Registration at NHRL

(Note: This page has been updated for the 2025 season.)

Like 2024, our registration will be a lottery system, with an option to apply for a reservation for builders who can only make a limited number of events.

NHRL is growing, and we need to update our registration system to help make our events the best they can be. We know there were some pain points with registration in 2024, and we’ve spent a lot of time over the past few months reviewing data and trends, and consulting with members of the community across experience levels, team sizes, and weight classes, to try to improve the system for 2025. We have modified the registration system to address some of the key pain points and complaints we received, and will continue to modify it during the 2025 season.

We want to put on the best event we can possibly run. One of the key trends/points of feedback we received was regarding an increased number of dropouts and qualifying-round forfeits under the lottery system. The best event is one where as many builders as possible get to participate in all the fights they’re scheduled for. High rates of dropouts and forfeits mean fewer fights overall and fewer opportunities for competitors to get real match experience with their bots. Dropouts also significantly increase the workload on our team, and they reduce our ability to hype up bots and builders leading up to the event. Qualifying-round forfeits are unfair to builders on the waitlist who could have made it, but weren’t selected.

As a result, we are increasing penalties for dropping out for an event to try to deter people from registering without finished bots or travel arrangements.

Please only register if you are 100% sure you can compete at the event.

There are two ways to register:

• Entering the selection lottery. This is for most competitors. Some competitors will be randomly selected to compete, while others will be waitlisted, and fill in whenever there's a dropout.
• Applying for a reservation to bypass the lottery. This is for long-distance competitors, or competitors who can only make one or two events.

Here are some important dates for registration.

Selection lottery

The selection lottery is the most common way to register for an event. It typically opens about 8 weeks before an event, and stays open for one week. Lottery entry typically opens on a Monday and close on the following Sunday. We will, on occasion, open the lottery closer to or further out from an event due to extenuating circumstances, so please ensure you have email and Discord notifications set up if you’re hoping to register for a specific event.

When the lottery entry closes, we will select Main Drivers randomly, weighting for drivers that have not had a chance to fight with us this season.

If you do not get selected for a spot, you will be placed on the waitlist.

This way, it doesn't matter if you sign up immediately when the lottery entry opens, just before it closes, or any time in between. You will have the same chances to be selected for the event.

We announce the drivers that were selected about 6 and a half weeks before the event. This gives long-distance builders over six weeks to make travel arrangements.

Our deposit is now $75 per Main Driver per weight class. This deposit will not be refunded immediately if you are not selected; instead, you will be put on the waitlist.

You will get your deposit back if:

• You are selected for the event, pass bot inspection before your first fight, and compete in your first fight without a forfeit.
• You are on the waitlist and drop out before you are called to come off the waitlist.
• You are still on the waitlist on the day of the event.
• (Rare) You are selected, but drop out for reasons outside your control.
  • Sickness, weather, or family emergencies count for this. Repeated illness or emergencies affecting your entry may impact future chances.
  • Not having parts delivered in time, or blowing up a motor during testing, do not count for this. If you have a hard-to-replace part, like a custom hubmotor, please have a plan for what to do if that part breaks just before the event.

You will not get your deposit back if:

• You are selected for the event, but drop out.
• You are selected for the event, but forfeit your first fight.
• You are called off the waitilst, but cannot make the event.

Selection

Our registration caps will be:

• For 3lb: 96 bots (unchanged from 2024)
• For 12lb: 32 bots (8 more than 2024)
• For 30lb: 16 bots (unchanged from 2024)

In the unlikely event that we get 24 or fewer entries in 12lb, we may choose to increase the the 30lb field by 8 bots. If we get 8 or fewer entries in 30lb, we may choose to increase the 12lb field by 8 bots.

When the lottery closes, Main Drivers in each weight class will be separated into the following buckets:

• Bucket 0: Approved reservations. These are all drivers whose reservations have been approved. This will generally be about 25% of the bots selected, but that percentage may change depending on the number of reservations we get.
• Bucket 1: Debuts. These will be 15% of the field. It will be held for Main Drivers who have not competed at NHRL in the past 12 months in the weight class being selected. A Main Driver whose selection chances have been reduced (see below) will not be selected here.
• Bucket 2: Not participated in last 2 events in the weight class being selected. This will be 40% of the field. This will be for Main Drivers who did not compete, either through being selected or called from the waitlist, in the last 2 NHRL Open events (not including World Championships). A Main Driver whose selection chances have been reduced (see below) will not be selected here.
• Bucket 3: All other drivers. This will be about 20% of the field, but will vary depending on the number of drivers in Bucket 0, and if any bucket runs out of drivers. This will be all Main Drivers not selected in any of the above buckets.

During selection, if a Main Driver in a bucket is not selected, they will drop to the next bucket and still be eligible to be selected. If we run out of Main Drivers to select from a given bucket, we will go to the next bucket, with the extra picks going into Bucket 3.

Selected and waitlisted drivers will be announced on the Wednesday after the lottery entry closes.

We may update the order, criteria, or distribution of these slots throughout the year.

If we see a driver, captain, or team member is trying to get around the selection process by bad-faith means, that person may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including being banned from events as a main driver or team member.

Waitlist

All unselected Main Drivers will be placed into the waitlist in a random order.

Main Drivers may withdraw from the waitlist at any time without penalty and get their refund deposited, so long as they have not been called from the waitlist. Note that it’s common for several drivers to be called from the waitlist at once, so please don’t wait until you’re at top of the waitlist to withdraw!

Reduced selection chances

Certain actions may cause a driver to have their selection chances reduced. These actions are:

• The Main Driver has withdrawn from 2 Open events between the event's minor dropout deadline (usually 3 weeks before the event) and the event's major dropout deadline (1 week before the event).
• The Main Driver has withdrawn from an event after that event's major dropout deadline.
• In one event, the Main Driver has forfeited both their first-round and second-round qualifier fights.
• (3lb only) In two consecutive events, the Main Driver forfeited their first-round and/or second-round qualifier fight.
  • In the above two cases, we reserve the right to take action retrospectively if we deem it that a competitor has not forfeited, but has clearly tried to take other means to avoid fighting.
• The Main Driver has accumulated a certain threshold of demerit points (TBD), or has engaged in disciplinary or unsportsmanlike behavior at an NHRL event, or in one of our public online spaces (like the NHRL Discord or our YouTube chat).

These reduced selection chances will apply per Main Driver per weight class, and will last for 2 Open events.

A Main Driver who does not show up at an event and does not tell us beforehand will be banned from competing at NHRL Open events in all weight classes for 6 months.

A Main Driver banned from our Discord for rules violations will be banned from our events for the length of their Discord ban.

If a builder does not think they can bring enough spares to make it past their first fight, then we recommend they cut their teeth elsewhere before registering to compete at an NHRL Open.

Event Reservation

As in 2024, we are offering event reservation to competitors for whom travel and logistics limit the possible dates they can attend (long distance flights, visa letters, etc.). If you can potentially attend most events on the schedule and travel doesn’t require extensive planning on your end, we ask that you use the open lottery system instead.

Any Main Driver may only be included in one reservation per weight class for the entire year.

If your reservation is approved, you will receive a code to enter into the open lottery form, which will let you bypass the lottery. Your reservation is not complete until you fill out the lottery form.

You will still need to pay the $75 deposit for each approved reservation. Like any other selected competitor, you will get the deposit back if you pass bot inspection and compete in your first-round qualifier fight.

If your reservation is approved and you drop out before the event, you will lose your reservation for the rest of the season, unless you dropped out for especially extenuating circumstances.

All other penalties for dropping out and forfeiting apply.

There may be situations where we cannot honor your request (e.g. other reservations met the cap for that weight class), but in most cases, we should be able to reserve a spot for you.

Note that we may close reservations several weeks or months before the event if we have a lot of reservations.

Go here to apply for an event reservation.

More detail about these changes

We know this is a big change from how we operated in the past, but as NHRL grows and the competitiveness of not only participating in, but getting into each event increases, we are having to learn as we go on nailing the right balance to ensure we can be open to as many builders as possible.

In addition to our already scheduled Open events, we are planning to run some events aimed toward newer builders. These will be perfect for newer builders and returning builders looking to test out a new design or design change in a lower-risk environment. We will make additional announcements about these events soon.

Second, NHRL is rolling out initiatives that will support robot fighting programs in local communities around the country. Especially if you’re looking to fight with a 3lb bot for the first time, we suggest checking out your local leagues. Many of them run 3lb events, and they’re a great place to make sure your bot is event-ready before you sign up for an NHRL Open. https://www.robotcombatevents.com and https://buildersdb.com are great resources for this.

Third, if you’re close to Norwalk, you can email hello@nhrl.io and arrange a date when you can come by during business hours and test your bot out in one of our cages. Please do not show up without getting approval from us first, as our cages and workshop are not always available every day.