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The story of the creation of the virtual Hall of Fame for Combat Robots

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The Combat Robot Hall of Fame was established in August of 2003. The story of the Hall's establishment appears below.

The Hall re-opens for balloting in August of even-numbered years. Notifications of the open balloting appear on the Delphi and FRA combat robot forums. Robots that appear on 50% or more of the authenticated ballots gain full membership in the Hall, while robots appearing on fewer than 50% but at least 25% of the ballots gain Honorable Mention. Watch the forums for your opportunity to cast a ballot.

In August of 2003, I celebrated the 9th anniversary of the first Robot Wars competition in San Francisco by sponsoring a poll disguised as a contest to select the initial inductees to the Combat Robot Hall of Fame. The 'contest' was set-up as follows:

As a starting point, I created my own list of the 25 'Hall of Fame' combat robots plus an 'Honorable Mention' list of 10 more based on:

The rules of the contest were posted on the Delphi combat robot forums. They stated that different versions of a 'bot from the same team that are of the same basic design were treated as a single 'bot on my list. To emphasize breadth, I also stated that all robots on my list had competed in one or more of the following competitions: Robot Wars ('94 through '97), BattleBots, Robotica, Robot Wars U.K., or Robot Wars Extreme Warriors.

Contestants emailed their lists of 25 'bots to me. They received one point for each 'bot on their list that also appeared on my top-25 list plus 1/2 point for each 'bot that was on my honorable mention list. I also granted a point to everyone who listed the most commonly submitted 'bot that did not appear on my lists -- the "people's choice". A small prize was offered for the winning entry. I tallied all the entries and from them created The Combat Robot Hall of Fame.

• Fire Storm - Quirky active differential steering and reverse-angle pneumatic flipper make the 'bot fast, stable, and dangerous. It was the only 'bot to ever topple the gargantuan Mr. Psycho! Graham Bone keeps making refinements on each new version of this innovative Robot Wars competitor.

• The Master - The original 'thwackbot', The Master was a pioneer in interchangeable weaponry and the 'all in the wheels' drive train. Mark Setrakian was co-winner of the 1995 Robot Wars heavyweight title with this creation, and it continued to compete for many years.

These Ten 'bots deserved recognition, but I thought that they were either too odd or insufficiently unique to make my top 25 list. Three of these 'bots were voted into the hall of fame directly, and two others were given honorable mention. The others in red above were on my list for the following reasons:

• Pussycat - I knew very little about the British robots when I made my first trip to compete at Robot Wars. Wandering thru the pit area, I came across Pussycat and I froze in my tracks. It was sitting on all four wheels, looking like a pyramidal beer keg with a funny little circular saw blade at the point. Tall and tippy, it just made no sense at all to me. When I saw it in action, it made a great deal of sense -- David Gribble's 'bot completely rocks!

• Run Amok - This 'bot went against design paradigms to create a high-clearance, modestly powered, pivot-steered machine that was exactly right for the unique challenges of the first season of Robotica. The only junkyard lawn mower to win a major tittle, tenacious Run Amok was modified with a nasty looking dual-blade spinning weapon and made it to the Tag Team finals at Robot Wars as 'Run Away'. She was the luckiest robot ever built.

• Snake - Mark Setrakian scores again. No wheels, no legs, no feet. It slithers and squirms on its belly like... well, like a snake. Come to think about it, it doesn't even have a belly. People just stand and stare. Is it a combat robot? It has competed and is eligible for consideration.

• Tentomoushi - Twelve-year-old Lisa Winter builds a giant ladybug. The first successful 'smotherbot' became an icon for the sport. There ought to be a place for it in the hall of fame -- maybe at the snack bar?

• Wedge of Doom - Tony Buchignani's power-packed lightweight champion has twelve wins. Simplicity and power can be beautiful.

Brendan McClure from Alberta, Canada nailed 19 out of the 25 'bots on my Hall of Fame list, plus three from my Honorable Mention list for half a point each. He also listed the 'People's Choice' winner 'Panic Attack' for a bonus point: a 21.5 point total. His list also tied with my own for most choices shared with the popular vote list at 21.

• Ginsu - Trey Roski's show-off 'bot used large circular saw blades for wheels and was very well known -- it had a McDonald's Happy Meal toy made in it's image. Even so, the only vote it got came from Brendan.

• The Judge - Jacha Little's titanic overhead hammerbot achieved full membership in the hall in the 2005 balloting. Brendan was just a little early in addding this super-heavyweight to his list.

Brendan (known as GUAVAMOMENT on the forums) received a 'Run Amok Combat Robotics' embroidered hat and an Oregon Clandestine Street Fight video CD. Well done, Brendan!

Note: Cale Putnam submitted the only ballot that mentioned one of my 'bots, Run Amok, in the top 25. I don't know whether Cale is a fan or if he was just trying to suck up to me. Either way, I sent him a copy of the video CD. Thank you, Cale!