Robot combat was conceived by Marc Thorpe in 1992, with the first robot fighting events taking place in San Francisco two years later. Since then, the sport has made a turbulent rise into the public eye, first hitting UK screens in 1998 in the form of BBC's Robot Wars. This hugely successful show brought the sport into the living rooms of millions across the globe, alongside Battlebots in the US, and turned what was once a niche interest into an incredibly popular hobby. Despite this, Robot Wars fell off air in 2004 following a brief stint on Channel 5, taking the sport out of the spotlight. However, the community behind robot combat lived on through live events up and down the country, keeping the sport alive until it was thrust back into the spotlight 12 years later with the brand new series of Robot Wars. Now in its tenth series, and with Battlebots also receiving a similar reboot, the sport is going from strength to strength and continues to inspire the next generation of engineers, tech whizzes' and have-a-go heroes.