Comedy Central definitely wasn't the right place for Battlebots when it came around a few years ago, but today it was announced that the homicidal bots are getting a new home at ESPN. Of course, by ESPN I mean ESPN2 and ESPNU, so it will be surrounded by endless reruns of the World's Strongest Man competition and the National Ultimate Frisbee finals, but it's still a step in the right direction. Apart from the pro class, which uses 220-pound robots, there will be a collegiate contest using lighter, less likely to amputate an arm, 160-pound bots. The thing I'm most excited about is the new experimental class. There are no rules and no weight classes so we could potentially see some straight-up Robocop ED-209 level stuff going on. Filming starts as early as June so hurry up and get over to the scrap yard if you want to participate.

CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR LIST OF THE LAMEST MOVIE ROBOTS
Click here for the official announcement

So I'm a few posts in and I'm already talking about stuff that can only loosely be considered a "gadget." But I can think of no other footwear that would acquire more cred on the floor at CES than these retro kicks from Reebok. Each pair of sneaks comes with a limited edition robot figure (that's kind of like a gadget, right?), and if you collect all five styles, you can build up Voltron himself. I'm partial to the Blue Tiger Ventilators, which retail for $100, but there's not a shoe in the collection I wouldn't wear. Now I'll just sit and wait for the Power Rangers edition K-Swiss kicks to roll out.