Build Your Own Combat Robot

Chapter 15: Afterword 331
“A germ you can’t beat up with your fists. It seems there’s an opportunity for a
germbot. Of course, the problem is penetrating the other guy’s armor.”
That’s not all. Bill also predicts a rise in reconfigurable robots, which can be
customized with specific weapons before each competition. “You want to go after
the opponent’s weakness. That requires asymmetrical weapons. In football,” Bill
explains, “everybody uses the same weapons. It’s giant guys smashing into giant
guys. You’re not allowed to use glue or bombs. But imagine if you could show up
with a bunch of spikes! Football would be a very different kind of game; you’d
have asymmetrical combat.”
And, while remotely operated combat is popular today, robots have a lot of potential
for more automated competition. Competitions like RoboCup require the
robots to use a combination of sensors and artificial intelligence (AI)–style programming
to behave in competition; there’s no human intervention allowed.
Will the style of competition that emphasizes robotic decision-making catch
on? Most builders don’t think so, citing the excitement that comes from watching
a human being drive the robot. “You have to ask how entertaining will it be to have
a robot go out there and try to find another robot on its own,” muses Diesector’s
Donald Hutson. “With me driving, you actually have someone to boo if I fail.”
Team Blendo’s Jamie Hyneman agrees. “The human aspect of the competition is
important. You get to see this nervous guy handling the joystick, and you watch
the elation on his face when it’s going well and the look of dejection when he loses.
It’s human. Without that, it’s not as interesting.”
But, while builders covet their joysticks, others are intrigued by AI. Says Bill
Nye, “I think it’s more interesting, in a sense, when their strategy is all in their programming.”
Indeed, he says that this kind of technology is important as
real-world industrial and scientific robots get more freedom to operate as an adjunct
to humans. “It’s like sending rovers to Mars. Mars is so far away that there
are minutes between when we send commands and the rover reacts. It needs to be
able to make decisions on its own.”
What of the sport itself? Some worry that it’s a fad—as so many pop-culture
phenomenons turn out to be—that will fade from the public consciousness and
become an obscure hobby for tinkerers. Christian Carlberg admits that the jury is
still out: “This sport might be a fad that passes over the next few years, or it might
grow into something as large as televised football.” Nightmare’s Jim Smentowski
explains why shows like BattleBots stand a good chance of becoming a staple of
American life. “This is the only sport that kids and their parents in their living
room, watching TV, can sit there and say ‘Let’s get involved in that,’ and they can!
Next thing you know, they’ll be on the next season of BattleBots!”
Greg Munson is doing something about it. BattleBots IQ is an academic program
the show has created with the help of educators and academic roboticists for
high school students. “We’re builders ourselves,” he explains, “and so we said,
‘wouldn’t it be great to learn about robots in school?’ BattleBots IQ will be an
elective that students can take to apply all the math and physics and science they
learn in class to build a real robot.” Greg hopes that BattleBots IQ will be more