History
Among the oldest robotic combat competitions extant in the United States were the "Critter Crunch" (founded about 1987) in Denver and "Robot Battles" (founded in 1991) based in the southeastern U.S. Both events were run by members of the "Denver Mad Scientists Society".
1994 - Marc Thorpe organized the first Robot Wars competition in San Francisco. Four annual competitions were held.
1997 - Rights to the Robot Wars name is transferred to British TV production company who produce the Robot Wars television series. Early seasons feature competitive games and obstacle courses as well as simple combat. The series aired 151 episodes across 12 series from 1997 to 2003. Special series were produced for the United States and the Netherlands.
1999 - Former Robot Wars competitors in the U.S. organize a new competition named BattleBots. The first tournament was shown as a webcast, with the second tournament shown as a cable 'Pay-per-view' event.
2000 - BattleBots is picked up as a weekly television program on Comedy Central. It would span five seasons ending in 2002.
2001 - Robotica appears on The Learning Channel as a weekly series. The format features tests of power, speed and maneuverability as well as combat. The show ran in three series, ending in 2002.
2002 - Foundation of the Robot Fighting League, a regulatory body composed of the organizers of robot combat events in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. The body produces a unified set of regulations and promotes the sport.
2004 - Robot Combat is included as an event at the ROBOlympics in San Francisco, California, with competitors from multiple countries.
2008 - ROBOlympics changes its name to RoboGames and, while most events are not combat related, Robot Combat is significantly featured.
Read more about this topic: Robot Combat
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