California Regulators Order Startup Rek to Halt Human-Robot Sparring Matches
The California State Athletic Commission says the company cannot host or promote combat events involving humans without official authorization.
California athletic regulators have ordered robotics startup Rek to halt combat events between humans and humanoid robots, according to reporting from The Verge , citing coverage originally reported by The New York Times.
The California State Athletic Commission sent a cease-and-desist letter to the startup after it held a September 18 match pitting human participant Frankie LaPenna against a humanoid robot. Rek, which bills itself as a "humanoid robot fighting league," used a robot that appeared to be built on an EngineAI base with a custom head, piloted by a human operator through a remote virtual-reality system.
Rek CEO Cix Liv published the commission's letter to X on September 30. In the document, the state agency designated the September match as unsanctioned and ordered Liv and Rek to stop holding, promoting, or advertising any boxing, mixed martial arts contest, match, or exhibition involving any human in California without state approval.
The regulatory order specifically targets events involving human participants. Rek's next scheduled match avoids human combatants entirely, pivoting to a fight between two weapon-equipped robots.
Sources
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