BattleBots
Welcome to the RoboJackets BattleBots wiki!
Everyone has seen BattleBots on T.V., fighting to the death in a gladiatorial-style arena in a shower of steel, sparks, and glory, and yet many people haven't the first clue about what it takes to build one!
RoboJackets' BattleBots team tries to solve this, by teaching members to design and build a robot 1) robust enough to take multiple beatings, but 2) strong enough to deliver its own beatings in return. A good technical challenge that takes hundreds of man-hours and buckets of love. We have built battle-ready robots in the 120 lb, 60 lb, 30 lb, 12 lb, and 3 lb weight classes, including (based on their active weapon) drum spinners, ring spinners, shell spinners, veritical and horizontal bar spinners, sumo bots, walkers, and even the occassional wedge.
We use mostly mechanical skills with some degree of electrical experience to implement our carefully CAD'ed designs, to personally manufacture the majority of our robots. Ultimately our goal is to build an awesome machine to fight one-on-one with another robot in the same weight class, all the while learning practical applications of tooling and machining, and gaining invaluable experience in the design and manufacturing process.
Contents
Meeting Times
We meet in the Student Competition Center (Building on 14th Street). Wear closed-toe shoes and a t-shirt (long sleeves must be rolled up) since we will be using the machine shop. Bring a hair tie if needed. Consult the #carpool Slack channel for information regarding the time and place of the carpool. Please note that once 3 pound program members are placed on teams, that they will only meet on either Thursday OR Friday until further notice.
- Thursday: 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm
- Friday 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm
Current Leadership
- Project Manager: Brian Naing
- 3lb Czar: Bryce Parsons
Bot Leads:
- Tsunami: George "Knute" Broady
- Chonkiii: Sydney Baker
- Anxieti: Lucas McCarty
- Hockii: Steven Zhao
The Competition
The competition consists of fights between robots in the same weight class. Competition rules place certain limits on weapon design and robot weight, for a fair contest and for the safety of the observers. For instance, entanglement weapons such as ropes or nets are prohibited along with invisible weapons such as electrical interference. This focuses the robot design on aggressive weapons designed to break apart or incapacitate the other robot, and the only limit on this type of weapon is that it is well engineered so as to not harm the people around it. The presence of these aggressive weapons forces the robots to be designed to withstand large shock loads, both mechanically and electrically. The challenge of the BattleBots team is unique in that a balance needs to be reached between defensive and offensive abilities, all while ensuring that the robot is very robust in all aspects. Even a single wire or bolt coming loose will cause defeat in an intense fight! This year we plan on attending two competitions, Motorama in Harrisburg, PA and RoboBrawl in Champaign, IL.
3 Pound Program
The three pound program is for new BattleBots members to learn the technical skills needed to succeed in BattleBots and create their very first 3 pound BattleBot. Members of this program will have the opportunity to work on a team to create a 3 pound beatleweight bot for competition. Through this process they will become proficient in Inventor CAD, machining abilities, electrical work, and teamwork. Once graduated from the 3 pound program, members can take what they've learned to the next level on a big bot team. Check out the links below for some advice on your 3 pound bot.
3 Pound Links
- 3lbers
- 3lb Beginner's Guide
- Electronics Basics
- List of 3lb Robots
- Riobotz Combot Tutorial (400 page guide on how to build battlebots written by the pro-team that built Minotaur. A must read.)
Documentation
2023 Competition
2022 Competition
2021 Competition
2020 Competition
2019 Competition
2018 Competition
2017 Competition
2016 Competition
2015 Competition
2014 Competition
2013 Competition
2012 Competition
2011 Competition
Resources
- RJ BattleBots Overview Page
- RJ BattleBots Mailing List
- RoboGames
- Riobotz Combot Tutorial (400 page guide on how to build battlebots written by the pro-team that built Minotaur. A must read.)
- Battlebots.com
- BattleBots Ranking
- Buidersdb.com
- Robot Marketplace (good source for motors, drivers, etc.)
- BattleBots BeetleWeight Wiki Template
- Competition Tool Packing List
- Robot Basics
- Materials Database (RoboJackets compiled database of common battlebot materials and their properties)
- NHRL Wiki
- NHRL Discord Server
- RobotCombatEvents.com (Website to find upcoming and previous robot combat events)
- Shigley's Machine Design 9th Ed. (Machine design textbook on how to do mechanical engineering calculations on for different mechanical components)
- 3D Printing for Battlebots Guide
