Aberrant Robotics are a team who competed in four BattleBots World Championship and are currently on hiatus. They are best known for their heavyweight entry P1.
Luke Bittenbinder, J.T. Atkinson and Sam Mills of Aberrant Robotics originally applied for World Championship II with a robot called Talos, but had to withdraw due to time restraints. The team returned and would ultimately compete with Parallax in World Championship III, but suffered from severe drive problems in its battles due to being held up in customs after flying over from the United Kingdom. In 2019, they brought along other team members including Brandon Zalinsky, who later became the driver and captain of P1.
Following the team's loss to SawBlaze in the Round of 16 during World Championship VI, the team announced on Facebook that P1 will be put on hiatus while working on a new robot with an innovative weapon. Despite this, members of Aberrant Robotics joined forces with Team Uppercut and Team VALKYRIE to form Omega Team ahead of World Championship VII.[1]
Outside BattleBots[]
Outside of BattleBots, P1 has competed in several Robot Ruckus events, doing so in 2019 under the name P1.2.
Team Members[]
Brandon Zalinsky[]
Despite being the main name associated with the team, Zalinsky only joined the team in Aberrant Robotics' second season, coinciding with P1's BattleBots debut in 2019. He has since become team captain and P1's main driver. Brandon Zalinsky also competes in National Havoc Robot League events with his 3lb bot Starchild, 12lber Spill the Beans, and in other competitions with 12lb lifters called Torquito and P12. More recently, he built 3lber Mulsanne.
He was originally set to form part of the heavyweight multibot Caulk, though this never came to fruition. Brandon Zalinsky formed part of Omega Team in 2022, captaining a heavyweight version of Starchild.
Luke Bittenbinder[]
Captain of Aberrant Robotics during the 2018 season with Parallax, Luke also fought in several US events as well as Dragoncon with a beetleweight version of P1 called P1 Lite.
He has been ever-present with the team since 2018.
Sarah Pohorecky[]
Sarah Pohorecky joined Aberrant Robotics ahead of the 2020 season, having spent World Championship IV as part of Uppercut in their rookie campaign. Away from BattleBots, she has built various 12lb wedgebots in the past, as well as a beetleweight called So Rachet armed with a spinning wrench. A rebuilt version of So Rachet finished runner-up at NYMF MassDestruction in 2018. Within Aberrant Robotics, she specialized in electronics and helping to diagnose faults and took this expertise to Omega Team in 2022, where she would assist with Ripperoni as well as Starchild.
Anthony D'Ambrosio[]
On the insectweight live scene, he regularly fights alongside Evan Arias as part of Team Shreddit. D'Ambrosio was billed as part of P1 and Pain Train for World Championship VI, having competed a year prior with the latter.
J.T. Atkinson[]
Jonathan J.T. Atkinson originates from North Yorkshire as one of several team members hailing from the United Kingdom. He has built robots since 2009 and is the creator and main director of the UK featherweight event FightFest. He was unable to join up with Aberrant Robotics in their most successful season to date due to travel restrictions.
Sam Mills[]
Sam Mills also has a bot called Phantom, which has fought at AndyMark Fight Night events. Similarly, he was unable to attend filming for the 2021 season due to international travel rules from the UK.
Rory Charlesworth[]
The third of three British-born team members, Sheffield-born Rory Charlesworth joined the team ahead of World Championship V. He did not return for the 2021 season, likely due to the aforementioned travel laws. He is best known for his 30lb Aegis series of robots, unrelated to the BattleBots competitor of the same name and titled Aegis Mk I through to Mk III. Alongside Luke Bittenbinder, Rory Charlesworth helped run Parallax at Extreme Robots in 2018.
Briana Vollbeer[]
Present for World Championship IV, her role concerned team finances and event planning. she also picked up machining skills during P1's creation.
Amelia Godolphin[]
Joining the team in 2019, Amelia Godolphin led P1's graphic design, as well as applying CAD and engineering skills developed in high school.
Alex Garver[]
Only part of the team for the 2019 season, Alex Garver specialized in electronics and programming.
Robots[]
| Name | Weight Class | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| Talos | Heavyweight | World Championship II (Withdrew) |
| Parallax | Heavyweight | World Championship III |
| P1 | Heavyweight | World Championship IV World Championship V BattleBots: Bounty Hunters World Championship VI |
Win/Loss Record[]
- Wins: 6
- Losses: 9