Meet The Team

Jonathan Schultz

I grew up in New Hampshire, before moving to Connecticut after college. I am an R&D engineer, and built my first robot ‘Duck Yeah’ as a college senior project in 2016. In 2017 Peter, Maddie, and I brought three 30lb robots to the North East Robotics Club (NERC) event Motorama as clueless rookies. That’s where we met Garrett and Don who came to our rescue once those robots broke. Those robots took 2nd place in both 30lb and Sportsman 30lb classes, and Team HUGE was born. Since then, I’ve built three 30lb Huges, two 3lb Tiny Huges, and five 250lb HUGEs, and at this point I kind of want to build something normally-sized.

Peter Lombardo

I am a mechanical engineer and I currently work outside Hartford, CT. Interests include arthropods, long walks on the beach, and brutally unforgiving robot combat. My robot ‘BEEESS??’ competes in the 30lb Sportsman Class of at NERC events, scoring podium finishes at Motorama 2017, 2018, and 2019. I do all the electronics, share design and fabrication, and cut the wheels (bringing large floppy plastic to BattleBots since 2018.)

Garrett Santoline

I am originally from Pittsburgh, PA. I started doing combat robotics my freshman year of high school (2009) and have built several robots of different weight classes. I met the rest of team HUGE at Motorama when I found them in need of help repairing the original 30lb Huge. I attended Penn State for college and now I currently work as a site lead for planning and installation of network infrastructure and server rooms. Along with design and fabrication of Huge I diagnose and fix Huge after fights. Fun fact, in my last solo robot outing I fought 3lb Tiny Huge and wrecked it twice!

Don Doerfler

I am from Pittsburgh, PA, and started doing robotics in 2009 during high school, where I met Garrett. I have built robots from 150g to 30lb weight classes. I met the rest of team HUGE at various NERC events and through Garrett. Beginning with the 2019 season of BattleBots, I’ve helped machine parts for HUGE and served as a pit crew member. Most of my jobs entailed post-match diagnosis of parts and taming the spegett (the wiring).

Maddie Thumma

I met Jon and Peter in college when they were building their first robots. I’m the unofficial team manager, I make sure everyone sleeps and eats and I’m usually the one driving the van. I screw bike tire into the wheels and clean up the pit when necessary. I help with the graphic design/marketing of the robot. I work at an E-commerce agency.

Joe Doerfler

I am from Pittsburgh, Pa. Mainly got involved into robotics through Don while he was competing at SWPA Botsiq with Plum High School and fell in love. My most notable robot design was my 15lb robot Knockout. It comes with an overall record of 55-7, with 2 BotsIQ Championships & 1 National Title. It is arguably one of the best 15lbers to ever compete. I’ve competed with various other robots, most notably the 12lb ‘Ugee’ which recently won the 2022 NHRL 12lb Finals. Things I enjoy outside of robot combat include watching Pittsburgh sporting teams, playing golf and hanging out with family and friends. My biggest role on the team is servicing the robot after fights to get it prepared for the next fight!