Stupid Robot American championship coming to Bay of Plenty

Stupid Robot Fighting inventor John Espin with robots Adrian Choyce and (right) Thunder.

Te Puke-invented Stupid Robot Fighting is becoming big in the United States - so big that there will soon be an American title up for grabs.

Unusually, though, the title stoush will take place in Mount Maunganui.

A lower-tech version of shows like Robot Wars and Junkyard Challenge, "robots" are built by recycling whatever materials are on hand. They are then attached to a frame designed to allow them to be controlled by combatants who, in short, have a fight. The sport has featured several times on New Zealand television and on ESPN.

Stupid Robot Fighting creator John Espin says that thanks to the wonders of cyberspace it is possible for people in the US to design their own Stupid Robots - although he has to do all the physical work.

Through a combination of luck, crashing chat rooms and bare-faced cheek, John has found a handful of people who he's been working with online to build the robots that will compete for the title.

''There will be 10 different Stupid Robots designed in the US by different folk - two of them are celebs from the show Right This Minute, and I've recently picked up a Stupid Robot build with an organisation called ArcAttack.''

ArcAttack is a performance art group that specialises in playing music through a combination of homemade, high-tech instruments, and more traditional instruments such as guitar and bass. The main attraction of their performance is the use of two custom-built singing Tesla coils, which have been modified to play musical notes by modulating their spark output.

Always on the look out for like-minded, slightly out-of-left-field people to bring into the Stupid Robot family, John chatted to the people behind ArcAttack online.

''I hopped on their livestream and started chatting with them. Not a lot of people were talking, but I'm just a blabbermouth.

''They really took interest in the name and wanted to know what it was all about so I said 'do you want to build your own Stupid Robot?' and they said 'yeah'.''

John sends over pictures of the options for the various body parts for the robots and the designers select which they want.

''Then we hop on Skype and go through the decorating process and then they name it and all that cool stuff.''

Another almost completed robot is Adrian Choyce - an updated version of a very successful robot - being designed by Adrian Choy in the US.

Adrian Choyce has had a new outfit made from a duvet cover, acquired a hair chest at the same time John shaved off his beard, and has been ''tattooed'' using children's stickers.

''We've spared no expense,'' says John.

Then there is designer Will, who created a video game called Soda Drinker Pro.

''Let's just say graphics aren't his strong point,'' says John, ''but he's a bit of a kindred spirit - I like his ethos.''

While the American title is currently vacant, there is a world champion Stupid Robot - named El Minion.

A Kickstarter campaign is under way to get the funds to create an electric guitar using El Minion's head, to immortalise the sport's first world champion.

''The idea is that when there's a fight on we will get someone who can't play the guitar to 'shred' really badly. It's another bad idea that needs to see the light of day.''

The date of the American championship tournament has yet to be decided, but it will be held at Bay Karts in Mount Maunganui.