Tested: Meet the New BattleBots!

BattleBots is coming back, and we couldn't be more excited! We've been granted exclusive access to the BattleBots pit, where teams from all around the world have brought their new robots to be tested in the combat arena. In the first of a three-part series, we meet with eight of the teams to learn about their robots' fighting potential and how new technology has changed how BattleBots are built.
Watch the series premiere of BattleBots June 21st at 9pm on ABC.
Producer/Editor: Joey Fameli
Camera Operator: Mike Sloat
Camera Operator: Robert Negoesco
Music by Jinglepunks
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Tested is:
Norman Chan / nchan
Will Smith / willsmith
Joey Fameli / joeyfameli
Adam Savage / donttrythis
Jamie Hyneman / jamienotweet
Thanks for watching!

[@tested]

Watch full episodes of Battlebots on Science Channel: www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/battlebots/

[@scootergeorge9576]

Just click the link and start watching!

[@Eener1000]

"This page is not available in your region" Ah, the limitless and borderless internet...oh wait...

[@bodybuildingABC]

@@Eener1000 same here...

[@GrantDavis]

Shout out to all the random teammates standing silently while their captain talks.

[@binarywoif2852]

Just like when my friend see someone he knows but I don't

[@WillMoon]

Major nostalgia trip. My dad competed in Battlebots 5 and I remember going to San Fransisco to watch the competition when I was 9 years old. We stayed in the RFL as Team Moon Robotics until I went off to college. I think we need to start up our robotics program again :)

[@WillMoon]

In Battlebots 5 it was called Blackhawk, then revised the robot and called it Starhawk. We had three generations of Starhawk before we retired it. The original robot had a very complicated tri-star saw mechanism and an articulated arm, we got rid of that for Starhawk and ran with a fixed vertical interchangable saw blade, and Blackhawk was built mainly of mild steel, whereas Starhawk was primarily titanium with bits of AR-400 steel for armor.

[@l5132se]

*****, there is a Combat Robotics facebook group you should join, and also www.sparc.tools is a great forum that was formed a short time ago. There's a number of competitors on the new show and in tons of other competitions as well, and it's a great place to see what's going on.

[@edman400]

you make good knives

[@WillMoon]

Thank you, I appreciate the complements.

[@makerstudios5456]

***** I competed in season 4 and 5 with Patriot and this video made me feel the same way. The overall quality has gone way up though.

[@n.talbert]

It's really cool seeing how much some of these have changed in the last 6 years.

[@junebug9267]

Yeah watching old control bot biteforce is hilarious

[@Metalwhore89]

Bite Force is a beast . The engineering behind it is amazing when you really think about it.

[@AsterDXZ]

Didn't Grant Imahara get his start on battlebots? You'd think he out of all people would be there

[@Marticus518]

AsterDXZ it rings a bell when you mention it, I think he started there yes

[@Headbanger142]

He went to Robogames the month prior. He said he was done competing.

[@WillMoon]

AsterDXZ Yeah he had a middleweight called Hazard. I think he won all of the Battlebots tournys.

[@Plur307]

AsterDXZ Grant didn't participate because he didn't want to destroy everybody else's bots that they worked so hard on. It wouldn't be fair.

[@WillMoon]

Plur307 Grant competed in a different weight class. The new Battlebots was heavyweights only, Grant had a middleweight.

[@kim8374]

It's strange to see the og versions after watching the change and development over years, but so much evolution

[@jmac217x]

These are 100x more epic than the battlebots of the past. I'm stoked!

[@l5132se]

*****, most of these bots are much, much more powerful than before. Battery technology especially has improved, as well as motors, speed controllers, and transmitters, not to mention design improvements over the years.

[@l5132se]

*****, most of these bots are much, much more powerful than before. Battery technology especially has improved, as well as motors, speed controllers, and transmitters, not to mention design improvements over the years.

[@tetsubo57]

I don't even want to think about how much that titanium plate on Nightmare cost.

[@Fennecbutt]

tetsubo57 I know! But I guess it means a lot to him, coming back to compete and all. I know I'd spend a whole bunch on it if I were him.

[@DivineSteel]

tetsubo57 It helps that ABC offered up $10 000 worth of funding to each competing team to make sure that the new entries were high quality and the old ones were brought up to scratch. I'm assuming that a considerable amount of that $$$ was sunk into that awesome-looking blade.

[@ColinRichardson]

tetsubo57 It sounds amazing.. But counter intuitive to me. Light weight, means easy to stop. Would prefer to compact the weight into a smaller space. But, I will admit, it would not have the WOW factor of the size and WOW factor of the design.

[@sn0wchyld]

Colin Richardson energy is proportional to weight * velocity squared... so if it can spin up faster due to lower weight, well... it can more than make up for a weight reduction. That said... he went from aluminium to titanium... so assuming the same volume of material this comment is highly redundant :P (titanium is about 2x the weight of ally).

[@10antba]

tetsubo57 I'll think about it for you. A sheet of aircraft grade titanium large enough and thick enough for this application would cost roughly $3,500 retail. Wholesale could get it for probably $3000. It wouldnt surprise me if this competition did some wholesale purchasing for all the teams to save money. And if they had to pay to use the waterjet, shop time for a waterjet is usually $500-600/hour and something like this would take 2-3 hours. though again it wouldnt surprise me if the teams had access to a machine shop during the build phase.

[@nathantaylor338]

From robot wars to this the tech we have now is unreal

[@nationsnumber1chump]

This was my favorite show growing up! I'm glad they brought it back!

[@TaylorMartinStuff]

I feel like I was born for this …

[@Novashadow115]

This was my dream job as a child! Battle bots is what got me interested in mechanical and robotic engineering to begin with :D this is amazing! I wish one day I could actually be in this arena

[@quicktech7450]

it's been 5 years so hows your engineering journey going on.

[@Rakadis]

They should have a separate "autonomous" class of robots. Fighting in the arena without directions from their masters. That would be sweet. And the American army would be sure to fund the show as well...

[@TheBlackEventorizon]

Notrollhere Autonomous technology is no way near advanced enough to keep up with this kind of combat. The only place its used is in Japanese sumo robots. Yeah, it sounds great in principal but in reality... it sucks.

[@l5132se]

Eventorizon There are autonomous 1lb combat competitions occasionally.

[@TeamMutuallyAssuredDestruction]

Notrollhere ive seen some autonomous fights before. they're pretty boring to be honest.

[@Fennecbutt]

Eventorizon The technology absolutely is advanced enough, it's just that not enough of the competitors there will be smart enough themselves to implement it. There's also the danger of autonomy in a combat robot, it's safer to have manual control.

[@khango6006]

***** Sonar and other censors are not easy techs to protect. To function, they must be exposed from the armour, which ... you know what happens to exposed techs in the arena

[@Outland9000]

BETA looks lovely up close and all nice and new and shiny! Chomp also has some lovely machine work on it.

[@mattattack1986]

This video has just made my entire month. So excited!

[@theend1555]

So pumped! Been waiting for this reboot since I was a kid!

[@593iwalkalone]

That claw rotating the trophy nut is freaking cool and fits the event very well.

[@J2theJet]

I went to the first taping and saw Wrex move in-person. I won't spoil anything, but it was absolutely awesome to watch.

[@Noble_Savage]

My brother and I watched the hell out of this show when we were young. Collected and had many battles with the battlebots toys. My favorites were Diesector, atomic wedgie and I even had a deadblow kit!

[@davidsmrz2165]

Is this Tested? Where is the coffee making robot?

[@TheUofAfan]

HA. I was just about to say it!

[@ki6eki]

David Smrž i just died laughing.

[@hainguyen4707]

David Smrž at home with Will maybe?

[@idkkkk3237]

David Smrž how come the first guys werent on the show???

[@MystCrusader]

Heck yeah! Glad to see Battle Bots coming back to the scene!

[@CosplayArmory]

I love Battlebots. I am so excited to see this competition return and it was great to see some of the old school drivers like Donald and Jim as well as a lot of new faces. Flames seem to be a bigger thing this time around than they were before and I suppose if they hit key electrical components with enough consistency and heat that they could melt them but how effective are flames really? Or perhaps it is more of an entertainment thing? I'm sure it's like sparks from titanium, not a lot of damage but a cool spectacle to watch. Guess we shall see.

[@TheBlackEventorizon]

Cosplay Armory The flames are mainly for the cameras but a few bots have ones that are focused and could actually do some serious damage against the right opponent. Also they weigh almost nothing so its a simple addition that can win them style points should it come to a decision.

[@hazonku]

I am so excited for Battlebots to be back on the air! Nightmare looks bad ass! He was one of my favorites as a kid. Jamie should totally get into this!

[@KJO1993]

I cant believe this show is coming back! So excited!

[@tjeremiah9747]

I am so excited about this. It;s finally back!!

[@MrAceman441]

I am so excited. I used to watch this shoe all the time back in the 90s. I can't wait to see it again. So much more entertaining than people wrestling now a days.

[@SailorBarsoom]

Well I've been missing it all this time, but I'm going to start watching now!

[@Ghostrider03Z]

This isnt related to the bots but wow Norm is one of the best interviewers, most have a list of questions, ask them, say "yeah" to every answer and continue onto the next question. Norm actually seems to care and build his questions off of previous info.

[@tazzman62]

Dang was hoping this was gonna be more then a promo, excited for the show none the less. More robot variety will be key, the last time it was on the air there were obvious winning configurations and it got easy to tell who would win. I really hope it does well this was one of my favorite shows back in the day.

[@conor3932]

These things are wild in person

[@ineedmorenaruto]

oh my god yes, i remember nightmare from when i was a kid!

[@squidcaps4308]

Finally! Robot mayhem is so obviously great format, wonder how it took this long to be resurrected.

[@Imdor]

Love that they took the "Razer" design and added features, Razer will forever be my favorite robot from Robot Wars.

[@rexsingh]

I could never imagine creating such engineering marvel's. Bravo!

[@Hailey_piggie]

When will Robot Wars in the UK come back? :(

[@TheBlackEventorizon]

Ratman There are rumours about something happening right now, but I would wait until BB is over. If it does well Robotwars may well see a reboot in some form.

[@Garfie489]

Ratman As Eventorizon says, there are plans as currently Robot Wars has live events touring round the UK - hopefully BattleBots will spark interest to get Robot Wars back on TV

[@NotWindy017]

Ratman I can see it coming back if this does good. And if that's the case, then hopefully a certain "smeghead" will be hosting it.

[@SuperGamefreak18]

Ratman honestly both better come back as I loved watching both battlebots and robot wars...hell even liked robotica

[@softrockification]

Ratman Get the old top gear to present it and it will be a hit.

[@Mace2.0]

Oh, it's airing, TONIGHT! YEAH!

[@Zanzubaa]

Wow so much effort and fine engineering put into these. They look more like military mine clearing devices than something for a gameshow =p. Can't wait until June 21st =)

[@CDRaff]

Just the advancements in construction is going to make this amazing. Add to that the advancements in electronics... OMG excited.

[@michaeltom637]

Witch Doctor and Hypershock are my favorites. So stylish and I'm a such a sucker for spinning drum bots.

[@JacobCarlson]

Oh man! I am really excited for this now.

[@Asoloarmy]

I am so excited that this is coming back!!!

[@DrunkenGrognard]

Team RAZOR look like they're gonna be in attendance with WarHead - saw that lovely piece of doom in a number of shots here. I'm more than a little stoked to see how WarHead stands up to some newer designs

[@philipcheyne6420]

Didn't this used to be a British show called Robot wars!? If so then what an awesome show to be brought back! I loved Robot wars so much as a child :-)

[@Savirezz]

I want to see a robot deploying smaller robots with explosives for kamikaze

[@alexgroza4869]

dats not permited

[@xqiuvmah]

It is also not very effective. Most modern robots are too resistant to fire and the small shock wave an explosive would do is nothing compared to the kinetic energy other weapons can deliver.

[@TheXxkornmunkyx666]

My favorite not from the original series was Complete Control. I really hope he comes back for the new series!

[@MELANIE1001]

This makes me happier than I can possibly express in text on the internet. Thank you. Simply thank you

[@ivangutowski]

The old guy bottom left at 0:28 - Amazed as I am. Plus now you can watch in decent quality, most Robot Wars are copied from VHS in 2002 - can hardly see a thing.

[@pixel6173]

I really like seeing these bots next to a person, because then you get a true Sense of how big they actually are. In the arena you don't really notice their size. Also, the spinners seem to be around ankle height.. Now imagine getting hit by one. Ouch.

[@daniel.pendzich]

I remember battlebots being over-saturated with spinner bots that won every match. I'm surprised no one made one here! Except maybe that lawn mower bot.. maybe that could be considered a spinner. I can't wait to watch this!

[@TheBlackEventorizon]

Daniel Pendzich Oh there are spinners: Tomb Stone (AKA, Last Rites), Counter Revolution and Warhead to name just 3, and there are several more.

[@l5132se]

Spinners are one of the most fun designs for builders, and especially for builders who like to win. Overall, though, bots (These ones especially) are much more durable than before, so spinners won't do as much instawin as you would expect based on past shows.

[@Droops24]

Eventorizon Can't fail to mention my fav, Ziggo (one of the best light-weights ever), Son of Whyachi, and Mauler ;)

[@TheBlackEventorizon]

Droops24 I just listed those that are in the new Battlebots. Yeah, Ziggo was very impressive, so was SoW, Mauler was... ridiculous :-P

[@forrestgumball]

Spinners and flippers are way too common. Bots like razor from robot wars and Minion from old battlebots are better

[@Mars.1811]

See they way they hold up the trophy? I want a million of those stands. That's bloody awesome.

[@theheftheftyguy]

Cant wait for this show and is it 9pm est or pst

[@USWaterRockets]

Awesome! I remember this show. This looks like a really impressive follow up! Are Grant, Adam or Jamie entering any competitors in this Battlebots series? They participated in the original version, so it would be cool to see one or more of them with a new robot!

[@Badnik96]

USWaterRockets No, none of the Mythbusters are competing in this season of BattleBots.

[@chartle1]

USWaterRockets Going to assume they are way too busy and way too "famous". How would they get any work done with fans (aka other competitors) coming up every 3 seconds wanting a picture.

[@USWaterRockets]

I don't think they are really too busy to do something like this. If you follow this channel, this is exactly the kind of thing that they seem to really enjoy doing. It would be cool to see them compete. If they were concerned about being mobbed, they could just build the robot and have a "nobody" take it to the arena and drive it for them. The build process would be something that would make a great video for this channel.

[@chartle1]

USWaterRockets Well Jamie and Adam are very busy doing their with their tour that has now started to overseas including Australia. Also Adam in now very much into quadcopters so not sure how much extra time he has. From watching Tested videos I think Adam gets 2 hours of sleep a night. :)

[@USWaterRockets]

Cliff Hartle Jamie just did a big multi part series on here for his Spider Racing Robots... that is pretty much the same type of thing. I bet they are not skipping the Battlebots for lack of desire or interest. It's possibly simply due to their contracts with Discovery prevent them from going on other networks.

[@goldenbeers88]

Awesome vid, good job Tested crew

[@LordOfDays]

I hope they do more behind the scenes technical talk on the new Battlebots. I was always disappointed with how little information was shared.

[@bastibananusable]

so happy this is back :)

[@TesserLink]

glad this show is back

[@JermStone]

I used to watch this all the time!

[@PazuzuStalker]

Those are really cool radiocontrolled cars!

[@MattTester]

First bot, immediately recognised the guy from Robot Wars. This should be good, hopefully it does spark interest again.

[@edisontrent618]

Well, I finally have a reason to watch TV again.

[@Koopa126]

I'm looking forward to the new Battlebots sometime soon. Let's just hope Nightmare doesn't cancel the show just like what it did last time. The robots I want to see in this new competition are Last Rites, Evil Plunger (the successor of Sewer Snake and some of the Robot Wars contenders.

[@ki6eki]

I can't wait! Imagine having flying robot battles in a cage!

[@Authenticxs]

omg my childhood is coming back ^.^

[@DeAtHaToMiC88]

eh, BRING BACK ROBOTWARS.

[@FabledFrame]

DeAtHaToMiC88 With Craig Charles.

[@TheBlackEventorizon]

***** The Robotwars name was bought up by a company called Roaming Robots, its nothing like the original show and is only run in the UK.

[@royalblue2324]

DeAtHaToMiC88 awooga awooga

[@datguy8805]

DeAtHaToMiC88 and your wish was granted

[@cubed9003]

the first team beta is from England, the robot name is originally terrorhurts, and the other young guy is the team leader of Carbide

[@jkninja9204]

13:26 somebody should make a robot with a water jet on it lol. awesome video love battlebots

[@Garfie489]

jkninja Water is very heavy, and would require a large tank to be effective - not practical im afraid :) If youve ever used a power jet to wash your garden patio, you will know how powerful it can be though :)

[@freddurst9053]

I can't wait for this show to cone back. Hopefully out hits Netflix after their season.

[@CorneliusSneedley]

I used to love these shows; they were so popular, then they just sort of faded away. Glad to see someone is giving this concept another shot. If you do more coverage, you ought to see if Grant would be interested in coming along. I think his perspective would be interesting.

[@roccozilla1969]

Sweeeeet!cant wait,i miss the show alot

[@bobafett215x]

My college (WPI) sponsored the creation of Bite Force, the trophy is on display in the campus community center :D. I'd grab you all a picture of the robot, but they moved it somewhere the other week, only displaying the trophy now.

[@Reierdacool]

I'm worried about hudson's robot's wheels jamming if they get hit because they're so close together also geez everything has a flamethrower now

[@Ashleyraver786]

The guys around 4 mins into the video, two of them are blazeddd bigtime LOL !

[@monev44]

Ashley Raver or sleep deprived, which is highly likely

[@rabidkangar00]

This would make a neat midi controller for a couple basic functions.

[@penguin99ify]

I attended the final show of the event in Vallejo CA last month and it was a BLAST! Got to sit and talk to Team Ziggo and with the family of the new Heavyweight Champion (sorry, can't reveal it's name). Thanks for posting it.

[@CyberDreZ]

penguin99ify If team Ziggo is really returning... Thank you. ( Cant trust nobody tho... ) lol

[@penguin99ify]

The Ridder family didn't say either way if they intended to return, but appeared to be just supportive spectators. My take was they'd been through it all and were just visiting. We talked equipment and robot design mostly. Nice folks and friendly.

[@forgottenalex]

which robot was the one that was a basicly black roomba with spinning saw disks all along it's edge?

[@lotto77102]

Oh man... I hope this gets shown in Australia...

[@alejandronq645]

it's te june 21th at 9pm but where? I mean what time zone do they refer when the say (in the description) that it is at 9pm? Please answer

[@DeathMonky22]

to those watching this note: no actual footage of battlebots mayhem , only footage of deactivated bots and their creators talking about how they work and the personal advantages form competition.

[@JoYiSgUiTaR]

How are the robots controlled wireless you? Through RC, NXT?

[@MadixLP]

I can't wait to see the show + in-dept-videos of the robots. For example, why they chose to exchange Nightmare's aluminum-spinningwheel for titanium, and if there are any Razer-like bot-designs.

[@TheBlackEventorizon]

MadixLP Because Titanium is at least 4 times stronger than Aluminium; even the best Aluminium Alloys are no match for Titanium. Titanium is also tougher, harder; though it varies from alloy to alloy, and has a higher tensile strength. That is why. Chomp could be considered Razeresque but everyone says that about every crusher ever built after Razer.

[@MadixLP]

Eventorizon How do you get that number of 4? If you compare the E-modulus of both metals, (~70GPa and 105GPa) the titanium sure is more rigid, but not that much - plus for a wheel like that with attached blades, the basematerial shouldn't matter that much, or am I missing something?

[@TheBlackEventorizon]

I was going off the UTS and density. 7075 Has a UTS of around 540MPa, G5 Ti is 1000MPa. Given you have have 1.5x more Ti for your weight (50% more) and its almost twice as strong (getting on for double the UTS) You can round it up to 4... though technically that is 3.7x. Not perfect by any means but it gives you an idea. The E-Modulas is used when it is tension rather than its being cut, and given the bots tend to try and cut (or rip) their opponents apart, that's why I use the UTS.

[@MadixLP]

Ah, you're right. I'm way too used to calculating with E-Modulas :)

[@evernewb2073]

I still wonder if witch doctor would've done a lot better that season if they had favored the wedge over trying to include the minibot for crowd-pleasing, it was already an effective well-driven machine back then but it always really seemed like they were not expecting to do well so they just sorta went more for making a show of things, I can respect that but I honestly think they had a lot more of a chance than they acted like they did.

[@infern0ooo]

I saw the predator in the video, have my hopes up for an awesome series.

[@MrBigCookieCrumble]

i love battlebots! But we don't have that channel in Sweden :/ Is it possible to watch this online?

[@mbrez69]

Mr BigCookie yes

[@dlwatib]

Finally, Battlebots gets to be the program it always deserved to be.

[@kungfootattoo]

YES ! BattleBots ! Can't Wait. How was this allowed to Die Off ?

[@chartle1]

3:14 how much more "weight" do those magnets give. Also more downward force slower robot. Do like the design feature where the center of the tread can be raised to increase turning speed.

[@Garfie489]

Cliff Hartle Depending on the size and type of magnet, its very easy to imagine that they make the equivalent of 116kg each, with say 50 on the floor at one time - and they dont affect speed at all, since horizontal and vertical forces have no interaction with each other.

[@MrLinguist88]

OMG hypehypehype!!! it has been so long!

[@tanyapunyo2074]

They seem small inside the arena but are actually so hugee

[@Pong-Lenis]

robot wars/battlebots was my childhood

[@kkaenjixox]

Does anyone know where the other 2 battlebots interviews went?

[@PhantomBowser16]

Oh my god those are the Terrorhurtz guys!

[@Fennecbutt]

Much excite!

[@fredde88888888]

I would love to see adam and the Hyneman in battlebots :D

[@HarambeDid911]

With the drone/quad copters technology we have now, they could have flying robot fights

[@Sillyzombie666]

I FUCKING LOVE YOU, THANK YOU FOR COVERING THIS

[@Plur307]

I'm amazed at how many people are making last minute changes. I think having a well sorted and reliable robot is more important than any last minute tweaks you could make. I would want to be 100% done with the bot weeks ahead of time and have many hours of testing on my finished design. Probably easier said than done though...

[@TheBlackEventorizon]

Plur307 What usually happens is you are arrive and you are 100% ready... then they tell you who you are fighting and you spend what time you have trying to optimise your machine for that opponent. Also, testing outside the arena can only take you so far. I remember an old battle bots competitor saying he would throw his bots out the back of a van at 50mph. Only when nothing broke would he be satisfied .

[@l5132se]

Eventorizon as a competitor in smaller bots, outside testing definitely only takes you a quarter of the way. Even if you test your weapon, assuming you have one, against a massive target, you could still break something because of the energy from the other bot.

[@chartle1]

Plur307 Yes a lot easier said then done considering I'm assuming all these people have real jobs and have only so much time. Also in reading comments here it seems these Bots were picked from designs submitted by the builders to ABC. ABC could have intentionally limited the amount of time they had to build to up the drama factor.

[@phillyb87]

YES!!!! Can't wait :)

[@NZHipHop101]

I kinda hope Jamie & Adam get an invitation to either judge, compete or hand out prizes. There working relationship started with battling robots. Sure Jamie might have created a machine so deadly that people just straight up refused to fight his bot & his bot got banned. But it help make mythbusters what it is today. Plus it introduced grant imahara to Adam & tori @ ILM. Which is pretty cool. I loved the little mythbusters moments where you see them with their battle robots, t-shirts with pockets & coke bottle thick round lenses. They were the good old days. I think Grant sacrificed his bot for mythbusters and attached a robot cat on, & the hammer was used for all sorts of myths. Anyway it would be amazing to see them there, even if it was purely as a spectator. Although Jaime was working on battle spiders????? Battle bot prototypes? Hahaha

[@SumoValkyrie]

Let's hope Grant comes back and does the whole BattleBots thing again. I mean that's where he kinda got his start before Mythbusters.