Servo - March 2016

SERVO 03.2016 23

the creator/sponsor of BotBash — one of the first live events in the United States after the start of the Silver Age.

BotBash lasted for several years, running with robots up to 120 lbs, and was small in comparison to the large-scale events that would be put on a mere five years later. As a live event, however, it was responsible for helping keep the community together and active even as the television deals crumbled around them.

BotBash's Bash Ware system in particular would serve as a template for tournament organization far in the future; a glimpse of what advanced technology could offer to new events struggling to spring up from the ashes of the Silver Age.

Bronze Age

With robot combat gone from the big screen, smaller events across the world began to fill the void both Robot Wars and BattleBots had left. Organizations such as Western Allied Robotics, NERC (NorthEast Robotics Club), and ComBots began to pick up the slack. With larger weight classes becoming uneconomical to run, smaller ones such as the 30 lb Featherweight and 12 lb Hobbyweight became exceptionally prevalent. Most common, though, were 3 lb Beetleweights and both varieties of Antweights: 1 lb (US) and 5. 3 oz (UK).

Most American competitions utilized a standard easily-modifiable rule set created by the Robot Fighting League, while European competitions typically used the rules of the Fighting Robots Association. For the largest of the economical Motorama — an event particularly noted for its showcasing of the “Sportsman” class: A category of Featherweights inspiring creative new designs not commonly seen in competition.

Motorama is even today considered to be one of the most prestigious events for smaller-scale builders, and some of the best competition in the world can be found there.

Despite BattleBots suffering a tremendous blow, it would still prove significantly important in the roboteering community's future. They were responsible for creating the BotsIQ program, which introduced many high school and college kids to the sport with its former 120 lb and current 15 lb weight classes.

In 2009, they held a competition for high school, college, and professional builders, and in 2011, a collegiate-exclusive competition. Across the pond, two UK-based groups sprang up to fill the void: John Findlay's Roaming Robots and Alan Young's Robots Live. Both organizations maintained robot combat events in greater Europe, keeping the community strong even as limitations were made. For example, Heavyweight robots with spinning weapons were no longer allowed to compete.

The climax of the Eurocircuit's stunning growth came with Findlay's acquisition of the Robot Wars name, as the Roaming Robots live events were redubbed Robot Wars Live.

In America, the RFL-held nationals slowly waned in popularity.

ComBots' flagship event, Despite this, the Superheavyweight class still proved uneconomical for the few builders who had built bots to that gargantuan scale, eliminating the 340 lb giants from competition for the 2011 season and the foreseeable future.

The RFL itself waned in power as a group known as SPARC soon developed new rules, judging, and tournament procedures to further standardize robotic combat events across the world.

Steel Age

2015 reflected a distinct shift in the world of combat robotics to a brighter, more diversified future. At RoboGames, for the first time in the event's history, the Heavyweight class was won by a non-