Bolts Fly as Robots Go Out to Combat

Down in the BattleBox, a life-and-death drama unfolded to the lusty cheers of the Sunday afternoon crowd. A 2-foot-high robot called the Executioner had cornered Mouser CatBot 2001, a cheery cat-themed killing machine that looks more like an inverted pink-fiberglass snow saucer.

Mouser was trapped; its whirring blades saws were useless, as was its catapult.

The Executioner moved in. In profile, it resembles a life-size Darth Vader head. Slowly, the Executioner swiveled its most potent weapon toward its captured prey. Suddenly, the howl of a chain saw rose like a battle cry above the speed-metal soundtrack at last weekend’s first BattleBots competition.

The ensuing massacre left a gruesome spray of pink fiberglass across the floor--and the crowd nearly delirious.

Welcome to the intersection of applied technology, barbaric weaponry and professional wrestling, a guilt-free orgy of mechanized violence staged last weekend at the Pyramid arena at Cal State Long Beach.

At BattleBots, for example, it was perfectly acceptable to cheer wildly as an ax-wielding robot named Son of Smashy hacked to pieces a robot named Stuffie and its helpless plush-toy driver.

“That’s the beauty of this sport!” the hyperbolic ring announcer reminded the chanting crowd (“Dumpster! Dumpster!”) as one contestant hauled his battered $7,000 pride-and-joy off to the solder-scented pit area for repairs. “No broken bones, only broken bolts!”

BattleBots is the fever-dream of promoter Trey Roski, son of multimillionaire Los Angeles real estate and sports magnate Edward P. Roski Jr. Robot hobbyists for years have participated in an unrelated and relatively unhyped Bay Area competition, but the younger Roski is convinced that medieval robotic combat is the pay-per-view sport of the future. He added a few P.T. Barnum touches--the ring announcer, dynamic lighting and $25,000 in cash and prizes--to get BattleBots ready for prime time.

While the Long Beach crowd--less than a thousand--was smaller than expected, Roski plans to stage similar competitions around the country. The next one, in Las Vegas, is timed to coincide with the annual Comdex computer trade show in November.

Last weekend’s BattleBots debut attracted tinkerers from around the world, each with a vicious mayhem-maker in tow. During the two-day elimination tournament, organizers pitted more than 75 robots against others in their weight class inside the BattleBox, with its 20-foot shatterproof walls designed to protect the audience from shrapnel. Adding drama to the bouts were the BattleBox’s own mechanized pitfalls, including death daggers and buzz saw blades that burst from the killing floor.

But the real stars were the robots, including Knee Breaker, Biohazard, Vlad the Impaler, Toe Crusher, Ginsu, Nightmare, TazBot and Lock-Nut Monster.

Grant Imahara of San Rafael brought Deadblow, which features a 6 1/2-pound sledgehammer at the end of a radio-controlled arm that swings 180 degrees in less than a second.

“I wanted to create something with maximum destructive capability,” he said. Imahara’s creation inflicted impressive damage on Scorpion, a gas-powered contraption that resembles its namesake. “That was a great match,” he said. “I drove up on him aiming for his legs and the part behind his tail where his receivers are. I didn’t kill him, but I put a good dent in his head, and that’s stainless steel armor.”

In a display of pit-area sportsmanship, the Scorpion’s designer invited Imahara to sign his name next to the dent and then reciprocated by autographing the ding his creature’s fearsome stinger had left. There, among repair tables strewn with tools, machine oil and fast-food wrappers, the two creators shared the incomparable thrill of destruction.