KICKOFF | Saturday, September 18th | 12PM - 1PM (EST)
A combat robot is designed and built with the purpose of destroying and disabling the competitor robot. It is a remote-controlled robot and categorized into different weight classes, from less than a pound to two hundred plus pounds. The robot is usually designed with some method of damaging or disabling its opponent, and often built with weapons on it. Students are guided through design decisions as they prototype robots, providing experience with mechanical design, electronics, manufacturing, and the numerous other skills in robot development.
The UTRA Combat team develops heavy duty remote controlled robots designed to withstand severe damage. These robots have a long history competing in gladiatorial competitions at RoboGames, the largest international robotics event with over 800 competitors, and many other international competitions, and now compete in the annual UIUC Robobrawl competition. The robot designs must incorporate a variety of features to be competitive, including shock damping for connections and electronics, selection of high strength aluminum, steel, and titanium alloys, machinability, heat treatments and electrical safety for currents up to 300 Amps.
The robot we built for the 2019 competition is Annie, a 30 lbs drumbot. Don’t let the name fool you: she is a lean, mean ghting machine. Sporting 3 wins and 2 losses, she was dubbed Annie the Annihilator by her opponents and won 7th place internationally in the Robobrawl 2019 competition held in Illinos. Due to the large increase of active members in the 2018/2019 year, UTRA will be adpoting a second combat team to compete in the 2019/2020 year.