{"567401":{"#nid":"567401","#data":{"type":"news","title":"GTRI\u2019s Jeffries Builds Bots with Appetite for Destruction","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMichael Jeffries, a research technologist in the Aerospace, Transportation and Advanced Systems (ATAS) with the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/gtri.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Research Institute\u003C\/a\u003E (GTRI), has turned his hobby of robot building and battling into a turn on ABC\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.battlebots.com\/\u0022\u003EBattleBots\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJeffries and his team, Chaos Corps, entered their robots Bombshell and Short-Fuse into the nationally televised competition. Jeffries is the team captain, lead designer of the group\u2019s prize fighter, Bombshell, and is the driver for the actual fight.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe designed Bombshell to have a modular weapons system,\u201d Jeffries said. \u201cWe can attach four different weapons, usually right before the fight. It keeps our opponents guessing, because they never know what weapon Bombshell will have.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe robot\u2019s drive system and armor weighs 136 pounds, and the various weapons can weigh anywhere from 80 to 113 pounds. Weapons range from an electric axe to a 42-inch horizontal spinning bar, that can raise and lower during a fight. Bombshell is sponsored by SendGrid, a marketing email platform.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team also has a companion robot, Short-Fuse, which is basically a quad-copter strapped to a flame-thrower. This is the first time, Jeffries said, that they\u2019ve used flying robots in the competition.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBombshell has continued through the televised competition, earning a wild card position after losing to Complete Control, but then defeating Cobalt its first battle in the round of 32. The team continues on in the brackets, scheduled to \u201cfight\u201d the robot Poison Arrow on Thursday, Sept. 1, on ABC.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI became interested in robot battles during the original airing of BattleBots on Comedy Central, back when I was in middle school,\u201d he said. Jeffries fielded his first combatant in 2006. It was a 60-pound robot for RoboGames in California.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPrior to the group\u2019s stint on ABC, Jeffries competes with a group of teams that battle regularly in the Atlanta area. Chaos Corps is made up of members from these teams. Jeffries, his wife and group of friends attend roughly six events a year. His win\/loss record is 226\/126 over his career, and 65\/12 with one robot.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCalled \u2018Robot Battles,\u2019 it\u2019s the second-longest running robot combat event in the world, since 1991,\u201d Jeffries said. \u201cWe\u2019ve battled at Dragon*Con, conventions and other events around Atlanta and the Southeast.\u201d This year\u2019s Dragon*Con battle will be the 60th\u0026nbsp;such contest for Robot Battles.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen ABC opened up the second season of the show to auditions, Jeffries pitched to the other groups that they should pool their resources to create a robot for the show. More than 1,000 hours of fabrication work and assembly during a two-months build. \u201cIt\u2019s very much a team effort in terms of assembly,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring the wait after the auditions, Jeffries said he and other members of Chaos Corps were busy battling each other.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd, for Jeffries, pugilistic automatons are a family affair.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI made a really smart decision early on: I got my then-girlfriend, now wife, fighting robots early in the relationship,\u201d he said. \u201cShe has her own bots and competes, alongside and against me. Her favorite line when we compete is \u2018You know whoever wins, you still lose, right?\u2019\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe past year, he said, has been one of firsts: The couple bought a house, got married and helped build a robot for a nationally televised show. Additionally, he moved into the role of a full-time employee at GTRI, after contracting.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAll of his BattleBots fights have been taped and completed. Jeffries\u2019 last local fight was in June, and the next one won\u2019t be until Labor Day weekend, so he said he\u2019s enjoying the time off.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMichael Jeffries, a research technologist in the Aerospace, Transportation and Advanced Systems (ATAS) with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), has turned his hobby of robot building and battling into a turn on ABC\u2019s BattleBots.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Michael Jeffries, a research technologist in the Aerospace, Transportation and Advanced Systems (ATAS) with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), has turned his hobby of robot building and battling into a turn on ABC\u2019s BattleBots."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2016-08-30 10:31:18","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:22:26","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-08-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-08-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"567341":{"id":"567341","type":"image","title":"Battlebots: Mike and Julie","body":null,"created":"1472048191","gmt_created":"2016-08-24 14:16:31","changed":"1475895374","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:56:14","alt":"Battlebots: Mike and Julie","file":{"fid":"206963","name":"mikeandjulie2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mikeandjulie2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mikeandjulie2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":98449,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/mikeandjulie2.jpg?itok=reGT-_Cg"}},"567371":{"id":"567371","type":"image","title":"Battlebots: Bombshell vs. Red Devil","body":null,"created":"1472048318","gmt_created":"2016-08-24 14:18:38","changed":"1475895374","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:56:14","alt":"Battlebots: Bombshell vs. Red Devil","file":{"fid":"206965","name":"bombshellvsreddevil2.gif","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bombshellvsreddevil2.gif","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bombshellvsreddevil2.gif","mime":"image\/gif","size":7921325,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bombshellvsreddevil2.gif?itok=3wcDB-iU"}},"567381":{"id":"567381","type":"image","title":"Battlebots: Bombshell","body":null,"created":"1472048395","gmt_created":"2016-08-24 14:19:55","changed":"1475895374","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:56:14","alt":"Battlebots: Bombshell","file":{"fid":"206966","name":"beautyshot-768x576.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/beautyshot-768x576.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/beautyshot-768x576.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":60579,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/beautyshot-768x576.jpg?itok=rmeb47GJ"}}},"media_ids":["567341","567371","567381"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.battlebots.com\/","title":"Battlebots"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172283","name":"battlebots"},{"id":"3397","name":"fun"},{"id":"415","name":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"},{"id":"416","name":"GTRI"},{"id":"2352","name":"robots"},{"id":"2536","name":"TV"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:robert.nesmith@gtri.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ERobert Nesmith\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EGeorgia Tech Research Institute\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}