Welcome to the Battleblog.

I’m not sure there’s another blog covering Battlebots out there, I certainly haven’t found it. Thus I am tempted to call this the premier and preeminent Battlebots Blog, but there’s no need to tread on anyone’s toes or trigger unnecessary attention. This site is about passion for the sport and providing a venue to cover it as if it were a more mainstream sport. Sadly ESPN has not added a section for Robots Fighting, so until they do…

Each week the fight card will be posted and picks will be made, along with analysis and commentary on the various robots (and maybe some gifs if I figure out how to make those). That will occur on Wednesday, following the episode on Thursday will be a recap of the fights along with follow-up discussion on the picks (and how I screwed everything up). There will also be a Standings page that is populated throughout the season as matches occur as well as an ongoing Power Ranking section for all robots in the field (or all known robots, to be more accurate). Otherwise there will be frequent blog posts on different topics such as specific robots and ongoing trends in the sport, recaps and thoughts on previous seasons and playoff outcomes, or just whatever happens to be on my mind. There’s plenty to talk about with the 2021* Season about to start (at the start of 2022, strangely) and the last three seasons since the Discovery rebirth fresh in my mind. It’s very much a live Darwinian ecosystem these robots are existing in, mutating from season to season with both individual robot growth and the larger pool of robots changing with different designs and approaches. Obviously COVID has had a significant impact on the recent seasons in limiting the bots in the playing field; on one hand it’s unfortunate to miss out on seeing great robots compete, on the other hand things are a lot more interesting without the GOAT (Bite Force) steamrolling all-comers without breaking a sweat.

Finally, a note on the Battleblog Rules. We discuss and criticize the narratives and performances of ROBOTs, not people. The Robot Builders will not be discussed here (outside of occasional affectionate comments about their outfits and pageantry). I want this place to a place where Robot Fighting can be analyzed the same away human sports are, where strategies and tactics can be second-guessed and even lambasted, where we can talk about Tombstone as if he’s Peyton Manning or Kevin Durant. But I also want to avoid being mean, and least of all would I want to do anything that offends these wonderful wonderful people who devote their lives to giving the world this incredible futuristic sport. I wish I was one of them and I really appreciate everything they do. Ultimately I hope this blog reflects this sentiment, that is my intent.

Let the Bot Battle Begin (Thursday…)