Mike Jeffries

Mike Jeffries
Personal Information
Years Active	2004-Present
BattleBots Information
Role	Match Steward, Competitor
Seasons	World Championship VII-Present

Mike Jeffries is a mechanical engineer and former BattleBots competitor who has served as the show's official Match Steward since World Championship VII.

"I became interested in robot battles during the original airing of BattleBots on Comedy Central, back when I was in middle school."

— Mike Jeffries on his introduction to the sport

An avid competitor and robot builder since 2004, Mike Jeffries has a history of mechanical engineering and captained Chaos Corps and Bombshell in their first two seasons, finishing as the season runner-up during World Championship II. He is also captain of his own team, Near Chaos Robotics. With a 60lb robot called Ruiner, Jeffries entered RoboGames 2006, winning its first fight before losing its second, and then having to forfeit their third battle. Other robots of his include a 3lb vertical spinner called M-80, Nyx, Firecracker, Fluffball, and Eccentricity. Following a diagnosis of Bell's Palsy in summer 2018, Jeffries relinquished captaincy of Bombshell and was not present as Chaos Corps fought in World Championship IV, but was involved with the development of Slammo! in 2021. He also began designing a heavyweight version of his 150g fairyweight Firecracker, though this never came to fruition, in part due to his diagnosis.

In 2022, Jeffries accepted an offer from BattleBots to take on a behind-the-scenes role within production. As of World Championship VII, teams now held the right to dispute a judges' decision if they feel they had been wronged, as per the judging criteria. It is the duty of the Match Steward to liaise with the teams, and then to present the dispute to the judges, who have the right to accept or deny the Appeal. If a team loses their Appeal, they cannot issue another appeal for the remainder of the tournament.

Other miscellaneous duties include liaising between teams and production regarding updates on robots ahead of fights, as well as delivering news in the case of teams being forced to forfeit battles during the season.

Mike Jeffries during the World Championship III.

Mike Jeffries and Julie Simancek with Bombshell during World Championship II.

Outside BattleBots

Away from BattleBots, Jeffries organizes events for smaller robots in the Atlanta region, notably organizing Robot Battles competitions at conventions such as DragonCon. He also builds knives and forges his own tools.

Trivia

• Mike Jeffries was initially asked to be a technical advisor for the Chinese show Clash Bots, but refused.