The following is an announcement from Robotica on February 8, 2001:

ROBOTICA ANNOUNCEMENT

TLC LAUNCHES ROBOTICA, A NEW
TECHNO-COMPETITION SERIES

Begins April 4, 2001Pasadena, CA - - Hot on the heels of the ratings hit Junkyard Wars, TLC General Manager and Executive Vice President Jana Bennett announced today that the network will launch a new techno-competition series premiering April 4. Part science, part combat and all fun, ROBOTICA takes mechanical competition to a new level. The seven-part series will feature high-tech robots from across the country in a multi-level, multi-challenge obstacle course fraught with danger.

Within each episode, viewers will get to know the contestants and learn how their unique robots were created. ROBOTICA follows the robot builders as they conceptualize and assemble their devilish devices, allowing viewers to understand how each machine will weather the unusual conditions the producers have designed to separate the wimpy from the world class.

The action takes place in Los Angeles, in a high-tech arena. In every episode, four contestants face challenges of speed, strength and strategy. Each program will feature multiple robot challenges, including racetrack speed tests, target destruction, and complex mazes with hidden obstacles. Of course, the creators of ROBOTICA will up the ante with surprise “outside forces” such as oil slicks, walls of fire, torrents of water and punishing storms of hail. The victors from each episode advance to the even more treacherous two-hour final episode, the Battle of the Champions.

The contestants have been chosen - - 24 in all - - and building has begun. From Massachusetts and California to Oregon and North Carolina, teams are designing and constructing their high-tech robots, which will be ready for war at the end of February. The builders range in age from 14 to 48 and are in occupations as varied as video game designer and magician to toy designer and engineer. They’re all regular people with a serious penchant for making indestructible and innovative robotic creations.

ROBOTICA is currently casting series hosts.ROBOTICA is produced for TLC by Nash Entertainment. Bruce Nash and Don Weiner are executive producers and Tom Boles is producer for Nash Entertainment. Gena McCarthy is series producer for TLC.

TLC is the only television network that uses real life storytelling to connect viewers to the breath of the human experience. TLC now reaches 76.8 million homes in the United States and 6.8 million homes in Canada and is a service of Discovery Networks, a unit of Discovery Communications, Inc., which also operates and manages Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery Kids Channel, Discovery Science Channel, Discovery Home & Leisure Channel, Discovery Civilization Channel, Discovery Wings Channel, and Discovery en Español. The unit also markets and distributes BBC America.