Craig Danby, a premier competitor on Discovery Channel’s Battlebots, visited a Johnston County high school robotics team on August 18th prior to leaving for Las Vegas to film the new season of the popular show.
Danby talked with students from FIRST Robotics Competition Team 6004 hosted at Smithfield Selma Senior High School. Nearly two dozen students from across Johnston County’s public, charter, private and homeschool communities make up the f(x) Robotics team. While Danby will start filming a new Battlebots season early next week, members of f(x) Robotics are in off-season with their competition season starting in January 2022.
Danby, a mechanical design engineer with a focus in robotics, talked to the team about his design and builds over nearly three decades in competitive robotics. He also talked to the team about competition strategy, and shared some personal insights competing against popular teams such as Witch Doctor, Huge and End Game. Team Danby’s robot, Slammo, hopes to advance into final rounds of competition this season, but fans will not know the results till the show airs later this year.
With North Carolina House lawmakers looking to add a policy provision into the budget recognizing competitive robotics programs as interscholastic athletic activities regulated by the State Board of Education, students of f(x) Robotics at Smithfield Selma Senior High School have known the importance of robotics and STEM education for many years. Learning more from the likes of Danby, who brings a love of robotics into households across the world each Battlebots season, just ignited a bigger passion for exciting 2021-2022 season.
How can you not mention the best battlebot of all time, Biteforce?