Hardcore Robotics
Overview
Hardcore Robotics is a long standing combat robotics team captained by the legendary Ray Billings.
Team Members
Ray Billings
Team captain and face of Tombstone, Ray Billings has been its main driver for the team's first six BattleBots seasons. Throughout Tombstone's first few seasons especially, Billings adopted a villainous persona on television, often appearing conceited in interviews while having a destructive robot to back up his confidence.
- "You want some more?"
- — Ray Billings' iconic catchphrase once an opponent has become incapacitated.
However, it has been made clear by fans, fellow competitors and showrunners alike that this is simply an on-screen character, which has mellowed over time. In World Championship VI, a segment showed Billings officially passing over the torch of "BattleBots Villain" to Hydra captain and driver Jake Ewert. Billings worked for over a decade as a prison guard in Folsom State Prison and taught computer networking in a college, with whom he met Pete Thayer, a fan of the Comedy Central show who used to bring VHS tapes into work. These recordings introduced Billings to the idea of combat robotics, and he then formed Hardcore Robotics.
Ray's partner Juli Johnson and step-son Tyler Nguyen also compete in BattleBots with Perfect Phoenix.
Tyler Nguyen
Stepson to Ray Billings, Tyler Nguyen took the reigns of Perfect Phoenix in 2020, captaining and driving the robot from the age of 11. Despite his young age, he is a well-respected competitor on the US scene. As well as picking up multiple event wins as part of Team Doom Robotics, Tyler Nguyen competed in the UK web-series BuggleBots with his beetleweight Captain Doom. With Perfect Phoenix stemming from Paul Ventimiglia's iconic heavyweight Brutality, this makes the robot older than Tyler himself. He has also fought with 1lb robot Commander Doom 2, winning multiple fights and the Sportsmanship Award in the 2017 Bot Blast event at just 8 years old.
Robots
| Robot | Image | Weight Class | Events | Record | Status | Years Active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dread Hades | 
|
Beetleweight | March 2021 July 2021 November 2021 April 2022 July 2022 |
22 Wins 10 Losses |
Unknown | 2021-2022 |
| Disinformation | 
|
Featherweight | June 2023 | 2 Wins 1 Loss |
Active | 2023 |
| Fake News | 
|
Hobbyweight | June 2023 | 2 Wins 1 Loss |
Active | 2023 |
- Wins: 26
- Losses: 12
Outside NHRL
Ray Billings and his team are best known for the creation of BattleBots champion and combat robot hall of famer Tombstone.
