---
title: "Robot combat"
chunk: 7/11
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_combat"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:20:55.912995+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== Interchangeable weaponry ===
It is increasingly common for robots to have interchangeable weaponry or other modular components, allowing them to adapt to a wide range of opponents and increasing their versatility; such robots are often referred to as "Swiss army bots", in reference to Swiss army knives. Arguably the earliest example was Robot Wars Series 1 contestant Plunderbird, which could change between a pneumatic spike and a circular saw on an extendable arm. Successful Swiss army bots include Robot Wars Series 6 champion Tornado, BattleBots 2016 runner-up Bombshell, Battlebots 2020 quarterfinalist and 2023 semifinalist Ribbot, and top-ranked US Beetleweight Silent Spring.
Sometimes, robots that were not originally Swiss army bots have had their weapons changed or altered on the fly, typically due to malfunctions. In BattleBots 2015, Ghost Raptor's spinning bar weapon broke in its first fight; builder Chuck Pitzer then improvised new weapons for each following fight, including a "De-Icer" arm attachment which it used to unbalance and defeat bar spinner Icewave in the quarter-finals.

=== Prohibited weaponry ===
Since the first robot combat competitions, some types of weapons have been prohibited either because they violated the spirit of the competition or they could not be safely used. Prohibited weapons have generally included:

Radio jamming
High voltage electric discharge
Liquids (glue, oil, water, corrosives...)
Fire (except in the new BattleBots and National Havoc)
Explosives
Un-tethered projectiles (except in BattleBots from 2018 season onwards)
Entanglers (except in Robot Wars from series 10 onwards)
Lasers above 1 milliwatt
Visual obstruction
Halon – a specific fire-extinguishing gas effective as a weapon in stopping internal combustion engines. Note that current rules do not specifically ban Halon as it is no longer commercially available.
Individual competitions have made exceptions to the above list. Notably, the Robotica competitions allowed flame weapons and the release of limited quantities of liquids on a case-by-case basis. The modern series of BattleBots also permits the use of flamethrowers and, as of 2016, untethered projectiles, provided that the latter are merely for show. Competitions may also restrict or ban certain otherwise legal weapons, such as banning spinners and other high-power weapons at events where the arena is not able to contain these weapons, and the new Battlebots recently banned usage of carbon dioxide gas. A well-known example of this is the Sportsman ruleset.
Arena traps have also been granted exceptions to the list of prohibited weapons. Robot Wars in particular used flame devices both in the stationary traps and on one of the roaming "House Robots".

=== Unusual weaponry and tactics ===

A very wide variety of unusual weapons and special design approaches have been tried with varying success and several types of weapons would have been tried had they not been prohibited.