Judging Criteria

Based on NHRL Judging Criteria 2023
Last updated: 9/12/2023

All changes for the most recent update will show up highlighted.

If a fight does not end in a knockout or a tapout, the winner is determined by 1 or 3 judges depending on the circumstances. If the match referee ends the fight early (if both bots are simultaneously incapacitated, both bots are so stuck together that the match can’t continue, or for other similar reasons), the judges will determine the winner of the match as if it had gone the full time.

Each judge rates the competitors across 3 categories: Aggression, Control, and Damage. A judge allocates 6 points to the competitors each for Control, 6 points for Damage, and 5 points for Aggression. The bot with the most points is that judge’s choice. If there is a panel of 3 judges, the bot that is chosen by at least two judges wins the match.

All judges' decisions are final.

Aggression

Aggression is the intensity and frequency of intentional attacks, preferably with a fully functional weapon (active or passive). To score points here, you need to make attacks that could conceivably affect your opponent.

The key to aggression is attacking intensely and/or frequently and having an intention to affect your opponent. “Sit and spin” driving, or other strategies that rely on your opponent to start the engagement, will not do well here.

Whether the attack actually affects the opponent through damage or control is not important when scoring aggression. However, the intent to affect the opponent is important. For example, a bot that uses a powered lifter to attempt to tilt its opponent against the wall will score aggression points, as they are attacking with an intent to affect them.

If a bot’s weapon is disabled, but it is still attacking with intent, it scores fewer aggression points. For example, ramming an opponent with a disabled beater bar should score fewer aggression points than if the beater bar was working.

If a bot attacks without intent to do damage, even with a functional weapon, it should score even fewer aggression points. For example, striking an opponent’s armor repeatedly with a tapping stick would score very few to no aggression points, as there is no intent to affect the opponent. However, attempting to jam the tapping stick into an opponent’s spinning weapon would score aggression points, as there is an intent to affect the opponent’s weapon systems.

Passive weapons are typically not meant to do damage, and simply jamming a wedge underneath your opponent will not score high amounts of aggression. Slamming that opponent against a wall, aiming to break their weapon on yours, and being the first robot to charge back into the fray will score high amounts of aggression (even using a passive weapon).

If both bots hit each other with their weapons simultaneously and one gets sent in the air, both are showing equal aggression.

If a bot declines to engage its opponent, or is technically unable to engage for a significant period of time, it should lose aggression points. A robot holding a pin for longer than 5 seconds without showing aggressive behavior should lose aggression points too. Note that a bot that drives away from contact briefly to prepare its weapon should not lose aggression points, nor should a bot that shows willingness to attack its opponent, but is circling briefly to find an opportunity.

A bot that attacks consistently over the length of an entire match should score more aggression points than a bot that clumps all its attacks into a short duration of the match, but spends significant portions of the match not attacking.

Aggression judging matrix

5-0:

This bot used its active weapon to attack its opponent with intent for almost the entire match. The opponent spent almost all of the match not actively attacking with an active weapon using intent.
The opponent spent almost the entire match actively avoiding engagement.

4-1:

This bot frequently used its active weapon to attack its opponent with intent. The opponent occasionally used its active weapon to attack its opponent with intent.
This bot often used its active weapon to attack its opponent with intent, but only for part of the match. The other bot never used its active weapon to attack its opponent.
The opponent spent a significant portion of the match actively avoiding engagement.

3-2:

This bot used its active weapon to attack with intent slightly more than its opponent.
Both bots’ active weapons were at least partially disabled, but this bot tried to attack more with its disabled weapon than its opponent.
This bot attacked consistently throughout the match with its active weapon. Its opponent bunched its attacks over a shorter period of the match, but spent long portions of the match not attacking.

Control

Control is how well you dictate the flow of the match. To score points here, you want to put your opponent in a bad spot, like pinning them or getting them stuck.

The key to control is seeing your opponent put in a bad position. This could include:

Inverting them
Pinning them
Pushing them into a wall or corner
Getting them stuck on a side that the bot was not capable of self-righting from
Getting them stuck on debris

Pinning a bot should not count as much as leaving them in a stuck position.

If a bot sticks itself, that counts as if it was stuck by its opponent (although see the tiebreaker rule below).

A brief period of being stuck (e.g. getting a fork stuck in a divot for a second or two) should not count against a bot for control. A bot should be stuck long enough to affect the flow of a match in order to lose control points.

If Bot A is able to use Bot B’s weapon against itself, then Bot A is considered to be showing control.

If bots seem to control the match equally, shift your focus to each driver’s control of their bot as a tiebreaker. Was a driver in control of their bot, or did they seem to frequently lose control of it? If one bot stuck itself, then the other bot should get more control points.

Control judging matrix

6-0:

This bot pushed the other bot around the cage at will, repeatedly putting them into bad situations while never itself being put in a bad situation.
The other bot got stuck far more often.

5-1:

This bot was able to get the other bot in bad positions in the cage several times, while it got put in bad positions occasionally, but less frequently.
The other bot got stuck somewhat more often.

4-2:

This bot got the other bot in bad positions slightly more often than it was put in bad positions.
The other bot got stuck slightly more often.
Both bots were stuck in bad positions about the same amount, but the other bot stuck itself in bad positions more.

3-3:

Both bots seemed to control the match equally.
Neither bot seemed to take control of the match.

Damage

Damage is the condition of your opponent’s bot at the end of a match compared to how it started the match. To score points here, you need to hurt your opponent’s critical systems.

Damage is the relative state of the bot at the end of a match, as compared to at the start of the match, with its weapon and drive systems assumed to be fully functional at the start of the match. The highest damage score is awarded to the complete destruction/disablement of a subsystem, followed by the reduced effectiveness of a subsystem (including intermittent drive/weapon issues), damage to critical structural components, damage to ablative components, and aesthetic or cosmetic damage. Self-damage is weighted as being equal to damage from the opponent.

If a bot’s active weapon does not work from the very start of the match, or if its drive is compromised at the very start of the match, this will count as damage.

To score damage points, a bot must alter the state of their opponent’s bot. When scoring damage, consider this chart going from least to most damaged.

Level 1: No visible damage, cosmetic damage to a bot (scratches against paint), or some ablative armor removed.
Level 2: Most ablative armor removed from at least one side of the opponent, or small gouges/holes in an opponent’s non-ablative armor.
Level 3: Doing structural damage to an opponent, like damaging its frame, doing significant damage to non-ablative armor, or damaging a wheel in a way that doesn’t significantly change a bot’s mobility.
Level 4: Reducing the effectiveness of an opponent’s drive or weapon systems. This includes removing at least one wheel, doing enough damage to at least one wheel to make it inoperable in a way that significantly affects the bot’s driving, partially disabling an articulated weapon (disabling either the saw or the arm, but not both), or ending a match with working drive or weapon subsystems after intermittent issues with that system throughout the match. It also includes compromising an opponent’s ability to drive somewhat, but not enough to initiate a count-out.
Level 5: Destroying or disabling some of an opponent’s drive or all its weapon systems. This includes removing a spinner’s weapon belt so it no longer spins. An articulated weapon, like a hammersaw, must be completely disabled to count here; that is, both the saw and the arm must be disabled. It also means disabling an opponent’s drive to the point where they can translate around the arena just enough to avoid being counted out, but not so much that they can move anywhere at will.
Level 6: Destroying or disabling the drive system and all weapon systems on its opponent will score maximum damage points. In this case, the opponent was likely only saved from a knockout by the fight timer running out.

Ablative armor is any non-structural component intended solely to absorb damage by being consumed.

Running out of fuel (i.e. power from a weapon’s battery or pneumatic gas) does not count as damage, even though it would disable a weapon.

For multibots of roughly-equal size, average out the difference of damage levels between the multibots, rounding towards a higher damage level. For example, if one half of a multibot finished at Level 1 and the other half finished at Level 4, consider the bot at Level 3.

Judges may request to compare the damage of both robots up close. Judges should only make this request if they absolutely need it, as it does take up time.

In most cases, any damage done to a bot is considered damage against it, whether it was dealt by its opponent or self-inflicted. The only exception to this is if a weapon has been stopped through entangled debris in its mechanism from an opponent’s ablative armor or other removed material. In that case, damage is not counted against it.

Damage judging matrix