Robots battle in The Pyramid
By Yeoshin Kim
Summer Forty-Niner
The Pyramid at Cal
State Long Beach will transform into a battleground for robots this weekend.
The first Battlebots competition will begin Saturday at 9 a.m. and spread
over four events until the most ferocious robot becomes the ultimate bot
in Sundayís finals event.
"It's a newly emerging
sport event of robotic combat where only the best engineered robot survives,"
said Trey Roski, president of Battlebots Inc.
More than 70 robots
will compete with their specially designed remote-controlled robots in
this two-day competition.
More than 20,000
robot enthusiasts are expected to gather in Long Beach for the two-day
event.
"Many of the entrants
are coming from all over the world," Roski said.
The interesting element
of combative robots is that it does not have a specific demographic following,
he said.
"In this competition,
we have a 12-year-old girl, old ladies, toy companies and engineering teams
from NASA," Roski said.
Robots are classified
into three different weight classes -- Kilobots for robots weighing 25-83
lbs., Megabots for 84-164 lbs., and Gigabots for 165-300 lbs.
All robots come equipped
with massive destructive weapons such as saws, hammers picks and spikes
to survive the gladiator type games. If that were not scary enough, the
robots face additional obstacles inside the 48-foot by 48-foot square arena.
The competition has
strict rules on safety and provides a long range of lists that contestants
must follow.
Before Roski created
Battlebots Inc. three months ago, he used to be a competitor in robotic
combat events. He won first place for the '95 and '96 "Robot Wars" event
and second place at the í97 games.
Roski calls this
unique and different robotic combat event a sport because robots employ
movements from golf, football, soccer and tennis as well as other athletic
movements.
"Robotic combat has
only a brief history dating back about five years," Roski said.
The Battlebots competition
will give away a total of $25,000 in cash and prizes.
"It costs about $20,000
to build a robot and most people are not in it for the money," Roski said.
Most of them want
the ultimate title of "Engineer of the World," Roski said.
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Jimmy Chai/ Summer Forty-Niner