Actually, although RobotWars was the first robot combat based organization, relatively soon after they began (a few competitions) it was "taken over" by corporate interests and the founder, Marc Thorpe was essentially kicked out. After somewhat long and drawn out legal circumstances and various canceled robot combat events (such as Robotica) BattleBots was born. Also, BattleBots has had several competitions, however it has always been PPV only before.
You can get a more in depth history of the sport at http://www.robotcombat.com/history.html
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, although RobotWars was the first robot combat based organization, relatively soon after they began (a few competitions) it was "taken over" by corporate interests and the founder, Marc Thorpe was essentially kicked out. After somewhat long and drawn out legal circumstances and various canceled robot combat events (such as Robotica) BattleBots was born. Also, BattleBots has had several competitions, however it has always been PPV only before.
You can get a more in depth history of the sport at http://www.robotcombat.com/history.html
Flabble