'NOT SO SWEET 16: THE ROUND OF 16 PART 1' ON ABC'S 'BATTLEBOTS'

Special Guest Judge Is YouTube Superstar Michael Stevens

"Not So Sweet 16: The Round of 16 Part 1" - The extraordinary robot-fighting tournament "BattleBots" continues on THURSDAY, AUGUST 4 (8:00-9:00 p.m. EDT), on the ABC Television Network. The next-generation robots will go head to head, as 16 teams continue to fight their way to the championship in hopes of scoring the ultimate prize, the Giant Nut.

Each match will consist of a three-minute bout in which the goal is to completely destroy or disable the opponent. If there is no knockout during the three-minute battle, the panel of judges will declare a victor to move onto the next round. Judging the matches are former "BattleBots" competitor and special effects artist Fon Davis, the face of "Nerdist," Jessica Chobot, and special guest judge Michael Stevens of YouTube fame with over 10 million subscribers to his "Vsauce" channel.

Forty-eight builders representing four continents make up this year's field - double the size of last year's tournament. With them they bring an unprecedented arsenal, innovative designs, destructive new weapons and for the first time in the history of robot-fighting tournaments, the launch of drone warfare. The competitors range from NASA engineers to teenage students and everyone in between - each with one goal: to claim the ultimate title and walk away with the Giant Nut. Winners from the 24 matches in the qualifying round automatically advance, after which the selection committee picks eight wildcards from the losers to join them. Once the teams advance out of the qualifying round, it's single elimination all the way to the title.

ESPN's Samantha Ponder hosts season two, with expert play-by-play analysis from veteran sports broadcaster Chris Rose and color commentary from former UFC fighter Kenny Florian. Sideline reporter Alison Haislip covers every inch of the robot fighting mayhem, and ring announcer Faruq Tauheed presides as the bots go metal-a-metal.

The match-ups slated to compete during this round will be released at a later date.

"BattleBots" is a reimagined take on the killer-robot combat sport from Whalerock Industries and the creators of the original "BattleBots" franchise, Ed Roski and Greg Munson. The homemade robots will battle against each other in a single elimination tournament until there is one champion. The ten episode series will feature next generation robots - bigger, faster and stronger than ever before. The show will continue to emphasize the design and build elements of each robot, the bot builder backstories, their intense pursuit of the championship and the spectacle of the event. While there's only one weight-class, there are a huge variety of deadly weapons. Forty-eight robots will enter, but, in the end, only one will win the final trophy. Executive producers are Lloyd Braun, Chris Cowan, Edward P. Roski (Trey), Greg Munson and Aaron Catling.

About Whalerock Industries

Whalerock Industries is a media and technology company based in West Hollywood.