Outside of the Box

It is almost once again time for the National STEM Festival and on this episode I talked to Ashrita Gandhari, a high school senior, who developed an AI that helps determine embryonic health during the IVF process. She talks about her passion for the OBGYN field and her process for researching her project and proving her hypothesis. Please check out https://www.nationalstemfestival.com/ for more in...

If you are like me and have been into fantasy sports at some point in your life, you may have been craving a league for combat robotics. Well, the Hunter Brothers have started a league for NHRL robots that starts with the upcoming February event. Hear all about how they came up with the league and how you can follow along with the season. Check out Havoc Rundown's Discord for more info! https://di...

We're back to preview the first round of NHRL competition in 2025! I gathered a great collection of competitors representing every weight class with Anthony, Nelson, Paul & Craig to chat about their preparation for this event, who they'd love to face and which robots they might want to avoid. Check it out and get ready to see robots fight on February 1st!

Join myself and Ashley for the final OOTB episode of 2024 as we talk about all of the amazing Boxy winners including out super special secret categories that we had not announced publicly! We also talk about the year as a whole including amazing growth in the combat robotics community and also the amazing antweight kit giveaway when I hit 1000 subscribers on YouTube! Check it out!

For this episode, I gathered a group of the most talented builders at NHRL to talk about the most wonderful time of the year - FINALS time! Join myself, Jamison, Aidan, Corey, Glenn, Jaaron, Matt, Myles, Peter, Brandon, Dima & Julian as we chat about everyone's season so far and how they feel about finals. You'll see some friendly trash talk, thoughts on the rest of the field and how everyone...

It is finally that time of the year for Ashley and I to get together and recognize so many amazing people in the combat robotics community. Hear us work through all of the categories and talk about each of the nominees one by one. Voting will run through December 4th so make sure to vote for your favorites! You can cast your votes here: https://forms.gle/TEcgKNDi9E64YF6g7  

I had the absolute pleasure of talking to Michael Perl who is a multi-talented entrepreneur and President of the Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation. He talks about how he got his start in music and then video games where he developed his own game studio and eventually got connected with the Foundation. We talked about the STEAM Star program which features influencers talking about their experiences as...

The October NHRL event was full of tricks and treats including a great run from Drumder Child, an impressive showing from Minor Threat 5 and Golden Dumpsters for Slam Plan and ARES. In this episode, I talk to Nate Franklin about going up against strong competition in his bracket fights, then chatted with Luke Grell about his hard-hitting, veteran robot. Brendan Steele aka Business Cat also makes a...

It has been a little while since I have done a true roundtable and you certainly won't want to miss this one, which features a number of the qualified competitors for the upcoming MRCA Finals event on November 9th. They each talked about their robots and the journey to finals this year. I also asked each of them who they think will win the competition and how they feel about the rapid growth of th...

We're back with the epic conclusion of Dungeons & Robots! J joins us for this final session as all of our characters try and make sense of the chaos and killer robots in our post-apocalyptic world. Will they be able to save this world? What other robots might creep up and challenge our heroes? Will mini Jake indeed survive until the end? All of these questions will be answered in this episode!...

It is almost time for NHRL's final qualifying event of 2024 and I was joined by a handful of builders to chat about it. I talked to Jeff Waters about his new 30lb entry Pocket Aces plus his fiery upgrades to Supreme Ruler, had a spirited Pokemon discussion with Jaaron, Zoe & David about their Pokemon-themed robots and finally talked to Dima of Turbofiend and Tom of Pawsitively Hissterical abou...

We've got a fun recap for you today featuring NHRL builders in all weight classes to break down this exciting event for them! I talked to Julian of Mako, Beckett & Matthew of Dimachaerus and Donald and Corey of Team Pandamonium about how their respective tournaments went, what they thought of some of the other competitors at the event and what their thoughts are ahead of Finals as Julian, Beck...

I promise this is an episode you will not want to miss as I got to chat with BattleBots co-founder Trey Roski! We kick off with a full backstage tour of the BattleBots arena as the teams prepare for Week 2 of FaceOffs including a view of Malice in the BattleBox and the rest of the teams working on their bots backstage. This is followed by an amazing discussion with Trey about the real story behind...

We're back with Casey Jeremiason of MRCA as they approach the end of their season with a lead up to Finals. We chatted about how the season has gone so far including the incredible growth that the MRCA community has seen over the past year. Casey also dropped names of some bots who are currently at the top of the MRCA rankings and are expected to qualify for finals while also elaborating on the re...

BattleBots is BACK - this time for Fall FaceOffs which will be airing on YouTube at a later time! I spoke to Alex Price of Team Horizon about their new robot Calypso that is setting out to control the competition. We chatted about this new design from builder Josh Kong as well as how Price felt they might fare against their opponents for FaceOffs - Skorpios, MadCatter and RoundHouse. For those who...

Hello fellow adventurers! Join me for my very first time as a Dungeon Master guiding our party through the perils and challenges within our post-apocalyptic world featuring some of your favorite combat robots. Part One of our journey includes introducing our fine players - Phoenix, Ben, Mitchell, Johnny and Dan, learning about their characters and sending them off into the dangers that await them....

Join me as I chat with Mike, Brian & Jeremiah from SE Missouri Combat Robotics, starting with discussion on how the group formed and information about their upcoming event on 9/21 in Joplin. We also talked about the importance of education and accessibility in combat robotics as well as teased a preview of their BIG event in January.

On this episode of Talkin' Nerdy, I had the pleasure of talking to DrLeandra who is really a doctor and happens to stream video games on Twitch. We talked about getting into gaming as an adult, how streaming became a passion for her when she was unable to work and how she has been able to grow her community by connecting with other streamers' communities. We also got to dive into her background in...

The Avatar must be coming to town because NHRL is going to feature several elements at the upcoming September event including a Hurricane and some fire! I chatted with several competitors including NHRL officials Rob and Gwen who are ready to throw down with their robots Glow Up and Jackalope. I also talked to a group of builders including Mayfly, Liam King, Josh Rhinehart as well as Tom & Sar...

Following the exciting full reveal of the bracket matches from Teams, I chatted with Ariel Smith, Jamison Go & Matt Bores who all emerged victorious at the conclusion of this amazing event that was showcased on ESPN2. They talk about how the Dream Team formed, how Jake Hoffmann amped up the level of entertainment for this event, and they each go into detail on their amazing runs to the finals....

If you are a big fan of Nintendo games specifically, you will enjoy this chat with my next guest - Twitch streamer Estatt! We chatted about watching a live chicken coop feed in the early days of online streaming, why people like to watch other people play video games, getting off of the plateau in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and the evolution of Metroid. Check out this fun conversation...

On this episode, I got to chat about a gaming genre that I know little about - first person shooters such as Apex and Call of Duty. I got to chat with Twitch Streamer ThatGuyNova who is passionate about those types of games and getting to play with friends. We also nerded out about the MCU and the Deadpool vs Wolverine movie shortly before it was released.

Join me for a chat with builders and organizers Brandon Zalinsky, Tony D'Ambrosio, David Jin & Lucy Du to talk about the return of Mass Destruction coming up on August 24th. We talked about the importance of focusing on fun at the event, fun stories from previous MassD events and everything you need to know about competing or attending. This is a fun discussion about a really cool event! For t...

If you enjoy a true variety streamer, you will enjoy this interview with Twitch streamer Tayrae3! We talk about her love of everything from horror games to cozy farming games, her background as a teacher and how she has incorporated science into her streams and the adorable guest appearance from one of her two cats. Check out one of the most chill and kind streamers on the platform! https://www.tw...

Zaddy is here! Time to hear from one of my favorite Twitch streamers ZeinsteinTTV! We chatted about keeping up engagement in chat during streams, the importance of building your brand and the fun of gaming with friends in games like Fortnite. If you like Zeinstein and want more - you can check out more content at https://www.twitch.tv/zeinsteinttv.