ABC announces teams competing on 'BattleBots: The Gears Awaken' preview special

12 teams fight in a series of rumble matches for the final four spots

The epic robot-fighting tournament "BattleBots" is back for season two this summer on Thursday, June 23. It kicks off with a preview special titled "BattleBots: The Gears Awaken" on Tuesday, May 10 (10 p.m. EDT), on the ABC Television Network.

"BattleBots: The Gears Awaken" will feature 12 robots fighting it out in a series of rumble matches for the final four spots in the field of 48 that will ultimately vie for the championship trophy. Each rumble match will consist of three robots competing in a single three-minute bout in which the goal is to completely destroy or disable the opponents. If there is no knockout during the three-minute battle, the panel of judges will declare a victor to move onto the competition. 

Competitors range from NASA engineers and teenage students to international teams and everyone in between - each with one goal: To claim the ultimate title.

Judging the rumble matches are former "BattleBots" competitor and special effects artist Fon Davis, the face of "Nerdist" Jessica Chobot, and special guest judge Clark Gregg ("Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D").

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 12 teams slated to compete are listed in alphabetical order below:

1. Bad Kitty: team captain - Bradley Hanstad (Hometown: Brea, California)

2. Basilisk: team captain - Lucas Sloan (Edmonton, Canada)

3. Black Ice: team captain - Dan Barry (South Hadley, Massachusetts)

4. Blacksmith: team captain - Al Kindle (Edison, New Jersey)

5. Creepy Crawlies: team captain - Kelly Smith (Brighton East Sussex, U.K.)

6. Gemini: team captain - Agustus "Ace" Sherlander (San Francisco)

7. Invader: team captain - John Mladenik (Escondido, California)

8. Lycan: team captain - Ravi Baboolal (Ontario, Canada)

9. Mohawk: team captain - Micah Leibowitz (Berkeley, California)

10. Skorpios: team captain - Orion Beach (Santa Rosa, California)

11. SOW: team captain - Terry Ewert (Wisconsin)

12. Ultraviolent: team captain - Andrew Peterson (Blacksburg, Virginia)

"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 10-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.