Judges

Whenever a battle ended with no clear winner, a panel of three judges would decide on the outcome by scoring each competitor on style, control, damage and aggression. In total, six different judges appeared on the show, all with backgrounds in robotics, electronics or computer science. The judges from the UK series also appeared on various other versions of the show, as they were usually filmed alongside each other in the same arena. In the Dutch and German Robot Wars, the judges were known as the jury.

List of Judges
For Series 5 and Extreme 1, Martin Smith, Myra Wilson and Mat Irvine cycled throughout, with two of the three acting as judges alongside Noel Sharkey. After this, Wilson left the show, and Irvine, Sharkey and Smith remained in the role until the end of the show's run.

Noel Sharkey, Martin Smith and Mat Irvine also appeared as judges for all but one series of the US, Dutch and German wars as they all took place during or after the filming for Extreme Series 1, when those three judges were first put together. The only exception was Dutch Series 1, in which Myra Wilson was a judge instead of Mat Irvine.

In recognition for creating the first antweight robot, Adam Clark was the sole judge of the Extreme Series 2 Antweight Championship.

Judges' Decision
A judges' decision would be made at the end of a battle if:
 * There are a sufficient number of mobile machines when time runs out such that there is no clear winner(s)
 * The machines fighting become immobilized at roughly the same time (the judges may call for a rematch in this case)
 * There is a rule infraction, for example a health and safety hazard.
 * The match must be halted early for any reason (the judges may call for a rematch in this case).
 * It is decided that the house robots improperly influenced the outcome

The four criteria for judges' decisions during the original run of the series are style, control, damage and aggression. Of these, damage carries the most weight, with aggression deemed the next most important.


 * Style refers to how well the robot entertained the viewers and demonstrated its abilities. Best examples of this include Razer's or Mute's fancy ways self-righting. One would lose points for style if it did nothing entertaining during the battle. Style is judged to be the least important of the criteria.


 * Control refers to how well the robot drove during the battle. It also gives weight to how much control the robot had over the flow of the battle. Ways to lose points for control include getting pushed around, and poor avoidance of arena hazards. Control is the third most important factor in a judges' decision.


 * Aggression refers to how aggressive the robot was deemed to be during the battle, not necessarily causing damage. The best example of this is Storm 2 vs The Grim Reaper, where although Storm 2 did not damage The Grim Reaper sufficiently to knock it out, it was on the offensive during the entire battle. Aggression can only be outweighed by damage.


 * Damage refers to the amount of damage inflicted on the other robot as a result of one robot's actions. Best examples of this include Wild Thing against Hypno-Disc, Firestorm 3 vs Razer and Dominator 2 vs 101. Damage is the most prominent factor in a judges' decision.

Weighting of Judges' Decision Criteria

 * DAMAGE. (Weight of 4) 1-5 points x 4 = Score for Damage.


 * AGGRESSION. (Weight of 3) 1-5 points x 3 = Score for Aggression.


 * CONTROL. (Weight of 2) 1-5 points x 2 = Score for Control.


 * STYLE. (Weight of 1) 1-5 points x 1 = Score for Style.

The winner will be the robot who has scored the highest number of points if there has been no clear winners. This scoring system gives a fair and unbiased chance for every robot - irrespective of size, weight or power - to win.

In 2016, changes were made to the judges' decision criteria. Aggression has been deemed the most important factor this time around, with a x 3 weighting; Damage is x 2 and Control x 1. The Style category was also removed.

Close, Notable or Controversial Judges' Decisions
"Robot Wars matches were edited for broadcast and it is unwise to call a match based on what you saw on television. I saw several matches that had 'controversial' outcomes when broadcast that were clearly correctly judged when viewed in person. The matches were edited to make them entertaining - not to make the outcome clear."

- Mark Joerger to people who would complain about certain judges' decisions

Below is a list of judges decisions that were viewed by the Robot Wars Community as controversial, or notable because their closeness, or events that transpired prior to, during, or after the decision.
 * Note: Robots in italics were deemed immobile at the time of the judges decision, so the decision was never going to put them through.