By Emily Przekwas - @eprekwa

For those who were not endowed with physical prowess, there exists an arena in which competition is fueled by intellect and science, rather than muscles and brawn. Competitive robotics. Yes, it’s a thing.

Popularized by the Comedy Central TV show Battle Bots, the battling robotics community has created a space for themselves among the competitive arts. Last month, Spark Fun opened its new 100,000 square foot facility and grounds to host an Autonomous Vehicle Competition at their location just north of Boulder.

The battling robotics field was started in the 1990s in San Francisco by a group of enthusiasts with connections to the visual effects industry in California.  When the show was created and distributed by Comedy Central, it created an entire culture behind robotics, which, while present across the country, has found a strong base in Colorado. Now the robots will be competing on network TV in front of a primetime audience on ABC.

While BattleBots features larger robots, the enthusiastic spectators at SparkFun enjoyed an afternoon watching smaller 1-2 pound robots compete in the “ant and beetle” categories.

Brian was very active in competitive robotics for over 15 years, but no longer has time to travel for competitions. When he discovered this competition near his Boulder home, he brought out an older robot he had in storage. Competing under the name Angry Accountant, Brian says his robot is “vulnerable if it flips over or if something comes at it from behind. Otherwise it’s pretty solid.”

The event attracted spectators near and far, with one attendee traveling from Germany. He came to Boulder for a conference, but stayed for the robots, claiming, “It’s difficult to bring the robotics on the plane so I am just observing this time.” Another group of friends road tripped from Michigan to attend.

What started as a community of enthusiasts turned into a full blown industry of people looking to buy and sell circuitry. This is where SparkFun, a fairly new company started by Nathan Seidle has been able to capitalize on a simple idea. Seidle was in college when he was tasked with creating a bot for class and had to find parts overseas. He started purchasing wholesale parts from the company to sell domestically until finally being able to manufacture the parts himself. SparkFun now has 100 employees operating out of a 10,000 square foot facility.

The facility also has space dedicated to educating youth in robotics. Schools and educators are also using the parts to help inspire young people to pursue technology, engineering and science. Watch out bullies, it may not be too long until the nerds take their final revenge on the playground.