Organizer David Calkins and combat robot legend Ray Billings talk about RoboGames.
After a four-year hiatus, RoboGames returns on April 6th through the 9th to the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, California. RoboGames is the world’s largest robot competition with over 54 different events — everything from tiny little Rubik’s cube-sized Sumo robots that act autonomously to humanoids that play soccer. The big thing is always the 250-pound robots in our 40 foot by 40 foot, 130,000 pound arena.
Tickets are $45 at Robogames.net. Use the Maker Faire discount code, which is “Maker” to save $5 off every ticket.
When I asked David Calkins, towards the end of this interview, how he was able to bring back RoboGames after a four-year absence, he said first that his arena was so badly damaged in 2018 that he couldn’t afford to rebuild it. An anonymous contestant offered him 1 million dollars to bring back RoboGames. (If there’s anyone out there who would like to bring back Maker Faire Bay Area, and can offer that kind of support, please let me know!)
David is also joined by Ray Billings who has been competing in combat robot events for 22 years. His robot “Last Rites” was a previous winner at RoboGames, and this year he’ll be featuring “The Mortician” (shown above), which is another variation of the offset horizontal spinner. Ray gives some great advice to those thinking about competing in combat robots: “Start small.” However, no one seems to follow that advice.
David is proud 22 different countries will be represented at RoboGames this year.
Podcast
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Even More on Combat Robots from Make:
David Calkins wrote “How To Win at Robot Combat” for Make: Volume 81 — a set of rules for winning at combat robotics.
Maker Shed
Make: Magazine, Volume 81- Print
Make: Volume, 81 – Robot Rumble! Put your bot-building skills to the test by going head-to-head with your best pals in radio-controlled, weapon-laden robot combat … It’s Robot Rumble time! From antweight to heavyweight and much more!
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