Blessing in Disguise (Score 2, Interesting)

Hey Folks,

Cool to see that BatttleBots has made the Slashdot news :)

My name is Jon Autry, I have competed at two of the BattleBots competitions, and at several smaller regional competitions. I have been building bots now for close to two years: http://www.robot-village.com

Here are a few comments from a BUILDERS perspective: (these comments and thoughts are my own, and in no way reflect the opinion of BattleBots INC. or any other builder)

As a competitor at BattleBots, I had mixed emotions when I heard that CC had decided NOT to extend their contract.

I remember hearing the first commercial for BattleBots on Comedy Central. I thought: "Sweet! That sounds like it will ROCK!" but I was also confused as heck as to why in the world Comedy Central would be picking up the program?! Hey, I didn't really care at the time... I just thought the idea of seeing machines fight was awesome, and would take it any way I could get it.

After watching a few episodes, I was addicted to the show. All I could think about was: "What kind of bot would I build?!". I went along like this until I finally decided to try MY hand at fighting robots.

It took me nearly six months to make my first bot, and I can tell you that I learned more in those six months than I did in High School. You cannot appreciate the time, work, and research that goes into making one of these robots, until you do it yourself. The science and physics involved in engineering one of these machines needs to be focused on more, (IMHO) instead of "dumbing the show down".

After attending my first BattleBots in Spring 2001, I couldn't wait for the new season to air on CC. However, after seeing the competition live, watching it on CC only made me frustrated. Here are a few of my "gripes" with the way CC presented the show:

• For some reason, it seemed that Comedy Central did not even SHOW a good portion of the great fights that took place. Instead, a lot of fights featured to pushy bots that meandered around the box with little contact. I know when I first tuned in to watch robots fight, this wasn't what I had in mind... :) Trust me, there is MORE than enough trashing and thrashing to fill an entire episode each week through an entire season. But for whatever reason, the powers that be chose not to show more fights / less BS.
• The sounds are fake. It blows my mind that they don't try to capture the REAL sounds from the fights. You can't appreciate how ridiculous some of the sounds are, until you hear the REAL sound of a screaming 2-stroke internal combustion engine in a robot. Or the sound of "The Judge" warping plates in the BattleBox floor with its pneumatic hammer from hell. Sounds is just TOO big a factor to fudge it up...
• Prostitutes and profanity have NOTHING to do with fighting robots. Bill Dwyer ROCKS though. That guy is sincerely into the robots, and does a fine job commentating (IMHO). The rest of the "talent" just distracts you from what I would think people are tuning in to see: robots get ripped to shreds by other robots.
• Too much talk, not enough breaking bots. More fights, more fights, more fights...

Those are a few of my main beefs with the way the show is presented. I have to give CC props for picking up the show in the first place though, otherwise I don't think that I would be building bots now. But I think that they will do more for the "sport" (or whatever you want to call it) by letting it go, than they ever did by picking it up in the first place.

If and when the show is picked up by another network, I hope the focus shifts more to the competition, and away from making it into a circus.

Just my opinion...