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Killer Robots
Killer Robots is a new show coming soon on the Science channel. They filmed the Heavyweight class at Robogames and they are going to take that footage to make a special show. They compare it to “Pumpkin Chunkin” which is a similiar kind of show they do about pumpkin hurlers. Apparently there is a big pumpkin throwing event once a year and every year at Thanksgiving they do a special show about it. I actually really like that show.
So unlike Battlebots, which took a couple days of battles and spread them out over a short season, this show will take one event and convert it into a single episode. Doing a single episode is probably good because it should allow them to cherry pick the best battles and the most interesting competitors.
While I am guessing they will be a little light hearted about this-- like they are with the pumpkin throwers-- I am hoping they will do a pretty good job of explaining what is actually going on. Grant Imahara is the host, and I think that is a very good sign. Before he became well known for being on Mythbusters, Imahara was a very accomplished roboticist. He not only competed in Battlebots, but he also create Craig Ferguson's robot skeleton sidekick. They also interviewed a number of well known combat robot creators. I think that will also help the program by giving some context.
Will it make good TV? The robots have only gotten more violent and more powerful, but I don’t know how well that will translate to television. A lot of the Combots robots use flames, which is visually very exciting, if not very effective. I do think that some of the middleweights and light weights were more exciting to watch fight. The heavyweights seem to tend toward more wedges and boxes. There seems to be more experimentation in the lighter classes.
The show is at 9PM Eastern, and you can see the trailer here.
More Combat Foortage
In the message boards I see that some viewers have complained that there wasn't enough footage of actual robot fights. I will try to help address this by putting up as much audience video of the battles as I can find.
The quality of these videos is never as good as what you can see on TV, but you can see some important fights from start to finish. I don't have to worry about spoliers because by now you should have seen the show. Unlike me, who still needs to see it on TiVo.