Monday, November 10, 2014
No Holds Barred: Mark Setrakian on the Future of Robot Fighting
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with robotics expert Mark Setrakian.
Besides being the designer and creator of the robots on the Robot Combat League, which aired in 2013 on Syfy in the U.S. and on Space in Canada, he has been involved in robotics and animatronics since his youth. He started his professional career at the age of 19 at George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic. Besides developing animatronics for numerous major films, he has been involved in several robot fighting ventures including Robot Wars, BattleBots, and RoboGames, which is still holding events.
We spoke with Mark Setrakian right after he made a presentation on Saturday, November 8, entitled "Making TV and Movie Magic with Robots" at the Engadget Expand New York 2014 event at the Javits Center in New York.
At present, the Robot Combat League TV show is in limbo. It received disappointing ratings last year on Syfy, and was not renewed, or, for that matter, officially cancelled. Numerous problems in the positioning of that show led to a decline in its ratings as the season progressed.
"We went in with the intention of creating a sports show," he said. The Syfy network, however, is more "skewed" to running what are called (usually inaccurately) "reality shows".
"It became more like a reality competition and less like a sporting event," he continued. "And as a result, I think the tone of the show came off inauthentic enough that people who were tuning in who really wanted to see the sport aspect of it were really disappointed."
We discussed the status of that show, which he also noted did not draw a big enough audience to survive, and was not promoted well. However, there has been a change in leadership at Syfy, so there is a glimmer of hope that it can be revived.
Whatever the fate of that particular show, he is committed to robot fighting.
"I can tell you on my own, that I have been thinking about it non-stop since the show was on," he said. "I am still very much intending to go forward with some form of humanoid robot fighting. I really believe in that format."
Right now he is in the process of developing new robot prototypes. We discussed how close we are technologically to the creation of the kind of self-contained humanoid robots seen in the popular fictional movie "Real Steel", which was set in the future.
We also discussed events like RoboGames which do not use humanoid robots, whether one day robot fighting can at least partially replace combat sports which have people fighting, why it is "inevitable" that there will be successful humanoid robot fighting shows and events, and much more.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.
No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.
Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at AmericanTopTeam.com.
Defense Soap, an effective, deep penetrating body soap with natural antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial soap ingredients. Defense Soap is the best cleansing body soap for men and women athletes who are involved in contact sports such as MMA, wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and judo, to help their antifungal, anti-ringworm, anti-jock itch strategy. Check out their web site, at DefenseSoap.com.
Takedown Wrestling Media, America's wrestling TV and radio shows, which are hosted by founder Scott Casber, and have been airing on radio and Internet for over 17 years. Takedown Media produces a weekly TV program seen in 54 million homes in the U.S. on DirecTV, Dish Network, and cable affiliates around the country, called Takedown TV. Takedown Media also produces the weekly USA Wrestling TV show for the governing body of the sport, USA Wrestling. For more information, go to TakedownRadio.com.
Labels: combat sports, Eddie Goldman, fighting, Mark Setrakian, No Holds Barred, Real Steel, Robot Combat League, robotics
Sunday, March 31, 2013
No Holds Barred: Mark Setrakian on Robot Combat League
Five of the nine episodes of the Robot Combat League have already aired on Syfy in the U.S. and on Space in Canada. The shows are now featuring the quarterfinal round of the 12-robot tournament.
On the fifth episode, Team Scorpio, with Diana Yang and Chris Hardouin at the controls, sliced in half yet another robot to gain a knockout victory over Team A.X.E., with MMA fighter Andrew Montanez and Ross Mead at the helm.
We spoke by phone Friday with Mark Setrakian about the past, present, and future of robot fighting.
"This show, this season, is my attempt to kick off a whole new genre of fighting: motorized fighting," he said in this interview. Unlike other combat sports, this is "a motor sport of fighting," he said, with "weapons that you cannot use in human fighting."
He stressed, "What we're entering into is a level of combat that you cannot do with human beings but you can do it with robots, because at the end of the day, nobody's hurt. The robots are wrecked, but the human fighters, apart from their egos, are fine."
We discussed what happened on episode five with Scorpio's victory, why he "wouldn't change a thing" about how the robots were designed, the future of Robot Combat League, why robot fighting is the future of combat sports, why he believes that there will be more seasons of this show, the need to keep human athletes controlling the robots, the buildup to the semifinals and finals of this tournament, and much more.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.
No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.
Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.
Beezid.com - Penny Auctions. Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions.
American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com/.
Labels: A.X.E., combat sports, Eddie Goldman, fighting, Mark Setrakian, No Holds Barred, Robot Combat League, Space, Syfy, Team Scorpio
Saturday, February 16, 2013
No Holds Barred: Chris Jericho and Mark Setrakian on Robot Combat League Conference Call
The Robot Combat League features 12 state-of-the-art robots engaged in a tournament where they fight each other. The robots are controlled by a human fighter known as a robo-jockey and an engineer known as a robo-tech. The first season of the Robot Combat League, which premieres Tuesday, February 26, on Syfy in the U.S., has already been filmed. There will be nine weekly episodes of the Robot Combat League for this debut season. Two of the 12 robo-jockeys, Andrew Montanez and Amanda Lucas, are professional MMA fighters.
The main speakers on this conference call were WWE performer Chris Jericho, who hosts the show, and robotics expert Mark Setrakian, who designed and created these robots.
The question, of course, which comes to mind for those in the combat sports, is whether or not some day, like in the fictional movie "Real Steel", robot fighting can become sophisticated and popular enough to replace human combat sports.
Asked about this on this conference call, Mark Setrakian replied, "As a culture, we don't lose sports. We add sports to our repertoire. So I think robot combat is a new sport that's going to be added to what humans do. I don't think boxing or wrestling or any of those things are going to go away."
The discussion on the conference call also focused on many details of this new show, and provided a lot of answers as to what to expect when it debuts February 26.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.
No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.
Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.
"The Martist" with John Perretti. A "martist" is an artist as well as a martial artist. This is a blog for those who think about fighting, published by John Perretti, the lifelong martial artist and former UFC and Battlecade Extreme Fighting matchmaker. Check out John's writings at http://johnperretti.com.
MMA World Expo. The mixed martial arts community comes to New York City February 16 and 17, 2013, for the fourth annual MMA World Expo, featuring an amateur MMA tournament, grappling, MMA fighters, seminars with world-class trainers, vendors, panel discussions, and much more. The MMA World Expo takes place Saturday, February 16, and Sunday, February 17, 2013, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.
Beezid.com - Penny Auctions. Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions.
American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com/.
Labels: boxing, Chris Jericho, Eddie Goldman, Mark Setrakian, MMA, No Holds Barred, Robot Combat League, Syfy, wrestling
