Stupid Robot Fighting League helps Te Puke man John Espin through dark times

This Kiwi backyard sport involves smashing a humanoid rubbish robot to a pulp. Last one standing wins. Source: Stupid Robot Fighting League

A Kiwi man thanks his passion - Stupid Robot Fighting League - yes it's a real thing - for getting him through dark days.

John Espin, from Te Puke, started the "Kiwi backyard sport" to help bring some joy to family life when his wife Esther was diagnosed with breast cancer.

It involves making robots out of rubbish then using wooden beams attached to the arms and legs to smash them up.

A Kickstarter campaign was launched this week to pay for two American sports commentators to narrate the fight videos.

Espin said the idea came to him after watching his two children's persistence in wanting to poke dead animals with a stick. He realised that popular shows like Robot Wars and Battlebots needed a very high skill level to enter.

"I thought why not take the brains completely out of the whole thing?

"The whole concept is let's not muck around with a whole lot of science and engineering just slap something together and get them smashing."

John and Esther Espin before she died of breast cancer last year. Photo / Supplied

The original prototypes were made in October 2016. They first used cardboard, then wood, before finally alighting on rubbish because it was free and colourful.

Esther was diagnosed with breast cancer around the beginning of 2015 and Espin left work to be a fulltime carer for the whole family. He was off work for over two years until Esther died in July last year.

"Cancer was like a brick in the face," Espin told the Herald.

"It's a continual grind that never goes away. The cancer is an elephant in the room. It dogs you at night, it dogs you in the day."

Te Puke man John Espin created the Stupid Robot Fighting League after seeing his kids poke sticks at dead animals. Photo / Supplied

Having an escape into the Stupid Robot Fighting League meant Espin could still find time to be silly and comical - something he's a natural at.

"It kept me giggling.

"It was [an emotional] release of decimating something and how hilarious it is. You're poking rubbish with a stick and another person is doing the exact same thing. It's entirely ludicrous."

The robots are decorated using hot glue so bits fly off them in a spectacle. Photo / Supplied

Espin's dream is to start small but eventually turn it into a commercial model. He's particularly keen to get schools involved.

Espin pays all fighters $1 so they can say they are a "semi pro Stupid Robot Fighter".

"It looks good on your CV."

​The rules

The fight is played with three, two-minute rounds.

The robot limbs are secured with 1.25mm mild steel wire which "acts like a time bomb" as friction takes over and the limbs fall off.

Once the limb falls off you can't use it for the round.

If the head wire snaps that's a knock out.

Between each round all broken wires are replaced.