Pitt Robotics Club
Sumo Bots, Fall 2006

For this competition we had a 6 ft diameter circle with a white center and black outter ring in which robots had to either a) push the other robot out of the ring entirely or b) incapacitate their opponent. All of this could be done by ANY means neccessary. There were only 3 restrictions:

  1. The robot had to be completely automated, meaning no remote controls, etc.
  2. The robot had to weigh less than or equal to 20lbs.
  3. Each group was given a $250 budget (this did not include anthing found already in the lab).

There were three main robot groups, and a few private robots in the competition. Below were the competing robots!

The Spining Pot of Death Bot: Uses an infrared sensor to track enemies and then rips them appart with its outter spinning pot spiked with nails. The Wedge Bot: Due to last minute short comings this bot simply had a switch on the right and a switch on the left attatched to opposing motors so that when run into it would charge in the direction of the enemy. The Ram Bot: Originally supposed to pulverize enemies with its propane powered ram before professors kindly asked us not to.

The Hammer Bot: Used a wisker to find enemies then charged with the hammer swinging away. The Wisker Bot: Simply used a wisker to find its enemies and then do nothing. The Stealth Bot: Has a black skirt around it to confuse bots into thinking its the boundary.

See the full competition gallery here!