Bot Brawl: My First Battle Bot Competition @ MakerFestival

by Arushi (7 years), Black Hole BattleBot Co-Driver

In front of Big M — Arushi and Artash and the Black Hole Battle Bot

I and my brother participated in the 30 pounds battle bot competition – the Bot Brawl held the Maker Festival in Toronto on July 8 – 9, 2017. When I arrived I saw several battle bots. Some of them were much bigger than ours. They were there for the 150 pounds Battle Bot competition.

All the participating robots were different from the other. Some of them had hammers, others had wedges to lift the other robot while some robots only pushed each other. Our robot was named “Black Hole”. It took us 2 weeks to build that robot using motors, chains, wheels, armour and remote control and we managed to get it working just the night before the competition.

Arushi with Remote with Rover in the rink — Arushi driving her Black Hole bot at the Bot Brawl!

The rule of the Battle Bot competition is that two robots appear in the arena and each robot has to push the other one out of the arena. There are 3 rounds in each match. Whichever robot pushes the other robot outside the arena wins the round.

: Arushi testing her Battle Bot- The Black Hole

As this was the first time we were participating in the competition, we made a gentle and polite Canadian robot. It did not hammer or lifted the other robot. It simply pushed them gently. In one of the matches I had the full control over my robot and I had fun trying to push the other robot outside the arena.

My favourite part was when our robot along with 3 other robots of 1 pound, 30 pounds and 60 pounds respectively tried to push the 150 pound robot. Together we were able to push the other robot out of the ring 2 times. A lot of people were cheering during the battle bots competition and it was a very popular event for kids and adults alike.

When I was driving the robot I learnt that you had to be quick as there was a pole in the middle of the arena. So we had to build up speed of the robot and then quickly turn around the pole.

With other Drivers — Arushi with other Battle Bot drivers at the Bot Brawl!

A lot of other battle bot drivers talked to me during the event and supported me. I thank everyone who made the Bot Brawl event possible. At the end of the event, I volunteered in cleaning up and taking the screws out of the arena. I enjoyed the competition and will be back!

ps: We need more adults and kids building robots so that we can have even bigger Battle Bot competitions in Toronto.

Also read, co-driver Artash’s experiences: How we made our first Battle Bot? Bot Brawl Competition, Maker Festival, Toronto