Captain

Rick Russ

Captain of Team Swamp Thing, Rick Russ is a 21-year veteran of the sport of robot combat who has seen the sport go from national television to local exhibition and back again. Rick’s experience fighting combat robots on the largest scales have served him well, with 3rd place finishes at the 2004 NPC Charity Open and RoboGames 2017. At one time a part of the Giant Nut-winning Hardcore Robotics, Rick has decided to forge his own path once more and show the world what he can do as a builder.

Teammates

Lorna West

An absolute saint. Any girlfriend on a BattleBots team has to be, and Lorna is no exception. Without her, Rick’s drive wouldn’t be the same.

Amy Thombs

What happens when you take a young woman and raise her around robot combat for the majority of her entire life? You get Amy. Formerly a member of Team Clambot, builders of Rhode Hog on the original Comedy Central BattleBots, Amy’s life has been full of robotic destruction. From welding tube steel and weighing in robots to driving tracked prototypes and serving as core staff at RoboGames, Amy is a critical component of Team Swamp Thing and is looking forward to a fun year of bashing bots!

Amy’s worked on some amazing projects in the past! Here’s her with Jack and Jill.

Michael Thombs

Mike Thombs is no newcomer to BattleBots – in 2001, he mentored a team of students from Salve Regina University in building Rhode Hog, a lightweight competitor that fought for 3 seasons at BattleBots during the Comedy Central years. Mike was an instrumental staff member at Robogames, responsible for everything from helping build the arena to judging fights. Michael now brings his two plus decades of robot combat experience to Team Swamp Thing and will help lead the robot’s team to more victories at the grandest competition of them all.

Mark Elam

A robot combat competitor since 2009, Mark Elam has competed around the United States at smaller scale competitions and been very successful with his beetleweight, Hailstone. A co-founder of both Texas Robot Combat and Hill City Robot Combat, smaller organizations holding events regionally in America, Mark is now working as a part Team Swamp Thing to rise above the smaller weight class and help earn his place in the robot combat world.

Adam Duarte

A perennial competitor in the local robot combat scene in California, Adam Duarte has been a fixture in the insect classes for almost two decades. From bashing bots at SOZBots to running the Combots insect class events, Adam brings heavily valued experience to Team Swamp Thing – experience that will help it dominate robot combat. With experience as a RoboGames judge, Adam also has a keen eye to what the judges are looking for at events – expect everything to be done as best it can be with him on board.

Kayen Duarte

Don’t let his youth fool you – the son of a longtime robot combat competitor, Kayen has grown up around the sport just as Amy once did and knows more than many of his opponents thanks to a lifetime of experience – even if that lifetime hasn’t even gotten him to adulthood yet. With an opportunity to make a tremendous mark on the line, Kayen brings passion, enthusiasm, and a unique viewpoint to Team Swamp Thing, noticing things others may not pick up on.

Jen Duarte

A passionate artist, Jen is directly responsible for the new Swamp Thing’s style. She was directly responsible for the wraps giving the machine its fearsome face, and will be working on a lot more in the way of paints and logos in the future!

Steve Rys

Steve Rys has been a long-time member of the robot combat community, most known for his work at Robogames. Wherever and whenever audio and video have been needed to put on a high-quality robot combat presentation, Steve has been there, ready and willing to help. Making things look good isn’t his only forte, though – give him a welder and he’ll give you a robot frame of masterwork craftsmanship.