Battlebots, yes that show seen on T.V. over a decade ago. You might be wondering what ever happened to those robots of destruction. Well I’m going to tell you that they are very much alive. Numerous competitions can be found across the country today, if you know where to look, and anybody can enter them! If you’re interested keep reading.
So you’re interested. Excellent!
Let’s continue. First, let me tell you a little bit about myself before I tell you the intent of this site. My name is Steve. Currently, I have designed three Battlebots. Two 120 lb bots while I was in high school and one 30lb bot in college. Each of these bots had a different design, and each had their strengths and their weaknesses, but it’s a learning process. So why my interest in building battlebots? Simple, I like design, but I also like working with my hand. Plus causing havoc out on the arena is always fun.
Now you might be asking yourself that’s great and all but what about the cost? The cost of making a battlebot is based on how expensive you want to make it. Now, you could have custom parts for everything, with the best material, which yes would make it expensive; unless like me you had access to a machine shop and could make your own parts. Or you could go to your local hardware and look through junk in your garage and see what you could put together. Then your biggest cost will be electronics. It all depends on you. Remember, the whole point is to have fun, and possibly launch you opponent into the wall if you’re lucky. In my case my bot was the one that got launched into the wall, but it was still cool.
Anyways, let me tell you why I have created this site. The purpose of this site is to help you design your battlebot. Through my experience of building three battlebots, I’m going to help point you in the direction to build yours. In the process I will provide you with some basic engineering, and if you are interested in learning in depth knowledge about engineering you should check out the engineering reference pages on this site.
The lesson begins on the next page. The main navigation is in the left column of this site, and I have put the articles in the order that you should read them. However you are welcome to skip around.
Finally, any donations made to this site are much appreciated.