An Out of the Arena, colloquially abbreviated to OOTA and sometimes known instead as a Ring Out, is a term used to describe an instance where a robot has forced its opponent (or itself) into a zone outside of the fighting area.
These can be dedicated ring out zones, or unintentional areas of the BattleBox not intended to be used in such a way.
History[]
La Machine demonstrating one of the first ever ring out wins.
A win by "out of the arena" knockout was originally demonstrated at US Robot Wars events, where robots such as La Machine proved powerful enough to be able to ram opponents out of the intended arena space and onto a small ledge. However, as the BattleBox was first built ahead of the Long Beach and Las Vegas 1999 events, the enclosed, cube-like arena did not accommodate wins in this nature.
Chaos 2 scoring the first out of the arena win in Robot Wars.
Meanwhile, the British television show Robot Wars saw its arena raised considerably off the studio floor, and the outer perimeter of the fighting zone fitted with shorter inner rails, later replaced by solid walls. Robot Wars saw its first win by out of the arena flip during Series 3, where eventual two-time champion Chaos 2 threw its opponent Fire Storm over the wall, landing upside-down against the arena supports and along the track for a mobile camera. Though unintentional according to George Francis and unprecedented, this would later become a viable win condition in future series of the show. This encouraged a surge of robots armed with rear-hinged flippers looking to achieve the same method of winning in the United Kingdom, and encouraged what would become colloquially known as the Britflipper design.
Domestically, the BattleBox remained impossible to score ring-out victories in throughout all five seasons of Comedy Central BattleBots, and indeed untelevised events until the BattleBox was reworked in the mid-2000s, cutting off the arena's corners. However, getting a robot into these zones did not constitute a knockout, and victims of these attacks were manually freed and reintroduced to the fight. However, SubZero managed to achieve what is believed to be the first BattleBots ring-out win by throwing an inverted Stop-Bot over the wall behind a pulverizer hammer. SubZero would achieve this against Icewave during the 2006 Cisco Party event in a smaller arena, and then a year later during the 2007 JavaOne event.
In 2008, middleweight BattleBots IQ competitor Knightrous achieved a similar feat, becoming the first in the event's history to win in this way, against Fang.[1] The team's 15lb robot, Mini Knightrous, achieved a similar feat against Über Schnitzel during the same year's events.
Bronco throws DUCK! into the toaster slots.
Dedicated ring-out zones remained part of the BattleBox as the show returned on ABC in 2015, with out of the arenas being a viable knockout strategy for robots such as Bronco and Bite Force. Throughout its career, the Inertia Labs robot notably won four fights in this way, against Witch Doctor and Stinger: The Killer Bee in World Championship I, as well as both Bombshell and DUCK! during World Championship III. Due to how low the walls in the corners were, robots such as Bloodsport during their World Championship IV play in battle found themselves landing in an out of the arena zone as a direct result of an impact with another robot's high kinetic energy weapon.
Tantrum scores a ring out victory over ROTATOR.
However, changes to the arena over time made this method of winning more difficult to achieve, with production discouraging ring-outs due to safety issues concerned with either hauling beaten robots out of the outer perimeter of the arena or having robots blocking the entry. The outer walls known unofficially as 'toaster slots' were first blocked with 'sneeze guard' panels to prevent instances of out of the arenas such as DUCK!'s aforementioned loss to Bronco during World Championship III.
In 2022, the low walls which saw Tantrum score two knockout wins on its path to its first Giant Nut in World Championship VI had tall, Lexan gates attached to them. Although the elite flipping robots such as Hydra and Blip - as well as many vertical spinners - were able to throw opponents higher than these gates, no competitor picked up a win by out of the arena throughout World Championship VII.
During the live show, BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon, select robots have managed to achieve ring-out wins with the walls lowered again. Bronco and Hydra are among the robots which have done this during the show, with OverKill picking up an unorthodox win in this method against Proving Ground opponent Hellfire.
Leaderboard[]
- Robots listed with a gold background (desktop only) have held the record for most out of the arena flips at any one time.
- Robots listed by number of out of the arena flips. Where tied, the robots are listed by order in which they first achieved the feat.
- Robots listed with a dagger (†) were parts of multibots, including robots with minibots, and are classed as counting for a full number. Each part counts as one, but in the case of multiple robots in a multibot being thrown out in the same battle, it still counts as one.
- Robots listed in bold text have thrown themselves out of the arena.
| Robot | Total | List of Robots Thrown Out of the Arena | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronco | 7 * | Witch Doctor, Stinger: The Killer Bee (World Championship I) Bombshell, DUCK! (World Championship III) OverKill, Chopper (BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon) |
The robot with the most ring-out flips in BattleBots history. |
| Hydra | 5 | Petunia (World Championship IV) HyperShock (World Championship V) Gruff (World Championship VI) Cobalt (re:MARS all:STARS 2022) OverKill (BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon) |
The robot with the most ring-out flips which currently competes in the televised show. |
| SubZero | Icewave (Cisco Party 2006, JavaOne 2007) Stop-Bot (Rochester R3) P1, The Four Horsemen (World Championship IV) |
First robot to flip another out of the arena in a BattleBots competition. | |
| HyperShock | 4 | Self-inflicted (World Championship IV) Lock-Jaw (World Championship VI) Skorpios (BattleBots: Champions I) Orbitron (BattleBots FaceOffs) |
First (and so far, only) robot to throw itself out of the arena. |
| End Game | 3 | Tombstone, Whiplash (World Championship V) SawBlaze (World Championship VI) |
First robot to win a title fight by throwing its opponent out of the arena, thus winning the Giant Nut. |
| Mini Knightrous | 2 | Über Schnitzel, Demansi Olivacea (BattleBots IQ 2008) | First robot to ring-out two robots in the same competition. One of the first two robots to achieve a ring-out with a spinning weapon. |
| Uppercut | 2 | Gemini, HiJinx (World Championship V) | Out of the arena on Gemini contributed to the quickest win in the reboot seasons of BattleBots. |
| Tantrum | 2 | ROTATOR, Cobalt (World Championship VI) | First robot to achieve multiple out of the arena knockouts en route to a Giant Nut win. |
| Knightrous | 1 | Fang (BattleBots IQ 2008) | First recognised robots to throw an opponent out of the arena with a spinning weapon. |
| eXecutor | 1 | Interstellar Overdrive (BattleBots IQ 2009) | First recognised out of the arena knockout win by a 15lb robot in the 120lb arena. |
| Chunk | 1 | Bear Punch (Collegiate Championship 2009) | Only ring-out of the 2009 Championships. |
| Good Knight | 1 | UKnight (BattleBots IQ 2008) | First wedgebot to achieve a ring out. |
| Wrecks | 1 | Witch Doctor (World Championship II) | First and only gyro-walker to throw an opponent out of the arena. |
| Bite Force | 1 | Bombshell (World Championship III) | |
| Mammoth | 1 | Axe Backwards (World Championship IV) | First robot to achieve an out of the arena knockout win on its debut. |
| Son of Whyachi | 1 | Copperhead (World Championship IV) | First and only horizontal spinner to achieve this feat. |
| Railgun MAX | 1 | Bloodsport (World Championship IV) | First international entry to achieve an out of the arena knockout. |
| OverKill | 1 | Hellfire (BattleBots Proving Ground) | First BattleBots Proving Ground ring-out win. Due to the lack of a countout, this eight second KO is the fastest fight in modern BattleBots. |
| Magnitude | 1 | Taco Tuesday (BattleBots Proving Ground) | Second BattleBots Proving Ground ring-out win. |
| Robots that have flipped another robot out of the arena | |||
* Bronco's record may be higher as only OOTAs achieved during shows audience members have provided anecdotal evidence on have been included.
Ring-Outs by Competition[]
Rochester R3[]
| Robot | Opponent | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SubZero | Stop-Bot | Flipper | First out of the arena flip. |  |
Cisco Party 2006[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SubZero | Icewave | Final | Flipper | Only OOTA of the event. |  |
JavaOne 2007[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SubZero | Icewave | Final | Flipper | Same means of KO as in the previous year's competition. |  |
BattleBots IQ 2008[]
| Robot | Opponent | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knightrous | Fang | Eggbeater drum spinner |  | |
| Mini Knightrous | Über Schnitzel | Eggbeater drum spinner | First robot to throw two opponents out of the arena in the same competition. |  |
| Demansi Olivacea |  | |||
| Good Knight | UKnight | Wedge | First robot to achieve a ring out with a wedge. |  |
BattleBots IQ 2009[]
| Robot | Opponent | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Executioner | Interstellar Overdrive | Vertical spinner | First ring-out by a 15lb robot in the 120lb arena. |  |
Collegiate Championship 2009[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chunk | Bear Punch | Round 1 | Spinning bar | First ring-out filmed for intent of distribution. |  |
World Championship I[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronco | Witch Doctor | Round of 24 | Flipper | First publicly televised ring-out. | 
|
| Stinger: The Killer Bee | Quarter-Final | One of the most memorable ring-outs. | 
|
World Championship II[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wrecks | Witch Doctor | Exhibition Rumble | Vertical flywheel | Only ring-out by a gyro walker. |  |
World Championship III[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Means of throwing out | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronco | Bombshell | Fight Nights | Flipper |  |
| Bite Force | Bar spinner |  | ||
| Bronco | DUCK! | Flipper | |
World Championship IV[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mammoth | Axe Backwards | Fight Nights | Rotary lifting trunk | Achieved in Mammoth's BattleBots debut. |  |
| SubZero | P1, Burnout† | Flipper | First time two multibot parts were flipped out of the arena in the same fight. | ||
| Hydra | Petunia | Flipper | First time a robot had become immobilized between the walls and pulverizer. |  | |
| SubZero | War† | Flipper |  | ||
| Son of Whyachi | Copperhead | Play-ins | Cage spinner | First and only horizontal spinner to achieve a ring-out victory. |  |
| Railgun MAX | Bloodsport | Eggbeater | First OOTA from an Asian team. |  | |
| HyperShock | Itself | Exhibition Match | Drisk | First robot to throw itself out of the arena. |  |
World Championship V[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End Game | Tombstone | Fight Nights | Vertical spinner | First OOTA of a former Giant Nut winner. |  |
| Uppercut | Gemini | Vertical spinning bar | Contributed to one of the quickest fights in BattleBots history. |  | |
| HiJinx | Round of 32 |  | |||
| Hydra | HyperShock | Flipper |  | ||
| End Game | Whiplash | Final | Flywheel | First title fight to be decided by an OOTA. |  |
World Championship VI[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hydra | Gruff | Fight Nights | Flipper | First televised OOTA of World Championship VI. |  |
| HyperShock | Lock-Jaw | Drisk | First filmed OOTA of World Championship VI. |  | |
| End Game | SawBlaze | Flywheel | Quickest fight of World Championship VI. |  | |
| Tantrum | ROTATOR | Round of 16 | Punching vertical spinner | First time a robot had flipped two opponents out in consecutive battles. | |
| Cobalt | Quarter-Final |  |
BattleBots: Champions I[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HyperShock | Skorpios | Quarter-Final | Drisk | Quickest fight in BattleBots history at just over 24 seconds in length. |  |
re:MARS all:STARS (2022)[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Means of throwing out | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hydra | Cobalt | Semi-Final | Flipper | First OOTA outside of a televised season. |  |
BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Date | Means of throwing out | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hydra | OverKill | Exhibition Matches | February 24, 2023 | Flipper | |
| Bronco* | June 21, 2023 | ||||
| Chopper | June 25, 2023 | ||||
| September 24, 2023 | |||||
| OverKill | Hellfire | BattleBots Proving Ground | January 29, 2024 | Wedge | 
|
| Magnitude | Taco Tuesday | March 24, 2024 | Eggbeater spinner |  |
NOTE: Bronco's record is not exhaustive as it competes regularly at BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon. As such, only OOTAs cited by audience members in attendance have been detailed. OOTAs achieved by ShowBots against ShowBots are also omitted from this list, such as HyperShock's knockout win against Witch Doctor as the main event of the January 27, 2024 show.
BattleBots FaceOffs[]
| Robot | Opponent | Battle | Means of throwing out | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HyperShock | Orbitron | Round Robin Match #2 | Drisk Spinner |  |