ABC has announced plans to bring BattleBots back to television, promising yet another round of mechanized brawls involving all sorts of man-made robots.
Expected to premiere this summer, the new series will take the form of a six-episode tournament in which homemade robots battle against each other in single-elimination events. The creators of the original series, Ed Roski and Greg Munson, will produce the new iteration of the tournament, which does away with weight classes for the robots, pitting ‘bots of every size against each other in pursuit of a cash prize for their creators.
The original BattleBots series premiered on Comedy Central in August 2000 and ran for five seasons. TV scientist Bill Nye was the show’s “technical expert” and the series’ “correspondents” included various Baywatch actresses and Playboy Playmates.
According to the official announcement of the series, the new show will put a greater emphasis on “the design and build elements of each robot, the bot builder backstories, their intense pursuit of the championship and the spectacle of the event.” Onboard cameras for each ‘bot are expected to add an additional dimension to the event as the robot brawlers bash, cut, and impale each other for audiences.
There’s no specific premiere date set for the series at this point.
