''Robot Combat League'' (''RCL'') is a television show on the

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

network about robot fighting competitions. On the show, teams use

exosuit A powered exoskeleton, also known as power armor, powered armor, powered suit, cybernetic suit, cybernetic armor, exosuit, hardsuit, exoframe or augmented mobility, is a mobile machine that is wearable over all or part of the human body, provi ...

s to control fighting

robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...

. The series is hosted by

Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of the Jeri ...

, and premiered on February 26, 2013 at 10 PM EST.

Overview

Each weekly show features tournament competitions between 8-foot, 1000-pound humanoid robots controlled by human competitors, one robo-jockey and one robo-tech per team. The series features twelve teams of individuals from diverse backgrounds. Each team is paired with a robot that they control using an exo-suit that directs its movements. Each fight goes three rounds, and the winning team advances. There are 12 total robots. The robots range from an axe-headed laser eyed warrior to a robot made of plexiglass and a roll cage. The robots and the suits used to control them were created by robotics expert Mark Setrakian.

Rules

: In the season one finale's

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

fight there were five two-minute rounds, with the winner being the first team that won three rounds out of the five.

Competitors

Each team consists of a uniquely themed robot and two human controllers. *One human is the "Robo-Jockey," controlling the robot's arms and torso while standing via an

-like harness strapped to his or her back and arms. *The other human is the "Robo-Tech," seated in a chair while using two

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

s to control the robot's feet and any other unique parts, such as the movable axe "head" on A.X.E. Each

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

is powered by

hydraulic Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...

and

pneumatic actuator A pneumatic control valve actuator converts energy (typically in the form of compressed air) into mechanical motion. The motion can be rotary or linear, depending on the type of actuator. Principle of operation A Pneumatic actuator mainly con ...

s. Each robot moves on two feet, stabilized by a bar that attaches at the back of the robot, above the legs. The robots each have six actuators at the waist, and several more in each arm. The robots are all styled and painted to be unique and distinct from each other. This unique styling is especially expressed in the different types and designs of

armor Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...

that cover each robot, from sheet steel, to steel pipe

roll cage A roll cage is a specially engineered and constructed frame built in (or sometimes around, in which case it is known as an exo cage) the passenger compartment of a vehicle to protect its occupants from being injured or killed in an accident, pa ...

s, to

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

, to

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

. The robots' hands are also all individually styled, and can be quickly detached to facilitate repairs between rounds, or swapped out for weapon attachments. Several cameras may be mounted on each robot by the show staff to capture show footage, but none of the camera images were used to help control of the robot. The robots are controlled by the "Robo-Jockey" and "Robo-Tech" via direct line-of-sight, from two raised platforms at either end of the arena. The initial team seed order was determined by a timed challenge in the first episode.

Episodes

Overview

Season 1 (2013)

Season One teams and competition results

Robots

Human competitors

Tournament results

Season One team status

Semi-finals match-ups

Championship match-up

References

{{reflist 2013 American television series debuts Syfy original programming Television series about robots 2013 American television series endings

Overview

Rules

Competitors

Episodes

Overview

Season 1 (2013)

Season One teams and competition results

Robots

Human competitors

Tournament results

Season One team status

Semi-finals match-ups

Championship match-up

See also

References