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he commented. While Adam brought
along three robots to compete, the
rules only allow drivers to control two
bots. Exhibiting the sportsmanship
and generosity that defines Bot Blast,
Adam let his younger brother Joe, 10,
drive one of his bots — much to Joe’s
delight. “It was very exciting,” said
Joe. “I want to do this every day.”
In his first robot competition, Joe
was able to earn a win, but the win
came at the expense of eliminating
his brother. “It was greater than
great,” Joe said about his first win,
but sheepishly grinned and hid behind
Adam when asked how it felt to beat
his own brother, before carefully
saying, “It was kind of fun.”
Bot Blast featured a full eight
hours of robot battles, culminating in
three different championship matches
— one for each different weight class.
In each championship fight, it was the
driver and robot who were battle
tested in their treks through the
elimination bracket that came out on
top in the championship matches. For
one of the bots, Dead Metal, time
was running out, and it looked like
Team Sandman would bow out of the
tournament in the semifinal match.
In the Mantisweight division
semifinal, Dead Metal took on One
Fierce Bush Wacker, with the winner
advancing to the championship fight.
One Fierce Bush Wacker dominated
early and sent a shower of sparks
flying with each blow from its fierce
undercutting blade. After over a
minute of fury, One Fierce Bush
Wacker’s blade was disabled after a
blow from the wedge of Dead Metal.
The fight went to a judge’s decision,
and Dead Metal advanced to the
championship to take on Blackout.
In the Antweight finals, two
wedge bots battled for one pound
supremacy in a fast paced head-on
Brandon Young, left, and father Tony Young make repairs to Play 'n Krazy, a Beetlewight bot. Brothers Adam and Joe Cunard pause for a moment to talk to their parents.
Gene Burbeck makes some repairs to One Fierce Bush Wacker.
