Shellshock Live Bots

[Priamo Gregory]

Itis a shell spinner design similar to its the team's iconic heavyweight Megabyte, boasting a 120lb shell spinning at 188mph. It also has a self-righting bar protruding through the middle of the shell to both right itself and inform the driver which direction it is facing at any given moment.

For its debut season, Gigabyte featured a rainbow color scheme, creating a confusing illusion when spinning. For this season, Gigabyte's top speed was around 170mph. Gigabyte was not able to replicate Megabyte's live scene success, however, finishing 2-2 for the season and becoming immobile in the Last Chance Rumble, which was inevitably won by Bombshell.

Gigabyte returned for World Championship IV, sporting bi-directional teeth, a rounded self-righting staff and a Lexan cover to protect the electronics. The team produced a 130lb shell to act as their heaviest option, which made up more than half of Gigabyte's overall weight. It performed slightly better, gaining two impressive victories over Chronos and Minotaur, but also losing twice. In spite of a respectable record, Gigabyte was snubbed of a Top 16 place.

For World Championship V, Gigabyte debuted a black color scheme with white text and flames around the circumference of the shell. This version of Gigabyte proved to be the most successful yet, finishing 2-1 in the regular season and winning its Round of 32 match against Malice, advancing to the Round of 16 for the first time in its BattleBots career. Although it lost out to Hydra, its new shell and internal upgrades proved to be surprisingly durable for a whole three minutes.

Gigabyte also impressed well in the Son of Whyachi bracket of BattleBots: Bounty Hunters, defeating three opponents en route to face the Team Whyachi bot, which it defeated by knockout to earn the title of Bounty Hunter.

Visually, Gigabyte remained largely unchanged for World Championship VI but did receive a few upgrades, such as an improved weapon motor, a new shells specifically designed for vertical spinners, a new self-righter and D2 kit minibots for configurations where Gigabyte had spare weight. Gigabyte also boasted new configurations, including a set of spring-loaded forks for the front which were seen in the knockout rounds. Robotic Death Company also revealed that in addition to Gigabyte, some members of the team would be competing in World Championship VI with Cobalt as the UK robot's builders Dave Moulds and Sam Smith announced their retirement from the sport. Gigabyte suffered a loss in its opening fight to Uppercut, but returned to form with comfortable wins over Captain Shrederator and SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE to finish the Fight Night rounds 2-1. However, Gigabyte ultimately fell in the Round of 32 to eventual Giant Nut winner Tantrum in a close encounter.

After dethroning a legend in the previous season, Gigabyte looked to defend its bounty in BattleBots: Champions I. Having won three successive fights to earn the right to fight Gigabyte, HyperShock trumped John Mladenik's bot in spectacular style to qualify for the Golden Bolt tournament at Gigabyte's expense.

Gigabyte returned for World Championship VII, ranked #24 in the BattleBots Pre-Season Power Rankings.[1] For this season, John Mladenik transferred captaincy of Gigabyte to Derek Tran and Camden Wallraff so he could captain the team's other entry, Cobalt, due to Brent Rieker's ongoing battle with cancer. The team opted to transition Gigabyte to brushless drive after their Top 32 elimination, using the same TP5680 motors seen in the 2021 season champion Tantrum while keeping its weapon motor brushed. Gigabyte also debuted a new self-righting pole, new wheels, and teeth with two catching points on each side of the shell rather than one. For the competition, Gigabyte boasted a total of four different shells of various designs: two made from 0.25" AR500 steel, one lighter option made from 0.1875" AR500 steel and a 0.41" thick titanium shell with a flat edge towards the bottom.[2] Gigabyte's season began poorly, losing by knockout to the newly-redesigned Free Shipping and then Bloodsport. Though it managed to bring itself back into contention by winning a judges' decision against Starchild, a disappointing performance against End Game saw Gigabyte finish with a 1-3 record.

Competing in the third Sin City Slugfest bracket of BattleBots: Champions II, Gigabyte first fought and defeated Triton, before getting the better of DeathRoll in Round 2. However, it lost in the Slugfest final to Free Shipping.

In April 2023, the team confirmed Gigabyte would be attending BattleBots Proving Ground in July that year, looking to take on hopefuls ahead of World Championship VIII.[3] The team increased Gigabyte's 170mph tip speed, with Derek Tran confirming at BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon that it could now reach 188mph and could make better use of its drive power thanks to the inclusion of magnets. In its two fights, Gigabyte defeated DOOM and JackPot. Since then, the team have brought Gigabyte out to Las Vegas to practice driving, but have not fought another opponent.

Under the name Megabyte, it was originally registered for RoboGames in 2023 and 2024, but pulled out both times. The original shell spinner Megabyte built after Season 5.0 enjoyed a successful career spanning over a decade, notably competing at several RoboGames events from 2004 to 2007, with its name being given to the team's most recent heavyweight shell spinner design in 2017 after Invader's brief World Championship II campaign.

Gigabyte's first opponent in World Championship III was the reigning champion, Tombstone. For this match, the team opted to not have the self-righting pole that was also used for direction, planning to force Tombstone to ride up the spinning shell and take control of the fight. When the match began, however, this plan backfired as the initial impact between both bots caused the attachment for the pole to snap off. The next hit from Tombstone took the entire shell off, exposing the robot's insides. The robot was still functional, but the team wanted to tap out to avoid further damage. However, this was against the rules so they were forced to keep going. After a bit more movement, Gigabyte deliberately stopped moving to avoid further damage and was counted out, giving Tombstone the win by KO.After the fight, the team discovered that the part was made of cast aluminum as opposed to the steel they requested.

Entering the Desperado Tournament, Gigabyte then fought Double Dutch. The match was off to a great start as Gigabyte's first hit tore off a rear wheel from Double Dutch. Gigabyte continued to attack, tearing off Double Dutch's other rear wheel. Since Double Dutch was still able to move, Gigabyte pressed on, causing more damage, eventually tearing off both of Double Dutch's bar spinners. After a few more maneuvering and attacks, Gigabyte left Double Dutch down to driving in circles on one partial wheel. Double Dutch was counted out and Gigabyte advanced to the next round.

In the next round of the tournament, Gigabyte took on Lucky and went with a shorter self-righting pole to fix the one that was damaged against Double Dutch. When the match began, Gigabyte was launched into the air, but landed upright. Gigabyte got back up to speed and delivered another hit, bouncing off the arena walls. Gigabyte retreated to the center of the arena to spin back up and attacked Lucky again, which caused it to fly into the air once more as it was tossed by its opponent. After being tossed again near the screws, Gigabyte lost its self-righting pole and tried to self-right using its spinning shell's momentum. Unfortunately, they were unable to and were counted out, giving Lucky the win by KO.

Gigabyte's match in 2019 was against newcomer and fellow shell spinner, Chronos. For this fight, Robotic Death Company equipped Gigabyte with its heaviest 130lb shell with the view to spin at half speed to maximise bite. As the fight began, both robots were experiencing balance issues while they attempted to spin up. Luckily, both robots recovered and Gigabyte went in for the first hit. Gigabyte then went in for a second hit and both robots were sent flying in opposite directions. The third hit proved to have the same result as the second. However, the fourth hit caused Chronos to stop moving and the robot's spinning shell eventually spun down. Chronos was unable to get going again and was counted out, giving Gigabyte the win by knockout.

With a strong record to this point, Gigabyte now found itself up against Witch Doctor, but when the fight began, Gigabyte was almost immediately popped high into the air. Gigabyte recovered and attacked again, getting thrown once more. After the third hit, Gigabyte lost its protective cover and was no longer spinning. Gigabyte was then thrown onto the screws, but managed to get off. Unfortunately, the repeated impacts had left a huge gash in its shell, but Witch Doctor's weapon began smoking so it was mostly a pushing match. However, Gigabyte was no longer moving and under the arena pulverizer as a wheel fell out, so it was counted out, giving Witch Doctor the win by KO.

Gigabyte was originally scheduled to fight Son of Whyachi for a chance to lock its place in the Top 16, but it had to drop out due to the damage sustained against Witch Doctor, and was replaced by Copperhead.

Gigabyte was also scheduled fight the newly-designed Slammo! on July 8, 2023. However, due to a motor failure during testing the previous day, Gigabyte was unable to get ready for the fight in time and forced to withdraw, allowing OverKill to replace it for the match.

"This is a full-body spinner, it's totally true. With more bite than a tiger in Joe Exotic's zoo. Hits you so hard, it will make your bot sting. Proclaim itself the new tiger king. Hey there, all you cool cats and kids. It's GIGABYTE!"

"This next bot's design is lethal and exquisite like something cooked up by the mind of exhibit. Yo, dawg, I heard you like spinners so we turned your whole body to a spinner, so you can spin while you're spinnin'. He's here to pimp your grave. It's GIGABYTE!"

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