REK announces 'REK 2.1' for 20 November: win the sim, control a real robot

REK, the San Francisco promotion behind simulator-piloted humanoid robot fights, has announced something called "REK 2.1" for 20 November. The announcement is a YouTube short on REK's own channel, titled "Announcing REK 2.1 on Nov 20. Win the sim, control a real robot!"

That title is all REK has said in the material we could read. It does not say what REK 2.1 is. It could be a new version of the REK Sim simulator, a competition inside it, or both; the short's wording suggests a contest in which winning in the simulator earns the chance to control a real robot. We have not been able to confirm that reading, and we are not treating it as a fight date.

What the site can say with sources. REK Sim is a simulator, not remote control of a real robot; on 16 October REK opened an iOS beta alongside its Steam and Meta Quest versions. REK's Steam listing has said that top pilots in the beta can earn a chance to step onto the stage at an official REK event. REK's fights are piloted by people through VR headsets and controllers, not run autonomously.

What is not published. REK has not given a venue, a time, the number of pilots who would get a real robot, the qualifying rules, or whether any live fight happens on 20 November. We have not added an event to the schedule for that reason. The date is a software or contest date until REK says otherwise.

We could not confirm the upload date of the short because YouTube's watch page was not available to us; it was the newest item in REK's Shorts tab on 29 October. rek.com renders in the browser and did not load for us. If REK publishes a page or post describing REK 2.1, this story will be updated.