Team SawBlaze, formerly known as LiMITless Robotics, are an active team who have competed in BattleBots since World Championship II with their championship-winning heavyweight entry, SawBlaze.
The team's original name was stylized in such a way that "MIT", the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was referenced. This was the university that multiple SawBlaze team members, Jamison Go included, attended when studying engineering.
SawBlaze's team suffered a modest debut season as their robot entered exclusively sporting an articulated cutting saw. They lost their opening battle to veteran competitor Zack Bieber and Razorback, but won the end of season MIT Rumble over Road Rash and Overhaul. From 2018, Team SawBlaze helped to push hammer saws at 250lb scale in BattleBots, later Blacksmith and numerous other designs. The team only failed to make the Top 16 in their debut year, and have since backed up consecutive Top 8 finishes with a career best semi-final finish in World Championship VI. Following the conclusion of the 2021 season, Team SawBlaze were awarded the Founder's Award, presented by BattleBots co-founder Trey Roski.
Ahead of World Championship VII, Team SawBlaze lost Lucy Du to Valkyrie. However, Jamison Go's team picked up numerous new members, making up around half of the overall SawBlaze team. Team SawBlaze advanced through the tournament bracket, ultimately defeating HUGE in the final and winning their first Giant Nut.
As the most recent Giant Nut winners, Team SawBlaze qualified automatically for the Golden Bolt tournament at the end of BattleBots: Champions II. The team advanced through SHREDDIT BRO! and Tantrum, but were stopped in the finals by End Game.
Team Members[]
Jamison Go[]
Team SawBlaze captain since 2016, Jamison Go is an established roboteer in lower weight classes outside of BattleBots, regularly competing in US events such as the National Havoc Robot League as captain of G3 Robotics with 3lb robots Silent Spring and Silent X. Both of these are armed with devastating horizontal spinners and Silent Spring in particular did not lose any of its seventeen fights throughout 2019, marking the longest winning streak in the event's history.[1] Jamison Go's first ever robot, RON, was named after his father's co-worker and featured a dustpan-style design with an overhead saw, much like S.O.B. scaled down to the 3lb division.[2]
Having found success with RON, Jamison Go also designed and built the 30lb hammer saw MegaRON, later called MegatRON, which bears a strong resemblance to SawBlaze and is used as a testbed for new iterations of their heavyweight. Debuting the hammer saw concept on MegatRON in 2016, this was scaled up to SawBlaze in 2018.
He previously built a 3lb drum spinner called Dominant Mode, and later donated parts to then-teammate Lucy Du while both part of Team JACD and Overhaul. He also fought with 12lb sportsman entry Tuskin' Raider, which won the NHRL event in its class in November 2021.[3] Alongside BattleBots competitor Elizabeth Cao, he has competed with 12lb multibot Same Same But Different, comprised of 6lb replicas of End Game and Bite Force called End Same and Same Force. Another 12lb entry of his is a four-wheel drive vertical spinner named Saiko!, which possesses a drum weapon similar in shape to that of Tantrum and was the #1 ranked 12lb robot ahead of the March 2023 NHRL event.
In Episode 2 of World Championship VII, he joined Chris Rose and Kenny Florian to provide pre-fight analysis of Whiplash vs. MadCatter, having beaten HyperShock earlier that same episode.
Aaron Fan[]
A new addition for World Championship VII, Aaron Fan specialized on the development and maintenance of SawBlaze's brand new Brazil wheels. He also lent himself to help fix Malice's tires during the season.[4] After suffering adversity concerning the robot's wheels ahead of the team's Round of 16 clash against Monsoon, Aaron Fan's work was credited by captain Jamison Go in an emotional post-fight interview.
Aaron Fan's smaller robots include a shuffling 3lb ring spinner called Pensive Prosciutto and Dinner Time. He also makes up one third of the three-part beater bar multibot Tale of Three Hams. alongside Xo Wang and Jamison Go with the collective name FanWangGo. With help from Jamison, he operates a 3lb gyro-controlled horizontal spinner called Hamshake. In his day job, Aaron Fan works to develop smartwatch firmware.
Eli Davies & Alina Granville[]
Joining Team SawBlaze in 2022, Eli Davies competes in the National Havoc Robot League with 3lb robots called Hot Wings, Dragonfruit and Tryangles, as well as a 12lber called Apricot. Hot Wings returned for the July 2024 NHRL event as Buffalo Wings. He works as an UAV engineer.
Alina Granville is Eli's wife, and fights with a 3lb robot of her own. She joined the team in the off-season between World Championships VI and VII. Her favorite BattleBots competitors are Monsoon and Bronco.
Lucy Du[]
Present for SawBlaze's first five seasons, Lucy Du was originally part of Overhaul during the 2015 season. In September 2022, it was confirmed that Lucy Du would be switching to operate and captain Valkyrie ahead of World Championship VII, her first time captaining a BattleBots team. On the live circuit, she currently competes with her own 12lb robot HotLeafJuice, which is driven by David Jin of Ribbot. In 2021, HotLeafJuice won the NHRL finals and became the grand champion of its weight class.
She fights in various weight classes with undercutters Boomerang and Ka-Blooey Tango, has previously competed as part of Team HaLuCyNation alongside Cynthia Lu and Hanna Lin with robots such as Destroying Angel and a revamped version of Jamison Go's Dominant Mode called Deathcap. In the March 2023 NHRL event, Du competed with both Ka-Blooey Tango and a 3lb robot called Jasmine Dragon.
For more, see Team VALKYRIE.
Alex Hattori[]
Part of Team Danger 4 and Road Rash during World Championship II and joining Team SawBlaze ahead of World Championship III, Alex Hattori broke off after one season to lead Team Uppercut in 2019. Ironically, he was captain of the team when Uppercut defeated SawBlaze during the 2020 season.
For more, see Team Uppercut.
Robots[]
| Robots | Weight Class | Season |
|---|---|---|
| SawBlaze | Heavyweight | World Championship II World Championship III World Championship IV World Championship V World Championship VI World Championship VII BattleBots: Champions II |
Win/Loss Record[]
- Wins: 28
- Losses: 11