The pilot of Robot Combat League is available online

Hi all!

If anybody is interested, Syfy put the pilot episode of Robot Combat League up on their website - it's the one with the robot boxing. I can watch it over in Canada, so hopefully the same is true in the UK. The link is http://www.syfy.com/videos/Robot%20C...ue/vid:2626626

It's interesting...when it comes to the basic feel of the show, it leans much more towards the boxing side than the robotics side. The robots are quite intriguing, though - to get around the problem of humanoid robots having to deliver blows strong enough to damage each other without knocking themselves over in the process, the robots are not freestanding. They have a sort of support column (if that's the right term) sticking out of the back at an angle and running to the floor.

Anyway, the show did seem to do more right than it did wrong in its pilot episode - I'd love to see what the roboteers here think about it (as opposed to a mere fan like me... :-) )

Best regards to all,

Robert Marks

Yeah we can see it :-)

Pretty good but they have added the sparks with pyrotechnics and augmented the audio.

Crash got very lucky when they broke Cyclone's arm but bending the system back like that would have really messed with the mechanics.

I've got no idea of if anybody can watch this outside of Canada, but here's the link to episode #2: http://watch.space.ca/robot-combat-l...rs/#clip878156

One of the robots gets, well, punched in half this week...

It says Canada Only.

Nuts. Hopefully Syfy will put it up on their website (they've only got the pilot up so far), and perhaps that one will be watchable outside of the United States again.

Hang on, isn't Mark Setrakian of Battle Bots fame? The Master, and other crazy machines.

It is indeed.

It looks as though the whole robots runs from one hydraulic system as after one line is compromised the whole robot seems to die shortly afterwards. It would be more interesting to have an isolated system for each limb so as to allow immobilisation of individual parts of the opponent.

Well, episode 3 has aired, but unfortunately it looks like Syfy isn't putting up the full episodes. They do, however, have some videos (including some fight blow-by-blows, as far as I can tell) here: http://www.syfy.com/robotcombatleague. Hopefully everybody will be able to see that.

For those in Canada, the full episode 3 is here: http://watch.space.ca/robot-combat-l...ey/#clip882697

It was a pretty interesting episode - and is it a decapitation when one of the robot's heads falls off on its own?

Well, episode 4 has aired - those in Canada can watch it here: http://watch.spacecast.com/Redirect/?ClipId=887732

And hopefully the recaps are useful in some way for everybody else here: http://www.syfy.com/videos/Robot%20C...0League/Recaps

I will say this - this show seems to be hitting its stride. This week's bout made it to the third round and a judges' decision, and was pretty good. I get the feeling they may need to make some modifications to their arena, though - I think some of the crowd got sprayed by hydrolic fluid.

By the looks of it it was just the drivers that got it, but right in the face with no protection of any kind! Good fights in both episode 3 & 4. They seem to be designed to break really easily. They were using 3 M5 bolts to hold on a piece of armour!

All to make a decent show. Spraying competitors with hydraulic fluid is pretty nasty though.

I recognized Heather Knight as one of the competitors. She was one of the brains behind Syynlabs Rube Goldberg machine for the OK Go videoclip This too shall pass.

I will admit that I am wondering just what the lessons learned list will be like safety-wise once they've finished up the season. I can't imagine that hydraulic fluid is that good for you, but that's not the bit that necessarily raises an eyebrow.

(Okay, yes, it does raise an eyebrow...but there is something bigger...)

I don't know if this is in the recaps, but one of the robot's fists popped off during a fight. In the in-show interviews, Mark Setrakian does say that they're hitting each other with the force of a sledgehammer blow. So, with the operators unprotected, what happens if something smaller gets knocked off, heading upwards? How much danger can shrapnel do here?

For any UK based folks who would like to see the full episodes rather than just the recaps on the SyFy site, they're on Youtube:

Ep 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP_lQQN_F6M
Ep 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYiyQ17xxQA
Ep 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21TwZKUN4LM

Sorry for the late post - I know that usually I post the next day, but I'm still recovering from hosting a major family gathering on Monday.

Anyway, the new episode of RCL has aired, and the recap can be found here: http://www.syfy.com/videos/Robot%20C...ue/vid:2635214

For Canadian viewers, the full episode can be found here: http://watch.space.ca/robot-combat-l...ge/#clip892415

Hopefully, it will appear on Youtube sometime soon for those in the UK.

I have to say, though, this episode really had me wondering what the devil the producers were thinking. Here's how it played out:

1. Challenge for the remaining contestants for the quarterfinals (I believe) where one gets a prize that will affect their next fight.

2. The challenge winner has their fight (spectacular robot bisection #2 ensues).

3. The fight is drawn out, with only a few minutes left in the episode.

4. Quarterfinals fight #2 begins.

5. Closing credits roll as punches are being thrown in the opening round of fight #2.

6. Show ends before round 1 is even half over.

Seriously - this show was doing so much right...how did it end up falling into amateur night this badly? Really - did the editor and the producers suffer a mass stroke or something?

Robot Combat League is coming to the UK, Monday April 8th 8PM on SyFy http://www.syfy.co.uk/rcl

So, the new fights are up: http://www.syfy.com/videos/Robot%20C...0League/Fights

Comments on the last episode - the fighters do seem to have gotten the hang of what they're doing now, so the fights are definitely better. That said, I was left with a bit of confusion about what would lead to a judge's decision - in the case of one fight, the opponent was completely immobilized, and it went to the judges.

But, at least this episode was back to form, without any "What were the producers thinking?!" moments.

Well, I just finished watching the most recent episode here in Canada, and I have a rant...

Okay, so we've finished up the quarter-finals, and we're getting ready for the semi-finals, and yet again, the producers decide to edit the episode in such a way that it runs the closing credits at the very beginning of the first semi-final fight. What the devil were they thinking?

In all seriousness, have they never seen Robot Wars? This isn't rocket science - it's basic presentation, which Robot Wars got very, VERY right. The show may have been a game show instead of a tournament, but it was presented on air as a tournament. You had the opening heats, the semi-finals, and the finals. Each one got their own episode(s) in such a way that it felt as though you had picked up a ticket to a Robot Wars event, and you had seen the thing play out. It felt natural.

This is the second time that Robot Combat League has tossed this out in favour of apparently filling up space with whatever they've got. So, you've got five minutes left in the show, and the host is talking about what's coming up in "tonight's battles." And then, of course, the closing credits roll. Why in heaven's name wasn't this put off until the next episode, when it would feel right? Or perhaps turned into an extended preview for the next episode? Both of those would have worked just fine.

But instead, they pull this...again. Do they have any idea of how incompetent this sort of thing appears? It's frustrating because this show really does do a great job on just about every other level - and then it botches it on basic episode structure.

Good grief.

Have been watching this 1st time I saw it I didn't realise the complex hydraulics involved. There is a huge pump for the hydraulic supply aswell , I wonder if we evolve into this like USA have ? How could we get to events with such heavy machines but I'm not sure if the roboteers build them it looks like 1 man builds them for everyone, he seems to remind me of Ian watts :-D