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- "The audience and judges love noise, speed, originality, and carnage potential. Towering Inferno is an attempt to combine all of those qualities in a package unlike any other previously seen in a competition."
- — Jason Bardis, on his choice of design for Towering Inferno.
Towering Inferno was a robot designed and built by Jason Bardis of the The Infernolab. The bot itself was a pair of wheels with two small hammers attached to the ends. It never got far, but was a very memorable design. It was named because it was 29 inches in height, much taller than most of the other heavyweights.
Towering Inferno was originally going to compete in Robotica, but the team decided otherwise and entered Mini Inferno instead. Towering Inferno was designed to tackle robots that had won or done well in previous seasons: BioHazard, Vlad, Voltarc etc. Towering Inferno was "unpinnable, unflippable" and designed to hammer down on the wide & slow manipulative robots.
In 2016, Jason decided to retire Towering Inferno after a decade of storage. After it's attendance at Solidworks 2017, he wrote a follow up of his reply to a Youtube comment regarding Towering Inferno's retirement:
"Thanks for your interest. Nope, I gutted Towering Inferno after BattleBots season 5.0 in 2002 & sold off all of his insides: motors, speed controllers, batteries, radio, wires, etc. I kept his outer body intact, because all of those parts were specialty parts that I designed & had machined, so they weren't really of value to anybody else. After having him take up space in my garage for over a decade, I donated him to NTMA, where I hope he can inspire students to learn more about fabrication & robotics."
In April 2022, Bardis revealed the retirement of Towering Inferno's time at NTMA in a Gmail conversation.[1]
- "I contacted NTMA to see if they wanted to give back Towering Inferno, if it were in their way, because I could take it to schools etc. to show kids. Unfortunately, they seem to have thrown it away years ago. Darn."
- — Jason's words for Towering Inferno's retirement
Robot History[]
Season 3.0[]
Towering Inferno's Season 3.0 appearance
Towering Inferno gets its axe on top of Nerd Killer.
Towering Inferno's first match was against Nerd Killer. Both robots went straight at each other and Towering Inferno started hitting the top of Nerd Killer with its hammers. Towering Inferno was then pushed against the corner of the arena by Nerd Killer and Nerd Killer tried to lift Towering Inferno. Nerd Killer pushed Towering Inferno against the arena wall again and Towering Inferno got its right axe on the top of Nerd Killer. However, the axe was stuck on Nerd Killer and was dragged around the arena by Nerd Killer. About 30 seconds left into the match, Towering Inferno finally got its axe free and both robots were having control issues before the time ran out. Towering Inferno won on a close 23-22 judges' decision and advanced to the TV rounds, where it faced Bad Dog.
Bad Dog gets stuck on the entrance ramp while fighting Towering Inferno.
Both robots went straight at each other and Towering Inferno started hitting the top of Bad Dog with its hammers. Bad Dog tried to push Towering Inferno to the killsaws and the pulverizer, but Towering Inferno barely missed both arena traps. Bad Dog then accidentally got itself stuck on the entrance ramp and Towering Inferno hits Bad Dog once before it was counted out. Towering Inferno won by KO and advanced to the Round of 32, where it faced frenZy
FrenZy and Towering Inferno exchange blows.
Both robots went straight at each other and frenZy started hitting Towering Inferno with its hammer, as Towering Inferno was hitting frenZy with its hammers. frenZy later pushed Towering Inferno against the spikestrip and Towering Inferno stopped moving as its frame had become out of alignment & the chains derailed, a result of some of its structural body panels breaking because they were intended to be polycarbonate but were actually fabricated out of Plexiglass. Towering Inferno was counted out and frenZy won by KO. This meant that Towering Inferno was eliminated from the tournament.
Towering Inferno also participated the heavyweight consolation rumble at the end of the tournament. It first struck SlamJob with its right-hammer and Little Sister with its left one. Then attacks Junkyard Offspring. It also took a hit from Mauler, then gets attacked by SlamJob and Kritical Mass II. Towering Inferno then struck FrostBite with its hammer then Kill-O-Amp attacks, ramming it into the entrance ramp. Next it gets pushed around by FrostBite and almost hits Greenspan. It momentarily gets stuck in the screws, then pounds a dead Junkyard Offspring. It then gets attacked by Kill-O-Amp again then it began hitting FrostBite until Kill-O-Amp attacks. It then got ganged on by Greenspan and FrostBite briefly. Finally FrostBite pushes Towering Inferno into the wall. It was one of few robots still moving in the end, but it lost overall to Little Sister and Kill-O-Amp.
Season 4.0[]
Towering Inferno's Season 4.0 appearance.
Towering Inferno takes a major hit from Mechavore
Due to previously competing in Season 3.0, Towering Inferno was allowed to skip the preliminary rounds of Season 4.0, where it faced MechaVore. The first hit from MechaVore caused a shower of sparks and tore the head of one of Towering Inferno's hammers clean off. It attacked again, throwing Towering Inferno across the BattleBox and taking a huge part of one of its wheels out. With Towering Inferno all but immobile, MechaVore went after the decapitated part of the wheel, sending it flying. It then rendered Towering Inferno's other hammer useless, stopping its blade in the process, but the battle was already won and Towering Inferno was counted out as the battery on one side wasn't secured well and the wheel sections on the other side didn't have enough screws to properly hold it together. MechaVore won by KO and Towering Inferno was eliminated from the tournament again.
Towering Inferno hits MechaVore.
Towering Inferno also participated the heavyweight consolation rumble at the end of the tournament. It got attacked by Little Sister, then FrenZy. It also got struck by GoldDigger. Next it was being pushed by I-Beam. Then it was attacked by Little Sister again. It wasn't doing much afterwards and was rammed by Phrizbee a little. It was still alive when the timer sounded, but lost to GoldDigger and again Little Sister.
Season 5.0[]
Towering Inferno in the pits during Season 5.0
Towering Inferno striking Ripkin with its hammers, while getting hit by the ring spinner in the process
Towering Inferno, unfortunately, was no longer seeded for this tournament and therefore had to go through the preliminary rounds again. Its first and only match in Season 5.0 was against Ripkin. After it took multiple hits from Ripkin, the time ran out and Ripkin won on a 27-18 judges' decision. This meant that Towering Inferno was eliminated from the tournament once again.
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 2
- Losses: 3
| Competition | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Season 3.0 | frenZy | |
| Season 4.0 | None | MechaVore |
| Season 5.0 | None | Ripkin |
Mark Beiro Introductions[]
"This is the robot your mama warned you about. Who's your daddy? It's TOWERING INFERNO!"
"When he's done administrating to your beating, you'll wish you were a red headed stepchild. Hide in the corner from TOWERING INFERNO!"
"A bot so mean he only bitch slaps people he likes. TOWERING INFERNO!"
"You want scary? How about O.J. Simpson and Fred Astaire in the same movie. Here is TOWERING INFERNO!"
Trivia[]
- Towering Inferno was previously called "Armed Forces" during the prototype phase. It received a name change just before the construction of the bot began.
- On April 2001, Towering Inferno was featured on Movies For Guys Who Like Movies, where it slew fruit, plushies, and piñatas. The compellation of the video can be seen on Infernolab's Youtube channel.
- Towering Inferno was displayed at UCSB Chancellor's fundraiser reception in 2001.
- It fought at BattleBots, San Francisco 2001 and was ranked top 32.
- It appeared in 2 episodes' updates in season 3.0
- It appeared in 1 full fight in season 4.0
- Towering Inferno's stepchild intro is used for Ronin as well.
- The season 3.0 version of Towering Inferno was donated to NTMA machining school to inspire students while the current Towering Inferno (Season 5.0) is currently in storage at NTMA along with the Disk O' Inferno (temporary), debuted in Good Mythical Morning on Youtube.
References[]
- ↑ Private correspondence between Falco276 and Jason Bardis in April 2022.