The week in robot fighting: 19 to 25 October 2026

Results

The 2026 BattleBots Pro League competition was decided on 22 October, when the championship episode went out on the BattleBots YouTube channel. The grand final matched Witch Doctor against The Twins, while Manta and Minotaur fought for third place. BattleBots says a new champion was crowned, but none of its official pages names the winner yet, so KLVSH is not reporting one. Our BattleBots explainer covers the format.

League announcements

BattleBots announced on 25 October three Pro League recap shows, including a top 10 of knockouts and a top 10 of shocking moments. In Las Vegas, BattleBots Arena hosts Creature Combat II on 31 October, a special Destruct-A-Thon show for robots with legs, arms and unusual ways of moving, with Mark Setrakian and Donald Hutson as guests. NHRL's Pro Tour page says Round 3 on 7 November in Norwalk is the last chance to qualify for its World Championships in December (event).

Robots & teams

In Brazil, RioBotz's Touro Feather won the Featherweight class at RoboCore Experience (RCX) 2026, held from 9 to 12 October in São Caetano do Sul. RoboCore's ranking records five wins in five fights, the last of them against Dark Khaos in the final. The title earns the robot a place at NHRL's Pro Tour Round 3 on 7 November (our report). On the humanoid side, our T800 explainer details the EngineAI robot used by URKL, ARC and CyberHero.

Tech & rules

Two guides this week looked at how fights are decided and who is in control. BattleBots bouts last three minutes; when there is no knockout, three judges score damage, aggression and control, and a robot that cannot move for ten seconds is counted out. For the Pro League, BattleBots lists four judges on its panel. Humanoid leagues raise a different question: who is fighting? Our piloting guide compares motion capture at ARC, VR at REK and remote commands at URKL.

Coming this week

Saturday 31 October is the big day. BattleBots stages Creature Combat II at 14:00 Las Vegas time (event). The same day in Estonia, the AHHAA Science Centre holds RoboBattle 2026 in two sessions, 12:00 to 15:30 and 18:00 to 21:30 local time, with a prize pool of EUR 12,000 (event). The following weekend brings Kilobots in Calgary from 6 to 8 November and NHRL's Round 3 on 7 November. For streams, see where to watch.

Number of the week

24: the number of robots that started the BattleBots Pro League, split into six groups, in a season that began on 2 July. Teams came from the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom and India. After the group stage and the knockout rounds, two were left for the grand final of 22 October: Witch Doctor and The Twins. The whole season is free to watch worldwide on YouTube, and France has its own scene too, as our Makerfight guide shows.