By the 13th or 14th episode, around the beginning of December, the fights move toward the final four. Robot performance artist Kal Spelletich was involved early with a project credited for blazing the robotic competition path, Survival Research Labs . In the interim, the San Francisco enthusiast has taken his robot work to a new level. It's all part of a touring robot roadshow called Seemen . After audience members sign a waiver, the performer turns his contraptions over to the viewer for what he says is a more cathartic experience than passive viewing.
Participants stand still in dangerous spinning contraptions.
I think of my work as really positive and fun. Spelletich took the act to Burning Man for the last five years and left his audience transcendent, he said. In the wake of that, BattleBots, to him, is a part of history. But that doesn't mean he doesn't expect new audiences to respond to the robot ritual. There's some awesome technology happening.