National Havoc Robot League

National Havoc Robot League (NHRL), formerly the Norwalk Havoc Robot League, is a robot combat organization in Norwalk, Connecticut, which holds tournaments of cage match fights between hobbyist competitors. Kelly Biderman is the current CEO of the organization.^[1]

Austin McChord founded NHRL shortly after leaving Datto in 2018.^[2] 18 competitors participated in the first event later that year. In 2021, McChord moved the organization to its current headquarters in South Norwalk, along Water St. The facility also hosts a museum collection of past combat robots from multiple weight classes.^[3]

NHRL hosts multiple tournaments each year which are open to all competitors.^[4] Robots are separated into weight classes of 3, 12, and 30 pounds. They compete in 1 versus 1 matches in enclosed arenas with double-layer polycarbonate walls and a negative pressure fire suppression system.^[3] Common weapons used by the competing robots include spinning blades, flipping devices, butane flamethrowers, and hammers.^[5] More unorthodox weaponry includes liquid nitrogen, airbags, and jet engines. Winners at each tournament receive cash prizes^[6] and are invited to a championship event held at the end of each year.^[4]

NHRL maintains an "active weapon" rule, meaning that robots need some kind of an active mechanism in addition to the robot's drive systems. This has led in the past to miniature 3-d printed "steel" chairs or sand shovels used as active weapons on robots designed to control their opponents, rather than deal damage.

NHRL also features unique rules relevant to their "House Bots", designed to get combatants out of situations where they are stuck. If, during the match, a robot is able to turn off the house bot's power switch, located on the rear of the robot, that driver wins 1000ドル on the spot. Initially, it also automatically won the fight for that driver, too, but that subsection was removed following a controversy in 2021.

In November 2022, McChord announced that he would donate 1ドル million to STEM charities chosen by that year's finalists in the championship tournament.^{[3] [7]} An additional 1ドル million of grants were made to collegiate robotics teams in 2023.^{[7] [8]}

As of 2025, this schedule has shifted to 7 qualifying events a year and the December World Championships.^[4]

All champion data gathered from NHRL's official statistics.^[4]

Many brackets from this time are either no longer available or not public, due to the informal nature of many of the earlier events. Many of these early events did not have official broadcast livestreams, however the fight records are still available via NRHL's YouTube.^[9]

The sportsman events were much smaller, more controlled events, that were largely exhibition matches, rather than anything competitive. As such, data for many sportsman events appears in very few official records.

For the first time, NHRL declares an end-of-year championship, usually held in December each year (with one exception). This causes the competitions earlier in the year to become qualifying events for that end-of-year championship. As with everything else in the year 2020, the season suffered mightily from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing the cancellation or rescheduling of multiple events.

There was only one event with recorded Sportsman activity in 2020, the July 18, 2020 event. However, due to there being only 3 competitors, no bracket was made nor champion crowned.

NHRL moves into the new, larger Water St. facility, and upgrades their facilities from 1 box, designed for 3-lb and 12-lb Sportsman fights up to 3 boxes - one new larger box for Full-Combat 12- and 30-lb robot fights, and 2 for 3-lb and 12-lb Sportsman fights. This also marks the last year with any kind of substantial Sportsman content, as many competitors moved towards the more heavy-hitting Full Combat division instead.

• NHRL website
• NHRL YouTube Channel
• NHRL wiki

• Robot combat competitions

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata