Fighting Robots Invade Austin--O'Reilly Media Alert

For Immediate Release

For more information, contact:
Sara Peyton (707) 827-7118 or peyton@oreilly.com
William Mills, Giant Noise (512) 382-9017 or will@giantnose.com

Fighting Robots Invade Austin--O'Reilly Media Alert
Maker Faire 2008 and RoboGames Bring Battling Bots to Austin for the First
Ever Texas Cup!

Austin, TX-Maker Faire announces the RoboGames Texas Cup event to be held
on October 18th and 19th at the second annual Austin Maker Faire at the
Travis County Expo Center in Austin, TX. The monstrous homemade robots,
which range in weight from 30 to 340 pounds, will be coming from all over
the nation and beyond to compete for the title of champion in the first
ever Texas competition. Over 27 bots will battle for a Texas Cup in the
Featherweight, Lightweight, Middleweight, Heavyweight, and Super
Heavyweight divisions. With over 25 fights per day, audiences will witness
a bevy of pneumatic flippers, flame throwers, spinning blades of death and
high-powered body slammers.

Take the best parts of a monster truck rally, the thrill of NASCAR, and
the evil genius of the maddest scientist you can find, infuse that with
lashings of machine oil and garage-mechanic knowhow and you have the Maker
Faire RoboGames. The best fighting robot competitors from USA and Canada
will be on hand at MakerFaire Austin to smash, bash, crash and trash their
way to victory inside a 1600-square foot bulletproof battle arena!

"It's really awesome to be doing a show in Austin," says RoboGames
President David Calkins. "This will be the largest venue we've ever played
to, so we're really looking forward to a good crowd. I imagine the Texans
are really going to enjoy our San Francisco robot destruction. For
everyone who loves watching car wrecks at NASCAR, they're in for a treat.
These robots TRY to destroy each other. Fire and crashes each and every
match."

Battling robot competitors to keep an eye out for include crowd favorite
and RoboGames dominator, the six-legged, 340lb Canadian robot Ziggy, who
will have to beat out Austin favorite The Judge in order to fight his way
to the Texas Cup in the Super Heavyweight category. Texas Heat is the
fire-breathing, award-winning barbecuer of bots who is coming all the way
from Canada to flame his way to Combot glory in the Lightweight category.

These battling bots will round out Maker Faire's robotics focus, which
will also include robotic warships, Capital BEST Robotics, The Robot Group
and more. Maker Faire, the two-day family-friendly event that celebrates
arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
mindset, will also include alternative energy vehicles, the life-sized
Mousetrap, Eepy Bird Diet Coke & Mentos Fountains, fire acts, rockets,
Tesla coils, a blacksmith village, art and crafts, Edible Austin's Food
Pavilion and much more. Maker Faire is for resourceful folks who like to
tinker and love to make things. We call them Makers.

Your competitors for the 2008 Maker Faire RoboGames Texas Cup:

340lb Super Heavyweight:
Ziggy
Vladiator
Gerald
Steel Reign
The Judge

220lb Heavyweight:
Original Sin
Sewer Snake
The Defyer
Gerald
Vlad IIVan Helsing

120lb Middleweight:
Warsaw
Pipe Wench
Tetracide
Emily
Ice Cube

60lb Lightweight:
Texas Heat
Dark Disk
Big B
Rotato
Spinnerbait Jr.
Cornholio
Guillotine
The Rutt Factor

30lb Featherweight:
Pint Sized Chaos
Relic
Retic Bot
Totally Offensive

All your favorite competitors will be on hand to sign autographs and
answer questions about their robots. Get a birds-eye view into the pits as
the robots are serviced and repaired. Find out how the builders are going
to do it better next time, and learn how to make your own bot from the
ground up.

For the RoboGames Texas Cup schedule and more information on Maker Faire,
please visit www.makerfaire.com.

For more information please email peyton@oreilly.com.

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About Maker Faire
Maker Faire is the premier event for grassroots American innovation. The
event started in San Mateo, California in 2006 and expanded to Austin,
Texas in 2007. Held annually in each of these locations, the event may
expand elsewhere in the future. Maker Faire is supported by Make Magazine
and Craft Magazine and O'Reilly Media, the premier information source for
leading-edge computer technologies. The company's books, conferences, and
web sites bring to light the knowledge of technology innovators.

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