Robot Combat History and TV

Robot combat grew from a single event in San Francisco in the 1990s into a worldwide sport with TV shows, streamed leagues and hundreds of local events each year. This page gives a short history and an overview of the major shows and leagues. Most builders today compete at local events, many of which are part of the Robot Combat League.

Timeline

• 1992–1994 – Marc Thorpe conceives Robot Wars and holds the first event in 1994 at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Untelevised US events run until 1997.[1]
• 1998 – Robot Wars launches as a TV show in the UK on BBC Two (February 1998).
• 1999 – After a split with Robot Wars, Greg Munson and Trey Roski hold the first BattleBots event in Long Beach, California, in August 1999.[2]
• 2000–2002 – BattleBots airs on Comedy Central for five seasons.
• 2001–2002 – Robotica airs on TLC for three seasons.[3]
• 2003–2004 – Robot Wars' original UK run ends after Series 7 on Channel 5.
• 2004 – RoboGames (originally ROBOlympics) begins in the San Francisco Bay Area.[4]
• 2015–2016 – BattleBots returns on ABC.
• 2016–2017 – Robot Wars returns on BBC Two for three more series (Series 8–10).
• 2018 – BattleBots moves to Discovery and Science Channel. King of Bots premieres in China. The National Havoc Robot League (NHRL) holds its first event in Norwalk, Connecticut.[5]
• 2023 – BattleBots World Championship VII (season 12) is won by SawBlaze.[6]
• 2026 – BattleBots launches the BattleBots Pro League, streaming free on YouTube. NHRL signs a streaming deal with DAZN.

TV shows

Robot Wars

The UK Robot Wars (1998–2004, revived 2016–2017) made robot combat famous in Britain, with presenters including Craig Charles, Philippa Forrester, Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon. It introduced many robot combat terms, such as "srimech" (see Self-Righting), and featured house robots and arena hazards. US spin-offs aired on TNN and Nickelodeon.[7]

BattleBots

BattleBots is the best-known robot combat show in the US, fought mainly with 250 lb heavyweights. After its Comedy Central run (2000–2002), it returned on ABC (2015–2016) and then Discovery and Science Channel from 2018, with spin-offs such as BattleBots: Bounty Hunters and BattleBots: Champions.[8] In 2026 it launched the BattleBots Pro League, a 20-episode series streaming free on the BattleBots YouTube channel, and it runs live shows in Las Vegas.[9]

Other shows

• Robotica (TLC, 2001–2002) – robots competed in obstacle-course challenges as well as fights.
• Robot Combat League (Syfy, 2013) – a show with giant humanoid robots controlled by exosuits. Not to be confused with today's Robot Combat League, a federation of local events.[10]
• King of Bots (Zhejiang TV, from 2018) – billed as China's first robot combat show.[11]

Leagues and events today

• Local events – most competition happens at local events run by clubs and groups, usually in the insect classes. Many use the SPARC rules. You can find events on RobotCombatEvents.com, a free listing and registration site that also publishes rankings.
• Robot Combat League – a national federation that ranks robots from local events and invites top robots to a National Championship each year.[12]
• NHRL – the National Havoc Robot League runs regular tournaments for 3, 12 and 30 lb robots in Norwalk, Connecticut, livestreamed, with cash prizes and a World Championship each year. NHRL uses its own rules.[13]
• RoboGames – a long-running Bay Area event with combat and other robot competitions. It took a break after 2018 and returned in 2023.[14]
• UK and Europe – most events follow the Fighting Robot Association rules (see Rules).

See also

• Rules – rule sets used around the world
• Communities – groups, social media and video channels
• Local Groups
• Robot Combat League