Can I put a .357 Magnum, Flamethrower, Taser Gun, EMP Generator, or Liquid Nitrogen-Freeze Ray on my robot?
A. No, the rules are very specific. Before you even start designing your robot, you need to read and be familiar with the rules for the competition. The BattleBots Rules, BotBash Rules, and NERC Rules have been created primarily for Safety and Entertainment reasons. Safety is paramount, and most of the things that are illegal are because allowing them would put the builder/operator, the people in the pits, the arena, and the crowd at undue risk. The last few rules address Entertainment-Specific concerns meant to make sure that fights are exciting and worth watching. They have evolved out of what worked and what didn’t work. For example, nets and entanglement devices used to be allowed, but they made for boring fights and cut down on the use of crowd-favorite weapons like saws, so they were banned. If you REALLY have a problem with the rules, you can write to the appropriate rules committee, but don’t expect great results. Q13. How big can my robot be? Is there a size limit? A. For most
