Twelve-year-old Daniel is obsessed with combat robotics — because duh, who isn’t? So when his plucky lifter-bot snags him a spot at Bernard Barker’s legendary Bot Camp, Daniel practically short-circuits with excitement. Meeting his tech-innovator hero will be a dream come true!
His mom says he should try to make friends, but Daniel won’t have time for that. Bot Camp is a high-voltage competition and only one kid will win the ultimate prize: becoming Bernard’s apprentice.
Unfortunately, from the moment Daniel steps into the fully automated, AI-powered training complex, nothing goes to plan. The other kids are brilliant, but Daniel’s teammates are totally useless. He’ll never impress Bernard at this rate.
So while the others relax for the night, Daniel convinces his team to sneak into the workshop to fix their bot. But when the labyrinth-like facility mysteriously goes into lockdown, Daniel finds himself in real danger and only his teammates can help.
Twelve-year-old Daniel is obsessed with combat robotics — because duh, who isn’t? So when his plucky lifter-bot snags him a spot at Bernard Barker’s legendary Bot Camp, Daniel practically short-circuits with excitement. Meeting his tech-innovator hero will be a dream come true!
His mom says he should try to make friends, but Daniel won’t have time for that. Bot Camp is a high-voltage competition and only one kid will win the ultimate prize: becoming Bernard’s apprentice.
Unfortunately, from the moment Daniel steps into the fully automated, AI-powered training complex, nothing goes to plan. The other kids are brilliant, but Daniel’s teammates are totally useless. He’ll never impress Bernard at this rate.
So while the others relax for the night, Daniel convinces his team to sneak into the workshop to fix their bot. But when the labyrinth-like facility mysteriously goes into lockdown, Daniel finds himself in real danger and only his teammates can help.
Daniel’s heart raced and his sweaty tee shirt clung to his back. Fighting robots always made him nervous and today’s battle was the big one. The championship tournament with the grandest of prizes.
It was being held in a massive industrial warehouse with a crowd of people squeezed in like a bulk pack of AA batteries. The tiered seating surrounded the battle chamber in the center. Like a gladiatorial audience, they cheered and screamed and yearned for destruction. They cheered extra loud when a bot was torn apart and the magic smoke escaped. Probably because they weren’t the ones who had to fix them.
“Competitors, are you ready?” the announcer asked, his voice booming from the speakers placed around the chamber. There was a giant screen with the competitor’s names. Daniel had never seen his name in lights before. This was actually happening! He could see his reflection in the double-layered polycarbonate—bulletproof glass. For a brief moment, he wished his mom hadn’t cut his hair in the kitchen and he hoped the attention of those in attendance was on his bot and not him.
“I said, competitors, are you ready?”
Daniel realized the announcer, his opponent, and everyone else in the stadium were waiting for him. He sheepishly gave the thumbs up, his cheeks and neck flushing hot with embarrassment.
He gripped his RC controller tight and leaned forward in his favored robot fighting pose. Time to concentrate.
“Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Fight robots, fight!”
The crowd went bananas.
Daniel tried to focus. His bot was a little wedge of steel. No visible weapon, no visible wheels. The robot had both, of course, but they were hidden under thick steel armor where his opponent couldn’t get to. And that was a good thing, because across the chamber was a compact and deadly looking vertical spinner. Its heavy weapon was painted bright orange. It quickly spun up, sending a buzzing noise around the warehouse, and a chill up Daniel’s spine.
This battle was the featherweight division. A weight limit of thirty pounds. But Daniel always found the name deceiving. Feathers were light and soft. They couldn’t hurt you. They were nothing like that giant piece of steel buzzing away like a thousand angry hornets, seeking carnage and destruction.
Stay calm. Concentrate. After all, Daniel’s robot was built for exactly this kind of opponent. He piloted his bot around the box, trying to get to the side of that big orange weapon. His thumb hovered over a red button on his controller. His opponent swiveled and waited, always facing their dangerous weapon toward him.
“Come on, Flippy,” Daniel said; words of encouragement to a steel box. Yes, Daniel talked to his robot and right now he didn’t care who heard. He was in the zone. Max concentration.
He dodged, left and right, and finally the spinner bot faltered. The gyro force from the big spinning weight—the same force that keeps a bike upright—made it difficult to turn, and Daniel was quick to drive Flippy’s wedge underneath his opponent’s wheels. His plucky little bot drove hard and pushed the spinner bot into the wooden side railing. But his opponent slid off Flippy and the spinning weapon grazed his armored top-plate, sending bright sparks across the box. The crowd ohhhed and ahhed. But Flippy was built tough, and no real damage was done. Just some cool new battle scars.
The bots returned to their standoff. They circled around each other, locked in a strange mechanical dance. Both looking for any chance to destroy the other.
Suddenly, the spinner charged forward, a head-on collision. Daniel let it happen, hoping his bot was lower to the floor. As the spinner drove up onto Flippy’s front wedge, Daniel didn’t hesitate. He punched that red button with his thumb.
Woooosh!
The top of Flippy sprung open, a puff of CO2 gas emerged. The spinner bot flew skyward, hitting the ceiling of the battle chamber so hard it smashed one of the lights.
“A roofing! What an amazing move by Flippy!” the announcer shared Daniel’s joy.
The spinner landed on its weapon, taking a chunk out of the wooden floor and sending the bot flying into the chamber wall. The crowd on that side flinched. That’s why it’s bulletproof!
The spinner bot careened around the chamber, its high energy weapon still spinning. It pinballed off the walls, then the floor, before the spinning weapon tore free entirely. Its wiring and electronic guts spewed across the chamber. A knockout!
The crowd went wild.
Flippy celebrated by spinning rapidly on the spot.
Daniel beamed with pride at his skills and his plucky little machine. But with the battle over and the crowd cheering, he suddenly became very aware that all eyes were on him. He wasn’t comfortable in front of crowds, so he quickly piloted Flippy over to the door and waited as the staff went through the safety protocols before finally opening the chamber. Daniel inserted the safety lock and turned Flippy off. He gave the little bot a pat. “Thanks, buddy.”
Daniel had always liked flipper bots; he liked anything out of the ordinary, really. His mum had also banned him from using a spinning weapon, but that was beside the point. The flipper could be very effective in the right hands, and he’d just demonstrated that perfectly.
“That’s a win for Daniel and Flippy. Congrats, you’re into the final. Let’s see who they’ll be up against,” the announcer bellowed out.
As Daniel lifted Flippy out of the chamber, he collided with someone much bigger. Daniel was almost average height. Almost. But Mary was six feet tall with dark blue hair. It was hard to believe she was only twelve, just like him. She carried the largest vertical spinner Daniel had ever seen. He wasn’t sure who was scarier: Mary or her giant bot: Big Bertha.
“Better fix that quick. This ain’t gonna take long.” She glared at Daniel. He was competitive, but felt her animosity toward him was thoroughly unwarranted.
“Doesn’t need fixing. It’s—” A wheel fell off Flippy before Daniel could finish the sentence.
Worse. It rolled under the seats and disappeared. He’d never be able to find it now.
Daniel tried to swallow his rising panic. Mary’s cousin cackled with laughter, and Mary grinned from ear to ear. Daniel ignored them both and raced to the pits, which were off to the side of the arena, behind the seats.
Other teams worked on their robots at workstations, which were nothing more than plastic trestle tables. Most teams were made up of three or four in matching uniforms. Daniel wore a plain black tee shirt and jeans. A strategic choice more than a fashion-conscious one. Fighting robots was stressful, and that lead to sweating. Black hid his sweaty armpits. Perhaps one day he could get one with a photo of Flippy on the front. Daniel also didn’t have a team. He was alone, as usual. His mom had told him she’d come and watch, but she ended up having a shift at the hospital. She always had a shift. She was always working.
His sister, Jenny, had just got her license, so she drove him to the event. He was dreading her coming in because she had a tendency to cause trouble. But thankfully, she just dropped him at the gate and sped off to do her own thing.
Daniel put Flippy down on the table and searched through his box of spare parts. There were a couple of old wheels, but both had chunks of rubber missing—wounds from previous battles. He glanced around at the other teams. Many of the already eliminated competitors were chatting with each other and trying to figure out how to make their bots better. Surely one of them had a wheel Daniel could borrow.
He didn’t have the courage to ask. Instead, he pulled out some insulation tape and started wrapping it tightly around one of the damaged wheels. It would have to do.
When combat robotics first started, back before Daniel was even born, they used wheelchair motors and saw blades and pieces of scrap and junk—whatever they could find. But not anymore. Now it was all custom-made CNC billet aluminum and 3D printed TPU. Things had come a long way, and the result was a lot of pretty looking machines. But they were only pretty at the beginning of the day. As the tournament progressed, the machines became battle scarred wrecks, and the builders became more desperate. Duct tape, cable ties, even shoelaces found their way into the repair process. Daniel felt proud of his resourcefulness, the tape wrapped wheel would be good enough. He also needed to swap out the battery, replace the CO2 canister, and check Flippy for internal damage. No need to panic, there was a fifteen-minute break between the semifinals and the final, and Mary and Bertha hadn’t even begun their fight.
On that thought, the announcer completed his countdown, and a buzzing sound filled the warehouse. It was twice as loud as the spinning weapon Flippy had just fought.
WHACK!
Daniel could see the crowd visibly wince.
“And that’s a knock-out for Big Bertha!”
Already!? Daniel tried to not freak out. He focused on his little bot and tried to undo the screws on the base plate. If only his hands would stop shaking.
Daniel doesn't really have any friends, but he's passionate about robotics and bot competitions. Daniel has his heart set on winning a spot at billionaire Bernad's elite bot camp. All he has to do is win the local bot wars competition against his fierce rival, Mary, and her machine, Big Bertha. This underdog story isn't just about Daniel's big dreams of wowing Bernard; it's also about teamwork, leaning on others' strengths, and learning to step up as a leader.
Daniel's story pulls the reader in because he needs to win, and he doesn't just win from the get-go. His victories are earned, not handed to him. This story and watching Daniel face up against difficult challenges give readers a front-row seat to both the thrills of competition and the real-life challenges of becoming a good teammate and leader.
The author has made battle bots exciting because they play a pivotal role for both Daniel and the plot. The action, especially battle scenes, feels cinematic and very exciting, just like a Spy Kids movie.
This book concisely presents numerous lessons, yet packages them in an engaging way. There are many themes to grasp and learn from, such as friendship, teamwork, loyalty, empathy, and leadership, without feeling like they overwhelm the plot.
Daniel has never had many friends, let alone been the leader of a team, but he steps up when it counts to save the day. It's easy to root for him. He rises to the occasion, but he's not the only one. The author has created a diverse set of characters that are all brilliant in their own way. There are many ways to be a genius, creative, and/or good at something. The author naturally weaves in diversity without it feeling forced. Each of the many kids at bot camp has their own, albeit quick, backstory. They feel real and not reduced to a single defining characteristic.
The villain is exaggerated enough to feel fun and fitting in the story, just like the bad guy in Sonic or Minions.
The writing is surprisingly visual and accessible. Even readers not familiar with battle bots or robotics (like me) can follow the action and understand what is going on. It's easy to get swept up in the excitement of the action, just like Daniel does in the story.
This book will definitely make you want to watch a bot battle! It's a great book for readers interested in robotics, battle bots, or simply a fun, quick book full of adventure. Parents and teachers, in particular, will appreciate the positive messages seamlessly embedded throughout.