Ooooh baby, can you feel that robot love? And better yet, that smashing sparking crushing robot destruction and death? Not only has RoboGames 2010 been scheduled for April 23-25th (a few months earlier than this year), but the ComBots Cup is back! We covered ComBots in May of 2008… Held at Maker Faire, it’s where Pleo got, uh, introduced to Vicious Verdict. The problem with having the ComBots Cup in May and RoboGames in June is that it didn’t allow for much time for both people and robots to recover from two days of combat, and as we’ve seen, things can get pretty brutal, so last year, the two events were sort of folded into RoboGames. Or ComBots went on hiatus. I’m not sure which. But who cares, it’s back now, and that means TWICE THE CARNAGE!

The ComBots Cup is scheduled for December 19-20, and both events have moved to the San Mateo County Fairgrounds just south of San Francisco. Lots of details will be forthcoming, and we’ll bring ‘em to you, but make sure and block out these dates on your calendar now. Plus the normal two or three days afterwords for detox.

[ RoboGames ] and [ ComBots Cup ] VIA [ Suicide Bots ]

Okay, so here’s the good news: the first ever Mech Warfare competition did take place at RoboGames this year. The bad news, however, is that there was no hardcore class and in fact only a couple robots were reliably operational. I know, I know, I can feel your dejection from all the way over here. I’m sad too. But, you have to remember that this was the very first Mech Warfare event in the history of robomanity, so there were bound to be some kinks to work out.

That said, the limited amount of combat that did take place was pretty cool to watch. There were a couple quads that worked well enough to get in the arena and fight each other, and the scoring system was usually registering hits and keeping things lively. Video:

My hope is that this proof-of-concept event will, at the very least, get the idea of Mech Warfare well off the ground. The next step is going to be refining the rules, putting together additional events, and of course getting more robots involved. As always, we’ll keep you posted.

[ Mech Warfare ]

After the jump, I’ve posted a bunch of pics from RoboGames. They’re of no particular thing and in no particular order, and if you have any questions as to what’s what, leave a comment and I’ll do my level best to remember.

Also, I’d just like to take a moment to thank some of the people who made RoboGames happen this year as well as some of the people I got to meet, including the handsome David Calkins and the lovely Simone Davalos for getting me in to all this stuff in the first place, Dan Albert for showing me his robotic wiener dog, Greg Intermaggio for inviting me to sit on his lap, Emerson Malca for being a good cook, Matt Trossen and Andrew Alter for putting up with my awkward rambling, and I-Wei Huang for briefly talking to me about something besides robots.

Anyway, enjoy! (Read more…)

Well, RoboGames is over. What a spectacular weekend. After three days of non-stop coverage, I’m knackered, I’m bushed, I’m plumb tuckered out. Even so, that’s not stopping me from staying up until 4 am 4:30 am 5am putting together a highlight video from day 3. Later this week, I’ll have a nice fat picture gallery up, plus more Mech Warrior footage. And hey, guess what, now we can start looking forward to RoboGames 2010! Woohoo!

Oh yeah, and of course I’ll be catching up with all of the other goings-on in the robot world over the past few days. As soon as I get myself some sleep, that is. I’m going to go pass out now, enjoy the vid:

[ RoboGames ]

Here you go, down at the bottom of this post is another treasure trove of video highlights from RoboGames on Saturday. There’s a bunch of awesome combat footage, plus some sumo, hockey, and even autonomous fire fighting thrown in for good measure. Keep an eye out for some clips of a Mech Warrior match… It’s just a little taste, we’ll have more details on that event next week. But, there’s still plenty more left to go: RoboGames runs all day Sunday, too, and I’ll be there trying to catch every minute of it for ya. Yes, I know it’s impossible, but I’m doing my darnedest. If you feel like you’re missing some of the matches, don’t worry, full length video will (eventually) be available of every single fight, including some badass slow-mo of some of the best smash-ups. We’ll keep you posted.

[ RoboGames ]

I spent a long day at RoboGames today, and I’m beat, mostly because I stayed up late cutting together this video of highlights from the first day of competition. It’s all combat ’cause that’s all that went on today; the rest of the 70-odd events kick off tomorrow, and I’ll have video of as much of that stuff as I can run around and catch tomorrow night, providing I don’t die of exhaustion. That sexy robot juice keeps me going, though… That and a pallet of Brawndo, one of the sponsors of RoboGames this year. Brawndo: the Thirst Mutilator, with more caffeine and taurine than you can shake a stick at. And believe me, after a can or two, that stick isn’t going to be the only thing that’s shaking. Anyway, here’s the vid, enjoy:

[ RoboGames ]