The Eyes Have It
Why do we give robots eyes? Come to think of it — why do we design them to look like anything they’re not? After all, robots perform a function. They don’t need eyes…right?
I’m going to have to disagree with you there. We give robots eyes to give them humanity and a sense of “aliveness.” I suppose that helps us trust our future overlords.
When I joined Team Bots ‘n’ Stuff in early 2022, one of the first things I did as marketing/sponsorships/etc guy was design some eyes for Bloodsport.
You see, we knew Bloodsport v3 would get comparisons to ICEwave — in fact, we take those as complements. ICEwave is a legend and had some of the most insane BattleBots fights in the history of the sport. Bloodsport 3’s weapon module needed to be distinct from ICEwave’s. We couldn’t get away with a box or a dome. Bloodsport needed a head with eyes.
Believe it or not, we came up with around 20 different eye concepts before choosing the final eyes you see below. They are custom stickers made from reflective red material, made by REFLX, a Canadian bike parts and apparel company. You can buy full-scale replica Bloodsport eyes (as well as half-scale eyes) in our team shop.
As we came up with eye design iterations, we decided that Bloodsport needed to have eyes that added to its reputation as a cold-blooded killing machine. This really helped us decide which look to go with, which actually meant that Bloodsport probably didn’t need to have “traditional” pupils, nor did it need to look cute in any shape or form.
Some early eye design concepts for Bloodsport 3. We ended up going with option #1.
Final Bloodsport 3 eye design
Of course, I wanted to revisit some of the more notable eye designs from the reboot (ABC seasons to most recent Discovery seasons), so here they are, from newest to oldest.
World Championship VII (2022)
World Championship VII (current season) has featured more bots with eyes than ever, with 19 of the 57 participants sporting eyes — exactly 1/3 of the competition!
Now I’m just going to hit some personal highlights, as we remember some of the coolest and notable bots with eyes:
Season 6 (2021)
Any Pardon My French fans out there? I particularly liked its minibot, Zut!
PMF w/ Zut!
Season 5 (2020)
2020 brought us O.G. Rusty, whose lifeless eyes will always have a special place in my heart.
Rusty
Season 4 (2019)
2019 brought some notable eye-bots to the battle box. I want to take a moment to address googly eyes. My opinion on googly eyes is: funny on beetles, but uncreative on the heavyweight scale. That being said, I give Nelly the Ellybot a pass — she’s just so darn likable.
Season 3 (2018)
I…Love…DUCK! Any DUCK! haters out there probably aren’t reading this article, as they probably also cannot read. And a big shoutout to Sharko on its menacing glare.
Season 2 (2016)
ABC’s second season brought us some positively spectacular peepers. Here are a few of my favorites:
Season 1 (2015)
Since ABC’s first season was a single-elimination tournament, many of these bots were “blink-and-you’ll-miss-them” teams. For that reason, I’m only highlighting the formidable eyes of Wrecks:
Wrecks
Final Thoughts on BattleBot Eyes
I definitely don’t think every bot needs eyes. However, as we are designing robots that need to be both competitive AND look good on TV, aesthetics are important. BattleBots is a strange combination of sport and entertainment. If every BattleBot were designed for pure competition, we’d end up having 50 identical robots (think F1 racing series). That doesn’t make for must-see TV. I love the mixture of artistic creativity and engineering that goes into creating a robot as a team.
BattleBot eyes will never win a fight, but they can go far to help your team arrive at a strong, cohesive theme that fans will latch onto. Whether it’s Bloodsport or Team Bots ‘n’ Stuff’s World Championship 8 entry Subatomic, we want to forge a connection with fans while simultaneously kicking some serious bot. And if eyes can help us achieve that first goal, we’re all about it.
