That NHRL Experience (2026 Updates)

Listen. I'm not a sports guy. I don't have a team. I don't have a season pass. I couldn't even tell you what channel to turn on to see a new game.

But the exception that proves the rule has been robot combat. Ever since Battlebots made its debut on Comedy Central in 2000, I've been in. I've competed. I've followed teams. I've bought the merch. I've watched the tournaments and even attended in person.

One of the luckiest parts of my hobby is being close to NHRL. National Havoc Robot League is based in Norwalk, CT, and is the home to one of the largest leagues for Beetleweight (3lb), Hobbyweight (12lb), and Featherweight (30lb) combat robotics in the world. They host livestreamed tournaments in their state of the art production facility almost every month and even have a broadcast deal with Cheddar.

While I work on my return to competing, I like to check out the tournament and facilities as a fan to observe how things are running. I attended the April championship on April 4 and was more impressed than ever by the facility.

NHRL is a fully functional broadcast studio hosting robot combat now, rather than a robot combat tournament recording as it can around the robots. You can't turn your head without seeing information screens about what is happening. From high quality live footage from the different cages to updating stats and fight schedules, the behind the scenes view is all about conveying information. It's honestly quite impressive. I know from being in the pits how organized the event is, but now the evidence is out there for everyone to see.

The facility is filled with high quality LED lights and cameras so the feed can jump to any part of the building. There are no bad seats in the arena because of the plethora of screens and speakers showing what's happening in high quality. True, there's no comparing watching the fight happen live in front of you through the cage itself, but it's also nice to be able to tilt your head up and get a closer view of what's happening.

NHRL is a high energy, constantly moving machine of robots, interviews, and fan interactions. The biggest change to the space since I last attended as a fan is the layout of the cages. Where there used to be four cages lined up in the production space to hop between action, there are now two focused on for the livestream broadcast. Cage 1 is a large cage for 12s and 30s; Cage 2 is a smaller cage for the beetleweights. There are other cages in the facility to keep the tournament running and they are livestreamed to the Brettzone system, but the produced streams you see on the main channel and on Cheddar are focused on Cage 1 and 2.

Behind Cage 1 is the new stage for the hosts, filled with state of the art large panel screens, teleprompters, and static cameras so the hosts can hit their mark and cover all the backstory and transitions with ease. The two cages themselves are surrounded with a partition so the competing teams, refs, NHRL crew, and camera team have space to compete and record the action. The boxes are surrounded by metal bleachers that the fans can sit in throughout the day.

Getting in those seats is part of the fun. For me, I'm not going to run from cage to cage to follow what's happening. I choose a spot higher up where I have a clear view of the two main cages and stay there. The crowd changes around you. April's tournament had a ton of college teams that would pack the stands around you when their robots were in the arena. That's a lot of energy to get surrounded by and I'd suddenly be an honorary Gator or whatever team sat by me. Other competitors would hop in to watch between fights and support their friends and teammates, as well.

One of the big transformations is how family-friendly the whole event is. Not that children were not welcome before. Now, NHRL embraces it. There are giant test cages spread throughout the facility where visitors can buy and turn in tokens to try driving different robots or play robot soccer. There are crafts for kids to do and a big table to make your own signs as the tournament progresses. There's a pair of skee-ball machines to burn off some steam between fights. Families can even book birthday parties at the arena. Are all these kids going to start building robots? Probably not. But does getting more people interested in seeing the sport live help it grow? Absolutely.

Nostalgia is talking here for a brief moment, though I honestly can't say the space is worse for it. One of my favorite parts of the NHRL facility when I first attended was the robot combat museum. There were battle-used robots from NHRL, Battlebots, Robot Wars, and other competitions throughout the world; they're not on the floor anymore. To make way for all the great activities for visitors and the better production facilities, they were moved. You can still see Tom Farkas' massive Pawsitively Hysterical on display, but the rest is gone. So are the stickers and jerseys for individual teams; merch is NHRL only now.

Progress brings change, and I have to say all the changes I've seen at NHRL are good for the league and the sport. The space is better equipped than ever to broadcast these tournaments and the layout makes sense. I'm excited to get back in there as a competitor and see how the updated pits work, as well.

You can watch NHRL content on their YouTube channel and Cheddar Network.