Servo - March 2016

hushed whispers to this day. Gary Cline — an active member of the community — proposed an interim solution: an invite-only event known as Robotica, held on the same date as the previously intended Robot Wars tournament. For caring about the builders, Cline was served a court order by Profile Records, forcing him to not hold the event.

In the meantime, Profile had partnered with British TV giant Mentorn, producing a Robot Wars television series in late 1997. The show's layout of 'gauntlet, challenge, fight' would prove a great hit with UK audiences, sparking the fire in the British roboteering community to begin evolving and creating robots along a myriad of different design philosophies.

Focus in Great Britain differed from their counterparts in America. The heavyweight class was what most builders designed and fought in — a contrast to the three weight classes all well represented in the United States.

The climax of the Golden Age resulted in a lasting degree of enmity towards Plotnicki. Former competitors, Greg Munson and Trey Roski of Team La Ma Motors (noted for their Heavyweight robot, La Machine) created BattleBots as a response to the situation — a new competition to fill the void that Robot Wars' American legal troubles had left in the roboteering community.

A robot 'street fight' held at an underpass in 1998 had indicated there was still plenty of need for a competition. Both of the childhood friends were more than willing to pick up the torch. The result was a lawsuit by the Profile Records-controlled Robot Wars, claiming 'enormous economic harm' could be caused to their 1999 event due to a supposed nonexistent date conflict. The resulting legal battle ended in the lawsuit being tossed out. The BattleBots' Long Beach event became the first step in a grandiose endeavor.

Silver Age

The Silver Age of combat robotics came in the television era. By the end of 1999, Robot Wars had held a full season of a combat-based tournament in the United Kingdom, while BattleBots swiftly shot up from a webcasted event, to a pay-per-view, to a good time slot on Comedy Central. By now, the divide between nations had been clearly laid out.

BattleBots focused on a myriad of weight classes, including the then-new Superheavyweight class. Robot Wars focused almost exclusively on a Heavyweight competition, with occasional side events showcasing robots in the other weight classes. In several instances, British robots such as Killerhurtz and Bigger Brother came over to compete in BattleBots, while some American machines (Mauler and FrenZy among them) traveled the other way, competing in Robot Wars' World Championship events.

As time proceeded onward, a shift in television would spell the end to both of the major robot combat shows. BattleBots was cut from Comedy Central due to Viacom's refocusing of the channel to more comedy-based programming, while Robot Wars suffered constant slot changes that soon left its viewer base in the gutter, unable to save the show from being axed by Channel 5.

Prior to its cancellation, Robot Wars had expanded tremendously as a multinational show, with German and Dutch variations as well as a series shown on Nickelodeon. When the tower of televised bot tussles fell down, it hit the community hard.

During the Silver Age, another show briefly popped up on the radar: Robotica. It was a show based around a gauntlet-labyrinth-combat precept similar to the early seasons of Robot Wars. While Robotica lasted for a scant three seasons, many of the robots would also compete on a Mick Foley-hosted American version of the Robot Wars show, known as Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors.

Despite the focus on television, some bot builders had foreseen that the future of the sport was in live events. One of these was Bob Pitzer of Team Raptor, noted for the performance of their Lightweights in the Comedy Central series. He was