Battling Robots

Robots that are designed to do battle with each other are under the generic term battling robots. The term "battlebots" was introduced in 2000 when the show with that name was produced by BattleBots, Inc.. The name was also trademarked by Battlebots, Inc. This show ran until 2002. The company still markets robot battle competitions. Many robot battling competitions, technically are not autonomous robots, but remote controlled vehicles. An operator controls the vehicle in an effort to immobilize or destroy the competitor's vehicles. There are some robot competitions that feature true autonomous robots that fully operate without a human.

One such competition was inspired from Japanese sumo wrestling. Some call these competitions sumo bots or robot sumo battles. In this case two or more robots fight each other, not in an effort to destroy each other, but to push each other out of a ring on the floor. The autonomous sumo bots are designed to find each other using sensors. They also have sensors to locate the ring on the floor to stay inside the ring.

Both types of battle are very competitive. For those who love robots, their preference usually goes with sumo bot competitions. In this case, the robots they build are not destroyed. The robots with the best programming, sensors, and power are typically victorious.