Judges

Judges
Role	Judges
Seasons	Las Vegas 1999-Present

In the event that more than one robot survived the full duration of a BattleBots fight, a panel of three Judges would decide the winner based on a set of criteria which varied between seasons. Initial categories included Aggression, Strategy and Damage, with a fourth, Control, being introduced in more recent seasons while Strategy was gradually phased out.

Judges were tasked with watching battles as they were being filmed, and could enter the BattleBox to inspect damage and in modern televised seasons, request replays to aid in their decisions. A total of three judges were typically present at any one time to prevent ties.

Whereas the judges had no presence in front of camera throughout the entire Comedy Central era, they typically consisted of non-competing builders from the US Robot Wars events, or people with extensive backgrounds in engineering and robotics.

With the revival of BattleBots in 2015 on ABC, the judging panel consisted of a rotation of special guests. It was not uncommon for these to have looser ties to robotics, instead sharing connections to broader media, sport and engineering professions. However, a number of former BattleBots competitors also took on the role. In 2019, the judging panel was made permanent, and has remained that way ever since.

List of Judges

Current Judges

Name	Seasons	Background
Derek Young	World Championship III (Guest Judge) World Championship IV-Present	Best known for competing with Complete Control, Son of Smashy and Pressure Drop.
Lisa Winter		Competed with numerous BattleBots robots such as Tentoumushi, Mega Tento and Plan X.
Fon Davis	World Championship II (Guest Judge) World Championship VII-Present	Special effects expert best known for creating Mouser Mecha-Catbot.

Former Judges

Name	Seasons	Background
Paul Rieckhoff	BattleBots: Metal Mayhem	US Army veteran and activist.
Jason Bardis	World Championship IV World Championship V BattleBots: Bounty Hunters World Championship VI BattleBots: Champions I	Veteran BattleBots competitor and lightweight champion with Dr. Inferno Jr. Also competed with Towering Inferno and The Disk O' Inferno. Competed in the TLC show Robotica with Mini Inferno.
Mark Setrakian	BattleBots Championships 2009 World Championship III (Guest Judge)	Veteran roboticist. Builder of The Master, Snake, Mechadon, and the Axis robots and Stalker.
Naomi Kyle	World Championship III (Guest Judge)	Actress, on-air host and Esports personality.
Frank Ippolito		Film/TV producer, special effects and makeup effects artist.
Grant Imahara		Veteran BattleBots competitor with Deadblow, animatronics engineer and star of Mythbusters.
Bobak Ferdowsi		NASA engineer who presented Bot Breakdowns during World Championship I.
Alison Haislip		Sideline reporter for World Championship I and II; actress and TV presenter.
Simone Giertz		Inventor, robotics enthusiast and YouTube personality.
Clark Gregg	World Championship II (Guest Judge)	Actor, director and screenwriter.
Adam Savage		Co-builder of original US Robot Wars and BattleBots entry Blendo. Special effects designer and Mythbusters co-host.
Vernon Davis		NFL tight end.
Michael Stevens		Educator and public speaker, creator of the Vsauce brand.
Jessica Chobot	World Championship I World Championship II	Journalist, writer and TV presenter.
Leland Melvin		NASA astronaut, mission specialist and engineer.
Frank Jenkins	BattleBots Championships 2009
Pete Abrahamson		Bot Whisperer and competitor with Team Sinister.
Donald Hutson	BattleBots IQ 2004	Captain of Mutant Robots and Giant Nut winner with Diesector.
Brian Nave	BattleBots IQ 2005	Captain of Team LOGICOM.
Amy Sun		Operation Boilermaker team member with Kill-O-Amp and Jaws of Death.
Peter Drewes
William Garcia de Quevedo		Team Loki member with Buddy Lee Don't Play in the Street and son to Nola and Bill Garcia.
Michael Mauldin	BattleBots IQ 2002	Team Toad captain who most recently competed in BattleBots with Texas Twister
Tom Bales		Mentor for Ransom Everglades Robotics and father to HyperShock captain Will Bales.
Jim Smentowski	BattleBots IQ 2002 BattleBots IQ 2005	Captain and builder of fan favorites Nightmare and Backlash. Also competed with Breaker Box.
Roger Linn	Season 5.0
Tom Nawrocki	Seasons 4.0-5.0
Erik Bell
David Johnson	Season 4.0
Alan Federman	Season 3.0 Season 5.0	2000 FIRST National Championship winner as part of the East San Jose team. Was later a principle integration engineer for various companies.
Dave Calkins	Season 3.0 Season 4.0 Season 5.0 BattleBots IQ 2002	Robotics and computer engineering professor at San Francisco State University. Ring announcer for preliminary fights and future RoboGames founder.
Bernard Calip	Season 3.0 Season 4.0
Russell Jackman	Season 2.0 Season 3.0
Dan Polanek	Season 2.0
Andrew Lindsey		Competitor in BattleBots with Spike of Doom and Mantis, as well as US Robot Wars competitions and the untelevised MTV Robot Wars pilot with Spike.
Joanne Pransky	Las Vegas 1999 Season 1.0 Season 2.0 Season 3.0 Season 4.0 Season 5.0 BattleBots IQ 2002 BattleBots IQ 2005	Robotics enthusiast and futurist, recognized as the world's first "robot psychiatrist".
Gary Cline	Las Vegas 1999 Seasons 3.0 Season 4.0 Season 5.0	Builder of Long Beach 1999 competitor Crock, founder of TLC's Robotica.
Bob Pitzer	Las Vegas 1999	Member of BattleBots and Robot Wars competitors Team Raptor.

Judges' Decisions

• Example of a Judges' score sheet.
• Jason Bardis' scorecard for HUGE vs. Hydra.
• Another Jason Bardis score sheet, this time for HUGE vs. Mammoth.
• A third scorecard from Jason Bardis, for Witch Doctor vs. Hydra.
• Scorecards from all 3 judges for Hydra vs. Black Dragon.
• Scorecards from all 3 judges for Witch Doctor vs. Minotaur.

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Comedy Central BattleBots

Throughout the Comedy Central era, the following criteria was used to determine which robot would receive a judges' decision in head-to-head matches:

• If the battle was stopped due to either robot being incapacitated.
• If one robot was deemed to have violated safety rules.
• If both robots survived the full three minutes.

In the latter scenario, the judges would award a total of 45 points (15 points per Judge) to each robot. Up to five points from the 15-point pool would be distributed across the following three categories:

• Aggression: Determines how aggressive a robot was throughout the battle, 'based on the frequency and severity of contact initiated' against its opponent(s).
• Damage: Determines how much Damage the robot dealt to its opponent while remaining intact itself.
• Strategy: Determines how well a robot exploits its opponent's weaknesses, protects its own, and makes use of or negotiates the BattleBox hazards.

The robot with the highest score from all three categories would be declared the winner.

Two different sets of criteria were used for Rumbles. Rumbles staged as 'single or final rounds' would be decided by 'audience applause', with aggressive performances being emphasized as a factor in deciding the victors. In all other circumstances, the battles were assessed under the following criteria:

• If one robot was shown to have clearly dominated the fight, even if more than one robot remained active.
• If fewer than half of the competing robots were still mobile, the remainder would automatically advance to the next stage of the Rumble tournament.
• If more than half of the competing robots were still mobile, they would be judged solely on Aggression and their overall condition. Progressing robots would comprise of the 50% deemed to have best fulfilled the latter criteria.

In qualifying Rumbles, the judges also had the option to allow up to two more minutes to decide upon a winner.

The rules for the Comedy Central seasons were largely carried over from those issued for the original 1999 events at Long Beach and Las Vegas. The main differences present in the earlier Las Vegas PPV criteria were a smaller total of 9 points (3 per Judge, 1 per category), and the option for the judges to allow an extra 60 seconds to decide the winners of head-to-head matches.

ABC and Discovery seasons

For the 2015 and 2016 ABC seasons, a fourth category, Control, was added, specifically highlighting a robot's ability to 'attack an opponent at its weakest point', utilize its weapons well and minimize an opponent's chances of damaging it in response. Avoidance of BattleBox hazards was also emphasized. Points allocations for each category were also greatly simplified; by 2016, two points were awarded for Aggression and one point for Control, Damage and Strategy respectively.

The 2016 season also saw the definition for Aggression modified, now ruling the use of powered weapons as the only viable method of scoring points in this category. Attacks without these were discounted as a defensive measure and could in some cases reduce an individual robot's Aggression score.

A further change for 2018 season resulted in the points scores for Damage and Aggression being swapped round, the former becoming the most important factor now worth 2 points. Rules concerning ramming attacks with 'passive' features (e.g. wedges) and without the use of powered weapons were also adjusted, with further changes being made in later Discovery seasons.

Matrix scoring system used by the judges during World Championship VI.

For the 2019 season, the judging criteria was once again changed as part of a switch to a 7-point system. The Strategy category was dropped entirely and increased point values issued for Damage (3 points), Aggression (2 points) and Control (2 points) respectively. The values were further increased for the 2020 season, with an 11-point system awarding 5 points for Damage and 3 points each for the other two remaining categories.

While the 11-point system was carried over to the 2021 season, the season marked the switch to a new matrix system to determine winners. This change enabled the judges to make a more objective assessment of matches lasting the full three minutes. All existing categories were now given "minimal", "moderate" or "significant" rankings depending on an individual robot's performances, along with an extra "massive" ranking applied only to the Damage category.

Below is a table of official definitions of each ranking, as defined in the 2021 Judges' Guide:

	Damage	Aggression	Control
Minimal	"Doesn't reduce the functionality or effectiveness of the Bot."	"A Bot waits for its opponent to come to it, or else actively avoids contact with the opponent (except when resetting or spinning up its active weapon)."	"Bot is rarely able (or unable) to initiate physical or weapon contact with, and also avoid attacks from, its opponent. It also may inadvertently hit the guardrails or an Arena hazard."
Moderate	"Reduces the effectiveness of the drive, defensibility, or weapon system of the Bot."	"Bot occasionally demonstrates boldness and/or intent by utilizing its active weapon or ramming to attack the opponent."	"Bot can occasionally use its weapon or armor to attack its opponent and sometimes avoids opponent attacks. Generally avoids the Arena hazards."
Significant	"Eliminates the functionality of the drive, defensibility, or weapon system, or reduces the effectiveness of two or more systems of the Bot"	"Bot shows frequent demonstrations of boldness and/or intent by utilizing its active weapon and/or ramming to attack its opponent."	"Bot moves decisively and effectively and is consistently able to attack its opponent and avoid hits by the opponent’s weapon or armor."
Massive	"Eliminates the functionality of at least two systems of the Bot."	N/A	N/A

Further amendments to the rules were made in response to events from the 2020 season, in which teams would only be awarded a maximum of two points for Aggression and Control if they did not use their functional powered weapons at all during fights. Self-inflicted Damage was also taken into consideration when evaluating the judges' overall scores.

Other Responsibilities

The judges assessing Quantum and Black Dragon for damage during World Championship VII.

As well as making decisions, the judges would also be called upon in the Comedy Central run to ask robots to separate, if one pinned or lifted another for more than the allowed 30 seconds. If both robots became stuck together and were unable to free each other, the match would also be paused to enable BattleBots crew members to manually separate them.

In recent seasons, the responsibility to address instances of prolonged lifting, pinning or grappling was passed on to the referees, as was the practice of instigating a Timeout if two or more robots became stuck together. If robots became stuck and could not be freed safely or without risk of damage, however, the judges could still be called to make a decision if the above circumstances prevented a rematch from happening.

Debuting in World Championship VII, judges were called upon to reassess fights in the instance of an Appeal being launched as a result of a judges' decision believed by one or more teams to be wrong. Judges could then rewrite their scorecards in the rare instance that vital information had been missed when making their initial decision.