This week on the podcast, we catch up two incredible engineers—Chomp captain Zoe Stephenson and teammate Jascha Little!
Zoe and Jascha are a wife-and-husband team who work together as engineers on experimental projects at Applied Invention. Their most visible project, perhaps, is The Long Now Foundation's 10,000 Year Clock, a massive mechanical timekeeper that is designed to survive and tell time until the year 12,000. (Some fans may know that Bronco team captain Zander Rose is the director of The Long Now Foundation).
It’s unbelievably difficult to design an object to survive for 10,000 years—metals corrode, moving parts seize up, materials that touch one another run the risk of chemically reacting to one another in strange ways. For inspiration, the team looked to the past and the designs of other mechanical objects, early timepieces and mechanical computers. It’s a fascinating project, and one that we will most certainly continue to talk about on the show.
BattleBots fans know Zoe and Jascha for Chomp, the AI-infused hammerbot that ended Paul Ventimiglia’s championship run in 2016. This year, Chomp is back—as a superheavyweight walker bot with a turret-mounted hammer. Zoe and Jascha talk at length about the design, and the technical challenges they face as they try to cut weight from the bot.
We really enjoyed this interview, and we hope you do, too.
Link to Chomp’s GitHub repository: https://github.com/contradict/stomp
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/behindthebots
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts
Tell a friend about the show; we really appreciate your support!
Our High-Flying Interview with Valkyrie Captain Leanne Cushing and Designer Alex Crease!
Our Malicious Interview with Team Malice!
Our Wheel-y Delicious Interview with Nelly Teammate Reira Granger!
Our Electric Blue Interview with Overhaul Captain Charles Guan
Our Stinging Interview with Zach Lytle and Diana Tarlson from Skorpios
We Keep Our Cool in Our Interview with Tantrum Captain Aren Hill
Our Colorful Interview with BattleBots Builder and Judge Lisa Winter
BattleBots Coronavirus Special Edition with SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Captain Joe Fabiani
A Maelstrom of Malarky with Captain Tom Brewster and Team Monsoon
Our Interview with HiJinx Captain Jen Herchenroeder
Our Very Metal BattleBots Interview with Blacksmith Captain Al Kindle
BattleBots Season 5 (Very Early) Preview with Greg Munson
We Trim the Grass (is that a saying?) with Team MowBot Captain Craig Danby
The Biggest Story Ever Told: Our Interview with MegaBots Cofounder Matt Oehrlein
How to Build Your First Combat Robot, With FingerTech Robotics Founder Kurtis Wanner
All Things Extinguisher, with Surprise BattleBots Guest John Flaacke
All Things Bugglebots with Sarah Malyan
Building Your Own Heavyweight Combat Robotics Competition with Lilith Specht
BattleBots Veterans Panel Discussion at Maker Faire Orlando
Unconventional BattleBots Designs Panel at Maker Faire Orlando
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Oh Boy: A Time Travel Podcast
3 Guys and a Flick - Movie Reviews
The Multiverse Fancast
Pod Meets World
Blank Check with Griffin & David