What next for Robot Wars & bringing it back

[MudnuK]

One of the things which really annoyed me about robot wars was the use of house robots. Being someone who sees robotic combat just as much as a sport than as a hobby, it was so irritating to see a house robot tear a chunk out of one opponent and hardly damage another. Even if it's by accident, I'd like house robots to be used just for whiteboards, though I know this is how it was for last year's champs.

Also, just an idea for how to judge these fights. Instead of having a robot win for simply lasting, how about points are awarded for immobilizing opponents, and how they do this. Something like 0 points for entering a fight, 1 point for stacking an opponent or turning them over so they can't self-right, 2 points for an OOTA or pitting, 3 points for braking an opponent so they are completely unable to move (full immobolization) and 4 points for total annihilation (taking a wheel or two off, or ripping off a sizable body panel), and then take away the corresponding amount of points for robots losing in those ways. This encourages destruction and means even if a robot is pitted in a fight, it can still win. Oh, also, -5 points for not turning up to a battle.
As an experiment, I tried this with the FW qualifiers with pretty good results. LS4 came first, LH3 joint second with Explosion, 720 fourth, Beauty 2 fifth, NST sixth and so on, so I think quite accurate to how good the machines are. Judges might have a hard time keeping up though.