Organization:Robot Fighting League

The Robot Fighting League (RFL) organizes and promotes combat robot competitions and other robotic sports. The RFL was created in November 2002 out of an ongoing discussion among many of the combat robot competition organizers. The RFL mission is to promote the sport of fighting robots, provide consistency among events and support builders and event organizers.

What the RFL does

Chart showing number of RFL sanctioned fights by year.

The Robot Fighting League is composed of "Event Organizers" who organize and promote combat robot competitions. Since the founding of the league in 2002 RFL members have presented over 120 events for combat robots in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Brazil. This exceeds the number of robot combat events put on by all other sanctioning bodies in the Americas since the beginning of the sport.

The RFL has developed a standard set of rules and regulations for robot combat events. These rules are used by all RFL member events, providing combat robot builders with a consistent environment in which to build and compete.

The RFL organized a national championship event every year from 2003 through 2005. Competitors who qualified by placing in the top tier at RFL events during the preceding year competed for the championships in weight classes ranging from 150 grams to 340 pounds.

Current membership

Any group that organizes robot combat events using the RFL rules is eligible to apply for membership in the league. Current event members include:

Event	Location
Battle Beach	Ormond Beach, FL
California Insect Bots	Gilroy, CA
Carolina Combat Robots	Greensboro, NC
Central Illinois Robotics Club	Peoria, IL
ComBots (RoboGames)	San Francisco, CA
Ohio Robot Club	Cleveland, OH
Queensland Robotics Sports Club	Brisbane, Australia
RoboCore	São Paulo, Brasil
Saskatoon Combat Robotics Club	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Western Allied Robotics	Seattle, WA

Rules

The RFL rule set is revised annually in the last calendar quarter of the year. Member organizations submit changes for discussion by the RFL general membership, and a "draft for review" emerges from that discussion. The draft is published for public comment on the RFL Forum during a 30-day review period. Builder comments and suggestions on the draft are welcomed. After the review period, the comments and suggestions are reviewed and incorporated. The final draft is then submitted to a vote by the RFL general membership, with a simple majority required for acceptance. If accepted, the revised rules become effective for the next calendar year.

Winners of the RFL National Championships

	2003	2004	2005	2006
150 g		Quark2	VD
1 lb	VDD	Pneu Jimmy	MC Pee Pants	UnderWhere?!
3 lb		Wallop	Buster Blade	Itsa?
12 lb	Li'l Shocker	Target Practice	Li'l Shocker	CheepShot 3.0
30 lb	Peanut	Totally Offensive	Totally Offensive	Xhilirating impaX
60 lb	Wedge of Doom	West Side Glory	Joe 2.0	Son of Whacky Compass
120 lb	Max Wedge	Max Wedge	Devil's Plunger	Ice Cube
220 lb	Megabyte	SJ	Sewer Snake	Shrederator
340 lb	Mer Madd	Shovelhead	Shovelhead	Psychotic Reaction

Media coverage

In May/June 2011, Science Channel broadcast selected heavyweight combat division matches from RoboGames in a one-hour special entitled Killer Robots: RoboGames 2011. The program was hosted by Grant Imahara of the Mythbusters.

See also

• Robot Combat
• Robot Combat Events
  • Robot Wars
  • BattleBots
  • Robotica
• The Big Bang Theory episode "The Killer Robot Instability", which repeatedly mentions the Robot Fighting League as the sponsor of a robot combat event central to the plot.

External links

• CNET TV coverage of RFL national event