BattleBots
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Categories: 2000 television series debuts | 2000s American television series | 2002 television series endings | Comedy Central game shows | Companies based in Marin County | Robotics competitions | BattleBots
BattleBots is an American company that hosts robot competitions. BattleBots is also the name of the television show created from the competition footage, and a nickname for the combat robots which compete. BattleBots Inc. is headquartered in Novato, California and holds most of its competitions in San Francisco. In a BattleBots event, as in other combat robot competitions, competitors bring remote-controlled, armored and weaponed machines which they have designed and built, and put them in an arena to fight in an elimination tournament. The purpose of the fight is for one robot, or "bot", to dominate or disable the other. 
The television show BattleBots aired on the American cable network Comedy Central for five seasons, covering five complete BattleBots tournaments. The first season aired starting in August 2000, and the fifth season aired starting in August 2002. Hosts of BattleBots were Bil Dwyer and Sean Salisbury (with Tim Green replacing Salisbury after the second season) and correspondents included former Baywatch actress Donna D'Errico, Carmen Electra, Heidi Mark, Traci Bingham, and identical twins Randy and Jason Sklar. Bill Nye was the show's "technical expert". Due to continued declining ratings (one major criticism of the show was that it focused far too much on the wacky reporters and the robot builders' backstories, and not nearly enough on the actual robot combat), Comedy Central terminated their contract with BattleBots Inc. in late 2002. The machines entered in such contests are not technically true robots in that they are not autonomous in their actions. They are remotely controlled by their teams, so might be more properly referred to as Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). Self-controlled combat robots are allowed under the rules, but are very difficult to make competitive in the complicated combat environment. In addition to Battlebots, many local and regional combat robotics organizations are active throughout the world. Many of them focus on lighter-weight robots to keep arena and build costs practical for hobbyists.
Early historyBattlebots is an offshoot of the original American version of Robot Wars, the brainchild of Marc Thorpe. Robot Wars had financial backing from Sm:)e communications, a New York record company. The Thorpe/Sm:)e partnership broke up in 1997, starting many years of legal wrangling between Thorpe and Profile Records (the former Sm:)e communications). Profile licensed Robot Wars to a UK production company and Robot Wars ran for seven years as a popular television program in the UK. The robot builders left behind in San Francisco formed BattleBots, Inc. and began a series of competitions. The first was held in Long Beach, California in August 1999 and was also cybercast on ZDTV. The second, held in November 1999, in Las Vegas, Nevada was a pay per view event. These led to the five semi-annual BattleBots tournaments televised as prime time series on the American network Comedy Central starting in May 2000.[1] Weight classesRobots at BattleBots tournaments were separated into four weight classes. The weight limits increased slightly over time. At the final tournaments the classes were:
'Walking' robots ('StompBots') propelled by means other than wheels were initially given a 50% weight bonus. The rules changed following the victory of a heavyweight StompBot (Son of Whyachi) at BattleBots 3.0. For BattleBots 4.0 and beyond only a 20% weight bonus was given to walkers and the technical rules specified walking mechanisms so tightly that no further Stompbots entered the tournaments. Robot designSee Robot Combat. Matches"The box is locked, the lights are on, it's robot fightin' time!" Matches are three minutes long. During a match, two robots do their best to destroy each other using whatever means available. There are only two events that cause the match to be paused and people enter the BattleBox. One is the event that the robots are stuck together and can't separate. The other scenario is that one or both 'bots have caught on fire. In that case, the people entering the BattleBox are equipped with a fire extinguisher. If a robot is unable to move for thirty seconds, because it is too badly damaged or it is stuck on the arena hazards, it is declared knocked out. The driver may also call a "tap-out" to forfeit the match if his or her robot is about to be destroyed. This ends the match ten seconds later; the opposing driver is "asked (but not instructed)" not to attack during the ten-second count. In about half the matches, both robots survive the three minutes; at that point, three judges distribute a total of 45 points (15 points a judge, 5 points per judge per category) over three categories. The robot with the higher score wins. The judging categories are Aggression, Strategy, and Damage. A robot who hangs back safely from its opponent will not get many Aggression points; one in there fighting the whole time, however, will. The Strategy category is about how well a robot exploits its opponent's weaknesses, protects its own, and handles the hazards. A robot driving over the kill saws will lose points here, unless it had good reason to do so, while a robot that is able to attack its opponent's weak areas will gain points. The Damage category is for how much damage the bot can deal to its opponent while remaining intact itself. The winner moves on; the loser is eliminated from the tournament. At the end of the tournament, a series of 'rumbles' or 'melee rounds' are typically held in each weight class, allowing robots that survived the main tournament to fight in a 'free for all' in a 5 minute match. Occasionally there are too many robots for one rumble, and multiple rumbles are held with the top surviving bots competing in a final event. During the Season 5 Heavyweight rumble (the first rumble of that competition), a sheared-off robot part went through the Lexan arena roof and fell (harmlessly) into the audience. Because of this, the rest of the rumbles were canceled due to safety concerns.[1] The BattleBoxThe BattleBox is a 48' x 48' square arena designed to protect the drivers, officials, and audience from flying shrapnel and charging bots. It has a steel floor and steel-framed walls and roof paneled with thick, bulletproof polycarbonate plastic. The teams bring their robots in through doorways, which are sealed after all humans have exited. The drivers control their machines from outside the sealed arena. Arena hazardsOperated by "Pulverizer Pete", the arena hazards are intended to make fights more interesting and unpredictable, and to reward drivers who can avoid the hazards while pushing or carrying their opponent into them. The hazards include:
Tournament winnersLong Beach; August 1999
Las Vegas; November 1999
San Francisco; June 2000 (Season 1.0)
Las Vegas; November 2000 (Season 2.0)
Treasure Island; May 2001 (Season 3.0)
Treasure Island; November 2001 (Season 4.0)
Treasure Island; May 2002 (Season 5.0)
MerchandisingJAKKS Pacific created two series of BattleBots toys: the smaller BattleBashers and larger Grip N' Grapplers were made.
Tiger Electronics created two series of remote controlled BattleBots toys:
McDonald's released Happy Meal BattleBots toys from April 26 to May 23 2002.
Two video games based on BattleBots were released for Game Boy Advance, BattleBots: Beyond the BattleBox in 2002 and BattleBots: Design & Destroy in 2003. Another game was in development by THQ for PlayStation 2 and GameCube, but was cancelled. Information on additional BattleBots toys can be found at Mutant Robots. Personalities
Recent DevelopmentsIn February 2008, BattleBots announced [2] that ESPN had offered to broadcast a "Collegiate BattleBots Championship" competition limited to a single 160-pound weightclass to be held during the summer of 2008. Plans call for a "professional" 220-pound class tournament to be filmed at the same time, but the broadcast deal is for the college teams only. Acceptance of the broadcast deal is not confirmed. References
See also
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