Sitting quietly in the driveway of John Mladenik’s Escondidohome, its shell scarred and its paint worn, the combat robot knownas Megabyte doesn’t look so intimidating.

But you don’t want to see it when it’s angry.

With a thick titanium shell that protrudes blades and spins at200 miles an hour, Megabyte has logged 64 fights with 50 wins, morethan any other combat robot in the popular heavyweight division for’bots weighing more than 220 pounds.


It’s the only robot ever to win national championships in twoweight classes, and is one of only two 2005 inductees into theCombat Robot Hall of Fame.

For the past few years, Megabyte has built a reputation whilefighting other remote-control robots armed with blades, hammers,wedges and sometimes even flames.

Still, Megabyte is not as famous as Biohazard, winner of severalheavyweight titles dating back to 1996 and champion of four out offive seasons on Comedy Central’s “BattleBots” television show,where it lost only three out of 35 fights.

Biohazard and Megabyte faced off in San Francisco on Nov. 12 atthe Robots Fighting League National Championship and ComBotsCup.


Back home in his garage, Mladenik picked up a piece of titanium,about a half-inch thick and four inches square, its edge jagged andtorn.

“This is a piece of Biohazard,” Mladenik said, admiring the hunkof metal like a trophy.

Acknowledging Biohazard’s legacy, Mladenik was respectful anddid not gloat over his victory.

Well, maybe just a little.


“I really expected him (Biohazard builder Carlo Bertocchini) towipe us out,” he said. “He said his goal was to end every fight in10 seconds. We completely destroyed him.”

Birth of the ‘bots

You won’t find fight results in the daily sports page, but thecombat robot circuit spans the nation. Meeting at competitions withnames such as ComBots Cup, Robot Fighting League, Robo Games,Robotics Revolution and Mech Wars, team members stand behind clear,protective barriers and use remote controls to maneuver their ‘botsin two-minute bouts, earning points by disabling or dominatingtheir opponents.

The first combat robot competition, Robot Wars, was in 1994 inSan Francisco. Creator Marc Thorpe he got the idea of fightingrobots while working as a designer for Lucas Toys, a division ofLucas Films. He envisioned his prototype while working on aradio-controlled vacuum cleaner.


After a dispute about the ownership rights to Robot War, twoenthusiasts created a new event, BattleBots, in 1999. The nextyear, combat robots gained a national audience when Comedy Centralbegan televising bouts in its show, “BattleBots.”

Mladenik, 46, first saw fighting robots on “BattleBots” aboutsix years ago. A self-employed electrical engineer who designscircuit boards, the show inspired him to design his owncompetitor.

“I was really hooked,” he said. “I got videos of it andrecruited people.”

His team, Robotic Death Co., initially consisted of fellowelectrical engineers. Things didn’t gel until Mladenik’s automechanic recommended somebody who had some machinery skills: CarlLewis, owner of a machinery moving company in San Diego.


“You have to be able to weld and use a milling machine to makecustom parts,” Mladenik said. “We only had a small set of theskills we needed.”

With knowledge of both hardware and software, Mladenik and Lewisconverted a five-gallon cooking pot to create Rambite, a 59-poundspinning robot with blades on its side.

“We trained with furniture,” Mladenik said. “We’d get an oldrefrigerator or TV, take it out to a parking lot and bang it.”

After eight months of work, Rambite was ready for a real fight.Its first bout was a “BattleBots” event that attracted 600 robotsto San Francisco in 2000. Its first opponent was Bambino, a ‘botshaped like home plate with mechanical bats on its side.


“We were really nervous,” Mladenik said. “It was reallyexciting. We didn’t know what to expect.”

The fight went the distance, and Rambite won by a decision.Rambite beat the next three robots by knock-outs, but lost itsfifth fight.

“Sallad beat Rambite by decision,” Mladenik said. “He jammed ourshell and bent it because we were so soft.” The impressive debut,however, left Rambite ranked 20th in the world for its weightdivision.

“The aluminum was real soft,” Mladenik said about the team’sfirst robot. “After every fight, we would have to pound out thedents with boards.”


Improvements to Rambite, however, were ill-conceived. An arm wasadded with the idea that it would smash competitors, but instead itjust caused Rambite to flip over.

“We didn’t do enough testing,” Mladenik said. “We got our buttskicked.”

A better bot

Robotic Death Co.'s roster includes Mladenik, Lewis, builder anddriver John Neilson, Mladenik’s wife, Liz, as event coordinator,daughters Maria and Monica as drivers, and youngest daughterMelissa as cheerleader.


The team created Megabyte after Rambite’s earlierdisappointment. At 220 pounds, the robot qualified as aheavyweight, the most popular and competitive division. Spinning at200 miles an hour and able to right itself when knocked over,Megabyte could not be stopped.

“We went probably two years without losing a fight,” Mladeniksaid. “We were just killing everybody, so we moved Megabyte to asuper-heavyweight (340 pounds) division.”

Megabyte continued to win, even against robots that outweighedit by 120 pounds, and its reputation grew. Megabyte won nine out 10fights as a super-heavyweight and won two championships in thatdivision.

In 2003, Megabyte became the national heavyweight champion inthe Robot Fighting League. In last year’s national finals, it wonfour out of five bouts to take second place behind Slam Job, awedge with a pneumatic hammer.


The team eventually did create a legitimate super-heavyweight,Super Megabyte, which weighs 340 pounds and took first place in thesuper-heavyweight division at Robo Games last March. Megabyte tookthird place in the heavyweight division, and the team’s smallest’bot, Killabyte, took first in the 30-pound division. Totalearnings for the team were $3,700 for the event, the team’s biggestmoney win.

Not a bad take for the weekend, but Mladenik cringes when hethinks of how much he’s put the game over the year.

“I’ve never added it up,” he said, although a quick tally cameto about $10,000 a year.

How to win


Some combat robots, like Robotic Death Co.'s, have weapons thatdisable opponents, while others are all about defense, absorbingblows and pushing the other robot around the arena.

“There’s two ways to win,” Mladenik said. “By controlling theother guy, or destroying the other guy. We choose to destroy.”

One of the best-known ‘bots designed to destroy was the Judge,which pounded opponents with a metal gavel.

“It is legendary,” Mladenik said, describing how its pointedhammer punched a hole in the half-inch steel floor of the"BattleBots” arena. “His engineering on the robot is justphenomenal. It’s one of my favorite ‘bots of all time. We had aplan to fight him. There was no doubt that a hit from him woulddestroy our shell.”


The team designed what Mladenik described as a spring-mounted,bullet-proof hat to protect Super Megabyte from the Judge’s gavel.Megabyte faced the Judge in Robo Games last March.

The shield worked, and the Judge had to hang up its robe.

“He retired after that,” Mladenik said. “I kind of feel bad. Hewas my hero, and I retired him.”

Such is the nature of competition, where every fight could be a’bots’ last.


The Robotic Death Co. risked five of its fighters Nov. 12 and 13in San Francisco.

Super Megabyte took second place in the national championshipand second in ComBots Cup, a second event held the sameweekend.

Megabyte took third in ComBots Cup and second in the nationals.Mladenik is particularly proud of its fight against Biohazard inSan Francisco.

“He has a lifting arm,” he said, describing Biohazard. “He hadus up on that arm in the very beginning.”


The fight was about a minute and 10 seconds, Mladenik said.

“At first he jammed us into a corner, like he needs to do tokeep us from spinning. Little by little, pieces of him startedcoming off, and it just got worse and worse. I saw his receiverbattery sitting on the ground. That’s what made him go dead.”

Later, Megabyte would lose to a robot named Sewer Snake, whichtook first place in both the nationals and ComBots Cup for theheavyweight division. The robot Karcus, made by Donald Hudson ofPacific Beach, took second place in the ComBots Cup.

“He designed Karcus just for Megabyte,” Mladenik said. “It lookslike an alligator. It has big chomping jaws in the front, and whenhe fights Meg, he puts claws on.”


The Robotic Death Team’s Compressor, a combat ‘bot made from anair compressor, won one fight and lost two in San Francisco.Another team robot, Agsma, won two and lost two.

Little Killabyte took second place in the national featherweightdivision.

Next for the team is a trip to San Francisco for the Robo Gamesin June. Mladenik is not sure about Megabyte’s future.

“We are now talking about a completely new design to beat SewerSnake,” he said. “It’s a whole different concept than Megabyte, andwe haven’t decided what to do with Megabyte.”


Retirement is possible, as the famous ‘bot has little left toprove after its induction into the Combat Robot Hall of Fame.

There’s no actual hall of fame building (its Web site iswww.open.org/joerger/hall_of_fame.html), as it probably would notattract much of a crowd. But the small, focused crowd that votedfor his robot makes the recognition that much more special forMladenik.

“Only builders got to vote on that, so it was our peers,” hesaid. “That meant a lot to us. It’s a small community. We’re kindof rock stars among 15 people.”

Contact staff writer Gary Warth atgwarth@nctimes.comor (760)740-5410.