2025 Open Ballot -- Detailed Breakout
No Combat Robots on TV
The absence of BattleBots from basic cable snapped our string of greater and greater numbers of ballots, but there is still plenty of top tier robot combat out there that now has greater focus. Significant numbers of votes came in for heavyweight robots competing at the Chinese "King of Bots" and Russian "Bitva Robotov" tournaments, as well as broad voting for the the sub-light NHRL 'bots. Combined with voters re-examining early Robot Wars favorites and evaluating overlooked BattleBot entries, the new inductees represent a broad and diverse sample of great robots.
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The new rule imposing a limit of 25 robots on a ballot appears to have encouraged greater thought from voters. The average number of votes per ballot hovered just over 13, with fewer than 25% of ballots pushed out to the upper limit.
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The 2023 voting had 438 different combat robots named on at least one ballot. The 2025 voting reduced that figure to 177 individual robots -- close to the 191 named in 2021.
- The percentage of votes from the UK and the rest of the world increased this year, combining to outnumber the US ballots by a bit largely due to a big increase in ballots from China. There were also very few ballots limited to robots from the country of origin -- voters have a broader view of international events.
New Members: a Good Mix
Three robots found their way up from the Honorable Mention roll and gain full membership. In alphabetical order:
Firestorm Who has won more matches than any other robot in the main Robot Wars tournaments? Yep -- and in their five tournament appearances they never failed to reach the semi-finals.
Lynx The most successful combat robot ever? Certainly the most successful beetle.
SawBlaze/MegatRON Featherweight "MegatRON" perfected the design and "SawBlaze" took it to the heavyweight class. Here they share a combined membership.
Four new names have been added to the Honorable Mention roll in 2025: heaavyweights from three countries and a terrifying NHRL featherweight.
Díotóir The Irish Robot Wars fan favorite. Yes, it catches fire mostly on purpose, but voters around the world call it an icon.
Emulsifier Not the Battlebots heavyweight, but the feared NHRL featherweight the team used to hone the design. A true knockout specialist.
Iron Scrap - 废铁 The Chinese heavyweight that has torn up "King of Bots" and the Russian "Bitva Robotov" tournaments.
Tantrum BattleBots Champion and leading developer of the "punching spinner" weapon.
Droopy Endgame Minotaur Quantum Witch Doctor and Ziggy all appeared on between 25% and 50% of 2023 balllots, but they already have Hororable Mention status.
Other robots on at least 10% of ballots
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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 ineligible robot does not effect the rest of your ballot, but it does take up a vote.
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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Fun Facts
First ballot Tokyo, Japan
Last Ballot Fakenham, England
Robots mentioned on at least one ballot 177
Robots mentioned on ONLY one ballot 45%
Contents copyright Mark Joerger, 2003, 2025
'Combat Robot Hall of Fame' is a trademark held by Mark Joerger, 2003