Leno Enjoys 'Battlebots' Competition

LAS VEGAS (AP) â€” After watching homemade robots destroy each other in noisy battle, ``Tonight Show'' host Jay Leno came up with a strategy. <br><br>``We just kind of keep ramming the other guy,''

Monday, November 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LAS VEGAS (AP) â€” After watching homemade robots destroy each other in noisy battle, ``Tonight Show'' host Jay Leno came up with a strategy.

``We just kind of keep ramming the other guy,'' he said Saturday at Comedy Central's ``Battlebots'' competition.

It worked.

Leno's ``Chin-Killa'' robot easily defeated ``Ginsu,'' a combination of saw blades on wheels.

About 140 robots entered the competition, which has become somewhat of a phenomenon for robot creators and the show's fans. The robots, classified by weight, fight inside a Plexiglas-enclosed ring until one is destroyed or badly damaged.

``Chin-Killa,'' decorated with a caricature of Leno, was created by some of his crew members and debuted on his show earlier this month.

``I like anything that rolls and explodes and blows up,'' he said. ``It's kind of an extension of the L.A. freeway.''

Before the fight, Leno had ``Chin-Killa'' destroy a mock Florida ballot counting machine.