Robot Number One in this feud between the ugly, the bad, and the good is Blendo, a metal dome like a giant hubcap, concealing a gasoline-powered lawn-mower motor that turns a 120-pound flywheel. Two blunt steel blades protrude at the rim, reaching a rotational speed of 70 miles per hour when the flywheel attains its cruising speed of 400rpm. In test sessions, Blendo has destroyed surplus office funiture with ruthless efficiency.

     The machine builder, Jamie Hyneman (...) "It's low tech, but we are proud of that. We invested less money and effort than anyone in our weight class, and we made a more dangerous robot. I think that means we're smarte

     In fact, Blendo was so dangerous, he was evicted from the 1995 Robot Wars when Shrapnel torn from one of his opponents landed in the audience.

     In 1997, history repeated itself. When Blendo faced his first opponent, a hapless aluminum box named Hercules, he ripped off a piece of armor and threw it across the arena, carving a two-inch gash in the bulletproof glass. Once again, safety officials banished Blendo.