NHRL explained: weight classes, Pro Tour and a World Championship provisionally set for 5 December

The National Havoc Robot League (NHRL) is a US robot combat league based at the House of Havoc, its arena in Norwalk, Connecticut. Its founder, Austin McChord, took up robotics as a hobby after leaving the cybersecurity company Datto in 2018, according to Campus Technology. Its robots fight inside an arena with reinforced polycarbonate walls.

There are three weight classes: 3 lb (beetleweight, the entry level), 12 lb and 30 lb, the top division. Every robot must pass a technical inspection before it fights. A bout lasts up to three minutes. A knockout is called when one machine is left immobile or unable to drive under its pilot's command by the end of the referee's countdown; if both are still working at the end, judges decide on damage, aggression and control. Forfeits and disqualifications are possible but rare.

The base of the system is the NHRL Open, held monthly at the House of Havoc. For the 2026 season the league set a cap of 80 robots in the 3 lb Open and 32 each in the 12 lb and 30 lb Opens, plus NHRL XP, a separate 16-robot 3 lb event aimed at less experienced competitors. Reaching the quarterfinals of an Open is what opens the door to the next level.

That next level is the Pro Tour, which has no public registration. Each Pro Tour event invites 16 robots per weight class, 48 in total, with wild cards filling any gaps. In each class the field is split into four groups of four; every robot fights three times, and the top two of each group move into a single-elimination bracket. Finishing in the top four at an Open or a Pro Tour event qualifies a robot for the year-end Pro World Championships, where Pro Tour rankings set the seeding.

In a CEO update dated 29 June 2026, the league set Pro Tour 2 for 12 September at Terminal 5 in New York, an Open in Norwalk on 3 October, Pro Tour 3 in Norwalk on 7 November and the Pro World Championships in Norwalk on 5 December, a date it said could still change. The September and October dates have since passed. DAZN announced a multi-year deal on 15 May 2026 to stream the Pro Tour free to viewers, and the league has said it plans an NHRL Pro League for 2027.