Havoc All-Stars Championship Robot Built By Silver Spring Creator

SILVER SPRING, MD — Silver Spring native Brandon Bennett Young drove his way to victory recently, when a robot his built won the 30-pound tournament at the Havoc All-Stars in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Broadcast live on YouTube, the National Havoc Robot League event took place over three nights on Dec. 5-7. Twelve robots in each of the three weight classes — 3 pound, 12 pound and 30 pound — faced off to earn the title of Havoc All-Stars champion.

On the final night of the event, Young's radio-controlled robot Vorion smashed its way to victory over Red Storm, the robot built by Kevin Milczewski. Although both robots remained active and mobile when the match ended, all three of the tournament's judges awarded the victory to Vorion.

When asked what the key to winning the match was, Young answered with one word — physics.

"The whole time I was driving Vorion, I kept the power down, because I had a lot more power to go," he said. "I knew that if I got too loose, he could get me, so I made it a control match. With a control match, I can hit it really hard and that will do it."

Young was not the only person involved in the All-Stars with Montgomery County connection. NHRL's "Evil Henchman" Sam Hanson grew up in Clarksburg and attended Cedar Grove Elementary, Rocky Hill Middle School, and Damascus High School. He also completed a semester at Montgomery College. Ricky Willems, who was one of the announcers, also grew up in Silver Spring. He attended St. John the Evangelist and Good Counsel High School.

In addition to the All-Stars competition, the event also highlighted the skills of five of the biggest science and engineering creators on YouTube. With the help of heavyweight World Champ Aren Hill, William Osman, Backyard Scientist, and Allen Pan built a new 30-pound robots, which they to put into action. Also, Peter Sripol, and Emily The Engineer were each given a variety of robot components from the Havoc Academy Crash Course to build and drive into battle a robot of their own choosing.

The All-Stars invitational, which marked the conclusion of NHRL's 2023 season, came on the heals of the Nov. 11 world championship tournament. More than 1,000 bots competed over the season to earn one of the 72 slots in the championship and chance to win a piece of the $1,000,000 in grant money. The grants went to STEM organizations and to support education, workforce development, and next-generation engineering across the U.S.

“I’m so excited to see the massive growth this season, reflecting all the hard work our collective teams have put in to grow a new iSports category," said Havoc Robotics CEO Kelly Biderman. "Our growing community of engineers, STEM leaders, and fans are clamoring for more. I can’t wait to expand our league to bring robot combat nationwide in 2024.”