SAN FRANCISCO — California's athletic commission has ordered a startup to stop staging fights between people and robots in the state, after a Sept. 18 cage match in San Francisco left the human fighter with a hand injury and drew a cease-and-desist letter calling the bout unsanctioned.

The match was promoted as "Human vs. Robot" by REK, short for Robot Entertainment Kombat, which describes itself as "the humanoid robot fighting league." Frankie LaPenna, wearing a helmet, faced a humanoid that a pilot operated through a remote virtual-reality system. The robot, reported to be an EngineAI unit with a Terminator-style head, knocked LaPenna down and drove him into the padded walls of an octagonal cage. A crowd of about 100 watched. LaPenna fought three of the machines, landed punches, and left with a hand injury........

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