2023 Open Ballot -- Detailed Breakout
How Many Robots Can You Think Of?
I lost control of the 2023 CRHoF balloting early on. I generally announce the Hall of Fame balloting in a limited number of combat robot builder forums on different continents. This time some 'helpful' individual placed a long and detailed post in the largest combat robot fansite on the planet with a direct link to the ballot. The effects of this were far reaching.
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The largest number of robots listed in a single ballot in 2021 was 38. The 2023 vote saw a dozen ballots that listed twice that many robots, and a few with more than 100. Who out there believes that there are more than 100 combat robots that deserve to be added to the Hall of Fame?
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The 2021 voting had 191 different combat robots named on at least one ballot. The 2023 voting more than doubled that figure with 438 robots named. The list includes robots that have never even entered a tournament.
- There were five times as many ballots in 2023 than were submitted in 2021, and those extra ballots trended toward US sources. The good news is that fans of the National Havoc Robot League (NHRL) turned out in large numbers and boosted votes for sub-lightweight robots that have been underrepresented in the CRHoF.
New Members: Sub-Lights Moving Up!
A single robot garnered enough support to rise from the Honorable Mention roll and gain full membership:
HUGE! The paradigm-breaking high-wheeled plastic wonder gained Honorable Mention in the 2019 ballot and was promoted to full membership by a comfortable margin with full support from the US, Europe, and the far corners of the globe.
Five new names have been added to the Honorable Mention roll in 2023, tying the record number from 2021: two heaavyweights from BattleBots and three sub-lights from the NHRL.
Droopy Most successful combat robots have wheels. Most successful combat robots have one active weapon. Beetleweight 'Droopy' has two independently controlled bar spinners that 'droop' a bit from horizontal. Playing with the relative speed of the two weapons creates a torque motion and a little lift that pivots one side and then the other forward -- a gyro torque reaction walker. An 85% match win rate says this works!
Hydra People like to watch robots being thrown in the air. 'Hydra' does that well. It probably needs to win a tournament if it hopes to gain Full Membership.
Lynx I've heard people claim that 'Lynx' is the most successful combat robot ever made. This beetle has entered 7 NHRL tournaments, won five, and placed 2nd in another. It wins outside the NHRL as well. Lynx gathered more than twice the votes needed for its Honorable Mention.
SawBlaze and teammate MegatRON each received enough support to independently gain Honorable Mention status.
- 'SawBlaze' won the Battlebots 2023 World Championship tournament in a series of matches against a variety of opponent types.
- 'MegatRON' is the featherweight robot that developed SawBlaze's effective hammer-saw weapon by fighting in the NHRL Featherweight class with an 82% match win record and three tournament victories, never finishing out of the top three.
Endgame Firestorm Spectre/Quantum Touro Maximus/Minotaur Witch Doctor and Ziggy all appeared on between 25% and 50% of 2023 balllots, but they already have Hororable Mention status.
A Few Votes That Don't Count
As usual, I received a few ballots mentioning robots that are not eligible for membership in the hall. Voting for an inelligible robot does not effect the rest of your ballot, but it does take up a vote. Due to the overstuffed ballots from this year I may limit the number of robots per ballot for 2025.
A complete explanation of what robots do and do not qualify for membership can be found at Combat Robot Hall of Fame: Eligibility.
Regional Breakouts
United States
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United Kingdom
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Rest of World
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All robots on at least 10% of ballots
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Fun Facts
First ballot Quezon City, Phillipines
Last Ballot Baltimore, Maryland
Robots mentioned on at least one ballot 438
Robots mentioned on ONLY one ballot 42%
Contents copyright Mark Joerger, 2003, 2021
'Combat Robot Hall of Fame' is a trademark held by Mark Joerger, 2003