Name: P.H.M. Class: 100 lb walker Power: Electric Weapons: Twin gas powered saw blades Sponsor: C2 Robotics Status: Upgraded P.H.M. was a mean looking machine that became the first walking robot at Robot Wars to kick another robot's ass.

The Story of Buzzcut and PHM It all started the summer of 1995. I had just quit my aerospace job at Lockheed-Martin and moved from Massachusetts to California. My friend Phil Putman invited me up to San Francisco to watch Robot Wars. Sure, why not? I loved the show and promised myself to build an entree for next year. I vowed to make a walking machine, either 50 lbs or 100lbs. Well, a year came and went, and I didn't make it in time for the '96 event. First-time builder syndrome. However, the next year I got right to it and designed the basic building element. I wanted a walking machine that I could adjust the size and shape of. The basic building element was designed to slide on 3/8 shafting. I could make the frame big enough to fit around the engine and batteries. All the while I figured my 50 lb walker, Buzzcut, would kick the butt of 25 lb rollers. Buzzcut took me a long time to build; I was constantly shaving down weight to sneak under 50 lbs. I built PHM as an afterthought and put it together in about a week (after finishing Buzzcut). So I headed up to San Fran for the '97 Robot Wars with my good friend Jason Bardis. Jason was entering BWEI, the improved version of Rampage from a year earlier. We were also meeting up with Phil Putman from Texas. One of the first people I had met at Robot Wars was Peter Abrahamson from Team Sinister. Peter and I were both visited by a photographer before the event. The photographer was shooting for a German mag and metnioned Peter's name to me a few times. It's kinda weird to think back to that time when he walked up to me in the pit area and first introduced himself considering what good friends we are now. Even back then I had great help in the pit area. Luke Khanlian drove up to meet me and did a lot of work to keep Buzzcut running. In fact, Luke has been to every one of my competitions with the exception of Bot Bash. Luke's favorite quote, while we are busy doing last-minute repairs, is "Ah yes, another robot competition I'm not watching." Jeff Ng also came up for support and helped with the construction of Buzzcut. I'd say Jason Bardis helped me the most back in those days. He made some parts and assisted with construction. I was pretty nervous for my first fight. It was a match-up between Buzzcut and a robot that was simply a modified RC car with a battery-powered circular saw and some armor. Right away I realized there was something wrong with my drive system- I could only move in semi-circles. Fortunately, my opponent took a kamikaze approach to fighting me and got sucked under my saw blades. So I made a point of grinding his robot beneath mine. I got lucky. My first fight with PHM was more decisive. I was up against Ziggy, a big gas powered abrasive saw on wheels. We came right at each other. One of my gas engines stalled out from the collision. I learned a valuable lesson -let your engines warm up for quite some time before a fight. After our first impact I could tell Ziggy was in trouble. He was only able to spin quick little circles, an indication that I had damaged one of his drives. After that I was able to push him into the corner of the arena and was victorious. While carrying PHM out of the arena and into the pit area my fellow robot builders applauded. It was the first time a walking robot had really dominated and won a match in the robot wars history. I was very happy. From there on out, Buzzcut started loosing fights to fast, little boxes on wheels. PHM won a couple more fights before being defeated by a Biohazard clone. No awards, no trophies, but it was a great time and I was hooked.