Marc Thorpe, Robot Wars founder, has died

My dad and I ended up doing a local battle bots in the early 2000s based on a lot of this and that pretty much inspired me to help join a founding FRC team in 2007. I swear that type of event started like a Cambrian explosion of robotic events which I know help kick start my career in tech. So glad for people like Marc.<p>That and my Robots name was &quot;Sponge Bot Titanium Pants&quot; so I had that going for me.<p>Somewhat related but if you love this stuff a gem of a game that I cannot believe was as good as it was was based on these types of events.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.myabandonware.com&#x2F;game&#x2F;robot-arena-f6i" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.myabandonware.com&#x2F;game&#x2F;robot-arena-f6i</a>

I met Marc randomly a few years back. He was having difficulty walking while at a shop in downtown Berkeley, the shop owner needed to close and he couldn&#x27;t leave. He had taken his medication for Parkinson&#x27;s but it hadn&#x27;t set in.<p>He gave me the keys to his car and drove it up to the storefront and helped him in. I drove him to a parking spot where he could wait for his legs to start moving again. Ended up chatting for a few about neuroscience and the lab I was working in at the time. He gave me his card and told me to look him up sometime.<p>I looked him up a few days later and was amazed that he was was intimately involved in star wars, indiana jones and robot wars.

Wow his life story is quite interesting...<p>Among the many highlights, there are Peruvian shamans and backyard alligators!<p>Rest in peace

Here’s the battlebots reddit thread: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;battlebots&#x2F;comments&#x2F;1833d56&#x2F;marc_thorpe_has_sadly_passed_away&#x2F;kamf6ek&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;battlebots&#x2F;comments&#x2F;1833d56&#x2F;marc_th...</a><p>The book looks interesting but i especially enjoy the linked video with the vacuum-bot that started it all.

I met Marc Thorpe back in 1995 and saw some of the Robot Wars highlight videos he was using to promote the event. My life was never the same after that.

He has a nice little feature in The Happy Mutant Handbook: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;h_20220529&#x2F;page&#x2F;144&#x2F;mode&#x2F;2up" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;h_20220529&#x2F;page&#x2F;144&#x2F;mode&#x2F;2up</a>

Is Robot Wars different from <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;robogames.net&#x2F;index.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;robogames.net&#x2F;index.php</a> - My exposure to these battling robots were through Robo games, which happens every year in my town.

Myth Busters wouldn&#x27;t&#x27;ve existed as we know it without Robot Wars. Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage worked on Blendo and were interviewed on Robot Wars which lead to Myth Busters.<p>BattleBots was started among some Robot Wars competitors after a legal issue -<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;battlebots.fandom.com&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Marc_Thorpe" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;battlebots.fandom.com&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Marc_Thorpe</a><p>&quot;Following legal pressure, Marc Thorpe ultimately relinquished ownership of the Robot Wars name to Profile Records co-founder Steve Plotnicki in February 1999, who holds the name to this day. However, among the competitors in Thorpe&#x27;s events were cousins Greg Munson and Trey Roski, who piloted La Machine with assistance from future championship-winning builder Gage Cauchois. In the face of adversity from legal action taken by Steve Plotnicki, Trey Roski convinced his cousin to close his company Impact Media and join him in developing their own competition in Las Vegas, BattleBots&quot;<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;robotwars.fandom.com&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Marc_Thorpe" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;robotwars.fandom.com&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Marc_Thorpe</a><p>Amazing legacy.