BattleBots Destruct-A-Thon: A Full Broadcast Workflow In TWO WEEKS
In January of 2023, we received a call from Trey Roski, the founder of Battlebots. The famed robot combat tournament had been airing on TV since 2000, and boasted a litany of celebrity guests, such Billy Nye, Carmen Electra, and Vernon Davis. Over the two decades of its TV run, the series had earned an enviably dedicated following, and would now be launching an in-arena show in Las Vegas, appropriately dubbed Destruct-A-Thon.
Challenge
Trey and his team reached out with a big vision for the new show. They needed a full broadcast workflow that could be designed and installed from scratch. The catch? Trey needed the full design and installation completed in two weeks, before the arena show premiered in early February.
In addition, the small but mighty Destruct-A-Thon production staff needed to be trained on their new equipment. We also had to consider that the equipment would have to broadcast and survive battles between robots that weighed hundreds of pounds.
Most importantly, the broadcast had to be consistent with the experience Battlebots fans came to love from the TV show.
Approach
We flew to Vegas, did a brief walk-through of the arena space, and got to work. While Trey and his team began casting for the show, we teamed up with Black Magic Design to create a workflow that included:
- A full TV control room with instant replay that could show big destruction in slow motion
- Multi-camera coverage of the the Battlebots Destruct-A-Thon
- Capability to record all camera feed so that they could archive and reuse footage for TV
- Hand-held cameras to record the hosts of the show
In-arena cameras were a particular consideration, since they were often destroyed by shrapnel from exploding robots. To address this concern, we installed cameras that offered TV broadcast quality, but were also affordable enough to be replaced if (and when) they were destroyed by battling robots.
Results
We successfully designed and installed the workflow and trained the Destruct-A-Thon staff in about two weeks, In time for the show’s premiere in February 2023. Thanks to our hands-on training, the production staff of the show feel comfortable managing and replacing equipment, and have been smoothly running the show since its premiere. Destruct-A-Thon runs daily in the Las Vegas Strip, broadcasting its robot combats across 150 countries.
TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS
- Blackmagic Design
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