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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-
Former RFL champion,
Megabyte sends Brutality
flying at the 2009
BattleBots Professional
Championship. Image from
the BattleBots Wiki.
Lightweight robot Spinner, Bait
Jr. takes a big hit from K-Torze at
RoboGames 2015.
Image from Team ThundeRatz.