The Engineering Open House contained various student run exhibits, one of which was the Robobrawl. The iRobotics club and many other students from around the country competed in a double elimination bracket for one-pound and 30-pound combat robots.

The threat of thunderstorms, rain, strong winds and the possibility of a tornado did not stop the Engineering Open House from pitching up tents for the 101st in-person event. Over 200 student run exhibits set up on Bardeen Quad and surrounding areas to showcase their semester work. 

Located on Graziano Plaza, seating is placed around a 16-by-16-foot arena where all eyes are watching the robots intensely or are glued to one of the screens nearby. Diane Gonzalez, Robobrawl co-coordinator and logistics coordinator, explains that everything for the match, from the arena and live stream to the trophies, was built by the Robobrawl Committee. 

“Robobrawl Committee basically makes everything that you see, we make,” Gonzalez said. “We built the arena and we improved upon it. Coggan (Banerian) has been making a ventilation system and he’s been working on that consistently.” 

The Robobrawl Committee is an RSO that works closely with iRobotics, another RSO on campus. Most of the members in the Robobrawl Committee are also a part of iRobotics to ensure that there are competitions for them to compete in.

“People who are really heavily invested in combats are going to participate in combats, but if there is no competition, who is going to host it?” Gonzalez said. “That’s usually the people who are really interested in it who help host and compete.”

The iRobotics club has four robots competing in the Robobrawl. Each of the years work together to create their own bot, and the inexperienced engineers ask upperclassmen for advice. 

Two double elimination competitions were held simultaneously, so the next competition occurred within 15 minutes. One-pound and 30-pound robots are designed and built, then are placed into an arena to compete for three minutes or until a 10 second knockout.

If both robots survive the three minutes, judges deliberate on the winner. Judges consist of professors, alumni and Robobrawl Committee members who are not competing in the current round. 

There was a wide variety of robot types, such as flippers, rammers, and the most popular used a spinning weapon. Ryan Middendorf, Robobrawl co-coordinator and Design. Print. Destroy! coordinator, explains why many of the robots use this type of design.

“Usually spinning something really fast is the most efficient way to store energy,” Middendorf said. “So typically, there’s different archetypes of weapons that are like, vertical spinners, horizontal spinners, and just spin really fast, smack the opponent super hard and try to destroy them like that.”

DPD, the competition between one-pound combat robots, allows competitors to test out their weapons and see what works best for them.

“We do get a lot more variety and, like, creativity in the one-pound division, which is one of my favorite parts of DPD,” Middendorf said. “You can see what’s working, what’s not working, and then bring it to the next competition a few months later and improve their bot.” 

Matthew Zhang, junior in Engineering, is a member of the iRobotics RSO who constructed an all-black one-pound robot with the name of Eclipse. 

“In high school I did a lot of robotics and I saw ‘BattleBots’ on the TV and thought it was really cool,” Zhang said. “So, I wanted to come here and work on robots.”

Eclipse lost the first round and was close to winning the losers bracket, but was taken out by Rinse n’ Repeat who then lost to the winner, The Fox.

As 30-pound bots were being loaded into the arena, a man in a green jacket gave out stickers and encouraged people to cheer for Lumber Ducky. A yellow wooden duck with a top hat is the “only bot that looked you in the eye before chewing you out.”

Grace Parker, a junior at Waynesville High School, spent most of winter and spring break constructing Lumber Ducky with her brother, David, who is currently a University student and iRobotics member. C’ya L8 – a one-pound robot – was taken out of the bracket but won the one-pound rumble.

Although the one-pound robot competitions may allow for more creativity, the larger combat robots draw more attention. Crowds of curious eyes were drawn in by the destruction unraveling. 

Bringing three robots, the College of DuPage team was ready to compete for the first time. John Greager and Elijah Wilkinson, co-captains of the Engineering and Technology Club, came to the Robobrawl in hopes of giving freshmen more building experience. One of the robots was overweight, but Fl1p3r and Snake Bite put up good fights.

“(Snake Bite) had some good runs,” Wilkinson said. “Its first match it ran real fast and just knocked the other people to the side and they got stuck.”

Snake Bite struggled to get James in the right position and the saw-like weapon ripped the plastic layer off of Snake Bite.

“Snake Bite just got totally destroyed,” Greager said. 

Even though Snake Bite may have gotten destroyed beyond repair, their robot could have combusted. During the match between Round House and Eva, smoke began to rise from Eva causing staff members to evacuate everyone from under the tent.

For the second year in a row, Round House won the 30-pound division by demolishing all of the other competitors with its spinning weapon. 

“We are kind of pouring money into destroying the bot itself,” Gonzalez said. “We’re happy to do it.”

Justin Ansell, a Robobrawl Committee member, rephrased Gonzalez, “The money goes to engineering and design. It’s not for destruction!”

“We’re testing for weaknesses!” Middendorf said.

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