Outside of the Box

On this episode, I talked with National STEM Champion Elle Saleeby who took a scary situation and turned it into an innovative opportunity to help fellow young people. Kids are frequently in danger of being hit by a vehicle while walking to school. When Elle experienced this herself, she recognized a need to have better protection and developed a backpack insert. Hear all about her amazing project and what she is looking forward to at the National STEM Festival.

It is once again that time of year for the National STEM Festival and this episode is all about incorporating recycling into 3D Printing technology. I sat down with Champion Levi Dunn whose passion for both recycling and 3D printing came together in his amazing project to reduce waste. Kari Byron joined us to give her thoughts on this project and share insights about the upcoming National STEM Festival.

This is a golden episode featuring all of the Golden Dumpster winners from NHRL's April Open Event! I talked to those builders who all came with designs they had put time and iteration into which led to success in this very entertaining and competitive event. Check out my conversations with Corey Nason of Synthesis, David Dreyer of Xenomorph and Evan Rosenblatt of Blunder!

Get ready for an amazing lesson on combat robotics as I was joined by Brandon Young, Liam King, Brian Jackson & Matt Lantry to celebrate the many types of robots in the sport. Learn about the differences between similar archetypes and why certain robots aren't as common. This is an extremely educational episode whether you're new to the sport or just want to learn about other archetypes.

For this episode, I sat down with Sean Becker whose Thagomizer robot design has introduced a new archetype to combat robotics. We talked about his capstone project that led to the introduction of this type of robot, why we don't see more thagomizer style robots right now and thoughts on where he might take his designs in the future.

For this episode, I sat down with Ben Howard of Team WPI whose robot Showtime! went all the way at the March NHRL event to claim the 3lb division Golden Dumpster. He spoke about exceeding his expectations at this event and we went through every fight including the very close final versus Chainsaw Kitty.

Bonus mini episode for you featuring an interview from combat robotics fan JediTrainee aka Norma with Team USA! Hear all about their amazing first run at Robot Rampage!

During the Olympics, robot builders from across the globe also gathered for their own international event in beautiful New Zealand called Robot Rampage! I was able to chat with representatives from every team about their experiences and the friendships they built during this amazing event. Hear from Team New Zealand, Team Australia, Team USA & tournament winner Team Brazil!

In this episode I am joined by some amazing people in the community - Ariel, TJ, Myles and Jamison to talk about the importance of a community mindset and good sportsmanship. We talk about staying humble, having fun and being a good example for new members of the community.

If you happened to catch the February NHRL event, you may have seen a crab dancing in the box. Crab Rangoon firmly cemented itself in the hearts of combat robotics fans and I talked to builder Eli Davis about his amazing design. We also talked about the importance of innovation and creativity in the sport at all levels.

We're going international in this episode and with the Olympics currently going on, it is a great time to talk about the Robot Rampage World Cup event coming up in New Zealand February 19-22. I spoke to Jack Barker and Connor Benton about this unique team-based event where design diversity is a key component of the matches. Hear all about what you can expect from this event both this year and plans for the future. For more information visit https://www.robotrampage.co.nz/

The year just began and already there is so much to talk about in the world of combat robotics! I sat down with a group of builders including Tayshaun, Brian, Corey, Seth, Dan, George & Ryan to talk about how they feel in 2026. We discussed the overall outlook and focused in some hotter topics including the future of BattleBots as well as the rules and regulations changes for NHRL. See what everyone has to say!

Happy holidays and merry bloodshed! We have a new batch of Twitch Streamers battling in out in a fight between good and evil playing Blood on the Clocktower! This is a special home brew game featuring a variety of standard roles re-skinned for this game. Who is Hans Gruber? Is there a Sandy Claws in the game? So many questions to answer! Ring in your holidays with a little murder mystery! Check out the featured Twitch Streamers: https://www.twitch.tv/cdutson https://www.twitch.tv/mesmerchair https://www.twitch.tv/geeandwizz https://www.twitch.tv/alexandivoryy https://www.twitch.tv/indiglowstick https://www.twitch.tv/thehollisaur https://www.twitch.tv/trulyrawesome https://www.twitch.tv/like_no_one_ever_was  

It was an incredible Finals event this year at NHRL with some expected wins and some robots flying under the radar. In the end, 3 Golden Bretts were awarded and I spoke to the builders who reached the peak and ended up just missing the win but having incredible runs in the process. I talked to one of the nicest guys in combat robotics Myles Sim about his undercutter Coldsnap, chatted with the Business Cat himself Brendan Steele about the highs and lows of the event and finally spoke to driving phenom Matt Vasquez about Lil Lash taking down the favorite, Chonkiv. Check out this amazing discussion with amazing builders!

Finals are completed in the Midwest and I am joined by a handful of the builders who made deep runs in this tournament during a day filled with amazing fights. I talked to 2-time MRCA Beetleweight Champion Ian with Pipeline Punch, a trio of the antweight builders behind Ampere, Onyx & Poison, two of the most feared competitors in the midwest (and also two of the nicest) Remy & Rachel DeGuzman and then finally a bonus segment with an amazing young driver Lily Schorr and her brother Michael talking about the history and future of Carmine. Check it all out here!

It is that time of year again when I am joined by a bunch of amazing builders from all weight classes who managed to qualify for World Finals at NHRL. We talked about each of the robots and got everyone's predictions on who could walk away with the Golden Brett in each weight class.

What an incredible event in the final opportunity to qualify for the world championships - and I got to be joined by some of the builders who made deep runs in the bracket! First, I spoke to the youngest Golden Dumpster winner ever at 13 - Evan of Sir Slicey and his dad Sal as they reflected on some incredible wins on their path to the finals vs Mako. I also sat down with veteran builders including David Small who qualified with Son of Kram while getting some good wins with Puca as well and got to hear all about Kablooey Tango's interesting journey to the November event from Leanne Cushing and Alex Crease as well as talking about an interesting fight day with not getting to have an actual fight until primetime. Great chats with some great builders!

For lovers of innovation and creativity, this is the episode to watch. We kick off with an amazing interview with literal robot master Mark Setrakian, learn all about the development of the Creature Combat event from BattleBots co-creator Trey Roski, builder Donald Hutson & software engineer Arthon Greenspan, and then chat with a couple of the teams who brought their creatures to Vegas - the teams behind Arachnophobia and Armageddon.

We're twitchy and we're spooky for this Halloween special I'm affectionately calling Twitch Streamer Demon Hunters as I am joined by almost a dozen amazing gamers to play Blood on the Clocktower! Check out my first foray as the Storyteller while my friends try to sus out the Demon among them. Can you guess who is good and who is evil before our players do? #bloodontheclocktower #ttrpg #gaming Check Out Our Players: https://www.twitch.tv/totally_kaal https://www.twitch.tv/bankenheim https://www.twitch.tv/amara_lynne https://www.twitch.tv/creativewaste https://www.twitch.tv/alexandivoryy https://www.twitch.tv/fastxfred https://www.twitch.tv/zeinsteinttv https://www.twitch.tv/thehollisaur https://www.twitch.tv/tayrae3 https://www.twitch.tv/like_no_one_ever_was https://www.twitch.tv/kinekitsu  

We are fast approaching the final round of qualifiers with NHRL and I was excited to finally get the chance to chat with Brooks and John from Gator Robotics. They are bringing a swampful of robots with them to the November event including Termigator and Steggy. We chatted about their robotics club and what we can expect out of their crew at this last event before finals!

Welcome to my #OopsAllVerts episode where I chatted with some of the hard-hitting competitors at the most recent October NHRL qualifying event. I talked to Tristan whose robot Elytra has been tearing it up in the midwest and went nearly all the way for this event, then David whose new massive vert Xenomorph certainly put a scare into some builders and finally got to chat about Maccabot with Max, Jordon and Ilan about their promising new 30lb robot. It is an exciting episode you won't want to miss!

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Luke Horwath, a contestant on the most recent season of LEGO Masters and an engineering student at Notre Dame. We talked about his passion for engineering which was fueled by his love for LEGO and how his mom got to be so involved in that journey culminating in their appearance on the show together. We talked about some of his impressive builds outside of the show and so much more. You can check out more about Luke at https://www.luke99studios.com/.

Welcome back to a brand new episode of Outside of the Box. We preview the October NHRL event with a promising young builder named Nathan who attends Rose Hulman and hopes to bust some brackets with his robot Erbert. This robot has made its presence known at events over the summer in the midwest and is my personal pick as a dark horse contender for this event. Hear about his building and iteration process as well as why he loves antweights. 

Prepare for an episode full of energy as we broke down the SEMO July Jamboree event at QuadCon in Peoria, Illinois. We first chat with Christopher who is the builder of Fingers Crossed and his team is here to have fun! We talk about his background and why it is so important to keep fun at the top of mind when fighting robots. I also talked to SEMO's Mike Mueller about the growth of his organization, how the July Jamboree went and future events.

Fresh of the heels of Outside of the Box's first event, it is time to do a deeper dive into event organization. We have several perspectives on event hosting in this episode including talking collegiate events with Ryan and Uday from UIUC, a focus on being a brand new event organizer with Emily, George & Jair from MRCA and the journey of becoming an experienced event organizer with Carolina Combat Robotics' father/son duo Chuck and Jeremy. If you ever wanted to know more about hosting, this is the one to watch!

As you may have noticed, episodes of late have been geared around events and the FIRST Tech Challenge was a really fun event I had the opportunity to attend. Check out a couple of interviews from that event with teams from Romania and Brazil who travelled very far to compete with other teams from around the country and the world.

To follow up on the PopCon Recap, this episode covers the entire panel that featured Brian Boxell & Ellie Clark who are both seasoned builders at both NHRL and BattleBots. There is so much good commentary during this panel including a really heartwarming moment when Brian was asked about his father Glenn Boxell and his accomplishments.

It was such a fun time down in Indianapolis at the Circle City Clash presented in conjunction with PopCon and Robot Smashing League! Enjoy this brief recap with video highlights from the event including our friends at Witch Doctor and Turnabot as well as clips from the tournament itself! Thanks again to our sponsors BAIS219, Palm Beach Bots, Fingertech Robotics & Master Control Bot!

If you want an episode that is proof that robots can be beautiful and destructive - look no further. I had the joy of chatting with Boby of Melon Baller as well as the team behind Killswitch about their awesome designs and solid performances at the last event.

As we prepare to take a summer break from NHRL, join me for a great recap with 3 robots that really made a splash at the June event with one of them coming away with a finals win. I chatted with Brian from Murphy's Law about their unexpected run, got into 12 lb talk with Ben from RoboCat and heard from Kevin Milczewski about his speedy robot Red Storm and its run to the Golden Dumpster. Check it out!

It is time for another STEM Spotlight! In this episode, I spoke with Sarah DeVolld of Vintage Train Case about her passion for blending fashion with STEM. She talks about her journey as a designer, some of the projects she has been working on and her experience at the National STEM Festival this year.

It is fitting that this episode is packed full of builders who originate from the Midwest as we preview the MRCA takeover of NHRL in June. I first talk to Emily & Dustin of Nacho Robotics about their pair of hard hitting bots that have impressed in MRCA events. Then, we shift into shenanigans with a group of folks from the Outside of the Box discord server and get even more amazing Frank lore (IYKYK). We wrap up talking to Alex & Aren from Seems Reasonable and Eli & Jamison from Sawblaze about the scary bots they are bringing to this event including some upgrades to bots we know and love. Strap in and get ready for a MEGA sized episode!

There were some pretty spectacular runs at the May NHRL event and I spoke to a few builders who had amazing performances, but were all stopped by the eventual winners of their respective weight classes. Cameron from Sad Octopus talks about an amazing day of fights culminating in a fun fight versus Jelly Baby, Matt Lantry talks about the journey from control bot driver to his success with hard hitting horizontol Sievert and Joe From Deadrise talks about his building inspirations how his performance at Motorama gave him confidence in his robot. Please donate to the Alexander Richmond Scholarship Fund if you are able: https://www.gofundme.com/f/alex-richmond-memorial-scholarship-fund?cdn-cache=0

Have you ever thought about driving a combat robot using video game controllers? The builders on this episode did and even WON using these unconventional transmitters. I talked to Tim Hebert about his recent NHRL appearance where he won fights using a DDR pad and Rock Band drums and attempted the same with a Guitar Hero guitar! He breaks down his process for this and potential ideas he has for future implementations. I also talked to Pearl Grey, whose robot 2FA I got to fight against at a previous event. They talk about the use of video game controllers to drive robots as well as more techy ideas that you could see at a future event!

New episode for you featuring some of the most exciting builders at the upcoming Round 4 NHRL event on May 3rd. Gwen is so backalope with her already qualified robot Jackalope, but is setting her sights on the Golden Dumpster for this event. Jim and Andrew Kazmer talked all about meltybrains including some cool facts fans may not have known! I also sat down with Kevin, Ariel & Corey from Team Pandamonium to talk about the army of robots they are bringing to the event including information about Corey's new and exciting 12 lb entry Sweet Tooth. Catch it all right here!

We are back with another NHRL recap, this time highlighting a few of the amazing competitors from the Round 3 April event. I talked to Ben & Razi Strano about Bean Supreme Refried's amazing qualifying run, heard all about Trevor Sommer's run with Void including a heart-stopping win against Minun & Plusle, and chatted with Nick Grumski about his robot Alan and how exciting/terrifying it was to battle against Battlebots legends.

On the heels of the big event announcement, I wanted to give fans a little bit more information on what they can expect from the Circle City Clash tournament and PopCon as a whole. I first sat down with Kris Keys, co-owner of PopCon, to talk about how they value diversity in the many experiences they offer at PopCon which will include things this year like an even larger film festival and Purr Con for cat lovers. I also talked to Casey Jeremiason of Robot Smashing League about the opportunity to host such a big event for potentially thousands of new combat robotics fans.

We've got some heavy hitters in this episode as we talk about the upcoming NHRL Round 3 event happening on April 5th! It will be the 2025 debut of Chainsaw Kitty and the return of fellow Sleepy Anime Girl bot Usawgi whose builders Kezia and Mint are hoping not to face each other until deep in the bracket. I also talked to BattleBots veterans Matt & Jason Vasquez who are bringing a couple of robots that have the NHRL community buzzing including Lil Lash which is a 30lb Whiplash. Finally, I was once again joined by the Robojackets from Georgia Tech to talk about their swarm of robots coming to this event. Some great discussions you won't want to miss!

It is time to recap Round 2 of NHRL where we saw some amazing fights and underdog wins! In this episode, Christine chats with Dwight of Master Control Bot, Ben of The Wall Pt 2 and Ryan of Count3r Punch and ARES about all of their incredible runs in the bracket. Check out some great discussion from these amazing and talented builders!

On this final STEM Spotlight ahead of the National STEM Festival, I chatted with Ishaan Kunwar - a high school student who was able to use AI to develop a better way to detect cataracts. His project could help many in less developed countries or in underserved communities where it would be difficult or a financial burden to obtain this diagnosis and get treatment. Please check out https://www.nationalstemfestival.com/ for more information!

I had the pleasure of being joined by the amazing Jenny Buccos with EXPLR Media who has been running the National STEM Festival going on its second year. We talked about the surprising and exciting amount of kids whose projects centered on using AI tech for good to help people, what kids attending the festival get to experience while there and the importance of kids having mentors to help get them more engaged. You can watch the livestream of the National STEM Festival on March 22nd. Check out the cool things these kids are doing at nationalstemfestival.com and EXPLR's amazing content and initiatives at explr.com.

Check out another STEM Spotlight and this time Christine talks to Bryan Hijam whose project focuses on prostate cancer research for better treatment and management of this disease that impacts so many. Hear him talk about his passion for this area of research, his plans for future career paths and what he is looking forward to when attending the National STEM Festival. You can check out more info about the festival at https://www.nationalstemfestival.com/

It feels like we just wrapped up Round 1 of NHRL and we are already so close to Round 2 of more exciting robot fights! Join Christine as she talks to a number of builders about their plans and predictions for March's loaded event. We talk to Zech Matthews about the hype surrounding his beetleweight Fragment X, chat with Peter and Destiny Garnache about their respective robots and getting to attend an event together again, and lastly we break down all of the weight classes with Tyler, Ian, Kekoto, Mark, Will and Nik including strong thoughts on the beetleweight class coming down to a possible victory by Knuckle Sandwich/Repeater or Eruption builder Brian Boxell. Lots of exciting stuff!

It is Monday and that means it is time for a new episode featuring three NHRL builders who all had amazing runs deep into the bracket at the Round 1 NHRL event. I chatted with Alex from Pinevictus about the win against Coldsnap that surprised even him, Zack Knight talked about having to face friends and teammates in the bracket and Justin of Undertaker talked about his amazing path to the finals against powerhouse Chonkiv.

We are back with another STEM Spotlight and this time Christine talks to National STEM Champion Jerry Yao about the tactile tech he has developed to help those with sight impairments to "see" art. The discussion highlights the importance of using technology to help people as well as dives into other potential applications for this type of technology. Please check out https://www.nationalstemfestival.com/ for more information on the Festival and how you can get involved!

This episode is all about family as I chatted with the Siegels who run Turnabot out of Georgia. They have created a company that gets people into combat robotics at an affordable price point and has been an amazing resource within the community. The family talks about what they have accomplished so far as well as things to come. Check out turnabot.com for more information!

It is almost once again time for the National STEM Festival and on this episode I talked to Ashrita Gandhari, a high school senior, who developed an AI that helps determine embryonic health during the IVF process. She talks about her passion for the OBGYN field and her process for researching her project and proving her hypothesis. Please check out https://www.nationalstemfestival.com/ for more information on the Festival and how you can get involved!

If you are like me and have been into fantasy sports at some point in your life, you may have been craving a league for combat robotics. Well, the Hunter Brothers have started a league for NHRL robots that starts with the upcoming February event. Hear all about how they came up with the league and how you can follow along with the season. Check out Havoc Rundown's Discord for more info! https://discord.gg/hgwHd2Ju

We're back to preview the first round of NHRL competition in 2025! I gathered a great collection of competitors representing every weight class with Anthony, Nelson, Paul & Craig to chat about their preparation for this event, who they'd love to face and which robots they might want to avoid. Check it out and get ready to see robots fight on February 1st!

Join myself and Ashley for the final OOTB episode of 2024 as we talk about all of the amazing Boxy winners including out super special secret categories that we had not announced publicly! We also talk about the year as a whole including amazing growth in the combat robotics community and also the amazing antweight kit giveaway when I hit 1000 subscribers on YouTube! Check it out!