Robots Are Ready to Rumble – SF RoboGames this weekend

Robots Are Ready to Rumble – SF RoboGames this weekend

RoboGames (formerly RoboOlympics) kicked off on Friday in San Francisco with competitor check in and sub-Lightweight class fights. This competition, following in the footsteps of events such as Robot Wars and Battlebots, pits remotely-controlled fighting machines against each other in a bulletproof steel arena. The Competitors are many and tickets are still available. Saturday and Sunday will feature up to 340, or Superheavyweight robot combat, with such crowd favorites as Alcoholic Stepfather, a superheavy that spews flame nearly 25 feet, and Megabyte, a heavyweight that spins a steel shell of doom. RoboGames isn’t only for fighting robots, though, it will also feature miniature robotic wrestlers called Robo-Ones, Lego bots, BEAM bots, robotic soccer games, and all kinds of art bots- it’s like a festival of robots!

If you happen to be anywhere near the gymnasium at San Francisco State University this weekend and hear a series of very loud crashes or the sound of saw blades cutting violently through metal, it’s probably from RoboGames, a gathering of robot-combat enthusiasts from all over the world. The event kicked off Friday and runs though Sunday. It pits contestants from 12 countries against each other in 46 different categories, including robot soccer, firefighting, sumo, maze solving, triathlon and, of course, combat.

While thousands of people will visit RoboGames and enjoy all the various events, there’s no doubt that most people come to watch the battles. “When you get in there, you get three minutes of total destruction,” said John Mladenik, one of three members of Robotic Death Company, whose 220-pound robot Megabyte won the event last year. “Before a fight, I’m so nervous, my hands are shaking.”