ABC Season 2

Discovery Season 6 of BattleBots had 60 competing robots in total, excluding exclusive Bounty Hunters competitors Big Dill, Double Jeopardy and Perfect Phoenix. The roster included several established teams entering multiple robots, including but not limited to Seems Reasonable Robotics with Tantrum and Blip, and Team Fast Electronics with Whiplash and Defender.https://battlebots.com/2021-season-robots/ This season saw the return of former runners-up Team Riobotz and Minotaur, as well as fan favorites Icewave and Yeti returning to the main competition for the first time since Seasons 3 and 4 respectively.
== Changes to the BattleBox ==
The biggest change to the BattleBox ahead of the season concerns a brand new hazard at the top of the arena - a 16' x 8' raised platform with flat sides and a pair of screws protruding from the front unofficially called The Shelf, but later dubbed the Upper Deck. It sits a total of six inches above the BattleBox floor, with slightly taller walls surrounding some of the edges to make it harder for bots to escape from. Once a bot drives or is moved onto the Upper Deck, red lights will flash behind the wall to signal a 20 second count. If a robot is sat upon the hazard for more than 20 seconds, irrespective of its mobility, it loses the fight. Notable instances of the Upper Deck being used so far include SawBlaze carrying a burning Minotaur on top of it via the screws in Episode 1, and Whiplash managing to immobilize Bloodsport on top of the hazard in Episode 2's Main Event. One half of Jäger was fed to the Upper Deck by P1 and became immobilized on the edge, and HiJinx almost suffered the same fate against Kraken but was able to escape. Riptide was even able to use the side of the Upper Deck to throw itself into the air and self-right on top of the arena hazard, and HUGE clambered onto it to celebrate their first win of the season. Later in Fight Night, Rampage became immobilized on the hazard after being thrown onto it by Mad Catter.
The out of the arena zones near the doors where robots enter and exit the BattleBox were initially off-limits for use before filming, though Greg Munson stated this was purely in the interest of safety to prevent these doors from being blocked by defeated bots. Notable competitors to have lost to these OOTA zones in previous seasons include Bombshell in Discovery Season 3 courtesy of Bronco and Bloodsport's freak exit from Discovery Season 4 during their play-in rumble with Railgun MAX and Uppercut. However, the OOTA zones by the doors to enter and exit the BattleBox were later back in use after several builders voiced their opinions to BattleBots officials during the season's first builders' meeting that this change, along with the lack of OOTA zones due to modifications to the BattleBox, was unfair. According to several teams, teams were not notified of this change, along with the addition of the Upper Deck, until shortly before filming, with teams such as Malice opting out of a total redesign after learning of the latter.Public message from Bunny Sauriol in the Out of the Arena Discord server. Despite these changes, Hydra was able to throw Gruff out of the arena in Episode 5, and HyperShock did the same to Lock-Jaw in the following episode's Main Event. However, the HyperShock instance was filmed first, hence the surprised and worried looks on some of the team. No punishments were issued for these out of the arena attacks, and they were permitted later in the season. 
As well as this, the iconic BattleBox killsaws had their slots widened to be able to throw sparks at the beginning of each episode and before the Main Event. However, this proved to be detrimental to several robots during the season. Deep Six became immobile after jamming its front stabilizing leg into the slot in an unaired loss to SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Jamison Go's SawBlaze caught the casing for the hazard as it attempted to charge down End Game, jolting the whole robot sideways and making it vulnerable to an early attack from the defending champions. 
== Rule Changes ==
Concerning the rulebook, the sole major change concerned corralling following a highly controversial encounter between Hydra and HUGE in the 2020 season. Hydra's "bike rack" attachment prevented HUGE's spinning bar from making contact with Jake Ewert's machine while simultaneously being able to keep HUGE in a corner for much of the fight. Though not previously forbidden, fans and builders alike voiced their opinions on the fight. If a bot now corralls its opponent, the referee will instruct the operator of the corraling bot to move to a specific area of the BattleBox to free the corralled opponent. If the corralling bot's operator refuses to comply, the referee will issue a warning. If the operator still refuses to comply, the Referee will begin a ten-second countdown on the corralling bot and it will be considered knocked out. The first instance of this ironically came in HUGE's first fight of the season, as newcomer Riptide was instructed to back away from Jonathan Schultz's bot during their fight in Episode 3.
The eleven-point judging system, which scored five points for damage and three points for both aggression and control, remained the same. The judges now uses a Matrix system to determine the winners of fights that go the whole three minutes in a more objective manner than before. Aggression and Control are now ranked "minimal", "moderate" or "significant" and in the case of Damage, "massive" is the uppermost category.https://www.facebook.com/battlebots/photos/a.10150179252701406/10158240389301406BattleBots Judging Guide for 2021
 	Damage 	Aggression	Control
Minimal 	"Doesn’t reduce the functionality or effectiveness of the Bot." 	"A Bot waits for its opponent to come to it, or else actively avoids contact with the
opponent (except when resetting or spinning up its active weapon)."	"Bot is rarely able (or unable) to initiate physical or weapon contact with, and also avoid
attacks from, its opponent. It also may inadvertently hit the guardrails or an Arena hazard."
Moderate 	"Reduces the effectiveness of the drive, defensibility, or weapon system of the Bot." 	"Bot occasionally demonstrates boldness and/or intent by utilizing its active weapon or
ramming to attack the opponent."	"Bot can occasionally use its weapon or armor to attack its opponent and sometimes
avoids opponent attacks. Generally avoids the Arena hazards."
Significant	"Eliminates the functionality of the drive, defensibility, or weapon system, or reduces the effectiveness of two or more systems of the Bot"	"Bot shows frequent demonstrations of boldness and/or intent by utilizing its active
weapon and/or ramming to attack its opponent."	"Bot moves decisively and effectively and is consistently able to attack its opponent and
avoid hits by the opponent’s weapon or armor."
Massive 	"Eliminates the functionality of at least two systems of the Bot." 	N/A 	N/A
 
As a result of the primary weapon usage controversy during the 2020 season, teams will now only get a maximum of two points in both the aggression and control categories if they don't use the bot's functional primary weapon and are just pushing their opponents around the BattleBox. Self-inflicted damage is now considered when the judges determine the winners. 
Chris Rose, Kenny Florian, Faruq Tauheed, Pete Abrahamson, judges Derek Young, Lisa Winter and Jason Bardis, as well as referees John Remar and David Sanfilippo all retained their respective roles from the previous season, though pit reporter Jenny Taft did not return due to conflicting sporting commitments.https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/oz90jl/jenny_taft_not_returning_for_the_2021_season/
The competition structure remained the same from last season, with each bot getting a maximum of three Fight Night matches to impress the selection committee, who eventually chose 32 bots for the single elimination Championship bracket. Each week, the Main Event and Fight Card were revealed to Facebook Supporters at 6am CT/PT and 2pm CT/PT on Mondays respectively. The Fight Card was then publicly revealed on Wednesday mornings via the podcast show Behind the Bots, with clothing released to commemorate Main Events throughout the 2021 season. The full Fight Card was officially revealed later on that same day.
== Broadcasts ==
thumb|right|300 px|link=Special:FilePath/BBS6trailer.mp4
The season trailer was publicly released on December 2 2021, showcasing snippets from several fights across the competition. It largely focuses around Faruq Tauheed, while also teasing the Giant Nut and panned shots of several robots' weapons. The editing style, actions of Faruq and mood of the trailer pays homage to Styx and the music video for their lead single "Mr. Roboto", which plays throughout. 
In the week leading up to the season premiere, BattleBots announced via Facebook that Supporters would get a bonus battle each Thursday morning at 7am ET/PT, with the battle going public on YouTube each Sunday. The first of these saw home team JackPot fight the redesigned Deadlift in a rematch from the Tombstone Bounty Hunters bracket. Discovery Season 6 premiered on January 6 2022 at 8pm ET/PT on the Discovery Channel, with episodes airing each subsequent Thursday at 8pm ET/PT, or available to stream from 3am ET/PT that morning on Discovery+. Discovery Season 6 will conclude on April 7 2022. 
BattleBots: Bounty Hunters will return for a second season most likely after Discovery Season 6. One robot is known to be an exclusive competitor, which turned out to be Perfect Phoenix. Although unconfirmed, Big Dill and Double Jeopardy are most likely exclusive competitors as well due to them not being featured at all in the main competition of Discovery Season 6. It was later confirmed that the Bounty Winners from the 2020 season will try to defend their titles for the 2021 season. 
==2021 Season Competitors==
Competitor 	Hometown 	Builders/Team Captain 	Win-Loss Record
Big Dill 	Seattle, WA 	Emmanuel Carrillo 	•••
Black Dragon 	Itajuba, Minas Gerais, Brazil	Gabriel Gomes 	2-1
Blacksmith 	Edison, NJ 	Al Kindle 	1-2
Blade 	Seoul, South Korea 	Cheog Gyu Hwang 	1-2 •
Blip 	Mountainview, CA 	Aren Hill 	3-0
Bloodsport 	Cambridge, MA 	Justin Marple 	2-2
Captain Shrederator	Ormond Beach, FL 	Brian Nave 	2-1 •
Claw Viper 	Seattle, WA 	Kevin Milczewski 	1-2 •
Cobalt 	Oceanside, CA 	Brent Rieker 	2-1
Copperhead 	Erie, CO 	Robert & Kimberly Cowan 	3-0 ••••
Deadlift 	Indianapolis, IN 	Ryan Shulski 	0-2 •/••
Deep Six 	Norfolk, VA 	Dustin Esswein 	1-2 •
Defender 	Thousand Oaks, CA 	Jason Vasquez 	2-1 •
Double Jeopardy 	Irvine, CA 	Evan & Bryce Woolley 	•••
Dragon Slayer 	Denton, TX 	Jordan Neal 	1-2 •
DUCK! 	Palo Alto, CA 	Hal Rucker 	0-3
End Game 	Auckland, New Zealand 	Nick Mabey 	4-0
Free Shipping 	San Leandro, CA 	Gary Gin 	0-3
Fusion 	Dorchester, WI 	Reese Ewert 	1-2
Ghost Raptor 	San Jose, CA 	Chuck Pitzer 	0-2 ••
Gigabyte 	Oceanside, CA 	John Mladenik 	2-1 •••••
Glitch 	Roseville, CA 	Kyle Miller 	3-0
Gruff 	Palm Harbor, FL 	Sam McAmis 	1-2
HiJinx 	Oakland, CA 	Jen Herchenroeder 	2-2
HUGE 	South Windsor, CT 	Jonathan Schultz 	2-2
Hydra 	Dorchester, WI 	Jake Ewert 	1-2
HyperShock 	Miami, FL 	Will Bales 	2-1 ••••
Icewave 	Burlingame, CA 	Marc DeVidts 	2-1
JackPot 	Las Vegas, NV 	Robert Stehn & Jeff Waters 	2-0 •/••••
Jäger 	Gemunden, Germany 	Ralf Schneider 	0-2 •/••
Kraken 	Titusville, FL 	Matt Spurk 	0-3 •••••
Lock-Jaw 	San Diego, CA 	Donald Hutson 	0-3 •••••
Lucky 	Ottawa, Canada 	Mark Demers 	2-2
Mad Catter 	Pomona, CA 	Martin Mason 	2-1
Malice 	San Jose, CA 	Adrian "Bunny" Sauriol 	1-3
Mammoth 	Baltimore, MD 	Ricky Willems 	1-3
Minotaur 	Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 	Marco Antonio Meggiolaro 	3-1
Overhaul 	Atlanta, GA 	Charles Guan 	0-2 ••
P1 	Hudson, NH 	Brandon Zalinsky 	3-1
Pain Train 	Staten Island, NY 	Evan Arias 	0-2 ••
Pardon My French 	Riviere-du-Loup, Canada 	Philippe Voyer 	0-2 •/••
Perfect Phoenix 	Herndon, VA 	Tyler Nguyen 	•••
Rampage 	Port St Joe, FL 	Melaina & Daniel Knox 	0-2 •/••
Retrograde 	Venice, CA 	Aaron Lucas 	1-2 •
Ribbot 	Worcester, MA 	David Jin 	3-0
Riptide 	Tarzana, CA 	Ethan Kurtz 	3-1
Rotator 	Miami, FL 	Victor Soto 	2-0 ••••/•••••
Rusty 	Antioch, IL 	Dave Eaton 	0-2 ••
SawBlaze 	Cambridge, MA 	Jamison Go 	3-1
Shatter! 	Brooklyn, NY 	Adam Wrigley 	2-1 •/••••/•••••
Skorpios 	Moraga, CA 	Zach Lytle 	2-3 •••••
Slammo! 	Raleigh, NC 	Craig Danby 	0-2 •/••
SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE 	New York City, NY 	Joe Fabiani 	1-1 •/••
SubZero 	Dallas, TX 	Logan Davis 	0-3 •
Switchback 	Dallas, TX 	Greg Needel 	1-2 •
Tantrum 	San Diego, CA & Cambridge, MA	Alex Grant & Ginger Schmidt 	2-0 ••••
Tombstone 	Placerville, CA 	Ray Billings 	2-1 •••••
Triple Crown 	Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 	Todd Mendenhall 	0-1 •/••
Uppercut 	Cambridge, MA 	Alex Hattori 	3-0 ••••
Valkyrie 	Somerville, MA 	Leanne Cushing 	2-1 •
Whiplash 	Thousand Oaks, CA 	Matthew Vasquez 	2-0 ••••
Witch Doctor 	Miami, FL 	Mike & Andrea Gellatly 	3-1 •••••
Yeti 	San Luis Obispo, CA 	Greg Gibson & Christian Carlberg	2-1
• = This robot fought in at least one untelevised undercard fight.
•• = This robot is confirmed to have not received any more undercard fights. 
••• = This robot is confirmed to be exclusively competing in BattleBots: Bounty Hunters.
•••• = This robot made it into the Round of 32 despite not being given a third undercard fight.
••••• = This robot is confirmed to be competing in Battlebots: Bounty Hunters.
== Controversy ==
=== Fight Night ===
Eighty pre-tournament battles were filmed in total, exactly enough for eight fights per episode for ten Fight Night episodes. However, with the announcement of Episode 10's fight card, it became apparent that a handful of teams currently sitting at 2-0 would not get a third Fight Night match. The only instance of a robot who had won a fight up to now who was not given a third battle was SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE, who had to withdraw from fighting Mad Catter after damage sustained by Gigabyte in their second battle. SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE was replaced by Rampage, thus finishing 1-1.
Although the decision was made to act as a "bye" for teams already in good stead to seed highly in the Top 32 and make production more efficient within the filming schedule, several teams took to social media to voice their frustration at not being offered a third Fight Night battle. Outside of the fun aspect of getting an additional fight, teams cited sponsor exposure and the opportunity to properly test their robots as the main drawbacks to this decision.
=== OOTA Inconsistencies ===
The aforementioned lack of consistency within enforcing the "out of the arena" rule by the BattleBox entrance for safety reasons also sparked controversy. Although Hydra's out of the arena flip on Gruff aired first, it was not the first filmed instance of an OOTA during the 2021 season.
At the time, there was no certainty over what sanctions may have been enforced if there was an out of the arena near the entry. This led to Team HyperShock and OYES Robotics following their OOTA of SawBlaze, to face potential punishments. As it happened, neither HyperShock, End Game nor Hydra were punished, and OOTAs were permitted from that point in the filming schedule onwards. However, this led to teams and fans alike airing their frustration at the mid-season change in stance on this rule.
=== Static Electricity Issues ===
During the season, a handful of teams present were badly affected by static electricity in the new Las Vegas filming location. Notably, a weapon controller in SawBlaze died while the bot was sat inside the battery charging tents, and the team had just an hour to replace it and reassemble SawBlaze ahead of their Main Event fight against defending champions End Game. Team HyperShock theorized that a USB port from the side of their tablet may have broken as a result of the issue, but suffered no damage to the robot itself.
OYES Robotics, Bloodsport and the HiJinx team also lost speed controllers during filming, and many other teams were affected in less serious ways, often struggling to handle metal parts or touch their allocated pit tables without receiving minor shocks.
==BattleBots: Fight Night==
===Episode 1: Slash and Burn===
SawBlaze vs. Minotaur
Uppercut vs. Gigabyte
Switchback vs. Gruff
Captain Shrederator vs. Tombstone
Free Shipping vs. Blacksmith
Pain Train vs. Deep Six
Hydra vs. End Game
YouTube Bonus Battle
Deadlift vs. JackPot
===Episode 2: I Like Big Bots (That Will Not Die)===
Yeti vs. Mad Catter
Defender vs. Ribbot
HiJinx vs. Mammoth
Kraken vs. Rotator
Rusty vs. Blip
Tantrum vs. Malice
Bloodsport vs. Whiplash
YouTube Bonus Battle
SubZero vs. Shatter!
===Episode 3: Ducks, Dragons, Killer Snakes - What a Zoo!===
HyperShock vs. Slammo!
Valkyrie vs. P1
HUGE vs. Riptide
Cobalt vs. Fusion
Black Dragon vs. Icewave
Witch Doctor vs. DUCK!
Copperhead vs. Lock-Jaw
YouTube Bonus Battle
Claw Viper vs. Pardon My French
=== Episode 4: Out With the Old ===
Malice vs. JackPot
Ribbot vs. Overhaul
Blade vs. Skorpios
Tombstone vs. Mammoth
Lucky vs. Tantrum
Ghost Raptor vs. Glitch
SawBlaze vs. Mad Catter
YouTube Bonus Battle
Retrograde vs. Rampage
===Episode 5: Let's Uppercut to the Chase!===
Free Shipping vs. Uppercut
Blacksmith vs. Shatter!
Jäger vs. P1
Hydra vs. Gruff
Gigabyte vs. Captain Shrederator
Dragon Slayer vs. DUCK!
End Game vs. Witch Doctor
YouTube Bonus Battle
Valkyrie vs. Triple Crown
=== Episode 6: Bigger Than Bots===
Rotator vs. Black Dragon
Lucky vs. Blade
Minotaur vs. Dragon Slayer
Yeti vs. Pain Train
Kraken vs. HiJinx
Defender vs. Riptide
HyperShock vs. Lock-Jaw
YouTube Bonus Battle
SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE vs. Deep Six
===Episode 7: Edges, Wedges and Wheels===
Bloodsport vs. SubZero
Ghost Raptor vs. Cobalt
Deadlift vs. Icewave
Blip vs. Overhaul
HUGE vs. Retrograde
Copperhead vs. Fusion
Whiplash vs. Skorpios
YouTube Bonus Battle
Switchback vs. Slammo!
===Episode 8: Flip the Script===
Blacksmith vs. Malice
Black Dragon vs. Claw Viper
SMEEEEEEEEEEEEE vs. Gigabyte
Hydra vs. Glitch
Free Shipping vs. Tombstone
Ribbot vs. P1
SawBlaze vs. End Game
YouTube Bonus Battle
Jäger vs. Captain Shrederator
===Episode 9: Put Up or Shut Up===
Gruff vs. Cobalt
DUCK! vs. Riptide
Valkyrie vs. Pardon My French
Lock-Jaw vs. Blip
Minotaur vs. Deep Six
SubZero vs. HiJinx
Skorpios vs. Yeti
YouTube Bonus Battle
Defender vs. Retrograde
===Episode 10: To The Victor, Go the Spoils===
Bloodsport vs. Claw Viper
Mad Catter vs. Rampage
HUGE vs. Switchback
Kraken vs. Glitch
Mammoth vs. Lucky
Rusty vs. Witch Doctor
Fusion vs. Icewave
YouTube Bonus Battle
Dragon Slayer vs. Blade
==Top 32==
===Episode 11: Let The Tournament Begin!===
Play-in Match
Malice vs. Skorpios
Round of 32
(1) End Game vs. Skorpios (32)
(16) Minotaur vs. Bloodsport (17)
(9) Mammoth* vs. Witch Doctor (24)
(4) SawBlaze vs. HiJinx (29)
(13) HyperShock vs. P1 (20)
(12) Shatter! vs. Riptide (21)
Highlighted YouTube Battles
(8) Copperhead vs. Lucky (25)
(5) Uppercut vs. HUGE (28)
* = Mammoth replaced Glitch as the No. 9 seed after Glitch was forced to withdraw from the Round of 32 due to major technical issues with its primary weapon which the team was unable to fix in time before its fight with Witch Doctor. 
===Episode 12: 8 Down, 8 to Go===
Play-in Match
Hydra vs. Defender
Round of 32
(2) Ribbot vs. Hydra (31)
(15) Mad Catter vs. Black Dragon (18)
(7) Blip vs.Valkyrie (26)
(10) JackPot vs. Tombstone (23)
(14) Cobalt vs.Yeti (19)
(11) Tantrum vs. Gigabyte (22)
Highlighted YouTube Battles
(3) Whiplash vs. Icewave (30)
(6) Rotator vs. Captain Shrederator (27)
==Top 16==
===Episode 13: Round of 16 ===
(1) End Game vs. Minotaur (16)
(25) Lucky vs. Witch Doctor (24)
(4) SawBlaze vs. P1 (20)
(5) Uppercut vs. Riptide (21)
(15) Mad Catter vs. Hydra (31)
(26) Valkyrie vs. Tombstone (23)
(19) Yeti vs. Whiplash (3)
(22) Gigabyte vs. Rotator (6)
==Top 8==
===Episode 14: BattleBots: The Finals ===
Championship Quarter-Finals
(1) End Game vs. Lucky (25)
(5) Uppercut vs. P1 (20)
(31) Hydra vs. Tombstone (23)
(3) Whiplash vs. Rotator (6)
Championship Semi-Finals
(1) End Game vs. Uppercut (5)
(31) Hydra vs. Whiplash (3)
Championship Final
(5) Uppercut vs. Hydra (31)
==Trivia ==
*Discovery Season 6 marks the reboot era of BattleBots being officially longer than its classic era on Comedy Central.
**With a seventh reboot season already announced, Discovery is also set to match Comedy Central for the network with the longest run of consecutive seasons of BattleBots.
*The entire first episode's fight card was revealed to Supporters on Facebook in October 2021, a whole three months before the episode would air on Discovery.
*This season marked the first since the expiry of Robot Wars contracts for a handful of European teams, hence why robots such as Sabretooth were allowed to apply under the same name as their Robot Wars counterparts.
* The eleventh and twelfth episodes of Discovery Season 6 holds the record for the most number of fights featured in a single episode in the reboot era of BattleBots, with nine.
==References==
Category:Competitions
Category:Reboot Era Competitions