# Combat Robot Weight Classes In Combat Robotics, like wrestling, there are weight classes. ## Combat Robot Classes Combat Robots compete against other robots of the same class. Classes are categories for different weights, weapon types, and materials. ### Maximum weight per class

Class	Weight
Fairyweight	150 grams (0.33lbs)
Antweight	1lb (455 grams)
Beetleweight	3lb (1361 grams)
Hobbyweight	12lbs / 15lb
Featherweight	30lb
Lightweight	60lb
Middleweight	120lb
Heavyweight	220lb / 250lb

{% hint style="info" %} The Battlebots you see on TV are 250lb robots! {% endhint %} ### Class modifiers Robots can further be broken down into these categories: * Full Combat * Sportsman * **Plastic** For the purposes of our Plant series, we'll focus on the Antweight and Plastic classes. Antweights are 1lb combat robots. Plastics allow only certain 3D printed materials, usually PLA, ABS, and PETG. We'll dive deeper into 3D printing later, but for now just know that your robot will be 1lb and mostly 3D printed. {% hint style="info" %} Plant comes from Plastic and Antweight {% endhint %} *** See more: * * # How do you win in Battlebots? As with any competition, there are certain rules and win conditions. Image credit: JCRB Photo ## Matches Combat robot matches are typically 2-3 minutes, during which the two robots try to disable their opponent and score as many points as possible. ### Win Conditions The primary win condition in Combat is **Knock-Outs.** If a robot can't show "controlled movement" the referee will begin a 10 second countdown. If the robot is unable to show controlled movement in this time it is declared the loser by K.O.. If it's opponent attacks during this time the countdown resets and starts at 10 seconds again. A match can also stop if one of the opponents **tap-out**, or a robot enters an **"out of the arena" zone**. A driver can tap-out by either pressing a button, slapping the glass, or alerting the referee. This instantly stops the fight, and the tapped-out robot loses the match. Out of the arena zones are areas of an arena that have a pit, out zone, death zone, etc. that will cause a loss if the robot enters that zone. In our area of the US, out zones aren't common outside of sportsman/non-destructive events. {% hint style="info" %} For a full description, see the [SPARC](https://sparc.tools/) Match Rules pdf {% endhint %} ## Judge's Decision If both robots are still functional at the end of the match, the fight stops and goes to a judge's decision. The point breakdown changes, but for SPARC, the point breakdown is as follows: * **Damage - 6 pts** * **Control - 6 pts** * **Aggression - 5 pts** Usually 3 judges, but sometimes one judge will score a match based on these points, with aggression being the tie breaker. Judges will score points using the following criteria #### *Damage* Damage is scored based on the relative amount of **non-cosmetic damage** dealt to each robot. This damage can be self-inflicted and includes systems not working as they are intended at the end of the match. #### *Control* Control is scored based on how well and how long each robot **controls the fight.** This includes pushing an opposing robot, lifting an opposing robot, pinning, or using the arena against the opponent, and doesn't directly involve damage. #### *Aggression* Aggression is scored based on how much time each robot spends **attacking or engaging the other.** This includes attempting to attack an opponent, whether or not the attack is successful. See more: * # Robot Rules SPARC tools publishes the standard ruleset in combat robotics. ## SPARC Ruleset [SPARC](https://sparc.tools/) or "Standardized Procedures for the Advancement of Robot Combat" is a community supported, standard set of rules for both builders and event organizers. We're mostly interested in the **SPARC Robot Construction Specifications.** The rules go over weight classes, weight bonuses, banned weapons (flamethrowers, explosives, EMPs, etc.), and other important Do's and Don'ts when making a robot. ## Ruleset Summary: {% hint style="danger" %} Please read the full manual as this summary is not complete and may be out of date. Additionally, some events may have special rules or exemptions, so make sure to check with the event you want to compete in. {% endhint %} ### Plastic Class Rules Specific rules for the plastic class are listed in the PDF. Notable ones are: * Robots must be made of PLA, ABS, or PETG * Non plastic parts such as motors, axles, and fasteners can be any material but can't be used in a way to enhance the structural integrity of the robot or used as armor. * In general, wheels can be any material as long as their hub is an allowed material (ie. rubber lego tires over a printed hub) ### Safety Safety is the most important thing in combat robotics. While there is some inherent risk with fighting deadly robots, there are lots of ways we mitigate risk. Handle robots with care and treat them as deadly machines, because they are. * Safety inspections: A robot must pass a safety check where a builder discloses all operating principles and potential dangers to the event staff * Robots must **only be active** in the arena and designated testing areas * All robots must be able to be fully powered down by a **power switch** or link * Weapon locks: A weapon lock on any moving weapon that can cause damage or injury is required to be in place at all times when not in the arena. Weapon locks must be clearly visible ### Forbidden Weapons and Materials Forbidden weapons and materials in all weight classes include: * Weapons designed to cause invisible damage to the other robot. This includes: * Electrical weapons * RF jamming equipment * RF noise generated by an internal combustion engine * EMF fields from permanent or electromagnets that affect another robot's electronics * Entangling weapons (no nets, tapes, string, etc.) * Liquid weapons * Light or smoke that impairs the view of the robots * Heat and fire weapons * Hazardous materials where they may contact humans # The heart of Winning Combat Robots # Putting the Pieces Together - Soldering # Page # How Combat Robots are Designed (feat. Combat Blocks) # Designing a Combat Robot (Before you CAD) # Sharepoint Setup Comet Robotics has a Sharepoint for sharing and storing CAD files. In this tutorial, we'll set up the Comet Robotics Sharepoint to sync locally with your computer. The Sharepoint lets us use the model library and see what other Plant builders are up to. The trick is getting it setup and behaving at the start.\ \ Sharepoint lets us: * Share CAD files with each other * See past semester Plants and what other members are up to with their designs * Share your CAD files between devices * Access our CAD library, which holds CAD files of components for you to drop into your robot design * Archive our robots for future generations of roboticists' to look at ## Getting started (Windows) On a Windows computer: * Hit the Windows key * Type "school account" * Select "Email & accounts"

Once the settings window opens, if you aren't signed in to your UTD account (Shown below), hit the "Add a work or school account" button and sign in to your UTD email.

Once you have signed in to your UTD account on windows, add this account to your Onedrive. * Hit the Windows key * Type "onedrive" * Open the Onedrive app - file explorer should open You should see at least one account in the top left of file explorer. Here's what mine looks like:

There are too many variables involved for me to address everything you'd have to do to add your UTD Onedrive account here if it doesn't show up, but you may have luck clicking the onedrive icon that appears in the tray (bottom right corner of your task bar), which should open the Onedrive settings. From here, you can hit add account and follow the instructions. ## Adding the Sharepoint shortcut Now that Onedrive is added, open up the Comet Robotics discord server. If you have the member role, you should see the channel #member-resources under the 'SERVER' category (where announcements is). In member resources, there is a link to the Sharepoint. If you are visiting it for the first time, there is a 'request access' button which will notify all the officers. Once you've been accepted by an officer, navigating to that link will show you a page similar to this:

Navigate to documents using the left-hand tabs, then right click the Combat Robotics folder and select "Add shortcut to OneDrive".

That's it! The Combat Robotics folder will now show up in your UTD Onedrive folder on your PC. To see where Plants are, follow this directory: > C:\Users\\\\OneDrive - The University of Texas at Dallas\Combat Robotics\Design Files\\.Plants Here you'll see folders for other robots. We'll cover our folder naming schemes in the [Intro to Solidworks](/cad/introduction-to-solidworks) tutorial. # Installing Solidworks # Introduction to Solidworks User Interface, making your first part and assembly. Welcome to Solidworks! Solidworks is a powerful CAD program that we will use to make our first combat robot. This and the following pages assume you have a machine with Solidworks on it, ready to open. If you haven't installed Solidworks yet, go to the [Installing Solidworks](/cad/installing-solidworks) page. ### Concepts: * Parts - The basic building blocks of your robot * Assemblies - Contain parts or even other 'subassemblies' * Sketches - 2D drawings that define aspects of a 3D model * Features - Using one or more sketches to create 3D geometry ## Opening Solidworks When you first open Solidworks, you'll see a page similar to this one:

If your home screen doesn't look exactly the same as mine, that's ok. Let's jump into making our first part. ## Solidworks Tutorials Solidworks has built in tutorials that make learning the basics very easy. **TRUST ME THESE ARE WORTH YOUR TIME.** You can find them by clicking the "Learn" tab:

Then click "Step-by-Step Tutorials":

Solidworks will automatically change your view to look like this:

Solidworks in split screen view with tutorials

Ignore the first two that are listed there. We're interested in "Lesson 1: Parts" and "Lesson 2: Assemblies". Click them and they'll guide you through the creation of your first two parts and putting them in an assembly. If you want a video to help you with the first tutorial, you can check out this one by GoEngineer: even though it's a little dry, it'll help you follow the tutorial step by step and give some tips along the way. **With the knowledge you gain in these 2 tutorials, we can start designing our first robot!** (If you want to continue the built in Solidworks tutorial, which is completely optional, I recommend you go to the 'Basic Techniques' tab and go through from 'Fillets' to 'Surfaces' tutorials in order.) # Starting a Robot Assembly Combat Bot layout sketch, first feature Enough exposition, let's get to the good stuff. In this tutorial, we will start a bot that we will CAD together that we're creatively calling "Combat Bot". Combat Bot will be a fully functioning push bot, so we're not adding an active weapon yet. The first step is to create a new assembly:
* Open Solidworks * Under 'New' click 'Assembly' When we start an assembly this way, Solidworks prompts us to open existing parts or assemblies to instert into our new assembly. We don't want to do this, so click through these prompts by hitting the **X**:

Let's save our new assembly before we do anything else. # Page 2 # Robot Ownership for Club Funded Bots In general, any parts paid for by Comet Robotics remain under the ownership of the club. Club members are able to loan parts owned by the club for use in their own robots. These parts will count against your budget. All members are allowed to work on a Plastic Ant-weight (Plant) project individually. They will be supplied filament for 3D printing and a standardized set of electronics to use in their Plant. To build a full combat robot, any member must meet these requirements; * Must have built a Plant * Must have competed in at least 3 separate events with the same Plant * Must iterate and improve the design of the Plant between events After completing these requirements they can begin to work on a full combat robot. They will not be given any funding for the bot until the design passes a design review check by the Combat Officers. Full Combat Ants(1lb) will be given $250 for their budget, Beetles(3lb) will be given $550 for their budget, and Hobbies(12lb) will be given $1000. Ants can be worked on individually, Beetles require a team of at least 2 people, Hobbies require a team of at least 2 people. The club will try to provide funding for 4 Ants and 2 Beetles per semester and 1 Hobby per academic year. Club members can purchase parts from the club at the price they were originally bought at, and those parts are now owned by the member. When a bot retires, one copy of the shell goes to the club member and one copy of the shell goes to the club to put on display. All the electronic parts will be removed from the retired bot and returned to the clubs inventory of parts for future bots to use.