Team Robot Dojo

Team Robot Dojo
Team Robot Dojo logo
Participation Information
US Series	2, Nickelodeon
Team Information
Team Members	Mike Konshak Becky Konshak Jacob Holland Norm Domholt Eric Domholt Michael Gallaway
Home Town	Louisville, Colorado Minnetrista, Minnesota

"Robotic martial arts and combat fighting machines"

— The Team's website

Team Robot Dojo was a team predominately from Colorado, with assistance from members in Minnesota, that competed in the second season of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors and Nickelodeon Robot Wars.

The Team

"In 2000, Konshak broke his foot racing motorcycles. On Christmas Day that year, he stumbled onto the TV show BattleBots and was hooked. Motorcycle racing was for the young anyway. With robotic combat, he could satisfy his mechanical curiosity, compete in life-or-death situations, and put the robot - not himself - at risk."

— GearHeads: The Turbultent Rise of Robotics Sports on Mike Konshak

Becky, Jacob and Mike with Propeller-Head

The Robot Dojo

Team Robot Dojo was formed by Mike Konshak, an experienced engineer from Colorado. Originally, he worked on his robots in his garage, but when it began to take up too much space, he built a garage across the road from his house to work on his creations. Many other roboteers came to the garage to view his creations or for help building their robots, and Mike named the garage the Robot Dojo, hence the team's name. Of the roboteers that came to the Robot Dojo for help with their robots, many joined Mike and Becky Konshak when they entered their robots into competitions.

"As a service to my fellow and aspiring 'bot builders, I am happy to provide engineering aids to help the robot designer construct CAD models of their ideas using Parametric Technologies (PTC) Pro-Engineer Solids Modeling Software. All robots at the Robot Dojo were designed using Pro-E version 2000iand 2000i2. As we develop our own designs we will add the components that we use, and others suitable for robots, and where to buy them, to our solids models and drawings Pro-E Library."

— Team Robot Dojo website

Norm, Eric and Michael with Diskotek

Having previously entered BattleBots and Robotica, Mike Konshak designed and built two robots for Robot Wars; Propeller-Head and Diskotek. For entering Robot Wars, Mike and Becky Konshak teamed up with two of the roboteers that had previously visited the Robot Dojo, along with Norm Domholt, who had provided their motors. The team split into two halves; Robotdojo 1 (Red) entered Propeller-Head, whilst Robotdojo 2 (Blue) entered Diskotek.

The two robots enjoyed differing levels of success. Propeller-Head reached the Grand Final of the US Championship in US Season 2 and won the Nickelodeon Mayhem competition, whilst Diskotek lost in the first round of both competitions.

Team Robot Dojo was one of eight US teams to compete in Nickelodeon Robot Wars with multiple robots. Like several other teams, one of the loanerbots was given to Team Robot Dojo - Humdrum, which competed in the Nickelodeon House Robot Rebellion.

Team Members

Mike Konshak

Mike and Becky Konshak with two of their creations; Flexy-Flyer and Agitator

"I am a Senior Advisory Development Engineer (Mechanical) at StorageTek where I design client server disk drive arrays. I currently hold 16 patents related to rotating memories, cartridge mechanisms and robotic libraries, with 15 more pending."

— Mike Konshak on the Team Robot Dojo website

The captain and original founder of the team, Mike Konshak was a Senior Advisory Development Engineer (Mechanical) at the company StorageTek. He used the same Parametric Technologies’ Pro/ENGINEER design software he used at work to design his robots, and having previously built several bikes during his motorcycle racing days, Mike used the same welding equipment and 4130 chrome moly tubing he had used on his racing bikes

"It kind of was the culmination of everything that I’ve been building up to, and the things I’ve learned. … I’m funding my robot project by selling off my motorcycles."

— Mike Konshak on Robotica

On television, Mike Konshak was the captain of Propeller-Head, driving the robot in Extreme Warriors Season 2, and operating the weapon in Nickelodeon Robot Wars.

Becky Konshak

"I have been married to Becky for over 20 years and without her support, I could not do half the things I do"

— Mike Konshak on the Team RobotDojo website.

Mike Konshak's wife, Becky was part of the Propeller-Head team in both Extreme Warriors and Nickelodeon Robot Wars, and had been part of the team for most of their competitions, including two seasons of BattleBots and Robotica Season 2, though she never controlled the team's robots.

"The Konshaks' GMC truck became the Bot-Mobile; his wife Becky, Bot-Mom. "I don't think that was ever a favorite term of mine," said Becky, Konshak's patient wife of 23 years and a Denver Seminary student."

— Becky Konshak, interviewed in The Daily Camera

Jacob Holland

Jacob Holland leads the team's introduction in Nickelodeon Robot Wars

"I'm a 10 year old robot enthusiast and I live and go to school in Broomfield, Colorado, a small town between Denver and Boulder. ... Our family attends Second Baptist Church along with Mike and Becky Konshak. I had visited his dojo and even helped work on several of his robots along with Jeff McLay. One day Mr. Konshak asked me if I'd like to go to England (with my Mom) to be part of his Team Robotdojo and compete in Robot Wars Extreme Warriors that will be shown on Nickleodean and TNN. My Mom said we could both go and that's how I ended up driving a robot on TV."

— Jacob Holland on the Team RobotDojo website.

The third member of the Propeller-Head team, Jacob Holland was a friend of the Konshak family having attended the same Church. For Nickelodeon Robot Wars, he was given the chance to drive Propeller-Head. Mike Konshak taught him how to drive the robot, but he only had 10 minutes to practice driving before the competition.

Norm Domholt

Norm and Eric Domholt with Diskotek

The president of NPC Robotics, a company in Minnesota that provided robotic parts for many roboteers, including providing the motors for Mike Konshak's robots drive and weapons, Norm Domholt joined the team for when they entered Robotica Extreme Warriors Season 2.

"The owner, Norm, and his employees, are always willing to help a rookie robot builder get on board by supplying powerful yet relatively inexpensive motors, batteries and wheels. Their service is exceptional, they stand behind their products, and they've been good friends."

— Team Robot Dojo websie on NPC Robotics

At Robot Wars, Norm Domholt was the captain of Diskotek and drove the robot and controlled the weapon in Extreme Warriors Season 2. Norm's company also sponsored both Propeller-Head and Diskotek, having previously sponsored the team at Robotica and BattleBots.

Eric Domholt

Eric Domholt leads the team's introduction in Nickelodeon Robot Wars

The son of Norm, Eric Domholt competed along with his father in Extreme Warriors Season 2. For Nickelodeon Robot Wars, he was given the chance to take the controls of Diskotek, and Humdrum in the House Robot Rebellion.

In both Extreme Warriors and Nickelodeon Robot Wars, Eric's name was misspelt as Erik, but the team's website lists the spelling as Eric.

Michael Gallaway

"Demagogue is a senior project from two CU-Denver students, Michael Gallaway and Jeffery Smith, that at the time happened to be interns at StorageTek. We got together later in their project and they finished their bot at the Robot Dojo."

— Team RobotDojo website

Jeffrey Smith and Michael Gallaway working on CU-Denver Demagogue at the Robot Dojo

Michael Gallaway was working as an intern at StorageTek, the same company Mike Konshak worked for, whilst also studying mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado Denver. He was working on a robot for BattleBots alongside his fellow intern Jeffrey Smith, who was also studying mechanical engineering. Together, they went to the Robot Dojo for help building the robot, and Michael and Jeffrey would go to BattleBots season 4.0 with Team RobotDojo, with Michael Gallaway also competing as part of Team RobotDojo when they fought with Agitator and Pro-Am.

Michael joined the team for when they entered Diskotek in Robot Wars Extreme Warriors and Nickelodeon Robot Wars, but for unknown reasons, was absent from the House Robot Rebellion.

Robots

Name	Weight Class	Series
Propeller-Head	Heavyweight	Season 2, Nickelodeon
Diskotek	Heavyweight	Season 2, Nickelodeon
Humdrum	Heavyweight	Nickelodeon

Propeller-Head

Diskotek

Humdrum

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 5
• Losses: 3

Series Record

US Series	Team Robot Dojo Series Record
Season 1	Did not enter
Season 2	Grand Final, Round 1 with Propeller-Head Heat, Round 1 with Diskotek
Nickelodeon	Mayhem Champion with Propeller-Head Mayhem with Diskotek House Robot Rebellion with Humdrum

Outside Robot Wars

The team also built several other robots for other televised robot combat competitions. These include;

PyRAMidroid, the team's BattleBots entry

Mike and Becky Konshak with PyRAMidroid

Flexy-Flyer, Robotica Season 2 champion

The team and Flexy-Flyer at Robotica, posing with Ahmet Zappa

Agitator, as it appeared at Season 4.0 of BattleBots

Team Robot Dojo with Agitator at BattleBots Season 4.0

Propeller-Head as Agitator for BattleBots Season 5.0

CU-Denver Demagogue

Michael Gallaway and Jeffrey Smith with CU-Denver Demagogue at BattleBots

Team Robot Dojo with CU-Denver Demagogue at BattleBots

Wee Willy Wedgy

Wee Willy Wedgy at BattleBots

Team Robot Dojo with Wee Willy Wedgy at BattleBots

The first version of Pro-AM

Pro-AM in its BattleBots Season 5.0 form

Team Robot Dojo with Pro-AM at BattleBots

• PyRAMidroid, the team's first robot. A heavyweight, which competed in BattleBots Seasons 3.0, where it lost its only battle, then returned for Season 4.0, where it reached the televised rounds. In its first preliminary round, Nemesis was forced to withdraw due to technical reasons, and PyRAMidroid then beat InTriVerter to reach the televised rounds, where it lost it to M.O.E.
• Flexy-Flyer - A heavyweight, winner of the second season of Robotica. The robot was separated into two halves, which could flex and bend independently of the other half. The robot was designed specifically for Robotica, to negotiate the hazards and obstacle courses. The robot's good control and pushing power led to its victories in obstacle courses and pushing matches. It would also be entered into Las Vegas Street Fight 2 in 2002, where it came second in the Heavyweight class.
• Pro-AM, the name given to two Super Heavyweights which entered BattleBots Seasons 4.0 and 5.0. The first version was a modified version of Flexy-Flyer, which lost its only battle to Swirlee. The second version was a modified version of Diskotek, which won through 4 preliminary rounds to reach the Round of 32, where it lost to Vladiator.
• CU-Denver Demagogue- Micheal Gallaway and Jeffrey Smith's Middleweight competitor, built as their senior project for Colorado University. It entered BattleBots Season 4.0, where it won three battles before losing to Summoner.
• Agitator - A Heavyweight with an overhead bar spinner, which competed in Seasons 4.0 and 5.0 of BattleBots. In Season 4.0, Agitator beat Terror and Tripulta Raptor to reach the televised rounds, but lost to Silverback. The Season 5.0 version was the same design as Propeller-Head, but it was built separately. In Season 5.0, Agitator beat Grim Reaper and Sharp Cheese, but lost to Center Punch. Propeller-Head was designed to counter the problems with Agitator, being equipped with lighter, more powerful drive motors, had twice as many batteries, and a new spinning blade and chassis were cut.
• Wee Willy Wedgy - A middleweight, built by Jeff Mclay at the Robot Dojo under the supervision of Mike Konshak. It was entered into the first BattleBots IQ tournament, where won 8 fights to become IQ champion. It also competed in BattleBots Season 5.0, where it reached the Round of 32, before losing to Little Drummer Boy.

Other robots built and entered by the team include;

Kumite and Full Frontal Fulcrum

Tinbender

Flying-W

Wedgeward-Ho!

Me-Me

Plane-Jane

Holy-Moly

Blizzard

CoMotion

Tandem

Sibling Rivalry

Gold Rush

Quadra

• Kumite - A heavyweight based on the lessons the team learnt from Flexy-Flyer, Pro-AM and Diskotek, it was entered into MechWars Season 4, where it became heavyweight champion. It subsequently fought in the Mystic Lake Casino Invitational in July 2002, where it finished 2nd, Mechwars Season 5, where it finished 3rd, and Mechwars Series 6.
• Full Frontal Fulcrum - A middleweight. originally created as a response to a challenge by Bob Pitzer to come to BotBash, . It was entered into Botbash 2002, where it became champion, and MechWars Season 5, where it became middleweight champion. It also fought alone at the Battle at the Beach South East Championships at Ormand Beach in Florida in March 2003, and MechWars Season 6 in April 2003
• Tinbender - An antweight, built to take part in the Midwest U.S. Robotics Club, where it came 2nd in the Rumble.
• Flying-W - A 12lb robot that took part in the Midwest U.S. Robotics Club Rocky Mountain Robotic Showdown in the hobby weight class, and in the Battle at the Beach South East Championships in March 2003.
• Wedgeward-Ho! - A 20lb robot built from spare parts at the Robot Dojo, which competed in Botbash and the MileHICom Critter Crunch.
• Me-Me - A 12.5lb robot which competed in the MileHICom Critter Crunch. Originally, Mike Konshak intended to enter Wedgeward-Ho!, but the entrants had to fit in a 12 cube.
• Plane-Jane - A 1lb Antweight, built from a BattleBots R/C toy, which competed at Critter Crunch as one half of a multibot with Holy-Moly, and the two antweights also competed with Me-Me in the 20 pound class at Critter Crunch, where together they won 2nd place. Also fought alone in the Rocky Mountain Robot Showdown in January 2003 under the control of Nikolaus Schug, where it lost both its battles
• Holy-Moly - A 15.9 ounce antweight, which fought alongside Plane-Jane (see above), and also fought alone at the Rocky Mountain Robot Showdown, where it won 2 battles and lost 2, finishing 5th overall. It also fought alone at the Battle at the Beach South East Championships in March 2003.
• Blizzard - A 1 lb antweight, built using a modified Battlebot R/C toy. It competed with Tinbender as 2 a lb Critter (multi-bot) at CritterCrunch 2002, where they finished 3rd overall.
• CoMotion - A 2 lb antweight, driven and built by Rich Bradfield, which fought at CritterCrunch 2002.
• Tandem' - A 2 lb antweight, which fought at CritterCrunch 2002, where it came 2nd overall.
• Sibling Rivalry - A Beetleweight multi-bot, one half driven by Mike Konshak, the other by Rich Bradfield. The two halves were actually the team's previously built antweights, CoMotion and Tandem.
• Gold Rush - A 1 lb antweight, built and operated by Christopher Jarmon, which fought at Rocky Mountain Robot Showdown, winning one battle but losing two others, finishing 9th.
• Quadra - A 12 lb hobbyweight robot, built and operated by Christopher Jarmon, from a design by Ted Zeiger, which fought at Rocky Mountain Robot Showdown, winning four battles but losing two others, finishing 3rd.

Although not built by Team Robot Dojo, Mike Konshak also drove Lame-O-Inferno, an antweight built by Team Infernolab, in the final of the Antweight Competition at Las Vegas Street Fight 3, and won.

"In the Peasant Class (Ant Weight), Jason "Dante' Bardis's identical Lame-O-Inferno and Same-O-Inferno made it to the championship finals, by the skillful piloting of himself and team mate Christian Carlberg. Christian had to leave before the final, and Jason honored me by allowing me to become a temporary team member to take Christian's place. After the exciting match, the judges announced that my, Jason Bardis built, robot Lame-O-Inferno, had won the match! My first Antweight Championship win! (of course Jason got to keep the gold painted bolt trophy as the builder). Thanks, Jason. It was great to be part of your team!"

— Mike Konshak on competing with Lame-O-Inferno

In total, Team Robot Dojo competed with over 20 different robots in various different robot combat competitions. Across those competitions, a total of 26 members were part of the team at different events.

Team Robot Dojo appear on Discover Engineering 2002

Mike and Becky Konshak also appeared together on the televised Discover Engineering show in 2002, along with two of their creations, Flexy-Flyer and Agitator. Mike Konshak spoke about his robots, and demonstrated Flexy-Flyer by driving over a concrete block and pushing large Styrofoam pieces.

However, in 2003, Mike Konshak decided to retire from robot combat, and as with his previous hobby of motorcycle racing, sold of his robots to fund new hobbies. As of now, most of their robots have been sold and/or donated across the United States.

"After two years of wild success on the battling-robot circuit, Konshak is hanging up his radio control. ... He is also an intense hobbyist with a two-year attention span which, once breached, seems to be unrecoverable. "When you get to the point you've given it your best shot, you move up to something else and get good at that," said Konshak. ... Konshak won regularly. On a garage shelf are trophies from victories throughout 2001 and 2002: BotBash, MechWars, Robotica and Robot Wars, among others. Konshak estimates he won over $20,000 and spent $40,000 building more than 20 robots."

— The Daily Camera on Mike Konshak's retirement from robot combat

Sadly, Michael Gallaway died in 2006.

Trivia

Team RobotDojo pose with the Nickelodeon Robot Wars Mayhem trophy, along with Jacob Holland's mother, Lynn Wixted-Holland

• Jacob Holland's mother, Lynn Wixted-Holland, also travelled with Team RobotDojo for the filming of Extreme Warriors and Nickelodeon Robot Wars, but was not referenced on screen due to the limit of team members.
• The main colours used on most of the team's televised robots were blue, red and white, which had previously been Mike Konshak's colours when racing motorcycles.
• Both halves of the team wore caps with tops that matched the robots' weapons, with the Propeller-Head team wearing hats with propellers on them, and the Diskotek wearing hats topped with compact discs.

See Also

• Team Robot Dojo (BattleBots)

External Links

• Team Robot Dojo website