How Lethal Was Blendo REALLY?
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- Опубліковано 14 лип 2023
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What was Blendo like in action? Does Adam have a new watch? In this live stream excerpt, Adam answers these questions from Tested members Silver Defender and SP Productions, whom we thank for their support and questions! Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks, like asking Adam questions: / @tested
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Is battle bots still on ???
Is John Cleese still with us if so call him up do a new interview with him 🤔 and ask/tell him to reput there /his movies 🎬 out because I can Not find any and I have a hard time find Yellow beard 😢
Oh and if he is feeling up to it have him and Eric teach people in acting how to make people laugh 😂 again like on Monty python and the movies 🎬
And is there any dvds 📀 of the myth busters out there ???
The blendo footage is actually on youtube.
Have you heard of an engineer youtuber called ian davis who built his own prosthetic fingers out of steel?
You built the deadliest robot ever allowed to fight another robot?
I love the idea of "Your robot is too scary, you win"
LOL!
I mean it works for a lot of things.
The crowd didn't think so at first, it seems they had a death wish. ua-cam.com/video/aMcj3n1XVUQ/v-deo.html
"If we give you first prize, will you promise to not actually compete? Please. For the love of all things holy, please..."
And twice in a row, no less.
The fact that Blendo as we know it is the toned-down version of what Jamie initially conceived says a lot about how Jamie's mind works.
It wasn't toned down, it was modified to fit reality.
@@DawidUliczny-ro7eo are you saying that a Blendo with the power of Ghost Rider itself is not capable of existing in our reality? or just it isnt safe for it to
@@Cristopher.C It isn't safe for us.
@@DawidUliczny-ro7eo There are other ways to modify it to fit reality without toning it down, you could make the blades out of tungsten instead of steel
as an engineer -- gotta disagree. 30K RPM is way beyond what was reasonable and clearly outside the realm of possibility. the thing would have torn itself to pieces even if it didn't melt to skin drag.
I really like the high regard Adam shows for Jamie. No matter how different they are and how they can get on each other's nerves, it's always clear how much respect they have for each other. That makes me glad.
They definitely wouldn't have been able to work together as long as they did without the mutual respect
Yea, it’s crazy how social disorders can put such a huge amount of tension on a relationship
I think it was the differences that made the chemistry work.
They were not really friends, but co-workers. They mutually benefited each other on projects. One would bring an outside opinion to the others ideas and usually act as a safety.
The shows wouldn't have been as successful without that.
@@ChineseSweatShoppewho is to say what is a disorder?
@@ChineseSweatShoppewhat are you talking about
That prologue about Jamie originally intending for Blendo to be an inertia-driven machine without knowing that those speeds would melt the robot itself is such a Jamie story. As is that tidbit about him using a turntable. He really was just committed to efficiency and doing things the right way. Legend.
For those who are curious, 30,000 RPM at 3 feet in diameter would mean the blades would be travelling at ~3,200 mph. A little faster than Mach 4.
Yeah. The physicist was exaggerating a little..... But 8% of escape velocity is probably not something you want to deal with when all that stands between it and you is a little lexan
@@JKSSubstandardI don't know about burning, but iirc the SR71 had panel heating issues at Mach 3+, so it's possible the shell would start warping from softening.
At that speed the power needed and air resistance would be horrific. It would be a grey blur with a bright orange ring around it.
@@JKSSubstandard I'm not entirely sure, but it's probably not too far off catching fire. It would certainly get very, very hot. Rockets travelling at escape velocity obviously don't travel that fast at sea level; they're much higher up with a significantly lower air density.
He should have built it in titanium then i guess.
I've heard of winning because your opponent is DQed, but winning by DQing yourself is really something special
Its like a secret ending in a game almost
It's less a disqualification and more them declaring "no contest." It's a mercy victory.
We had those in little league, where your team just scored so many runs in a single inning that there was little to no chance of the other team catching up in the remaining innings. It counts as a win, without playing the game through. There's nothing left to prove by competing further, essentially.
It's like blendo is the warrior who fought everyone, realized everyone else sucks compared to him, and then decides to do poetry
Imagine if they'd told Usain Bolt "we'll give you a medal, but you can't compete any more because you're too good and you will just win everything". Which, to be fair, he pretty much did.
I guess Usain Bolt didn't inadvertently fling pieces of his competitors into the crowd. Yeah, let's not think any more about that. I guess it's not such a great comparison after all.
The fact that the concept to reality went from 30,000 rpm to 400 rpm really shows the level of ambition from Jamie lol
If they somehow manage to get it up to those speeds it would effectively be a spinning bomb if any parts came off.
I am guessing it wasn't ambition but a calculator. He wanted to drive the robot with inertia of the disk, so he probably figured out how much energy he needs for 180s match, plugged in the mass of the disk and calculated how fast it needs to spin to store that amount of energy.
@@kirbyis4ever If the original design was ever built, and they managed to keep it from exploding from the forces on it, it'd physically melt their opponents.
Another case of 'Jamie wants big boom' for sure. 😁
Jaime: "I have a horrifyingly efficient idea."
Jamie's crew: "...We can _approach_ that."
Later: Win by default.
The Death Star was actually based on a design that Jaime thought didn't have enough power.
When Chuck Norris was decanted from the clonal vat, Jamie was in the observation gallery laughing and smoothing his mustache for seven days.
@@googiegress7459 Decanted from the clonal vat....😂
I really want to see what Jamie would do with modern technology if he were to build a Battlebot today.
No you don't. He would end humanity. That man is a God among men, and will bring the end of days. You hold your tongue, young one.
He’d build an active hydrogen bomb from common materials at the local Home Depot and destroy the city and every living creature in the surrounding area. ☠️☠️☠️
@@fortyfukinseven Well yes, he would end humanity, but it's gonna end one day anyway so why not let it happen sooner and in a much more entertaining way? I, for one, welcome our new A.I. murderbot Blendoverlord.
..... they call that Skynet....
@@fortyfukinseven Jaime is what happens when you let an autistic do what we want to do
The part I love best about the Blendo story is Jamie got in the infant stages of this sport and figured out the most overpowered, perfect design on the first try.
That moment when your design is the cause of many safety rules
Full body spinners would eventually fall out of fashion once vertical spinners with big wedges took over, but it's really impressive how Blendo was a spinner that focused on kinetic energy instead of being a cutting disc. Nowadays every spinner does that, but back then most were just saws
Overpowered is an understatement lmao
@@genericusername3518to be fair , saws look gnarly and sharpy…and significantly more scary than a plain disc
No, vertical spinners seem to perform better overall if you look at recent battlebots seasons.
It's also amazing how much more powerful bots have gotten in the meantime. Compared to, say, Tombstone, Blendo seems like a toy.
I remember being there one year Blendo competed! It chucked a piece of another robot so hard it punched it right into the plexiglass barrier. It was definitely a scary machine. My dad went and talked to you guys after, he was so impressed. He was a physicist, and he loved the (apparent) simplicity and effectiveness of the bot. I wish he could have seen this video to learn about the engineering behind it. Thank you for bringing back that great memory.
All the years I watched Myth Busters on TV, I never knew you guys made Blendo.
Why lie to strangers on the internet ? Is it an attention thing
@@ppstorm_ Why be a massive cockhead to people on the internet? Is it a "my life is sad so I can't believe in anything happening to other people" thing?
@@ppstorm_how do u know he’s lying
@@ppstorm_ A fool seeks answers in the house of madness.
@@NormalPersonCommenting u mad?
Always nice to hear a Jamie story. I think as fans we know he's happy staying out of the spot light but we still miss him. Lucky for us we still get to spend lots of content from Adam!
I was just wondering if he was still around. Glad he’s still on this plane!😊
I feel like they were always at odds. There are several early Mythbusters episodes where they bleeped out when adam says " F U as hole". Maybe his memories of Jamie are not so positive.
@@s13kuminachuplenty of vids where Adam describes his relationship with Jamie. In short they’re not friends but good working partners.
I love Adam but the older I get the more I like Jamie
Exactly
I appreciate how Jamie wanted 30k RPM but the compromise was 400. Original Blendo could have starred in his own 1950s cult horror film. (Of course, actual Blendo was no slouch either)
An actual blender goes at 30,000 rpm so that's where Jamie's thought process went. No actual engineering involved
@@ssl3546 Jamie just forgot to think about why blender cutting blades are so small
@@ssl3546 That is how a lot of engineering projects get started. Inspiration comes from something, but scaling, power, integration issues require real maths and design.
@@ssl3546Many parts of modern planes are based on birds anatomy. Grabbing some concept/idea from a different thing is totally normal. The math and reasoning comes later
Imagine it though, the blades on fire due to the friction, the robot emanating sonic booms 500 times per second...
I was working at Colossal Pictures when Jamie was building Blendo, and I count myself as a kind of foster-father to Blendo, having contributed $20 to it's construction budget. I remember being very disappointed to hear it was not allowed to complete the competition. Then I saw the video! Blendo's driver (Johnathan?) was being careful to avoid the bowling ball swinging from a chain attached high overhead. When Blendo touched the bowling ball it went flying 20 ft in the air! Thank god it stayed attach to the chain and remained in the arena. When Blendo hit a robot you could see the pieces of metal catching the light as they flew over the tall plexiglass barriers headed for the bleachers. The way I heard it was that Robot Wars' insurance would have been pulled if Blendo was not withdrawn from the competition. So Jamie did the gentlemanly thing and withdrew so the games could continue.
What I found interesting was that Blendo was "too dangerous" but mark pauline running his arguably even more dangerous SRL machines during the interval was completely fine?
@@lewisb85Blendo sent metal over the wall several times; that was the entire issue.
I thought the ball was there to wreck the bots, not the other way around. Jamie is such a legend!
The fact that Adam had to explain that Robot Wars came before Battle Bots, just made me feel suuuuuper old. Robot Wars was huge, I wanted to enter the competition so bad as a kid.
Oh, sorry, I got the website name backwards it’s “combatrobotevents”
Here's a fun thing.
In 1998, US Robot Wars, which was an event, was created as a UK TV Series. Same guy, same company, same logo.
Shortly after it started, in the second or third season, they banned hardened steel because it could shatter and be launched onto the audience.
I would bet a dollar that was because of Blendo.
It ran well into the 2000s but was then cancelled.
I remember watching a couple of the old battles and a bot had a grinding disk style of design that got shattered and you saw the pieces go flying everywhere.
@@jerithilOG Pussycat. Hardened steel blade shattered, Ms Forrester had to give the team the news that despite them purportedly winning their heat that they were disqualified from the tournament because of the rules about blades.
I still remember when Chaos2 flipped every robot in the ring, including the house robots. 10 year old me thought it was the best thing ever. Unreal.
robot wars was brought back in the late 2010's, but cancelled again
steel floor instead of wood, and a full polycarbonate box around it to stop anything from hitting the audience
PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT
Fun fact: What you're talking about with the angle grinder, in essence, is exactly how Rolls Royce achieve such tight tolerances for their mating surfaces on their HP/IP jet engine turbine blades.
The respect Adam shows for Jamie is absolutely heartwarming. I don’t care if they are not friends - their relationship is built on respect and trust. Awesome to see.
I love hearing Adam talk about Jamie.
You always get that "I loved working with that man, and I refuse to ever do it again" vibe.
And I know that vibe :) I've worked with people who I just LOVED working with, but I would never want to do it again.
It's a hard feeling to describe.
Has Adam actually said he wouldn't work with Jamie again? I know they aren't friends, but I hadn't heard him go that far.
@@todd4054 Oh yeah, there's a whole video about it somewhere... titled something like "will I ever work with Jamie again" or the like. Made many years ago, though.
I feel like it's similar to bands that make tremendous music together and their skills complement each other perfectly, but they break up for various reasons whether it be creative differences over time or personality clashes. But they can't deny each other's talent or what they made together. And they usually have the best stories.
And of course people always want to see a reunion. And the funny thing is with enough time passed, I've seen countless people who swore they'd never work together again do it anyways, often for charity reasons. As people get older, stuff that bothered you years ago no longer seems that important, and it's easy to be able to put aside differences for a good cause, especially when you know how much people might pay/donate just to see it.
I want to correct this quote.
It's not 'with'. The actual quote by Adam about Jamie from years back is 'I loved working under that man, and I refuse to ever do it again'. Which he said about the time before Mythbusters when he was Jamie's subordinate/employee. Because Jamie was a good boss, but as Adam learned more and developed his own philosophy as a Maker, he stopped being the kind of person who could be Jamie's employee.
One of those "glad I had the experience, but I'm never doing that again" kind of situations.....
I remember those early Robot Wars days. The days when you could cobble together stuff with a minimal budget. Adam's story of Jamie starting Blendo reminds me of an interview with him from that era. Jamie was fascinated with cordless drills and using them for unconventional uses. IIRC, he demonstrated with a pair of motorised rollerblades powered by a drill.
the interview you are talking about is literally from an early BattleBots episode
@@fwant2729 I should have guessed. Before Mythbusters, I think I only saw Jamie and Grant on TV. Grant was on the original Robot Wars and on the ILM team on Junkyard Wars (US version of UK Scrapheap Challenge). Those shows and Monster Garage were my gearhead and engineering friends pub talk.
@@tiacho2893 good times. the new Battlebots is pretty awesome too. on discovery+
Out of interest, was the original robotwars series in the US the same as the robot wars U.K. series?
@@tiacho2893 I wish a new version of Junkyard Wars/Scrapheap Challenge would return.
It's really impressive that the Jamie impression transcends beyond just sounding like him and actually getting the look down as well
I’m always glad to see that Blendo is still being talked about 28 years later
I would love to see Jamie again, he was an amazing engineer and such an interesting person. Perhaps one day
my too, even if it a live web links on a screen or something?
where is he?
@@JaydenLawson A cave system on one of the Franz Joseph Land islands, but that is probably just a ruse, others say it's actually Bouvet Island - source CIA Factbook.
To see Jamie again try google images
@@JaydenLawson He's still at M5 doing his own projects. And he also teaches at LUT University in Finland, online of course.
Can confirm the pit being amazing; in the mid 200s I was given the chance to pit crew for a friend who competed with his heavyweight, and the pit was a wonderful place. We helped stitch together robots that we knew were going to take us apart, and in return other competitors helped us fix our bot. One of the teams showed up with a GIANT welder and basically let any takers use it. At one point we had a welding *instructor* from another team helping us fix our bot. All around it was a wonderful experience, such a great atmosphere.
There really needs to be a multi-hour documentary telling the story of Blendo, and include in it Adam and Jamie building an improved larger Blendo just for the hell of it.
Not even close, but i had an electronics class in high school, around 2001. We made battle bots. My team used an RC car with a drill motor, and circular saw blade. We were told that it was too dangerous. Still got an A. If it can shut down a high school, it's probably not too shabby.
School Shooter: "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
Electronics class: "We have been waiting for you!"
School Shooter: "Wait, what?"
Electronics class: "Start her up, forty!"
Someone in my school attached box cutter blades to their Beyblade.
"Let it rip," indeed.
lots of events for small bots. ant weight combat robots are about a pound. lots of full-size, 250 lb. battlebot designs come from those far smaller designs, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
“Not even close”
You say that, but I think Blendo is currently wondering if he owes your robot child support
@@Abdega lmao
Jamie and Adam absolutely would be the two kids who win by default just so everyone else had a chance to have fun battling it out below them.
It's amazing that both Adam and Jamie still have all of their limbs.
Truly a miracle with all the bullshit the myth busters in general get up to
@@topside1981 Part of it (myth busted body integrity) is that both of them are substantially more safety conscious than, say, Mark Pauline.
I participated in BattlebotsIQ (later BotsIQ, then just Battlebots), the High School version from 2005-2009. There was nothing more terrifying than going up against a Blendo clone/derivative bot, especially because we didn't initially have the budget to create anything with natural defenses against it. Our bots were boxy, with lots of edges to be grabbed by spinning blades. Eventually our strategy became "hit them first with the sturdiest part of our bot and hope to break something" and it was... somewhat effective.
I dont know about the rules... but the best way that I can imagine stopping a spinning machine, is using something like a Net (maybe made of metal cables). Something that gets completely Tangled up in machine. That, and maybe some gummy material that binds up in high heat, as its being cut / melted.
But at 5 HP... I dont know if any of that would work. That is a LOT of power.
@@johndough8115 Nets are banned iirc, though I don't know the specific rules for the competition in the comment. I think the way to deal with spinners really is just 'hit it and hope it breaks before you do', which, can kinda sum up the whole thing if you're being reductive enough, but you get my point.
@@tezla6332 Looked up the most recent rules, nets are banned as "fouling devices" along with glue, fishing line, and ball bearings.
@@tezla6332 Current version of the rules bans nets along with glue, ball bearings, and fishing line as "fouling devices." There's very little counterplay to such techniques, as they only need the opposing bot to have moving parts that touch the ground (which every bot does, levitation being a technology that doesn't exist at the hobbyist level yet) to be effective.
I loved the old battlebots. It was that perfect blend of engineering and sheer chaos. Biohazard, Vlad the Impaler, Son of Whyachi, Ziggo… *sigh* good times
Great names, too.
Son is still around last I saw.
@@dillonhounshell9786 But when's the last time they won a match? It's been a long while.
@@WastedTalent- it's been a couple years since I watched, so I couldn't give you that answer without the power of Google.
Looks like it's not been in a match since 2019; which was the last time I had watched BB. It won the play in, but lost in the first match of the top 16.
@@dillonhounshell9786 2020, actually (though the actual fight was aired in 2021) - during the BattleBots "Bounty Hunters" specials (mini tournaments to win a fight against "a Battlebots legend" - S.O.W. was one of them)
In said last ever fight (and it definitely was Son of Whyachi's last fight) it was utterly _demolished_ by Gigabyte. According to Jake Ewert, S.O.W.'s corpse was put in a crate and left to metaphorically rot in a corner of their workshop's office
The more I learn about Adam's and Jamie's life stories, the more convinced I am that they've had amazing life experiences beyond what many of the rest of us have had.
Just a bullet point list would be mind-boggling to see.
Adam has talked extensively of his background coming up through the industry. I don’t know where I read it, but Jamie’s background is as fascinating as you would expect. His adventures as a sailing and dive boat captain alone are amazing.
Blendo perfectly represents the creator behind it. At first glance it looks simple,unassuming and a little boring. But once you look deeper and it turns on you discover it is incredibly complex and absolutely terrifying 😊
Which for someone like me makes one of Jamie's later creations, the "Lawnmower From Hell," all the more terrifying. Because if the same principle that governs Blendo applies here, then just imagine LFH reaching its full potential...
(Gazes into the void. The thousand-yard stare. In my mind, I hear it all. Sounds of air raid sirens, explosions, screaming victims, car crashes, airplane crashes, train crashes. Pure, unrelenting, unending chaos, and at its helm is James Franklin Hyneman, hiding his horrifying enthusiasm and joy behind a stone-cold lack of expression, the chatty, somehow sentient skull of Adam Savage on a pike above his head and a seemingly unending army of Blendo's and heavily-armed 7-Up machines on tank treads at his heels.)
Where is blendo now? Needs to be in an engineering museum.
@@captquazar probably locked somewhere in the deepest depths of Hell, not to keep anyone from getting their hands on it, but to keep Blendo from satiating its bloodlust with anything it comes across, even Satan
yeah that accuratly describes jamie.
he's awesome.
It also really showcases the engineering and design principle of simplicity. Sure you could make all these convoluted contraptions. Or you can just makes something that spins.... really fast...
Most robot designers: Make a hammer and put a flamethrower on it.
Jamie: BIG WHEEL AT MACH 4
I had the pleasure/horror of watching Blendo in an exhibition-only match at a later Robot Wars, and while nothing flew into the stands, Blendo ripped a hunk of sheet metal plating from its opponent and embedded it into the plywood safety shield surrounding the arena. Blendo was a friggin' beast!
I remember seeing Blendo being tested at or outside of (Colossal) Pictures while we were shooting a Pizza Head commercial. And then saw it in action at Fort Mason for Robot Wars. There were chunks of opponents embedded in the walls of the arena. Just insane and amazing.
the genius of jamie's simplicity and efficiency made lethally manifest to such great effect that the inherent perfection of it nullifies any comparison with threat of death.
Brings to mind Leonardo da Vinci and his war machines.
In fact, these guys remind me of Leonardo da Vinci in more than one respect.
Your sound effect at 5:07 is a perfect impact gun. I am jealous of your ability to impeccably imitate that.
You two are the most inspiring maniacs I've ever seen. Couldn't ask for better folks to grow up watching.
Dude, its amazing hearing you talk about your battling robotics days. It's a bucket list item for me to be on a team for such a competition after having left FIRST Robotics in high school wanting more.
i work in a science lab with high speed centrifuges, THEY ARE SOOOO SCARY and i have one step where i have to centrifuge something at 45000 RPM and the rotor is just 7 cm wide but the acceleration is insane!
You and Jamie were an endless source of fun, learning and entertainment for me as a kid growing up in Pakistan. I used to watch MythBusters on the Discovery channel every saturday when I was off from school! So happy to see you guys here on UA-cam! Ya'll are rockstars!
The genius of Blendo was that its main weapon didn't have to overcome inertia to attack, unlike hammers, spikes, or flippers that have to wind up to strike from a standstill.
And, if the spinning shell stopped, it was still a fairly effective wedge.
Great video and amazing story. I remember here in the UK when Robot Wars was on TV and Hypnodisc first appeared. It was a robot with a heavy spinning disc and was devastating. It made great TV.
There's a video here on youtube called "Robot Wars 1995 - Namreko 2000 vs Blendo" that shows Jamie starting Blendo with a drill and he's just standing on a plank to keep his feet out of range of the blades.
Jamie in an empty room might be a great idea for a show. It's the story of "If you give a mouse a cookie" but with dangerous things.
I'd watch the hell out of that, but I'd also be terrified of what he could create.
@@gudkush420 I'll tell you one thing, it couldn't be filmed in California!
I took my step daughter to Robot Wars, we were both enthralled when we went behind the curtain to watch the robots being readied for their bouts or being repaired after their fight. Brilliant show ❤
I was there in the audience for one of Blendo's competitions. I still remember the absolutely spectacular destruction of the robot it faced, and the pieces flying off of it. If I remember correctly, Blendo also ricocheted off of its competitor and took a chunk out of the edge of the arena.
By the way, yeah, there's a second time zone complication you can add on many of the Apple Watch faces. I keep UTC time on mine but you can choose the zone of your choice.
Do you remember the fan favorite bot? It was one of those kiddie cars with a barbie doll strapped to the hood. First hit against the competitor, and Barbies head was thrown into the audience.....
One thing that's always amazed me watching BattleBots and Robot Wars is the pit footage. There's a camaraderie to the pits. Anyone with the time and skill is always happy to help other teams. At least in what makes it into the show, I haven't seen a lot of mean spirited hyper-competitive stuff in the pits.
I've loved every form of content with you since my childhood - So glad our german TV had mythbusters back then haha. Thank you!
Happy Birthday Adam! Thank you for all the amazing years and Mythbusters episodes me and my dad enjoyed for years!
Great vid as usual. Just a quick mention that it would look great to see a Fireball vise in your shop! It looks virtually bulletproof...and you seem to love this type of lifetime items. Cheers.
I was reading this book in college called Gearheads by Brad Stone a few years ago. It was about how a community of RC plane enthusiasts, engineers, and other tech hobbiests living in the bay area got together via early 90s chat rooms and decided to build these robots for combat! the legend of blendo quickly spread throughout the community. Imagine my surprise when I read that one Jamie Hyneman was the creator of it!
I was there at Blendo's first showing in 1995 at the Presidio and it really was the scariest thing around.
I paused this video halfway through to go watch Blendo's matches on UA-cam. Great job!!
8:04 I found that is similar to my son's h.s. robotics competition. While they compete with the other schools in the region during the matches, between matches the schools will take their robots to competing schools, and get help and collaborate to make the bot better, which I found amazingly awesome.
Listening to this, a huge chunk of the modern Battlebots rule book makes so much sense.
Blendo alone was responsible for several new rules when Battlebots started up.
Can you say some examples?
@@jakubsebek For one example, the rule that all robots have to start the match with their weapons not spun up yet. At the old Robot Wars events, Blendo was allowed to spin up to full speed before the match started. Battlebots introduced a rule that weapons had to be stationary at the start of a match. Battlebots also introduced a rule that internal combustion engines had to be started remotely rather than being started with a power drill like Blendo was.
@@jakubsebek Another rule states that all weapons must be actively controlled from either the driver or the weapons operator. The remote must have full authority over the weapon, activating and deactivating it on command. Blendo was just started up and you steer it, the remote had no authority over the primary weapon.
Also, weapons cannot be an isolated system from the rest of the bot. Like an isolated spun up engine, a la blendo. This means if the universal kill switch for the bot is pulled everything dies at the same time.
@@PrinceAlhorian Thanks. I understand there is probably good reason to have such rules for the show, but I would still be intrigued to see killer robot designs that are completely free of such restrictions...
Same with time zone on your watch done the same thing for 30+ years. Great video and cool back story.
One of my top 10 shows of all time. Thanks for the memories...
I was in the pits working on Spiny Norman when Blendo was unleashed. I will never forget the look of terror and excitement on the faces of everyone there, especially the heavyweight contenders :) p.s. a friend of mine DID have to go to the hospital that night as a little shard of metal flung by Blendo found its way into his eye... but they fished it out and all was well.
This happened
@@bluemamba5317 You and ppstorm should get a traveling act together.
You channeled Jamie perfectly, it was like he was actually in the room with you.. 🤣
During the next lockdown or when I retire I'm permanently getting a membership. Adam's workshop is going to be my background noise of peace and relaxation.
I would love to read a biography of Jamie written by Adam.
If I remember didn't you guys try to enter the UK Robot Wars and after flying all the way over they were like "Yeah we're not letting that in the competition..."
You may be thinking of Mauler?
@@angmering5899 It was mauler, although strangely it was ok for the mtv pilot filmed in the same arena, Son of whyachi had the same trouble with RW because they were legit worried it would kill a house robot (walker era sow).
I loved battlebots as a kid, and i think they only aired Blendo once as a "demoliton derby" type match with multiple bots. My favorite, however, was Ziggo, which was an obvious descendant of Blendo, but no less deadly
I loved Ziggo! It was such a tough little bot.
Agreed. Ziggo was head and shoulders above every other bot on that show.
robot wars had a similar one called hypnodisc. just a big flat disc with a spiral on it and 2x small blades poking out laterally. it took about 5 seconds to speed up but, like the juggernaut, once it was at speed it was absolutely lethal and would completely shatter the outer hull of lesser robots in one hit
jamie taking the time to share these stories is seriously the greatest. they’re so wonderful and he’s so great at telling them.
Adam, you mean. Adam is telling the story of Jamie's idea
Fantastic story! lol.. that bit about the 'spinning disk bursting into flames because of the friction with the air @30,000rpm' had me giggling anyways :)
I always love hearing Adam's Jamie impression...done out of love and respect, of course! :D
I remember hearing that you and Jamie didn't get along well but the stories you tell make it sound like you always had a great time with each other
I went back and watched that old footage. What an honor to be so good that people can’t allow you to compete. It would be like a boxer who is banned because his punches hit his opponent and the audience all at once. He’s just that good.
I truly recommend the SPB383 from Seiko! The GMT function would add so much to that watch for your use case and it is still a very snazzy diver with a 3 day power reserve. I am a hardcore engineering and horology fan and I loved you showing your wrist off.
Thank you for never shit talking Jamie. I know you guys didn't always get along, but I love hearing you speak well of him. He's a cool dude, I'm sure, and it's nice that you have such great stories about him. 🖖
People on the internet tend to take "we weren't friends" as "we hated each other" (especially clickbaity websites and youtube videos) but from what I can tell, Adam and Jamie's relationship has always been one of colleagues who respect each other and who just happened to have different ways of approaching problems, which sometimes made for good tv. They didn't actually dislike each other at all, they just didn't hang out outside of work, as most colleagues don't.
@@kimaboe You are right. A huge majority of people on the internet do not understand that a person can basically have 2 different lives, a home life and employment life. People can have a great rapport with their work colleagues whilst in the confines of work and work duties/responsibilities but do not want to have anything to do with them in their private/personal life. It does not mean they hate or dislike their work colleagues, is just they chose not so socialise with them outside of work. Just because you work with someone does not mean you have to like them and socialise with them in your home life, a concept which seems alien to many in today's society.
@@kimaboe @dodgem259 absolutely and I agree. But even people you work with and respect can get on your nerves and it's easy to shit talk them when they aren't around. I like that Adam never speaks ill of Jaime even though I'm sure they had arguments. It's a great example to set for people that one can have difficulty in the work place but still treat each other with respect. It's a rarity in my experience.
I'd love to see "Son of Blendo" appear in a modern season.
That is so cool, I have got to look up more on Blendo. That thing sounds like a monster.
I was there for the 2nd competition! And yes, It was quite scary when the piece flew over the plexiglass safety barrier....
Man all these stories about Jamie are so awesome.
The Seiko SKX (which is the one worn here) is an iconic watch. But it does sound like Adam could use a GMT watch so when traveling he has both timezones available and easely set.
I did Battlebots for all four years of my high school career. It is spot on when you mention how helpful and nice everyone is there. Even younger kids were mostly just there to help each other out and have a great time destroying robots we designed. So long ago at this point and I miss it, maybe I'll make another one soon
Do it!! There are plenty of competitions : )
HAHA! I remember that! I didn't watch very much TV, but among the few robot battles I did watch were two matches featuring Blendo, and it was an incredible thing to behold! I never realized it was you guys who were responsible for that bot! I'm so glad to have witnessed that historical unfolding in relatively real-time.
“Opponent enters the frame, opponent touches Blendo, opponent is dead.” Mate I’m dead from that description
I love these stories of teams making crazy monstrosities of engineering for 40 seconds or so if mechanical destruction.
Love you Adam me and my whole fam use to watch Mythbusters
Man, I remember when battling robots were kind of a craze for a bit over 20 years ago. I think there were miniature toy versions in stores.
I recall that Ian Lewis (who co-designed Razer) modified a toy version for the mini bots competition. He called it Razzler and said it had a terrifying 3 grams of crushing power.
If I ever wanted to make a spinning machine of death, I think Jamie Hyneman would be one of the first people I consulted.
And possibly the last.
How insanely precise and redundantly over-engineered are Jamie's projects? That sounds incredible. Must watch some clips
A note for Adam on watches, I have a citizen eco-drive Skyhawk, it is a pilots watch and has 2 time displays (analog and digital) and these can be scrolled through timezones and set to different times on each display (plus a separate UTC dial), so he could have SF time and local time at the same time, so the best of both worlds as such.
8:16 can't agree more! I've been at a festherweight competition today, and the lengths fellow builders will go to to help you patch your bot together just to destroy it again is incredible. So much sharing spare parts, giving advice, and the supportive atmosphere, it's incredible. I highly recommend everyone go along to a robot combat event, even just to watch
Jamie: I want it to spin at 30,000 RPM
Jamie: I guess 400RPM is fine.
I will always remember and cherish the first couple years of Robot Wars at Fort Mason in SF. The arena walls were only a few feet high, if even that, and they gave you eye and ear protection when you walked in like if that was gonna protect you, lol. Even though the robots rarely worked as designed, and there were a lot of radio issues as well, it was such a special time and you felt part of it all. Re Blendo, one of the matches ended with Blendo hitting his opponent so hard, a piece of it ended up embedded in the brick wall above and behind the spectators at Fort Mason. Hense the honorable disqualification and achievement award Blendo received. I also remember Mark's robot that he called The Master was an amazing piece of engineering as well as a snake robot that he built. And I loved the huge killer robots that IRL would have on display and move around outside from time to time. That jet engine monster was loud and awesome. It was an amazing time for combat robotics in San Francisco.
Beautiful Bridgeport good sir. Absolutely mint.
I got to this video as a Battlebots lover. And this was a super fun thing to listen to, since I got into it much after Blendo and that age of robots.
Big flywheels (or bars, just generally spinny stuff) like Blendo are still generally the most successful design, although full shell spinners like Blendo have become less successful over the years because Newton's third law says they have to take their own impacts, especially upon hitting stuff like walls which aren't going to move. Although, often robots still aren’t well after impacts with a full body spinner like that. Shell spinners still are the weapon type with the most KE, and that makes them still quite scary to fight.
Here's a fight with a full body spinner named Gigabyte at Battlebots World VI. ua-cam.com/video/DcYjwCKn9Qw/v-deo.html
Blendo was ahead of its time in terms of kinetic energy and an incredible feat of engineering, but would definitely get torn apart against the modern field (and also wouldn't be allowed to compete, since the weapon can't be spun up until the countdown ends).
Back then (other) bots were built with sheet metal and electric wheelchair motors, nowadays they have billet aluminum frames covered in an inch of steel or titanium and brushless DC motors that can spin up massive weapons to insane speeds
The other two big issues with full body spinners is they have to deal with gyroscopic forces in a big way and it's rather hard to tell which way is the front. Together that makes them really hard to control. A rather bad trait for a bot that really needs to stay away from the arena rails. That's why the meta seems to be shifting away from them - I think this last season may have been the last for Captain Shrederator and I'm not sure what the future looks like for Gigabyte.
@@ccoder4953 Gigabyte at least has the pole to see directions. It's still difficult, but at least possible. Shrederator is definitely in need of a redesign, though.
The way you beat a Blendo is by interposing a wedge between its weapon and the floor, causing its weapon to bounce UP off the wedge. Could be real challenging but it's how to use its strength against itself. That, or if you have to make the tournament have anti-spinner tech, allow entanglement. That's a boring-looking counter, but absolutely effective.
@@Living_Murphys_Law It's nice to see a new Battlebots fan here. I think you're absolutely right about Shrederator.
Aside: the scientist in me always cringes a bit when they're like, "this one thing went wrong and we know why, so we changed 17 input variables to address that!"
Blendo seems to embody Sun Tzu's axiom, "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." 7:39
I'm glad I got to hear this story
wish we had visuals this was such a captivating story!
I just looked at some Blendo footage. I think what it was missing was an automated straight-line "attack sprint" that didn't rely on anything more than pointing it and pushing a button.
Didn't need it, just wait for the other guy's robot to approach and it was over in a matter of seconds.
I actually remember Robot Wars from back in the day and seeing it on TV...there was another robot combat show that had enemy robots like Sir Killalot too. My maternal grandpa was rather interested in both shows since he found the robots interesting to look at as someone who worked on keeping our cars and the lawnmower running.
The British version of Robot Wars was the one with Sir Killalot and the like, if I remember correctly.
@@jbearclowater Yes, Sir Killalot, Sgt. Bash, Matilda (triceratops with chainsaw tail), etc. hosted by Dave LIster himself, Craig Charles
@@edwardrhoades6957 series one was jeremy clarkson.
LOL "it would burst into flames" love it!
Would LOVE to see the footage of Jamie first starting his machine!!! THAT sounded like a hell of a time!
One of the first things I ever did with my Apple Watch (when they first came out), was to find and configure the Modular watch face to show a second time zone. It's just a single complication, so if you want to use that same complication multiple times, you can. So, you could display multiple time zones.
My wife still has important clients in Belgium, so my second timezone I display is BRU.