'Battlebot' tests its creator's metal
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SPOKANE -- Arndt Anderson motored down from the sticks the other day to introduce Spokane to Shark Byte, the killer robot he built in his backyard shop.
The man from Ione, Pend Oreille County, opened the back of his blue truck and began lugging pieces of the 210-pound metal contraption onto the sidewalk.
People walking by couldn't keep from gawking, although it probably wasn't the robot that grabbed their attention.
Shark Byte is a squatty, lawn-mower-size hunk of black metal.
The shaggy-bearded Anderson wore a Spam T-shirt and black baseball cap with a yellow shark fin protruding from the top.
You decide.
"I'm an enigma, man," Anderson said, posing with Shark Byte for a photograph, "I really am."
Anderson, 42, returned recently from San Francisco, where he pitted Shark Byte against other lethal robots in a televised "Battlebots" tournament.
If you haven't heard of "Battlebots" you get an F for today in Popular Culture 101.
"Battlebots" is one of the Comedy Central cable channel's hottest shows. It is a competition in which remote-controlled robots try to beat the transistors out of each other inside an arena.
The robots come with great names such as Biohazard and Blunt Force Trauma. But it's not all about laughs. The ingenious machines are a testament to their high-IQ inventors, who compete for an $8,000 prize and the pride of getting their names on a giant chrome-nut trophy, minus the bolt.
Built-in hazards add to the "Battlebots" chaos, including giant hammers and steel-slicing buzz saws that rise out of the floor.
The campy nature of this mechanized mayhem has attracted national media attention and big-name fans such as Jay Leno. The "Tonight Show" host loves "Battlebots" so much he has his own fighting bot called Chin-Killa.
"Nobody wants to watch a robot go through a maze or pick up a ball and put it into a cup," Anderson says, theorizing on the show's popularity. "They want to see a robot thrash something."
Anderson is legally bound not to spill his lug nuts on how Shark Byte fared. We'll have to wait until the segments start airing in July.
The experience has Anderson itching for more. He is already scheming to build a more malevolent robot for next fall's contest.
It's a special individual who will spend $3,000 designing and creating a robot for destructive TV purposes.
Anderson says he was sitting at home, watching the tube one night when he stumbled upon "Battlebots." After a few minutes of being mesmerized, he uttered four words that sent his life spinning in a new dimension: "I can do that!"
This was no brainless brag. Anderson makes serious money designing and building intricate parts for industry.
Then there's Cody Rose, Anderson's 13-year-old son. While Dad designed the robot, it was Cody's fingers on the remote control.
"That's why we won what we did," Anderson said. He's not kidding. He designed Shark Byte with blades that would cut into foes. Alas, it didn't have enough power for the task.
So Anderson removed the blades and let Cody use Shark Byte as a battering ram. That they did as well as they did is a credit to Cody's deft maneuvering.
So, like the Terminator, Anderson vows he'll be back.