Interested in combat robotics? This SIG is the perfect companion to Asmbly’s “Weaponized Plastic Bots” class, but anyone is welcome, whether you’re taking the class or just curious about building battle-ready bots.
Inspired by the Weaponized Plastic Fighting League (WPFL), these sessions dive into the hands-on details of designing, building, and competing with small combat robots. Each meetup focuses on a different stage of the build process:
SIG 1 (May 7th): Control Systems (RC vs. microcontroller) and basic electronics options
SIG 2 (June 11th): Customization options and active weapon design & fabrication
SIG 3 (July 2nd): Troubleshooting and competition preparation
Sessions are free and open to all skill levels. Come experiment, ask questions, refine your strategy, and get ready for Asmbly’s upcoming Weaponized Plastic League Battle Day tournament!
The first Weaponized Plastic Robots workshop went great (more updates here), and it ended up lining up really nicely with what we’re planning for this S.I.G.
For our first session on May 7th, we’ll be focusing on Control Systems. We’ll dig into how different robots are controlled, compare RC vs microcontroller-based approaches, and explore different ways to drive and control robots through software. Think driving styles, responsiveness, and how to make your bot behave exactly how you want.
Everyone is welcome to join: Rotato builders, members, no-members, exoperienced Battlebots roboticists… everyone!. If you attended the first workshop, definitely bring your Rotato, you’ll have time to keep working on your software and make improvements.
Looking forward to seeing more robots fighting at ASMBLY!!!
Please tell me this will be an on-going thing. I won’t be able to participate this time around due to time constraints (Chupacabracon is coming up and I’m one of the lead organizers). And at some point I want to try to get my daughter’s Girl Scout troop involved. Like a troop ‘bot for competition.
Hey Andres, yes, it will be at Asmbly in the MPR! The eventual battle day will also be at Asmbly; we are working on finalizing details for date and time, but targeting the end of July.
Hey Jeff, the SIG is temporary for this year as it leads up to the battle day this summer. However, Angel and I are working on plans to translate this into a camp-style event for youth. We are hoping to make this an annual thing if all goes to plan!
We’ll be focusing on control systems, how different robots are driven, RC vs microcontrollers, and ways to control your bot through software, but the stage will be open for anyone with questions even outside of this topic
If you’ve already built a robot, bring it. If not, come hang out, ask questions, and see what this is all about.
We will be meeting today at 7:30pm in the Multipurpose room to discuss progress with our various builds, talk about different control systems and sharing our experiences building and fighting our little robot fighters.
I just got back from the official Weaponized Plastic Fighting League so I will tell you all about the robots that participated and how much… fun we had with our Rotatos! We didn’t win any trophy… not even cutest robot, which we were seriously trying, but we had one of the most fun fights that ended in some substantial damage to the oponent, our Rotato (Mrs. Reptar) and (unintentionally) the arena
Quick update: with the short holiday week and a few folks out, we’re going to hold off on today’s SIG and push it to later in the month instead. I’ll follow up with the exact time later this week
In the meantime, keep tinkering on those builds and feel free to text me if you want to discuss or meetin to talk about your build I’ve still got plenty of Weaponized Plastic Fighting League stories (and Mrs. Reptar’s battle scars) to share when we’re back.
Thanks for the messages checking in, and see you all soon!
