I have been competing my robots in competitions since the Robotics Society of America held their pre-RoboGames competitions at the Exploratorium in San Francisco in 2001.

When the competition evolved into the RobOlympics in 2004 I won my first gold medal with Ziggy in the Walker Challenge, an offroad race for walking robots. Ziggy subsequently won 7 more gold medals in a row, making him the only robot in the competition to win 8 consecutive gold medals. Ziggy finally lost the medal in 2012 to the Indonesian robot DU116SGR-V12 but I retook the gold in 2013 with my new hexapod robot Grinder. To the left I am receiving both the Gold Medal and Bronze Medal for the Walker Challenge in 2013 with my sons Aiden and Orion.

  During the course of RoboGames (as it was renamed), I built and competed a variety of robots, winning 40 medals in total, including 18 gold medals. I was the only builder to win at least one gold medal from each of the 10 years that the competition ran. It sadly ended in 2013.

I have won medals in Best of Show, Walker Challenge, Android Soccer, Ribbon Climber, Lego Best of Show, Lego Tubepush and Lego Challenge.

I also officated a number of competitions at RoboGames including the Line Follower competition which proved to be one of the most hotly contested races in the show.

 

  In 2011 Discovery Channel filmed a TV special at RoboGames hosted by my old buddy Grant Imahara of Mythbusters fame. The show was called "Killer Robots: RoboGames 2011" and focussed on the robotic combat competition but it also featured the Walker Challenge, showing Ziggy winning the Gold Medal for the 8th time in a row. Watch the clip below.

I have known Grant since BattleBots days when he was just another robot builder. It was fun getting to hang out with him and showcase Ziggy on the international stage!

You can watch clips of a variety of my competitions below.
 

  Click on the thumbnails below for video: