The Best Design Award, also known as the Best Designer Award and known since World Championship V as the Grant Imahara Award for Best Design, is an end-of-season award presented to the team whose robot best embodies a combination of impressive engineering and unique design.
While not strictly performance-based, an impressive design combined with functionality and competitiveness, especially concerning designs which challenge the meta, weigh heavily when considering a winner for this award. The inaugural winner of this was Mechadon, built by robotics expert Mark Setrakian. While the award was not presented again throughout Comedy Central seasons, it was brought back as BattleBots returned to ABC in 2015.
The Best Designer Award bolt presented during the 2016 season.
With the sudden passing of former BattleBots competitor, judge and television personality Grant Imahara in July 2020, the Best Design Award was renamed in his memory.
| Grant Imahara Award for Best Design Winners | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Robot | Year | Event | Image |
| Mechadon | 1999 | Long Beach 1999 |  |
| Warhead | 2015 | World Championship I |  |
| Red Devil | 2016 | World Championship II |  |
| HUGE | 2018 | World Championship III |  |
| Quantum | 2019 | World Championship IV |  |
| Chomp | 2020 | World Championship V BattleBots: Bounty Hunters |
 |
| Blip | 2021 | World Championship VI |  |
| RIPperoni | 2022 | World Championship VII BattleBots: Champions II |
 |
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