shaping the future of robotic sports
After a year of designing, building, testing, and planning our team of volunteers from local North Carolina came together and presented the world of combat robotics with something new and amazing. I present, Armageddon, a heavyweight combat robot to bring articulated arms to the arena and, hopefully, change the trajectory of the sport for years to come!
Overview: Our first competition in 3 years! Holy moly! This was a multiple size/type event, with 1 lb Antweight, 1 lb Antweight Plastic, and 3 lb Beetlweight bots showing up here in NC. Massive props to Campbell University for doing an excellent job of organizing their first bot competition so smoothly! We saw a lot of great bots and drivers. Videos of a few fights coming shortly!
Lessons Learned: TPU Ninjatek Cheetah 95A filament worked really well at holding it’s structure and taking hits. The bad news is…it left Talos vulnerable to impacts “pushing” around internal electronics…like the weapon motor! That is what popped up the lid on a big hit in my first fight against “Cherno Alpha” (an excellent, sturdy vertical spinner). I was able to fix it but the weapon mounting was crippled after that hit… Lastly, “Eviscerator” (who I fought twice) succeeded in degloving my tire tread on both TPU printed tires. This bot packed a massive punch and left me crippled on my last fight of the day. As always… Win or Loss, it was a ton of fun!
It’s been over a year since our last bot competition (due to COVID) but we finally made it back out into the world!
This year’s competition at Hickory Bot Battles was amazing. Great venue, great coordinators, and it was fantastic to get the chance to see old friends in the bot community we hadn’t seen since before the pandemic hit.
There were Antweights and Beetleweights this year; with a healthy mix of new bots as well as classics. (Wheel of Power, I’m looking at you buddy!)
Below are some pictures from the event. I’ll post a link to fights as well.
WE’RE BACK IN BOT BUSINESS BABY! 🙂
Vector Space in Lynchburg, VA put on another amazing “insect class” bot competition this year. Below are some of the team photos and highlights!
This is that moment you realize you forgot to firmly attach the weapon bar to the weapon drive shaft. #anticlimactic
This was a fantastic 2 day event at the Catawba Science Center in Hickory, NC. The event was hosted by Carolina Combat Robots and USCONEC.
“Knowing that you can build something isn’t the same as knowing how to build something.”
Feel like supporting a startup North Carolina based robot combat team AND getting a legendary, super comfortable shirt at the same time? Look no further! Grab this limited edition classic today via the link below!
I was playing around in the shop today with a new controller/receiver. Successful test but I think my creation has become sentient… I was able to catch it on film. Should I be worried?
Builder Dan Bostian explains and demonstrates his 24 pound walking spinner combat bot. He recently won an award for most innovative design at Seattle Bot Battles 2019. Absolutely amazing and a great example of how to use the SPARC weight advantage rules for walkers. (Your bot can be heavier if it uses non-wheel based locomotion.)
