2019 Open Ballot -- Detailed Breakout
The Combat Robot Hall of Fame has a problem...
The Hall has always been biased toward heavyweight robots. When the Hall first started sampling the consensus of robot builders this made sense. Robot Wars and BattleBots were the televised pinnacle of the sport while smaller robots were fighting in obscurity; YouTube didn't yet exist.
For this ballot I required a little 'info-quiz' that ran thru the important voting elements and made a strong suggestion that worthy sub-lightweight robots be considered for inclusion. This 'reminder' did have an impact: the percentage of ballots mentioning at least one sublight jumped to 67%, nearly double the figure for 2017. In spite of this increase in attention we only managed to add one of the smaller robots to Hall membership. I'm actively considering an 'off-year' ballot in 2020 restricted to sub-lightweight robots only. Stay tuned.
A couple of interesting shifts in the 2019 ballot...
- A record 358 different combat robots appeared on at least one ballot -- an 86% jump over the previous record set in 2017
- Only 46% of the robots that appeared on ballots in 2017 repeated that appearance 2019. This reinforces my belief that many votes come in for 'flavor of the day' robots that are only briefly prominent and quickly fade. I'm working on a change in eligibility rules for the 2021 ballot to correct this issue.
The large voting turnout combined with the huge number of robots mentioned in ballots did make it difficult to crack thru the 50% voting threshold, even with an increase in the number of robots on an average ballot. Two dominant robots from big and small weight classes did find the global support to carve out a spot in the Hall, and four very different designs earned Honorable Mention.
- Bite Force gained full membership based on its performance in all three seasons of the BattleBots reboot. There was some controversy as to whether the 2015 champion treaded, clamping-lifter version of Bite Force differs too much from the 2018 champion wheeled, vertical-spinner version of Bite Force to be considered the same robot. Voters didn't really seem to care, and the membership committee decided to take a very inclusive stand that has spilled over to a few other robots in the Hall.
- Silent Spring becomes the first beetleweight robot to attain full membership. The top-ranked beetle was designed for low maintenance as well as dominating power.
- Behemoth gains a well earned Honorable Mention for longevity in the UK robot realm plus icon status with fans.
- Huge / HUGE! perfects the axial blade spinner on giant UHMW wheels in the featherweight class and successfully transitions the design to heavyweight class for an Honorable Mention.
- Spectre / Quantum revives the hydraulic piercing crusher design for victory in China and a run at BattleBots for the last Hall Honorable Mention in 2019.
Also note that based on the 2019 ballot and a newly expanded definition of what constitutes a 'single robot', the membership committee has chosen to combine and/or expand existing Hall of Fame listings in two cases:
- Last Rites / Tombstone - Both the 320-pound and 250-pound versions of 'Tombstone' have been added to the existing Full Membership of 220-pound 'Last Rites'.
- Touro Maximus / Minotaur - 250-pound 'Minotaur' has been added to the existing Honorable Mention listing for 220-pound 'Touro Maximus'.
Regional Breakouts
North America
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Europe
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The rest of the World
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All robots on at least 10% of ballots
In alphabetical order:
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Fun Facts
First ballot Colleyville, Texas
Last Ballot Hackensack, New Jersey
Robots mentioned on at least one ballot 358
Robots mentioned on ONLY one ballot 49%
Comments about the selections? Questions?
Contents copyright Mark Joerger, 2003, 2019
'Combat Robot Hall of Fame' is a trademark held by Mark Joerger, 2003