What do you get when you combine a popcorn bowl, a mailbox and some other parts and tools found on a farm? You get team Iron Force's entry into the world of Battlebots. The team of Iron Force basically consists of one man, David Eaton. Outside of the parts found on his family's farm, Eaton is not sponsored by a major corporation or university. His funds are withdrawn from his own bank account.
As a rookie in 2020, Rusty was able to knock out Sporkinok, while accepting losses to Beta and SawBlaze. On a recent episode of Battlebots: Bounty Hunters (airing on Discovery +), Rusty was entered into the pool of competitors aiming for a shot to go against the legendary Son of Whyachi. This isn't bad for a farm boy into robotics from Antioch, Illinois! Not appearing to be built as elaborately as some of the other competitors, Rusty has won over the hearts of the Battlebot universe.
This underdog bot surprised everyone when he won his first round bout by tearing the face off of Kraken. A hammer bot, Rusty was able to wedge his weapon in the right place and do the damage necessary for the judges to award him the win. The crowd, which was comprised of other combat robot teams due to the Covid restrictions, went absolutely wild.
Faruq Tauheed got to announce this bandaid-sporting combat bot in his next round of competition against Copperhead. Although he got knocked out in this bout, the heart shown by this robot (I know that sounds funny!) won over the crowd even more. The look on the faces of Copperhead's team was priceless when Rusty scored a direct shot into their weapon. When Rusty got flipped on its side in the corner of the Battlebox, it took every ounce of energy the bot had to right itself and it did! This act alone had Peter Abrahamson, the "bot whisperer," jumping out of his seat. Unfortunately, movement was not in the future for this bot for the remainder of the fight. Chants of "Rusty" were even heard earlier from the mouths of the play-by-play team of Chris Rose and and former UFC fighter Kenny Florian.
While this very damaged but sturdy robot may be retired after this season, Eaton promised that we should be seeing a Rusty 2 in the near future. I am still hoping that he can bang out the dents for this version of Rusty to keep bringing joy and heart to the Battlebot division!
