January 20, 2024

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Welcome to the 2024 NHRL Season!

Competitor registration for this event has closed.

See the list of signed-up competitors here.

Here is the waitlist.

Brackets

Here are our brackets:

3lb: https://truefinals.com/tournament/nhrl_jan24_3lb/info

12lb: https://truefinals.com/tournament/nhrl_jan24_12lb/info

30lb: https://truefinals.com/tournament/nhrl_jan24_30lb/info

Freestyle: https://truefinals.com/tournament/nhrl_jan24_fs/info

We are using True Finals, our new bracket platform, to run this event. The bracket will start the day showing placeholders. We will start populating each bracket after that weight class' Boss round is complete, and it will periodically update.

In addition to showing the bracket, True Finals will let you see which bot is in which cage, and you will be able to see all fights, including qualifiers and grudges.

You can see all non-bracket fights in the "Exhibition" page. Despite the name, this is where Qualifier fights will show up.

The "Players" page shows a list of bots, plus the placeholders for the day. If a bot is listed as "not participating," that simply means it hasn't made the bracket yet. This will be updated during the Qualifier rounds.

Number of bots

In order to run the best-possible tournament, we are changing the number of bots we will have in each tournament. We have found that, even though we would like to have as many people competing at one event as possible, there is a point where there are real diminishing returns when it comes to bot numbers. Larger events are logistically a lot more challenging to run smoothly and the most important thing is that the individual experience for builders suffers.

For January, we will have 96 slots for 3lb bots. We will have 40 combined slots for 12lb and 30lb bots, with one weight class capped at 24 and the other at 16. We will determine the actual split as registration progresses based on the number of registrations for each weight class.

These caps are only for the bracket tournament. We want the community to continue to come to our events, fight their robots and be amongst friends and so we will be expanding freestyle and looking to add a new format during the season. We are also introducing freestyle-only events later this year, as well as regional tournaments.

Unique drivers

Instead of asking for a captain name, we will now be asking for the name of your bot’s Main Driver. If you have a multibot entry, this is the person who will be driving the heaviest component of your bot. Each bot in a weight class must have a unique Main Driver listed in this fashion.

If you have a multibot with its weight split evenly between all bots, then you must pick one of its drivers to be the Main Driver.

Your bot’s registered Main Driver must drive the heaviest component of your bot bot for all fights in the tournament. If they become unavailable to drive at the event because of an emergency situation, our event staff must approve their replacement.

Waitlisted bots and dropping out

Because this is a new bot event, we understand that sometimes builders can’t get everything working the way they would like before the event. We will be keeping the general deposit policy the same, but if you are touch and go as we get close to 2 weeks out, please talk with us so that we can be as flexible as possible with you and any waitlisted bots.

This goes for waitlisted bots too! More dropouts mean a higher chance a waitlisted bot is able to attend, so don’t give up hope if you are on the waitlist. In September, almost all waitlisted bots got a call at some point to participate in the tournament.

What is a new bot?

So, what exactly is a "new bot"? We are considering a new bot to be one that has never specifically competed at NHRL.

We are excited to see new bots here. We want you to take risks, innovate, and inspire. We're not looking to aggressively restrict or disqualify bots. Consider the following guidelines and boundaries, not rules that we are going to aggressively disqualify bots on. If you're close, you'll likely get to fight, unless we find that you're not following the spirit of the rules.

Kit/open source bots are okay, as long as you haven't fought at NHRL with a build from that kit/design before. Still, we recommend that you do something innovative or creative with that kit.

If you've never competed at NHRL before, you are welcome to fight in January! You don't have to read any further unless you're curious.

If you have competed at NHRL before, and if you have some questions about exactly what is allowed and not allowed, here's the fine print.

The fine print

The following are guidelines. Havoc Robotics reserves the right to deny registration to or disqualify a bot that we feel is not a new bot, even if it seems to meet all these requirements on a surface level. Again, this isn't something that we're going to do aggressively; we just want to make sure everyone is following the spirit of the event. If you're worried that your entry may be toeing the line, please email us in advance at hello@nhrl.io to get pre-clearance.

• Your bot must have a different name than any bots that have fought in the past at NHRL at that weight class.
• Your bot must be visually unique, compared to any bot you've brought to NHRL. A bot that has fought before, but with only a new paint job, is not allowed.
• If iterating on a previous bot, at least 50% of the weight of non-electric parts (weapon, pulleys, chassis) must significantly change including at least one major subsystem (drivetrain, weapon type, etc).
• If part of a multibot team, the aforementioned 50% rule is still in effect for the main bot only. This means that the smaller of the two bots may stay the same; however it requires significant changes to the main bot and changes to the minibot do not reduce how much needs to change for the main bot
• Bots that have had purely cosmetic changes or changes that do not alter the function of a bot do not qualify as a "new" bot.
  • A change from a FingerTech beater bar to a similarly dimensioned machined beater bar or drisk drop-in replacement would not be considered a subsystem change. Changing from a beater bar vert to a disk vert or a flipper would.
  • Changing the gear ratio for your drivetrain or your wheel type would not be considered a subsystem change. Changing from a gearbox to direct gear drive or from wheels to a walker would.
  • Changing materials while keeping the same general design does not count as a significant change.
• It's okay to bring a bot that's fought before, if it's part of a multibot in a heavier weight class.

To repeat: These are all guidelines. Havoc Robotics reserves the right to disqualify a bot that we feel is not a new bot, even if it seems to meet all these requirements on a surface level. However, we are not actively seeking to restrict bots from fighting; if you're close, you'll likely get to fight. If you're worried that your entry may be toeing the line, please email us in advance at safety@nhrl.io to get pre-clearance.

Hotel info

We have a block of rooms available at the Hilton Garden Inn Norwalk. It's a 10-minute drive from the House of Havoc. Please book by January 5, 2024.

• Address: 560 Main Ave, Norwalk, CT 06851
• Phone: 203-523-4000
• If you have booking questions, please email Katie, our events manager.
• Amenities:
  • Ample free parking
  • Free wifi and streaming TV
  • All rooms have a mini-fridge and microwave
  • On-site restaurant and bar
  • Indoor pool and spa
  • Fitness-center
  • Pet-friendly rooms
  • Room service
  • Business center
  • 2 comfortable outdoor seating areas

Book here!