Automatum Technologies, later known as Mission Destruction, are a retired BattleBots team which competed in the inaugural Long Beach competition, all five Comedy Central seasons, as well as both ABC World Championships.
Captained by Canadian-born Derek Young, the team are best known for their middleweight-turned-heavyweight Complete Control. They also competed with Son of Smashy, Pressure Drop and became the first BattleAnts champion with Hoser'd.
The team first competed in the Megabot class with Son of Smashy as BattleBots allowed competitors in this division to bring two teammates, and two of his non-engineer housemates were willing to share in the travel costs and the day-long drive to Long Beach. Son of Smashy unexpectedly won a Giant Nut after an undefeated run. Buoyed by this win and the $2500 prize money, he immediately started in on an ambitious follow up effort, the walking hammerbot Pressure Drop. He completed this robot while interning at a prop building studio. Although it was less successful, Pressure Drop made the televised rounds and made a name for himself. Knowing Pressure Drop was limited, Derek came up with the concept of a new grab-and-lift robot inspired by Andrew Lindsey's Robot Wars entry Spike II while on a camping trip. This would later become Complete Control.
From Seasons 2.0 until 5.0, he found mixed success with Complete Control, with his best finish being a second place finish in Season 4.0. Derek continued to work in Vancouver's television and film industry which gave him shop space and the time flexibility to pursue BattleBots long-term, but did not provide enough money to afford for him to carry on as a hobby once the Comedy Central royalties dried up. During the break, Derek left the film industry and through connections made in BattleBots moved to the San Francisco bay area to pursue a more traditional engineering career as a mechanical engineer. Outside of work, he turned his focus to motorsports competing in hill climbs, rallying and road racing.
Swayed by Greg Munson to return to competition for the ABC reboot, he rallied a team of competent friends to rebuild Complete Control for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Team Members[]
Derek Young[]
Often referred to by Chris Rose and Kenny Florian as the "Bad boy of BattleBots", Derek Young captained the team for every competition the team entered. He retired from competing after the 2016 competition having become a father in the hiatus between BattleBots being dropped by ABC and picked up by Discovery to become a judge.
With Fon Davis unable to return in 2018 for World Championship III filming, co-founder Greg Munson reached out to Young, who rotated with Naomi Kyle and a cast of celebrities and fellow former BattleBots competitors during the season.
Main Article: Derek Young
Robots[]
| Name | Weight Class | Season |
|---|---|---|
| Son of Smashy | Megabot | Long Beach 1999 |
| Pressure Drop | Middleweight | Season 1.0 |
| Complete Control | Middleweight | Season 2.0 Season 3.0 Season 4.0 Season 5.0 |
| Heavyweight | World Championship I World Championship II | |
| Hoser'd | Antweight | Season 5.0 |
Win/Loss Record[]
- Wins: 19
- Losses: 7