[chris] welcome
back to battlebots.
The world championship
tournament is officially underway
after tombstone
declawed madcatter
to advance to the round of 16.
We'll know their next
opponent by the end of the night,
but right now the action
continues in group four,
as the 29th seed, hijinx takes on
the fourth overall seed, uppercut.
And alex hattori is feeling
great about his robot,
even though they suffered a
loss in the regular season finale.
Why's that?
[kenny] well, he's feeling confident
because this is a bot on the rise.
And, yes, they lost to hydra,
but these guys were
rookies just one year ago,
and now they're one of the top-ranked
teams in the whole tournament.
Uppercut has all the things you
look for in a championship bot.
It's dangerous, it's repairable,
and it's reliable.
[chris] and tonight,
they're taking on a rookie bot, hijinx,
captained by jen herchenroeder.
They're 2-1, but they didn't face
any tournament teams, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, uppercut will be by far the
toughest opponent they've fought this year.
But when jen split away
from her former team, skorpios,
it was for
opportunities like this,
to build a bot that could win
these big tournament fights.
[chris] can hijinx
deliver a major upset?
Faruq, it's all you.
In the blue square,
from cambridge, massachusetts,
you can duck, bob and weave,
but you can't get away from uppercut.
[audience cheering]
[chris] the number four seed,
alex hattori and uppercut hailing from mit.
Last year, this squad, in its first
season in battlebots competition,
surprisingly made
it to the top 16.
What do they got
working on the weaponry?
[kenny] well, it's that vertical
bar that was so devastating
in their win over sawblaze.
It's hard to contend
with because it spins up
in less than two seconds, with a
tip speed of about 180 miles an hour.
So any impact can
be absolutely crushing.
In the red square,
from oakland, california,
about to jinx your chance at winning,
it's hijinx.
[audience cheering]
[chris] here's the 29th seed,
hijinx,
led by jen herchenroeder,
who was previously a
member of team skorpios
since 2016.
She made the point that
uppercut ended skorpios'
run a season ago.
She's out for a little revenge
as the captain of a new squad.
[kenny] that's right. She
was with skorpios last year
when they lost to uppercut,
so she has seen firsthand
how dangerous uppercut can be.
But having that experience
in terms of facing alex hattori,
seeing what he likes to do
could be an advantage.
[man 1] go hijinx!
[man 2] you got this, hijinx!
[audience cheering]
hijinx has a really big spinner,
so they could hit us anywhere,
but hopefully we
can keep the front
of the robot pointed
towards them.
Like, our blade is one of the
strongest parts of our robot.
So,
hopefully that'll stand up to that.
Our strategy is to spin
up and hit something.
It's just really awesome to
be considered in the top 32.
We thought we were
building a sort of funny robot,
and it turns out
it's a little more
scary than we thought.
This is gonna be a hard fight,
and we have to be
really specific about
when we make hits
and not stop for any reason.
We have to be
precise and relentless.
Every hit is going to count.
Uppercut packs a lot of damage,
and it's very maneuverable
on two wheels.
This is not a joke robot.
This is one to
absolutely take seriously.
[audience cheering]
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[chris] let's bring in our bot whisperer,
pete.
Did hijinx make any kind
of adjustments for this fight?
[pete] uh,
they're going with the shorter bar
so they can spin up faster.
Now,
one of the things that jen had told me,
that they had designed
this bot for verticals.
The undersides of the
main support structure
are slightly sloped,
so that hopefully there
won't be as much of a catch
by the vertical weapon.
But that weapon of
uppercut is just so nasty
that I don't see
this going their way.
[audience cheering]
[man] you got this!
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
Here comes uppercut.
[kenny] oh, boy.
Uppercut.
- [all exclaiming] - [chris] oh,
my gosh!
It landed right in front of us!
-[kenny] whoa!
-[chris] what an amazing way
to start and finish that fight,
kenny.
Look, a shooting star.
- [referee] ten, nine...
- [kenny] unbelievable.
- Uppercut over to...
- ...Eight, seven...
...Antagonize its opponent
and talk crap to it while
it's down for the count.
Good job, dude. Good job.
- [referee] one! - [chris] wow.
- Knockout!
- [chris] oh, my gosh!
- [audience
cheering] - thank you.
That was it.
- Wow. - All right.
[chris] in just 33 seconds,
uppercut has moved
on to the round of 16.
Kenny, see if those wheels work.
Can you touch 'em?
[kenny] no.
[audience chanting]
uppercut! Uppercut!
[chris] don't blink, kenny,
you're gonna miss it.
[kenny] man, it's unbelievable
what uppercut can do.
They landed just
the perfect shot.
- Look at that. - [chris] jeez.
- I mean, right in the basket.
-[kenny] unbelievable.
And I love seeing
exactly how this weapon works.
I know the bot is
named uppercut,
but it's actually
more like a jab
and then an uppercut.
That first hit popped
hijinx up in the air
and then the second
hit just blows them out,
clear out of the battlebox.
What a beautiful design.
[chanting] uppercut! Uppercut!
[chris] how about that
for an opening statement
from uppercut, kenny?
That is a very dangerous bot,
it's very scary,
and I think it's
gonna go very far.
[chris] I think if
you're looking at
the rest of the field right now,
you say that thing
might be the favorite.
[kenny] if it hits you,
it will destroy you.
It's that simple.
There's not a whole lot of bots
with a primary
weapon that powerful.
[chris] so uppercut
advances to the round of 16.
They will face the winner
of beta versus ribbot.
That fight is heading
your way shortly.
But coming up,
it's the lawn lower
versus the flame thrower
when slammow! Faces
off against black dragon.
That's next on battlebots.
We are back on battlebots.
After tombstone's
win earlier tonight,
ray billings awaits the winner
of black dragon and slammow!
Let's check in with the
number-five seed overall,
black dragon,
the robot from brazil.
And boy, they followed up
an amazing first season
with a special kind of year.
It looks like this bot is gonna
be around for a while, huh?
[kenny] yeah,
they're a young team,
but underestimate
them at your own risk.
They're the number-five
seed for a reason.
This bot could legitimately
contend for a championship.
[chris] last year,
they lost out in the round of 16
when the veteran donald
hutson and lock-jaw beat them.
They are taking on the 28th seed,
slammow!
And craig danby,
to be honest with you,
he's just thrilled to
have won any sort of fight
during the regular season.
[kenny] the turnaround
that he's made
from previous
seasons is remarkable.
Despite doing
this for a long time,
this is his first time
here at battlebots
going into the postseason.
So, no question that he's a
major underdog in this fight.
But he does bring a lot
of experience in this sport,
and that might help
level the playing field
as he tries to spring the upset.
Faruq, bring the noise.
[audience cheering]
in the blue square,
from itajuba, brazil,
a bot of mythological
proportions,
it's black dragon!
[audience cheering]
[chris] well,
here comes the five seed.
They've always got
that duck in hand.
And what sort of
weapon they going with?
[kenny] well,
they ditched the egg-beater weapon
even though that
thing hits harder,
they went with the
vertical dual disc spinner.
Doesn't hit as hard,
but the idea is to
cut into slammow!
And use those discs
to rip off pieces
of the other robot.
[chris] these guys
know that a win
would put them in a
matchup with tombstone,
a bot they have long
dreamed of fighting,
but they have to take
care of business here first.
[faruq] in the red square,
from raleigh, north carolina,
bringing "lawn and order,"
it's slammow!
[audience cheering]
[chris] here comes the 28 seed,
slammow!
Kenny, if it's possible,
craig told us he has 36
different weapon
configurations for this robot
depending on who he's fighting.
[kenny] yeah,
but he's going with ol' faithful.
He's keeping it in that
grappling bot configuration
with that strong wedge.
[craig yells]
[audience cheering]
we are using the
double disc spinner
for fast spinner
and the capability
of shredding pieces.
And we are using wedge legs
so we can go underneath them.
I think that
this is the best
way to win this fight.
We'll have black
dragon spiting fire tonight.
So, tonight,
we are facing black dragon.
We want to get a
nice little grip on him.
Get a little squeeze on him.
And then hopefully
get one suplex.
We only need one.
My wife made a cross of
st. George for the front of it
because st. George,
the patron saint of England,
slayed a dragon.
So, hopefully,
we can mimic that
and slay another one.
[audience chanting]
slammow! Slammow!
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
Slammow! On the offensive,
gets underneath black dragon
but can't quite get the lift.
Dragon retreats and lands a shot
to the underbelly of slammow!
[woman] come on, slammow!
-[chris] whoa!
-[kenny] great hit there by black dragon.
[chris] that's right.
Adding some pop
and pushing
slammow! Into the rails.
[kenny] they're trying to get
their flame thrower going, chris,
but seems like the
igniter's having an issue.
[chris] black dragon's
still on the attack.
Oh, big flip there!
A beautiful backhand spring.
That should impress the judges.
Just not in the way
slammow!'s looking for.
[kenny] slammow!'s front wedge is beat up,
chris.
[chris] whoa! Uh-oh.
Oh,
craig danby could be in trouble.
Slammow! Near the screws.
Black dragon, however, backs up.
Slammow! Resets,
has to find a way to
score some points here.
But black dragon
has been able to
get underneath them at will.
And here it is again.
-[kenny] oh...
-[chris] and taking him for a ride.
Where's he gonna end up?
[kenny] uh-oh.
[chris] oh! Big hit!
[kenny] uh-oh,
I see some belts on the floor
coming out of slammow!
That's no good.
[chris] slammow!
Trying to reset itself.
And the number-five
overall seed,
black dragon,
has been chewing up slammow!
Like an appetizer.
- Oh!
- [commentators exclaiming]
[chris] huge flame!
Slammow! Is on its head.
Black dragon is leaking fire
and this may be it for the 28 seed,
slammow!
[commentators exclaiming]
[chris] black dragon
introduces slammow!
To some serious
brazilian barbecue.
You can hear 'em.
The team's going crazy!
They think this
one's in the bag!
-[referee] nine, eight...
- And here comes the countdown!
[crowd] ...Seven,
six, five, four...
Back off!
[audience] ...Two, one...
Slammow has gone down. Winner!
[cheering]
[chris] yeah,
tensions running high
here on night one
of the tournament.
Craig danby's season is over.
Black dragon is moving
on to the round of 16.
Nearly had 'em.
Sick of nearly having people.
[speaking portuguese]
[chris] well,
black dragon went on the attack,
delivered a shot and
really never looked back.
[kenny] that's right. Very
aggressive driving, yet very precise.
Right here,
coming in from the perfect angle
to attack the side
and avoid the plow up front.
They never really gave
slammow! An opportunity
to clamp down on them.
Just a dominant performance.
[chris] where do you think
this bot is right now, kenny?
[kenny] this is
definitely a top-ten bot.
I think they can go far.
They have the experience
despite being very young,
they can drive. Definitely
an impressive team.
[cheering]
[chris] so, black dragon
flaps its wings
to the next round,
setting up an epic showdown
with ray billings and tombstone.
[kenny] what a matchup.
These kids have been dying
to get a crack at tombstone,
but you know ray is just
as eager to show the world
that he's ready to make
another run at the giant nut.
[chris] all right, coming up,
13th-seed beta
looks to stay unbeaten
against the amphibious assassin,
ribbot.
That's next battle
on battlebots.
[chris] welcome back
to the 2020 battlebots world
championship tournament.
The pits are buzzing with energy
as teams make their
final preparations
for tonight's fights,
including our number-one overall seed,
hydra.
[kenny] that's right. Captain
jake ewert is gearing up
for a marquee showdown
with hypershock.
After dominating in
the qualifying rounds,
hydra proved once again
that they might be the
greatest flipper in the sport.
[chris] but don't just
take our word for it.
Even the team behind the most
iconic flipper of all time,
bronco,
is high on hydra.
[commentators exclaim]
[kenny] that's that huge flip right there,
chris rose.
[chris] and hydra's gonna try
and throw him out of the box...
- Whoa! - [audience cheering]
[chris] bronco,
welcome to the hydra era.
With our loss to
hydra last year,
it was... You know,
nobody wants to lose,
and especially not
at your own game.
[chris] a changing of the guard.
A passing of the torch.
There's a new flipper in town.
It's a different take
on what we're doing.
They're all hydraulic...
[chris] no mercy from hydra!
...And we're pneumatic.
-[kenny] unbelievable!
-[chris] wow!
To see people doing
different things...
We're really proud
of what they built.
It's a beautiful machine,
and we're pretty
stoked to see them
doing well with it, honestly.
[chris] oh,
I can't wait to see that nasty flipper
in action later tonight.
But let's dig into this beta
versus ribbot matchup.
Beta brings a lot of
momentum into this fight
after going 3-0 in
the qualifying rounds.
And it also brought
into the battlebox
the cute little bodkin.
What is a bodkin?
- It's this. - Oh, man.
It is so pointy and sharp
they're gonna attach it
to the end of the hammer.
Good luck, ribbot.
[kenny] yeah,
it's modeled after arrowheads
in the middle ages
that pierce through
armor of medieval knights.
So, the idea is to puncture
the soft top of ribbot,
potentially damaging
the electronics
and ending the fight
with one fatal blow.
[chris] this is beta's first
trip to the tournament
since 2016 after
taking four years off.
But remember, they advanced
all the way to the
quarterfinals that season,
so john reid knows what
it takes to make a run.
As for ribbot,
david jin's team was very good
during the qualifying rounds.
[kenny] well,
this is a young team,
it's their first time
in the tournament.
But sometimes,
when you're the underdog,
it actually takes a little
bit of the pressure off.
They could just go out there,
swing for the fences
and try to make
something happen.
Winner moves on
to the round of 16,
should be a good one.
Faruq, make your magic.
[cheering]
[faruq] in the blue square...
[in british accent]
...From jolly old England,
this bot's on a steady climb.
And when he opens your wounds,
he'll have a bloody good time.
When he wages war,
it'll be revolutionary,
definitely not civil.
And his hammer will have you
looking like pip-pip cheerio
with a big hole in the middle.
It's beta!
[audience cheering]
[chris] despite going 3-0,
beta is ranked 13th,
that is the lowest seed
of all the undefeated bots.
What gives, kenny?
[kenny] well,
that powerful hammer
didn't get used much, chris.
They were very
hesitant to attack
with their primary weapon
throughout the
qualifying rounds.
And that lack of aggression
definitely hurt their seeding.
They need to let loose
now that it's do or die
here in the tournament.
It's time to empty your tank
and give everything you got.
[chris] john reid has
been tantalizingly close
to the giant nut in the past.
Could this finally be
the year he gets it done?
[faruq] in the red square,
when I look at this bot,
I think frogger with
its eight-bit graphics,
the old video game
where you have to
hop through traffic.
Only difference is,
the frog in that game
was way slower.
And when you die in the box,
the screen says...
[imitates powering
down] game over.
It's ribbot!
[audience cheering]
[chris] ribbot, the underdog,
coming in as the number-20 seed.
David jin told us
his rookie season
of 2019 was good,
but only gave himself a b-plus
because the bot didn't
make it to the top 16.
Guess where they will
land if they win tonight.
[kenny] well,
if they want to pull off the upset,
they have to figure
out a way to adjust
to the most powerful weapon
they've faced all season.
It's gonna take
some slick driving
to keep that frog's
vulnerable back
away from beta's hammer.
[woman] yay, ribbot!
The stakes are raised now
because we're in the top 32.
All the bots now
are really strong.
All the fights are
gonna be hard fights.
One of the biggest
threat from ribbot
is if they use
their vertical disc.
So, we've fought with a
wedge before many times,
and the vertical disc is
the one that always kills us.
So, that is a big fear for us.
Our fight against beta
is probably our most
intense fight we've ever had.
Beta, being a hammer,
is a very interesting
weapon type to fight against.
Most bots, including ourselves,
don't really put that much
armor on top of their robot.
So, for this fight,
we're gonna be adding a
little bit of extra top armor.
I think everyone
does that against beta.
But he's a great driver. This is
gonna be a driving match for sure.
It's gonna be very tactical
and should be fun, though.
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[audience cheering]
[chris] beta's going with a
different armor configuration tonight.
What's the strategy there,
kenny?
[kenny] instead of
their traditional wedge,
they're using what they
call their mullet armor, chris.
A little extra business up front
and the usual party in
the back with that hammer.
It's designed specifically
for vertical spinners.
They think it'll be harder for ribbot
to bite into that vertical front wall.
Kenny, did you have a mullet?
- Never. - Oh, I did.
-[kenny] I'm sure.
- Oh, it was shaggy and it was sensational.
A spot in the round of 16 and a
date with uppercut is on the line.
Will ribbot become roadkill?
Or can the young guns from wpi
send beta to an early brexit?
That's coming up
next on battlebots.
We are back on battlebots.
We've got the 13th seed,
beta, about to throw down
with the number-20 seed, ribbot.
A spot in the round
of 16 is on the line.
It is win or go home.
- All good? - Yeah.
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
Little kissy action...
And the frog taking
beta into the rails.
[kenny] nice start...
Oh! What a hit!
[chris] that's a nice
hit! And another one!
Oh, beta's up on the screws!
- Can beta get off? Yes.
- [kenny] jeez!
[chris] but there's
ribbot to knock it over.
[indistinct]
-[chris] can beta help itself?
- Get up!
[chris] oh! I guess
there's your answer.
Kenny,
that hammer looks cockeyed.
Oh, but it fired off a shot!
[kenny] beta in serious trouble.
Oh!
My goodness!
[chris] oh,
ribbot is trying to take beta
over the rails,
out of the battlebox.
You're good,
you're good, you're good.
[chris] beta can barely
move at this point.
[kenny] this is gonna be a knockout,
chris.
I'm not sure that armor
configuration worked out for beta.
[chris] beta has gotta show
some sort of control movement
- or this fight's gonna be over.
-[referee] ten, nine...
[chris] the countdown is on!
[referee] ...Seven, six...
[kenny] amazing
aggression and control.
[chris] this is gonna be it!
The kids from wpi with the ko!
[cheering]
whoo!
[kenny] wow! Chris, I'm not sure
team beta knows what just happened.
[man] that's a powerful weapon.
[chris] david jin, he said,
"I don't take my foot off the gas,"
kenny.
[kenny] he did not at all.
He did exactly what he
needed to do to win this fight.
You know, we talk about the analogy
of rock, paper, scissors all the time.
This was just not a
good matchup for beta.
[chris] that's spinner on ribbot
didn't seem to be slowed
at all by the mullet armor.
[kenny] absolutely not.
But I don't think their
traditional configuration
would have fared any better,
given how strong ribbot looked.
They inflicted so much damage.
This second hit
popped beta's gas tank,
and once that was gone,
it was curtains for beta.
David jin. That worked out pretty well,
huh?
That worked out pretty well.
They actually put on an attachment
that we've never seen before.
So usually beta runs
a nice big wedge,
but this time they
tried a vertical surface,
and we weren't sure if
we'd be able to bite on it.
- Turns out we can.
- [chris laughs]
david, you were super
aggressive throughout this fight.
Did you fear that hammer at all?
To be honest,
I wasn't really thinking about it.
We did take a nasty
hit in the middle there,
so we're gonna definitely
have to check for damages.
But I knew from the beginning.
- We just got to go.
- Well, wait a second.
How do you not think about the most
lethal hammer that is at battlebots?
Because if you always think about
the hammer, you'll always drive in fear.
No fear here.
I love it.
All right, so,
before the season,
you said that last year,
your rookie year,
you gave yourself a b-plus grade
because you did not
make it to the round of 16.
You're now on
to the round of 16.
So what sort of grade
do you give yourselves?
Does that sound like an a, boys?
[all] yeah!
Uh, can you add the giant
nut to that report card?
Uh, yeah?
[all] yeah!
Okay,
there you go. There's the old college try.
David jin,
congratulations to you and team ribbot.
Thank you very much.
[audience cheering]
[chris] so with that upset win,
ribbot moves on
to the next round.
And would you look at this?
One boston area
school against another.
Mit's uppercut
squaring off
against wpi's ribbot.
We got ourselves
a beantown brawl.
Kenny,
it's your old stomping grounds.
[kenny] yeah,
I can't wait for that one.
Two groups of whiz kids,
some of the best young
minds in the sport going at it.
[chris] all right, coming up...
The action shifts to
group number one,
where marquee teams like gigabyte,
valkyrie,
and the number-one overall seed,
hydra,
will begin their
campaigns for the giant nut.
But it all kicks off with a
rematch one year in the making
as huge looks to exact some
revenge against whiplash.
The 2020 battlebots world
championship continues, next.
We are back on battlebots
as we continue on
with the round of 32.
The action in group
number four is complete,
and we now move on
to group number one,
where we have a clash
between the eight seed, whiplash,
and the 25 seed, huge.
[audience cheering]
the vasquez family has said that
anything less than the giant nut
would be a disappointment
for team whiplash.
On the other side of the box,
huge didn't even think
they would be in the tournament
after a disastrous 0-2 start,
but a late-season
victory over kraken
helped them sneak their way in.
With a new lease on life,
jonathan schultz thinks huge
could deliver a big surprise.
Our own jenny taft got the
inside scoop on the strategies
these teams will
be using tonight.
When it comes to
whiplash and huge,
this is a rematch from
the top 16 last year,
and it is a loss that jonathan and team
huge had spent hours thinking about.
They believe that they lost
because they were spinning upward
on team whiplash.
The strategy this season
is to go the other direction.
Matt vasquez told
me he needs to do
the exact same thing this time around,
just better.
Get up underneath huge and
then let the weapon go to work.
And he also has so
much more confidence
in the durability of his wheels.
[chris] thanks, jenny.
So if something didn't
work the first time around,
you can change it.
- Right, kenny?
- [kenny] exactly.
And that first fight with
the blades spinning upward,
it wasn't able to
do a lot of damage
because most of the hits
struck that armor on the front.
So, jonathan said he looked
back at what other bots
did against whiplash,
and he saw that sawblaze
was able to damage whiplash
by hitting down on them.
He'll try to do the same tonight
as he looks to pull
off a major upset.
Faruq, bring it on.
[cheering]
in the blue square,
from thousand oaks, california,
here to whip it all night,
it's whiplash!
[chris] it's number eight, whiplash,
and the entire vasquez family.
They've been to
the quarterfinals,
they've been to the semifinals.
There's only one
mountain left to climb.
Kenny,
what makes whiplash so good?
[kenny] well, you know, matt vasquez
was talking about the speed advantage
he's going to have over huge.
He loves the fact that they have way
better tires than they did last season,
and you'll notice their spinner is back,
chris.
[chris] ah,
welcome back, spinner.
In the red square from south windsor,
connecticut,
here to knock you back to
the pee-wee leagues, it's huge!
[chris] just one victory in the
qualifying rounds for the 25 seed, huge.
But that win made jonathan
schultz an entirely different man.
[kenny] that's right. Once he
made it into the postseason,
everything kind of went away.
This is a great
opportunity for this team.
[chris] so how is
huge performing?
[kenny] well, as they demonstrated
against kraken, that weapon
can deliver some monster
hits when it gets up to full speed.
They just need to hit
whiplash in the right spots.
[chris] yeah,
that vertical bar spinner
is about ten pounds
heavier than a season ago.
The thing about fighting
huge is you have to have armor
in a lot of places you
normally wouldn't have armor.
So we need to make sure
the top is very well-protected.
And we need to make
sure that I drive well enough
that they can't get
too many hits on it.
I think if we stay
underneath them,
no matter what weapon they use,
their weapon won't
be able to spin
and we can just chew up the
bottom of their robot with our spinner.
As long as we keep their weapon
from spinning, I think we'll be okay.
Whiplash is honestly
the biggest threat to us.
They're super maneuverable
and they can take the hits
if we're not all
the way spun up.
I'm not gonna have
ten or 12 seconds
to run around to get
my blade spun up.
So the faster it
can get spun up,
the more energy we can put
into them every time we hit them.
If the blade is spinning,
they can't get close enough to hurt us.
That what we're gonna
need to win the fight.
[audience cheering]
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[chris] pete,
we know the key for huge
is getting that blade
up to full speed.
What have they done to
make it as deadly as possible?
[pete] they actually
reduced their gear ratio,
so they're going to
get a lower top speed,
but they're going to
get a higher acceleration
and a little more
torque out of it.
So they should be spinning down
to make a nice,
hard attack on the top of whiplash.
[man] come on, whiplash!
- Let's go!
- [audience cheering]
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[chris] two teams looking
to move one step closer
to the giant nut.
Win and advance,
lose and it's game over.
- Let's do this. - Yeah!
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
And whiplash right on the attack
and going after that spinning bar,
kenny.
Oh, huge takes a chunk out of
whiplash with that front spinning blade.
Here comes whiplash.
Huge all over the place.
Wheels coming off the ground.
Matt vasquez on the attack.
Oh, yeah!
So far, that front spinning
strategy paying off for huge.
Able to land some nice
shots to the top of whiplash.
[kenny] but matt
vasquez not backing down.
[chris] oh, boy!
Huge got up on the screws.
That's a danger zone.
Earlier this season,
we saw mammoth throw huge
right out of the arena
and whiplash is trying
to do the same thing!
But jonathan schultz able to work
its way back into the center of the box.
[kenny] that vasquez,
just so precise,
so aggressive with his driving.
[chris] oh! And look at this!
Whiplash is willing to just take
the shots and stop the bar of huge!
And now, try to score some
points with that disc spinner.
[kenny] oh, yeah,
matt just wedging himself in close,
now chasing huge into the corner,
cutting off the angles here.
[chris] boy, whiplash has no fear
of sticking its nose right in that bar.
[kenny] there was some great
driving from jonathan schultz
to get away from whiplash there.
[chris] pretty remarkable job by huge
to actually get away from whiplash.
And whiplash...
-[kenny] oh.
-[chris] once again sticking its nose in there.
[kenny] but whiplash absorbed
that with the front wedge, chris.
- [chris] whoa!
- [kenny] nice shot by huge,
felt like that one got to
the weapon of whiplash.
But whiplash has been so
durable in this fight, chris,
just absorbing punishment
and driving right through it.
[chris] more than 90 seconds in,
huge's bar is fully functional
but whiplash has been able
to dictate where huge ends up.
[kenny] yeah,
this is just a classic whiplash flight.
It's a brawler.
[chris] now, whiplash getting
into the underbelly of huge.
Huge spinning that weapon up again,
and there is a big shot!
[kenny] that actually did some
damage to whiplash, I believe, chris.
[chris] but look at that,
whiplash's main weapon still going
and now they're trying
to take apart the wheels.
Matt vasquez still dictating
the pace of this fight
and showing off his
world-class control skills.
Forty seconds to go,
huge's weapon looks to be slowing down now,
but you couldn't say for sure,
as whiplash refuses to give
it the time it needs to spin up.
To both bots,
they've been aggressive,
they've landed
their share of shots,
but it's been the eighth seed,
whiplash,
that has controlled the
majority of this fight, kenny.
[kenny] that's right. This has
been a steady, tactical assault
by team whiplash,
and huge just hasn't been able
to land the knockout
shot they're looking for.
[chris] well, these bots are
gonna end up going the distance.
What an all-out brawl!
-Whiplash, sticking its face in there.
-[timer counting down]
huge dishing up some shots.
-[buzzer sounds] -[chris]
1-1 in the round of 32.
[audience cheering]
all right,
let's bring in our bot whisperer.
Pete, what'd you see?
[pete] "oh,
my god" is what I saw.
You know,
I love both these bots.
I wanna see both advance because
I want to see the chaos of huge
- in the 16...
-[chris] pete, enough kissing butt!
What did you see over there?
[pete] what I saw was,
I'm pretty sure this is whiplash's fight.
They had more control in this.
They probably had
bigger aggression points
and they definitely
got the damage.
If you look around the arena, there
are lots of small bits of huge everywhere.
[chris] good job, pete. I don't
mean to yell you, but let's go.
People need the truth.
Once again, the judges are
scoring on an 11-point system.
Up to five points can
be awarded for damage,
three for aggression
and three for control.
And your judges are all
former battlebots participants,
derek younger,
lisa winter and jason bardis.
Kenny, matty vasquez,
the driving skills
on full display.
[kenny] vintage whiplash. He wanted
to be positioned underneath huge,
and that's exactly where he was,
sticking his nose right into that
vertical blade to stop it from spinning.
That aggression will
play well with the judges.
[chris] however, when huge did get that
weapon spun up, it landed some nice shots.
[kenny] yeah,
I think that new spin direction
actually was effective
when the hits landed.
The problem was that
whiplash did such a good job
of limiting the number of times
they could get up to speed.
[chris] no doubt about
it. Outstanding control
as always by matty vasquez,
pushing huge
around the battlebox.
[kenny] absolutely. Even when
he couldn't get underneath huge,
he was still able
to dictate the action,
using the lifter when necessary
and in the most important category,
damage.
That spinner got in there
and chunked up those
wheels and a lot of that frame.
[chris] now let's go to faruq to see
who's moving on to the round of 16.
The results from
the judges are in.
We have a unanimous decision.
The winner is...
Whiplash!
[audience cheering]
[audience chanting]
whiplash! Whiplash! Whiplash!
Matt vasquez, you told us before the
fight you really weren't all that worried.
But did you end up being worried
because this one
went the distance?
I knew it would
100% go the distance.
I wasn't worried
before the fight
because I knew
we had a strategy.
But the second you step up here,
that totally changes.
My hands were shaking and I was just like,
let's get this over with.
[kenny] whiplash is a true brawler,
and this seemed like
a vintage performance
from you guys.
What was your strategy?
Our strategy against huge is
if you stay underneath them,
they can't spin,
so that was our goal for the fight.
If you're underneath them,
the bar can't spin all the way around.
So we tried to do that, but, I mean,
they were a great driver, this fight,
and they sort of kept
their wheels into me
and sort of blocked
me from doing that.
So that was kind of concerning.
They got their weapon
spun up quite a few times,
but the armor we put were great.
That was our
second line of defense
if I couldn't pull off
that driving strategy.
So, yeah, our plan worked,
and we're very happy.
[chris] sounds good.
Congratulations.
You're on to the round of 16.
Thank you.
[cheering]
so I guess matty
vasquez was right.
He had nothing to worry about, although
he admitted he got a little nervous
once the controllers
got in his hand.
Listen, huge is a great bot,
they're a great team.
There's some excellent
driving out there,
but the way they matched up, I mean,
he knew what he was talking about.
So jonathan schultz and huge
get knocked out of the tournament
by whiplash
for the second year in a row,
and the vasquez family
marches on to the round of 16.
They await the winner of our next fight,
valkyrie versus subzero.
That's coming up on battlebots.
We are back on battlebots,
and up next
it is the ninth seed, valkyrie,
taking on the 24th seed, subzero.
And let's start with leanne
cushing's robot, valkyrie.
A wonderful regular season,
and she's been doing her
homework for this matchup.
She went on social media and subzero's
page actually told the entire world
about how subzero is made,
what the components are.
So valkyrie could sit there
and figure out the strengths
and weaknesses of the robots.
So logan davis,
you have a little bit of work to do.
How does he now upend
somebody that knows exactly
what his bot is all about?
[kenny] well,
he's also been making adjustments.
He added a lot of armor to his bot
to protect against valkyrie's blade,
but because of the added weight,
he had to strip out
some of the compressed air
that he uses to power that lifter.
So he's going to have to be
selective about when he fires them.
Logan davis was super excited to get
subzero up and running the way he wanted.
He actually got a call from
the selection committee
that woke him out of bed to
find out he was in the postseason.
Let's see if he can now
answer the call tonight.
Faruq, do your thing.
In the blue square,
she's the first viking of robot fighting,
it's valkyrie.
[audience cheering]
[chris] the ninth seed, valkyrie,
an outstanding season,
their lone loss was to whiplash.
First thing you always notice about them,
kenny, weapon choice.
[kenny] that's right.
There is dr. Teeth.
That is a menacing blade
right there from valkyrie.
[chris] leanne said it can hit
with the power of a bar spinner
without sacrificing the
reach they get with a disc.
[cheering]
in the red square,
from irving, texas,
everything's bigger there,
even the wins.
It's subzero.
[audience cheering]
[chris] number 24,
subzero looking for an upset.
What's new with the bot for this fight,
kenny?
[kenny] well, they've added a
new titanium wedge on the back.
That's part of the extra armor that logan
is using to counteract valkyrie's disc,
and then additional heavy armor
up front to help protect the wheels.
So I think the sides of subzero
are going to be prime for us.
Their wheels are out
with a fair amount of gaps.
So we're gonna be able to pull
that off probably pretty easily.
And then right through there, that
side panel is about an eighth-inch thick.
So if we gnaw away at that, we're
hopefully gonna be able to disable it.
I'm gonna need to corral
and get them out of the arena
before they can tear me up.
There's really not much area for
us to touch that isn't their blade.
I've got to be very,
very careful
to keep my armor pointed at
them and take those hits there.
If they're able to scoot
around to the side, we're done.
[audience cheering]
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[audience cheering]
[chris] neither of these
bots has ever made it
to the round of 16,
but that is about to change.
[audience cheering]
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[chris] valkyrie, subzero,
winner will meet whiplash.
We got this. Let's do it.
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
Subzero leading
with a new wedge.
Valkyrie testing it.
Uh-oh. And again, oh!
- Wow!
- [kenny] oh, my goodness.
[chris] subzero launches
valkyrie against the glass,
valkyrie luck to
make it out alive.
But can it recover?
[kenny] subzero
keeping the pressure on,
forcing the action
with its wedge.
[chris] now valkyrie
chewing at that armor.
And, oh,
subzero shows its front side
and valkyrie lands a clean,
clean shot.
[kenny] uh-oh,
I think that part of the flipper
might be compromised on subzero.
[chris] oh,
valkyrie on the comeback trail.
- [kenny] oh!
- [chris] another one.
[indistinct]
I'm rolling it back,
don't worry about it.
[chris] what a shot. That
titanium plate of armor
is bent completely
off on subzero.
[chris] can subzero find
a way to stay alive here?
Valkyrie freaking
out of control!
[commentators exclaim]
[kenny] what a
comeback shot by subzero.
[chris] holy smokes!
A huge part of
subzero just came off.
[kenny] this is like a world
championship heavyweight boxing fight.
[chris] valkyrie trying to
clean up the floor a little bit.
Subzero's having
driving issues now.
[kenny] is valkyrie
gonna go in for the kill?
[chris] it goes in
for a little love tap.
Yes, subzero just cannot move.
It's inching. That is not going to be
good enough in the referee's eyes.
The countdown
must be starting soon.
Like, now!
Nine, eight, seven...
That was a great fight,
man. We took a lot of hits there.
[chris] the unbelievable
run of subzero is over
as valkyrie finally
reaches round of 16.
[buzzer sounds]
[audience cheering]
[chris] kenny, subzero looked like it was
shot out of a cannon to start this fight.
Logan davis,
he was not messing around.
[kenny] oh, my goodness.
He drove valkyrie
straight into the screws.
Popped them into the air.
This thing could have
been over after one hit.
[chris] no question.
A lot of bots,
they wouldn't have survived that exchange,
but valkyrie managed to get back on
its feet and then go into attack mode.
[kenny] yeah,
that disc was unrelenting
as valkyrie continued
to strike from all angles.
But I was so impressed
at subzero's ability
to withstand a
lot of those hits.
[chris] and the durability
of valkyrie as well,
it is a big difference
from seasons past.
[kenny] last season,
have a couple really big shots.
But if it didn't knock
you out after two or three,
valkyrie would
basically be destroyed.
That is not the case
this time around.
This bot has improved so much.
[audience cheering]
[chris] leanne cushing.
Welcome to the round of 16.
Finally!
Yeah, wow.
Leanne,
that was a back-and-forth war.
Talk us through that fight.
So, we obviously knew
that one of the strategies
for going against valkyrie,
before we can fully spin up is to rush us.
So we tried not to
let them get to us.
That's why we pivoted over.
And then it was just a matter of,
like, staying in the center,
not getting cornered,
hitting as much as possible.
What makes valkyrie
so durable this year?
I honestly think
that it's the luck...
We've now had over ten matches
in our whole entire career,
and I think that's it's the multiple...
Having the iteration
and learning more and more every time,
lose or win.
We learn so much,
and it really helps with making
a bigger and better design.
Congratulations.
Welcome to the round of 16.
- Thank you. - [cheering]
[chris] leanne cushing and team
valkyrie with a well-earned celebration
after finally breaking
into the top 16,
setting up a rematch
with whiplash.
That should be a ton of fun.
[kenny] these two bots
went the full three minutes
in whiplash's win
earlier this season.
Now valkyrie gets a
chance to turn the tables.
[chris] but coming up,
one of the season's biggest surprises,
the rookie bot malice
takes on gigabyte.
That's next on battlebots.
We are back on battlebots,
and up next,
it's a matchup between
two bots making their
tournament debuts...
Malice and gigabyte.
Let's turn our attention to
bunny sauriol's bot malice,
an outstanding
regular season for them.
She told us she was so excited
not only to make it to the round of 32,
but to have a great seeding,
16th overall.
Then she saw that
she drew gigabyte.
She was like,
"this is a terrible matchup for us. Why?"
yeah, you know,
she was so happy just to be here.
Then to make it to the 32,
she feels like she's
accomplished a huge goal
as a female captain
here at battlebots.
But, yeah,
she does not like this matchup,
and it's because of the
angle of gigabytes shell.
She's worried that it will get
underneath her horizontal spinner
and prevent them from getting any
kind of meaningful force behind their hits.
They're not sure how
this is gonna go down.
They're not confident anymore.
So when you talk about john mladenik's bot,
next by gigabyte,
it's a full body spinner, it displaces
so much energy inside the battlebox.
Is that malice's
best shot at victory?
[kenny] absolutely.
They have to allow
that full body spinner
to really destroy itself.
We keep saying that
throughout the season,
but that's just the way you got
to approach a full body spinner.
So, of course,
bunny wants to win the fight,
not only to move
on to the round of 16,
but also to hold on to
some bragging rights.
Her best friend ever since they were
little girls, thy, is on team gigabyte.
Let's see how it goes.
Faruq, take it away.
In the blue square,
from san jose, california,
she's one bad bunny,
it's malice!
[audience cheering]
[chris] oh, yeah, team malice.
A 2-1 season,
they check in as the 16th seed.
Kenny, how effective will that
weapon be against gigabyte?
[kenny] well, bunny's just not
sure. They could be in major trouble
if the angle of gigabyte's shell
gets underneath their weapon.
We will soon find out.
[faruq] in the red square,
from oceanside, california,
about to clear your hard drive,
it's gigabyte!
[audience cheering]
[chris] so there is the 17th seed,
gigabyte,
after ending the qualifying
rounds with back-to-back wins.
Captain john mladenik told
us his bot is indeed primed
for a deep tournament run.
[kenny] one thing that makes
gigabyte so fun to watch,
all three of their fights this
season ended by ko, chris.
They're either gonna smash you to bits
or they're going to do it to themselves.
Our strategy to
take out a gigabyte
is to hit them as hard as we
can before they get spun up.
We are faster in our spin-up
time than gigabyte is on theirs.
So we should be able to box-rush them,
hit them
and hopefully crack their shell or
get them to stop spinning before we do.
We're going to fight a really tough robot,
malice.
It's going to be the same
strategy as the last two fights
as we got to get up to speed and
these guys don't have a wedge anyway.
So it's a weapon to weapon,
horizontal against horizontal,
and the better
weapon is going to win.
They're so solid and we're so solid now,
neither of us break.
So I think it's gonna go
three minutes of big hits.
[audience cheering]
they're all talk and no bite.
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
Here comes malice,
looking to mix it up.
There's a few sparks.
[kenny] you see, right away,
this is what bunny was worried about,
gigabyte is going to
dominate the low ground.
So malice is going to have to
look for another strategy here
and be very patient.
Oh! There's a nice
shot by gigabyte.
[chris] but, kenny, when you're talking
about damage in your primary weapon,
what other strategy
can malice take?
[kenny] jeez, I don't know.
They might try to drive
up over the top of gigabyte
or try to get it over towards
the sides of the battlebox,
wait for a mistake, perhaps.
[chris] look at the pounding
that malice continues...
Like they're flying across the battlebox,
kenny.
[kenny] this is an incredibly sturdy bot,
they may be thinking
they need to wear gigabyte down,
see if they can use
its energy against itself.
[chris] just little
chip by chip.
- And gigabyte biding its time.
- [kenny] oh.
[chris] some serious damage.
[kenny] john mladenik doing a good job of
keeping gigabyte in the center of the box.
[chris] malice, though, going face-first,
said, "I don't mind the big shots.
I'll take 'em."
[kenny] those shots might be
taking their toll, though, chris.
[chris] yep, they are.
There's no question, oh!
There is a big hit,
the biggest one of the match.
He lost a wheel, didn't he?
[chris] uh-oh.
And gigabyte now trying
to attack the tires of malice,
and malice severely
compromised now.
Trying to stay alive
against the full body spinner.
There's 90 seconds to go.
Can bunny sauriol's team
find a way to hang on here?
[kenny] uh-oh. I think
gigabyte realizes malice
is about to get
knocked out here.
[chris] yeah, gigabyte might
be going in for the kill. Oh!
[kenny] that might've
been the kill shot.
Bot parts everywhere,
getting flung over by us.
[chris] malice has to show
some sort control of movement
or the referee will
begin a countdown.
Gigabyte has malice
pinned near the rails.
[commentators exclaim]
[kenny] this is
what they wanted.
Gigabyte's still moving, though.
That was a risky move.
[chris] that might have been
the best chance for malice
as gigabyte would
have done in itself.
But no, gigabyte's still moving,
still functioning.
Malice, just kind of the
drunk stumble at this point.
Just hang in there.
Bunny sauriol not ready to
throw in the towel just yet.
[referee] ten, nine...
[chris] but the ref
has other ideas.
-He has seen enough. Malice...
-...Seven, six...
[chris] ...Receiving
its last rites.
Gigabyte is going to
move on to the round of 16.
Malice is knocked out!
[audience cheering]
whoo!
[indistinct chatter]
[cheering]
[chris] kenny,
I guess you gotta give malice some credit
for trying to get in there and,
you know, have gigabyte
destroy itself at some point,
it just never happened.
[kenny] yeah, you know,
they were attempting to try to
chip away at gigabyte as well.
They realize that attacking straight
on was not going to be effective.
So they tried to get creative,
trying to drive over them
and nearly got a hit
on the self-righter here.
But again,
just a bad matchup for them, chris.
[chris] and then here is the shot
that pretty much ended it all for malice.
Just had it stumbling
around the box.
After that, gigabyte gets a ko
and a date in the round of 16.
John mladenik is all smiles,
knowing gigabytes
journey will continue.
And he will now meet the winner
of our final fight in the evening.
It is the number-one overall seed,
hydra,
looking to unleash
that fearsome flipper
against will bales
and hypershock.
That's coming up
next on battlebots.
[jenny] with 32 teams
in the field this season,
the 2020 battlebots championship
tournament will be a war of attrition.
[jeff] they did a lot of
damage to that wedge,
so we're gonna have to
spend all of our time fixing that
and getting it
ready to go again.
[jenny] it'll take five wins in
a row to hoist the giant nut,
and the ability to repair and
rebuild your bot in between matches
is more important than ever.
Doesn't sound good at all.
[indistinct chatter]
the job does not stop.
[jenny] thanks to the
experts at lincoln electric,
this year's builders have access
to state-of-the-art
welding equipment
right on site in the pits,
meaning they have the support
they need to get their robots
into fighting shape
as quickly as possible.
Lincoln electric welded some
extra little things on our shell
to deal with robots.
And their welds are perfect.
[jenny] good luck to all the
builders in this year's tournament,
and may the best bot win.
[audience cheering]
all right,
the round of 32 continues.
Seven robots have already smashed
and spun their way into the round of 16,
but we have saved
the best for last.
The number-one overall seed,
hydra,
taking on number 32, hypershock.
Kenny,
why is hydra the top team this year?
[kenny] it's pretty simple,
chris.
They fought great teams,
and they beat great teams.
Oh! Beautiful timing by hydra!
They're dominating
this fight right now.
A perfect 3-0 record against a
murderer's row of witch doctor,
huge and uppercut.
They are battle-tested,
and they are hungry.
[chris] and builder
jake ewert told us
he'd like to put an end to what
he called the whyachi curse.
Since battlebots
returned in 2015,
no whyachi robot has ever made it
out of the first round of the tournament.
Last time around,
they were knocked out by minotaur.
That's a knockout!
[chris] this indeed the year?
[kenny] well,
the guys on the other side of the box
might have something
to say about that.
Hypershock has a little curse of
their own they would like to break.
Will bales and company have
never advanced to the round of 16.
They faced a brutal
schedule this season,
so going up against
hydra will not faze them.
This is gonna be a tasty one. Faruq,
take it away.
[cheering]
in the blue square,
the number-one seed.
He beat every bot
on the schedule,
and had opponents
bouncing off the walls
like they just
pounded some red bull.
His launch is so good,
you might start in the battlebox,
but take one hit and
end up in the parking lot.
It's hydra!
[audience cheering]
[chris] interesting note, kenny.
A season ago,
hydra fought five times,
all of them involved knockouts.
Three regular season
fights this season
all went to the
judge's scorecard.
Are we seeing a different hydra?
[kenny] you know, to me it
indicates we're seeing a smarter team,
better driving,
and a more durable bot.
[chris] unquestionably, it has
become the premier flipper in this sport.
[kenny] absolutely. And despite
him saying that it's his match to lose,
it looks like jake isn't
feeling any of that pressure.
He's having a great time.
[cheering]
[faruq] in the red square...
Enjoy this moment.
I'm not sure you'll
be living later
when this bot shocks
you like a defibrillator.
He's been on battlebots
for five seasons,
hoping this is the year when
his opponents get sent to the er,
with the doc yelling, "clear!"
it's hypershock!
[audience cheering]
[chris] after a 1-2
mark in the qualifiers,
hypershock snuck into the
tournament as the number-32 seed.
They were the
last team to get in,
and they have a tall task in front
of them to make it to the round of 16
for the first time.
[chuckles] and would you look at this,
kenny?
Will bales tinkering with that
thing until the very last second.
Are you kidding me?
This guy never stops.
[kenny] he said he didn't like those
wedges for a couple different reasons.
He doesn't wanna get
stuck on the battlebox floor.
He thought he was scraping a little
bit too much in his previous fights.
That's also gonna make it
a little bit more challenging
for hydra to get
underneath it and flip it.
My strategy against hypershock
is I want him on his wheels.
He's more dangerous
when he's upside down.
So if I flip him, I'm gonna wait
for him to use the self-righter,
get back over,
and then I'm gonna flip him again.
I don't want to come after
him when he's upside down,
or he can use his weapon
and just climb me with it,
and then start putting holes in the
top of my shell, which I don't want.
He's a lot more
dangerous upside down.
It's a driving match, 100%.
Jake is smart, jake is patient.
He'll just sit there and wait and
wait and wait. And I'll run up to him,
and if I'm not careful, he'll...
Even if I'm up against his side,
he'll just do a little bit of a turn
and go... Bink. And I'm down, so...
Or up. Like, very up.
[automated voice] robots,
activate.
[chris] well, now that hydra has
seen the configuration of hypershock,
kenny, do you think the
strategy has changed at all?
[kenny] I imagine jake
was eyeing those wedges
as nice,
big targets for his flipper.
But even without them, I think the
basic strategy remains the same.
[chris] well,
there you get another look at hypershock.
Does will bales finally
have his store in order?
[kenny] it's a real treat when you see him
at his best when he's driving hypershock.
And typically that happens
when he's being very aggressive.
But tonight, he said, "I need to
be patient if I want to win this one."
[audience cheering]
[automated voice] blue team,
ready?
I'm coming. I'm coming for you,
will.
[automated voice] red team,
ready?
[audience cheering]
[audience chanting]
fight! Fight! Fight!
Be patient.
[buzzer sounding]
[chris] let the
bot battle begin!
Hydra a little slow
out of the gate.
Oh, just misses a flip.
But there's a little mini
flyer for hypershock.
Oh. And again,
hypershock trying to get its footing.
Oh, boy. Dangerous trying
to climb on top of hydra
[kenny] yeah, but a nice shot
landed there by hypershock, chris.
Will's trying to find just
the right angle to attack
without exposing
hypershock to that flipper.
Trying to thread
the needle here.
[chris] he's got him
in the spin cycle.
[kenny] yeah, hypershock
literally driving circles around hydra.
[chris] what a
shot by will bales!
- Wow! - [kenny] my goodness!
[chris] nice return of serve
by hydra and jake ewert.
[kenny] now hydra
believes that hypershock
will still be very
dangerous in this position
if that weapon can
still stay spinning.
Do not burn up the drive.
[kenny] but it's not
spinning right now.
[chris] oh! Look at that!
And he sticks the landing.
Hydra may have done
hypershock a favor there.
[kenny] get a little high
with the help of his friends.
What a flip by
hydra. Unbelievable.
But hypershock like a cat.
[chris] meow! It
lands on all fours.
[kenny] there is some damage
to the corner of hydra right now,
and I believe one of the belts
off of hypershock just came off.
[chris] yeah, it looks like it's
having a little trouble driving,
in part because it keeps
flying through the air.
And now it's trying to
drive it... This is dangerous.
Oh, hydra almost got
hypershock out of the arena.
[kenny] yeah, almost did the exactly
same thing that end game did to hypershock.
[chris] holy smokes.
[kenny] hydra now
really going on the attack,
and hypershock struggling there.
[chris] will bales digging deep,
trying to find a way
to get back into this.
Oh! Hydra with another flip!
Hypershock up on the screws.
Can he get him out of the arena?
Hey, will,
you ready for this, buddy?
Take it apart.
[kenny] hydra looks like he's...
What a shot!
Unbelievable, again!
Hypershock still hanging
in there. My goodness.
Showing a lot of toughness.
We are under a minute
to go in this 1-32 matchup.
Hypershock up on the
screws. This is trouble.
Put an end to this madness.
Can will bales get off of there?
Of course,
those screws will reverse.
[audience cheering]
[kenny] that's some serious
airtime. What a shot by hydra.
[chris] hypershock now
officially an astronaut.
[kenny] this reminds me of bronco
versus stinger, but without the fire.
[chris] what a performance!
And it looks like hypershock is
starting to smoke just a tad bit.
Oh! Look at this. Bang!
The pulverizer tried to do some
damage in the last 20 seconds.
[all cheering]
[kenny] and it's good!
[chris] hydra has booted
hypershock out of the arena!
- Three, two, one!
- [kenny] whoa.
[chris] thirteen
major flips by hydra
en route to the ko
with two seconds to go.
What a performance
by the top seed.
[chris] kenny,
while you do these replays,
I want to remind you to
please fasten your seat belt.
[kenny] oh, man.
This was one of the most
dominant flipper performances
we have ever seen on battlebots.
And again, you know,
for people watching at home,
this is a 250-pound bot that's being
thrown around like a piece of candy.
So impressed with hydra.
[chris] and pete,
explain to people at home
because it looks like that
flipper isn't even that enormous
to do this sort of power.
[pete] it is not. It is a very
thin little piece of titanium
that is just getting
in the right spot.
And with the snap
that they've got
with the valve control
underneath there,
it just produces
power that is so high,
sends these bots flying.
[kenny] and let's give some
credit to hypershock, too.
There are not a lot
of bots sturdy enough
to withstand 13 colossal flips
and keep driving
till the very end.
Both of these teams put
on an incredible show.
[chris] jake ewert.
Jake ewert, hydra has some serious hops,
don't you think?
Uh,
it's got a little bit more of this time.
We had a sticky valve
in all the rest of the fights,
so we swapped out everything.
We put new hydraulic fluid in,
so we were ready for this one.
Jake,
that was a campaign of carnage.
My goodness. Can you
take us through the fight?
I mean, right off the bat,
I see this weapon working,
and he was actually
starting to hit me,
so I was getting
a little afraid there.
But, I mean,
once I got him tipped over
and I seen the weapon was dead,
it's just free game then.
Did it throw off your game plan
when he removed those
front wedges off of hypershock?
No, I don't care what they put on
that crap. I'm still gonna flip him.
[chuckles] do you have
any idea how many times
you got hypershock in the air?
I think was eight, maybe.
- Try 13, man.
- Oh, that's better yet.
And less misses is even better.
And you said there
was a little bit of a curse,
and you're a little
bit nervous about
maybe getting ousted
in the first round.
Uh-huh. We finally broke the
whyachi curse. That is right.
We made it out of the first
round in any tournament.
So, I mean,
maybe it's giant nut time, right?
Well, I know that that's the
biggest prize for you and your family.
Congratulations, as you now
successfully move on to the round of 16.
Thanks, guys.
[audience cheering]
[chris] so,
hydra snaps the whyachi curse
and advances to
the second round,
where they will square
off against gigabyte, kenny.
[kenny] a total
contrast of styles.
It will be fascinating to
see whether hydra's flipper
can get underneath
that full body spinner.
[chris] and what a start to
the round of 32 we had tonight.
We saw eight bots punch
their tickets to the next round.
Big names like
hydra and tombstone,
but also some low-seeded
surprises like ribbot.
[kenny] what a night,
chris. We got some spectacular fights,
and we're still only halfway
done with the first round.
[chris] that's right. Next time,
we're gonna dive head-first
into the other
side of the bracket.
What jumps off the page to you,
kenny?
[kenny] well,
I can't wait to see what bloodsport can do
after going undefeated
in the qualifying rounds.
And I really like the
fight between skorpios
and last year's runner-up,
witch doctor,
hoping to recapture
their old magic
after looking shaky
in the qualifiers.
I'm also watching
out for copperhead.
Zach goff has
dreams of the giant nut
after earning the
number-three seed,
but he faces a
tricky matchup there
against ricky willems
and mammoth.
[chris] a full slate of
explosive matchups
heading your way
as we move closer
to crowning the 2020
battlebots world champion.
For jenny taft and faruq
and our bot whisperer, pete,
and my man kenny florian,
I am chris rose.
We'll see you next time as
we complete the round of 32.
Think you have what it takes to be
the next battlebots world champion?
Go to... [reading]
add find out how to join in
on the action.