Hospitals, grocery stores, medical clinics, and restaurants all rely upon the power of a generator in case there happens to be a power outage. When a generator requires servicing they all call upon a generator repairman to switch out parts to ensure the generator is working in tip-top shape. But has anyone ever asked ‘what happens to all those old generator parts when they aren’t able to make the generator run anymore?’ A small generator repair shop based out of Wichita, Kansas came up with a unique and exiting idea for the leftover parts – creating a robot for competition.

“I got the idea came to me after watching a movie about creating robots in the future”, said shop owner Tim Frees. “I noticed that some of the parts the guy in the movie used looked similar to the ones I take out of generators, and I thought I’d see what I could come up with.”

Tim Frees took leftover generator parts and created a 2-foot, fully functional robot. The robot is operated via remote control, and can perform a number of functions including moving forwards, backwards, and side to side.

“My son saw what I was doing and thought that he’d like to give it a try”, explained Frees. “He made a robot that was similar, yet different from mine from some of the other parts that were left over. When he completed the robot he then challenged me to a duel.”

The father and son squared off in a battle against the generator part-based robots in a fight to the robot death. Although reports of who won will vary depending upon who is asked, word eventually got out about these amazing robots made out of generator parts.

“It started out as something I did for fun”, explained Frees. “The next thing I know I’m getting calls from generator repairmen all across the country asking me to help them make their own robots. They all wanted in on the action.”

Tim Frees plans on holding local and regional robot competitions against rival generator repair service companies. Robots must be made out of parts that came from generator repairs; the only exception in the inner workings that allow the robots to move and respond to remote control command.

“Ever since I was a kid I wanted to have a robot”, explained generator repair man Barry Swings. “Now I can make one, and compete at the same time. All I have to say is that my competitors better watch out because Barry is on the loose!”