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Outside of the Box
Outside of the Box
Author: Christine G
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Check out the award-nominated podcast featuring host Christine Giver talking to guests spanning the combat robotics and STEM communities as well as a little nerdy talk with friends in entertainment and gaming. We have many segments including Bot Buddies, Robot Roundtables and both BattleBots and NHRL breakdowns featuring special co-host Ashley Beckman!
If you love nerding out about robots, STEM, gaming and more, this channel is for you!
If you love nerding out about robots, STEM, gaming and more, this channel is for you!
249 Episodes
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We are fast approaching the final round of qualifiers with NHRL and I was excited to finally get the chance to chat with Brooks and John from Gator Robotics. They are bringing a swampful of robots with them to the November event including Termigator and Steggy. We chatted about their robotics club and what we can expect out of their crew at this last event before finals!
Welcome to my #OopsAllVerts episode where I chatted with some of the hard-hitting competitors at the most recent October NHRL qualifying event. I talked to Tristan whose robot Elytra has been tearing it up in the midwest and went nearly all the way for this event, then David whose new massive vert Xenomorph certainly put a scare into some builders and finally got to chat about Maccabot with Max, Jordon and Ilan about their promising new 30lb robot. It is an exciting episode you won't want to miss!
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Luke Horwath, a contestant on the most recent season of LEGO Masters and an engineering student at Notre Dame. We talked about his passion for engineering which was fueled by his love for LEGO and how his mom got to be so involved in that journey culminating in their appearance on the show together. We talked about some of his impressive builds outside of the show and so much more.
You can check out more about Luke at https://www.luke99studios.com/.
Welcome back to a brand new episode of Outside of the Box. We preview the October NHRL event with a promising young builder named Nathan who attends Rose Hulman and hopes to bust some brackets with his robot Erbert. This robot has made its presence known at events over the summer in the midwest and is my personal pick as a dark horse contender for this event. Hear about his building and iteration process as well as why he loves antweights.
Prepare for an episode full of energy as we broke down the SEMO July Jamboree event at QuadCon in Peoria, Illinois. We first chat with Christopher who is the builder of Fingers Crossed and his team is here to have fun! We talk about his background and why it is so important to keep fun at the top of mind when fighting robots. I also talked to SEMO's Mike Mueller about the growth of his organization, how the July Jamboree went and future events.
Fresh of the heels of Outside of the Box's first event, it is time to do a deeper dive into event organization. We have several perspectives on event hosting in this episode including talking collegiate events with Ryan and Uday from UIUC, a focus on being a brand new event organizer with Emily, George & Jair from MRCA and the journey of becoming an experienced event organizer with Carolina Combat Robotics' father/son duo Chuck and Jeremy. If you ever wanted to know more about hosting, this is the one to watch!
As you may have noticed, episodes of late have been geared around events and the FIRST Tech Challenge was a really fun event I had the opportunity to attend. Check out a couple of interviews from that event with teams from Romania and Brazil who travelled very far to compete with other teams from around the country and the world.
To follow up on the PopCon Recap, this episode covers the entire panel that featured Brian Boxell & Ellie Clark who are both seasoned builders at both NHRL and BattleBots. There is so much good commentary during this panel including a really heartwarming moment when Brian was asked about his father Glenn Boxell and his accomplishments.
It was such a fun time down in Indianapolis at the Circle City Clash presented in conjunction with PopCon and Robot Smashing League! Enjoy this brief recap with video highlights from the event including our friends at Witch Doctor and Turnabot as well as clips from the tournament itself!
Thanks again to our sponsors BAIS219, Palm Beach Bots, Fingertech Robotics & Master Control Bot!
If you want an episode that is proof that robots can be beautiful and destructive - look no further. I had the joy of chatting with Boby of Melon Baller as well as the team behind Killswitch about their awesome designs and solid performances at the last event.
As we prepare to take a summer break from NHRL, join me for a great recap with 3 robots that really made a splash at the June event with one of them coming away with a finals win. I chatted with Brian from Murphy's Law about their unexpected run, got into 12 lb talk with Ben from RoboCat and heard from Kevin Milczewski about his speedy robot Red Storm and its run to the Golden Dumpster. Check it out!
It is time for another STEM Spotlight! In this episode, I spoke with Sarah DeVolld of Vintage Train Case about her passion for blending fashion with STEM. She talks about her journey as a designer, some of the projects she has been working on and her experience at the National STEM Festival this year.
It is fitting that this episode is packed full of builders who originate from the Midwest as we preview the MRCA takeover of NHRL in June. I first talk to Emily & Dustin of Nacho Robotics about their pair of hard hitting bots that have impressed in MRCA events. Then, we shift into shenanigans with a group of folks from the Outside of the Box discord server and get even more amazing Frank lore (IYKYK). We wrap up talking to Alex & Aren from Seems Reasonable and Eli & Jamison from Sawblaze about the scary bots they are bringing to this event including some upgrades to bots we know and love. Strap in and get ready for a MEGA sized episode!
There were some pretty spectacular runs at the May NHRL event and I spoke to a few builders who had amazing performances, but were all stopped by the eventual winners of their respective weight classes. Cameron from Sad Octopus talks about an amazing day of fights culminating in a fun fight versus Jelly Baby, Matt Lantry talks about the journey from control bot driver to his success with hard hitting horizontol Sievert and Joe From Deadrise talks about his building inspirations how his performance at Motorama gave him confidence in his robot.
Please donate to the Alexander Richmond Scholarship Fund if you are able: https://www.gofundme.com/f/alex-richmond-memorial-scholarship-fund?cdn-cache=0
Have you ever thought about driving a combat robot using video game controllers? The builders on this episode did and even WON using these unconventional transmitters. I talked to Tim Hebert about his recent NHRL appearance where he won fights using a DDR pad and Rock Band drums and attempted the same with a Guitar Hero guitar! He breaks down his process for this and potential ideas he has for future implementations. I also talked to Pearl Grey, whose robot 2FA I got to fight against at a previous event. They talk about the use of video game controllers to drive robots as well as more techy ideas that you could see at a future event!
New episode for you featuring some of the most exciting builders at the upcoming Round 4 NHRL event on May 3rd. Gwen is so backalope with her already qualified robot Jackalope, but is setting her sights on the Golden Dumpster for this event. Jim and Andrew Kazmer talked all about meltybrains including some cool facts fans may not have known! I also sat down with Kevin, Ariel & Corey from Team Pandamonium to talk about the army of robots they are bringing to the event including information about Corey's new and exciting 12 lb entry Sweet Tooth. Catch it all right here!
We are back with another NHRL recap, this time highlighting a few of the amazing competitors from the Round 3 April event. I talked to Ben & Razi Strano about Bean Supreme Refried's amazing qualifying run, heard all about Trevor Sommer's run with Void including a heart-stopping win against Minun & Plusle, and chatted with Nick Grumski about his robot Alan and how exciting/terrifying it was to battle against Battlebots legends.
On the heels of the big event announcement, I wanted to give fans a little bit more information on what they can expect from the Circle City Clash tournament and PopCon as a whole. I first sat down with Kris Keys, co-owner of PopCon, to talk about how they value diversity in the many experiences they offer at PopCon which will include things this year like an even larger film festival and Purr Con for cat lovers. I also talked to Casey Jeremiason of Robot Smashing League about the opportunity to host such a big event for potentially thousands of new combat robotics fans.
We've got some heavy hitters in this episode as we talk about the upcoming NHRL Round 3 event happening on April 5th! It will be the 2025 debut of Chainsaw Kitty and the return of fellow Sleepy Anime Girl bot Usawgi whose builders Kezia and Mint are hoping not to face each other until deep in the bracket. I also talked to BattleBots veterans Matt & Jason Vasquez who are bringing a couple of robots that have the NHRL community buzzing including Lil Lash which is a 30lb Whiplash. Finally, I was once again joined by the Robojackets from Georgia Tech to talk about their swarm of robots coming to this event. Some great discussions you won't want to miss!
It is time to recap Round 2 of NHRL where we saw some amazing fights and underdog wins! In this episode, Christine chats with Dwight of Master Control Bot, Ben of The Wall Pt 2 and Ryan of Count3r Punch and ARES about all of their incredible runs in the bracket. Check out some great discussion from these amazing and talented builders!



