Robot Combat League Watch – Episode 5

For those of you who are pugilist fans, just getting turned on to the latest Syfy series, or who just want to know how our favorite local contestant did in the latest episode, Patch is keeping track of all the metal-on-metal action as Mineola native Andrew Montanez and his giant robot A.X.E. battles the 12 other teams this season on “Robot Combat League.” 

Miss the action? Watch recaps and full episodes here.

*WARNING – SPOILERS FOLLOW*

The fifth episode of the season finds the remaining teams out of the preliminaries and into round two, albeit with a few surprises at the start of the quarterfinals.

The teams are brought in to compete in a timed power up challenge where inside a waiting room there was a sparring bot that is missing some parts and the contestants have to use spare parts to reassemble that part. The team with the fastest time reassembling that piece/ arm gets their choice of either picking their opponent or a customized tool to use in the next round.

Montanez and his PhD-wielding robot driving partner Ross of No. 10-ranked Team A.X.E. came in with 2:34, but chose to pick their next opponent against the opinions of their competitors.

Andrew said he was “confident” in his pick, which turned out to be No. 11 ranked Scorpio with a trip to the semi-finals at stake. In the preliminaries, Scorpio had the distinction of taking down No. 2 ranked robot Commander by slicing the Army-themed robot in half.

Meanwhile, Scorpio driver Diana Yang said that she would cut them in half, which given her history in the area would be haunting words.

In a match that was billed as “blade vs blade” combat, Montanez revealed his strategy of trying to land numerous uppercuts inside and staying low so as not to expose the midsection of his robot.

Measuring up, Scorpio, driven by Yang and gamemaker Chris, stands 8’1”, 760 lbs, 43.5 in reach, taking key advantages in all but weight over A.X.E. It yields blade weapons, has speed and precision but sports a light carbon fiber armor shell that is not as strong as steel.

Round one opened with both robots clashing at the center of the ring, but A.X.E. continued to move in, pushing Scorpio toward the tunnel. However, the blade-wielding robot sent sparks flying, landing numerous blows on A.X.E, who took numerous amounts of damage while bits of Scorpio’s armor kept coming off in the ring.

Scorpio’s right blade then wedged itself in A.X.E’s left shoulder armor, but Ross was able to free the red-tinted robot from its grasp. The two robots kept going back and forth with first Scorpio looking like it was off balance only to have A.X.E. take a hit and crumple over at the horn in the final seconds of the round.

In the pit, robot builder Mark Setrakian delivered devastating news to Montanez and Mead: five hydraulic actuators – the pistons that allow the robot to move – are broken and he only has four in stock, so at best it will limit the robot’s mobility.

In the pit area, as mechanics are desperately trying to put A.X.E. back together, Montanez admits that “it was a risk to take on this thing” and “it may have backfired.”

Setrakian and others explain that the damage done by Scorpio’s blades produced a domino effect on the actuators, causing them to fail in sequence while Montanex described it as “a liver shot,” able to take down the opponent in one punch.

“Those are effective strikes,” Mead adds, who spends a considerable amount of the 20 minutes worth of pit time the team has to fix the robot trying to unhook a screw.

As the clock inches ever closer to the horn sounding, even Setrakian is admitting that “we're really in trouble here.” Eventually the horn sounds and Team A.X.E. is not able to come out, with Scorpio being declared the winner by KO, their second of the tournament.

Later as both exit, Ross said did not regret decision to take on Scorpio.

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