Behind the Bots

This week on the podcast, we’re previewing April 2024 NHRL, which will feature some big changes to the House of Havoc. We’re joined by guest cohost and friend of the pod Zoe Lambert, captain of Team Honey Cracked at NHRL, robotics mentor, and pit crew member on Team Mammoth on BattleBots. Together, we’ll break down all the action to look for this weekend in Norwalk, CT.   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on the podcast, we’ve got a returning guest from the earliest days of the pod, RailGun Max captain Elaine Wu! She was on the pod aaaaall the way back in August 2019, just months before the pandemic shut down the globe. In March, she returned to the U.S. for the first time since 2019, to compete at NHRL and visit BattleBots Destruct-a-Thon. We’re catching up with her at the tail end of her two-week trip to learn more about the Chinese combat robotics scene, and get her thoughts on NHRL.   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on the podcast, we’re previewing March NHRL, plus talking about our experience at Motorama 2024.   Note: Unfortunately, Kyle's audio wasn't saved by our recording program! Apologies for any continuity/audio weirdness this may cause.   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on the podcast, we’re previewing Motorama 2024 with Northeast Robotics Club officer Jon Durand. Motorama is the flagship event of the year at NERC, with several thousands spectators over a very long, often cold, weekend at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. We preview the action happening this weekend, and reminisce over Amish Hot Pockets.   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on the podcast, we’re previewing the 2023 NHRL All-Stars event, Dec. 5, 6, and 7 on YouTube. We’re catching up with NHRL Henchman Sam who will give us an inside look at what to expect.   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on the podcast, we’re recapping the 2023 NHRL Championships, which saw Emulsifier take home first place in the 30-pound weight class, Full Court win in the 12’s, and Booty Brigade take home the Golden Brett in the beetles.   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on the podcast, we’re previewing the 2023 NHRL Championships, which will be held this Saturday in Norwalk, CT and livestreamed live over YouTube. We’re joined by our good friend Chris Moran, who is in charge of social media growth at NHRL, and is a walking encyclopedia of NHRL’s top builders and bots. We also recap the most recent episode of BattleBots Champions.   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on the podcast we have two very special guests! Jeff Waters of Supreme Ruler and JackPot-Battlebots and Jason Woods the innovator behind cam lifter style robots and Tracer - Battlebot. We're excited to talk to Jeff and Jason about the Golden Bolt tournament and discuss the intricacies of cam lifter supremacy.   Buy Jackpot Merch!! https://vegascombatrobotics.com/index.php/product/jackpot-tee/   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots   Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on Behind the Bots, we’re reviewing season 2 episode 3 of The Golden Bolt tournament, AKA Sin City Slugfest, AKA BattleBots Champions with special guests Brad Hanstad and Shea Waffles Johns! Brandon Young joins Kyle as a guest host for the rest of the month! Buy Triton and Deep Six Merch! https://www.teamoverboard.com/store.html#/ Check out Send Cut Send: https://sendcutsend.com/   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots   Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!    

This week on Behind the Bots, we’re reviewing season 2 episode 2 of The Golden Bolt tournament, AKA Sin City Slugfest, AKA BattleBots Champions with special guest Matt Vasquez! Brandon Young joins Kyle as a guest host for the rest of the month!   Check out Team Fast Electric Robots Merch and Ebay store! https://www.ebay.com/usr/whiplashbattlebot?_trksid=p4429486.m145687.l151931 https://www.redbubble.com/people/teamwhiplash/shop   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots   Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on the podcast, we’re recapping NHRL’s final qualifier of the 2023 season, We are also reviewing season 2 episode 1 of The Golden Bolt tournament. Brandon Young joins Kyle as a guest host for the rest of the month!   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on the podcast, we’re previewing NHRL’s final qualifier of the 2023 season, happening this Saturday in Norwalk, CT and livestreamed on YouTube. We’re joined by two pivotal members of the Pit Control desk—Ashley Beckman and Thomas Carroll—who will help us break down what to expect.   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on the podcast we’re previewing BattleBots Champions II (the spin-off show returning to the Discovery Channel on Thursday, Oct. 5) with our friend and returning guest, BattleBots co-creator Greg Munson! We also ask him about NHRL, the rumored Season 8 of the show, and BattleBots Destruct-a-thon.   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on the podcast we’re recapping the latest NHRL qualifier, held Aug. 12, 2023 in Norwalk, CT, with 12-pound champion Jake Hoffmann! We take a look at the big, unexpected storylines from the competition, and look to the future for the league.   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

This week on the podcast we’re previewing the August 2023 NHRL qualifier with Ryan and Justin Hunter, who help run the pit control desk at the league. We’ll talk about who we’re excited to see return (Depth Charge anyone?), debate weight bonuses and figure out when they’re coming back with Harvester.   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!

Enjoy this rewind from July 2020! This week on the podcast, we catch up two incredible engineers—Chomp captain Zoe Stephenson and teammate Jascha Little! Zoe and Jascha are a wife-and-husband team who work together as engineers on experimental projects at Applied Invention. Their most visible project, perhaps, is The Long Now Foundation's 10,000 Year Clock, a massive mechanical timekeeper that is designed to survive and tell time until the year 12,000. (Some fans may know that Bronco team captain Zander Rose is the director of The Long Now Foundation).   It’s unbelievably difficult to design an object to survive for 10,000 years—metals corrode, moving parts seize up, materials that touch one another run the risk of chemically reacting to one another in strange ways. For inspiration, the team looked to the past and the designs of other mechanical objects, early timepieces and mechanical computers. It’s a fascinating project, and one that we will most certainly continue to talk about on the show.   BattleBots fans know Zoe and Jascha for Chomp, the AI-infused hammerbot that ended Paul Ventimiglia’s championship run in 2016. This year, Chomp is back—as a superheavyweight walker bot with a turret-mounted hammer. Zoe and Jascha talk at length about the design, and the technical challenges they face as they try to cut weight from the bot.   We really enjoyed this interview, and we hope you do, too.

This week on the podcast, we recap NHRL's June event - and discuss the upcoming OpenSauce convention with Sam Hanson!   We'll be back on break next week, but hope to see you at OpenSauce!

*This episode, including the news and interview, is a rerun from February 2020* This week on the podcast, we go big - literally - with a story so crazy it’s almost hard to believe. Cofounder Matt Oehrlein and his team made headlines in 2015, when they challenged Japan’s Suidobashi Heavy Industry to the world’s first international mech robot duel. The duel garnered 8.5 million views on YouTube...and 8.5 million different opinions on the outcome. Late last year, MegaBots declared bankruptcy and sold off its assets. We go deep on the history of the company, his experience building and fighting Eagle Prime, and what the future of giant fighting robots might possibly hold.   Link to the Eagle Prime vs. Kuratas Giant Robot Duel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-ouLX8Q9UM

This is a re-run of our interview from May 2021.   See you when break is over!

This week on the podcast — a very special crossover episode, with our dear friends at The RoboCast and Outside of the Box. This season, we’re taking your hot takes, mixing them with our hot takes… it’s hot takes all the way down.   Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!