Owning our buildings gives us a lot of
advantages. We’ve been able to install a lot
of safety equipment that, for instance, allows
our cages to run at a negative pressure, which
means that we can have things like fire (always a
spectacle); in another environment this wouldn’t
be safe. Our cages are made of steel and have
two thick layers of Lexan, which is similar to
watchable via livestream. We fought them all in
just that single cage through the end of 2019.
I had run a startup before, so I knew to focus on
achievable, constant, incremental improvements.
After every event, the question was “How do we
improve the production quality a little bit? How do
we run this event a little bit more efficiently?”
It was slow and steady: First, we brought on
new announcers. Then we brought someone in
to help switch the video feeds. And so on and so
forth. For the first event, we wrote the bracket out
on a whiteboard. Now, the brackets and match
flow and everything are deeply computerized and
automated. It's been a process, but we haven’t
stopped focusing on identifying and making high-
impact improvements after every tournament.
Sometimes it’s one step forward, two steps back —
but we are never complacent and always working
to improve the experience across the board.
THE COVID HIT
While we prepared for our first event in 2020, the
pandemic happened, and we had to push pause on
hosting tournaments. Covid was, however, like an
accelerant on all things, so it’s also when things
got interesting for our little league. I ended up
with too much time on my hands (which, as noted
above, leads me to do crazy things), so, when I
had the opportunity to buy a 67,000-square-foot
building right down the block from the office
building I already owned, I went for it.
ROBOT RUMBLE! Norwalk Havoc Robot League
36 makezine.com
Austin McChord, Jon C R Bennett / JCRBPhoto
New control room in action.
Outfitting the new location at 165 Water Street.
I ENDED UP WITH TOO MUCH TIME ON
MY HANDS (WHICH, AS NOTED ABOVE,
LEADS ME TO DO CRAZY THINGS), SO,
WHEN I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO BUY
A 67,000 SQ. FT. BUILDING RIGHT DOWN
THE BLOCK FROM THE OFFICE BUILDING
I ALREADY OWNED, I WENT FOR IT.
M81_034-39_SS_NorwalkHavoc_F1.indd 36M81_034-39_SS_NorwalkHavoc_F1.indd 36 4/12/22 1:49 PM4/12/22 1:49 PM
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