2024 Bot Design Rule Changes

Here are the major rule changes impacting bot design for 2024!

These rule changes affect bot builds, so we are releasing them now. We will release other rule changes soon, but none of those changes will affect your bot build. There will be more about how we run registration, qualifying, and tournaments in 2024.

We will have a new rulebook later in the year, but we wanted to release these rule changes now so that you can build towards them.

We know that we are releasing these rule changes after many of you have begun designing your bots for January. We appreciate your patience, and hope that your design for January is smooth!

Weight Bonus updates

Weight class	Non- Traditional Locomotion (NTL) bonus	Multibot bonus	Maximum weight for all bots in entry
3lb	+1.5 lbs	+1 lbs	5 lbs
12lb	+6 lbs	+3 lbs	20 lbs
30lb	+15 lbs	+12 lbs	50 lbs

At least 51% of the weight of a multibot must be on bots with active weapons.

For 12lb and 30lb bots, the 110% rule for the largest bot in the entry still applies.

Builders can stack weight bonuses but the total weight of the bot cannot exceed 1⅔ times the weight limit for bots without bonuses. See the above table for reference.

Weapon system weight dispensations

Any bots with hydraulic-, pneumatic- or ICE-powered weapons systems will be weighed “dry” (without fuel).

Pneumatic and ICE systems will have their tanks removed for weigh-in. Any tanks used must be commercially available tanks.

Builders who bring hydraulic systems must declare in advance how much hydraulic fluid is in their system and how much it weighs. The fluid weight will be subtracted from the bot’s scale weight. These bots will be subject to random inspections, where the hydraulic fluid will be removed and measured.

Pneumatic, hydraulic, and ICE systems must still be approved by the NHRL safety team before the event.

Clarify “active weapon” definition

For a weapon to be active, it must be independently operated from the drive system of the robot, and clearly be designed to influence the opposing robot. NHRL safety inspectors will determine whether a weapon is an active weapon as part of the safety inspection process. We encourage any builders that are unsure if their bot has an active weapon to discuss with NHRL in advance of the tournament to get pre-approval.

Any bot that uses its weapon as its drive (torque drive, bristle drive, gyro walker, etc.) are permitted, as are meltybrains. Thwackbots are still not permitted, unless they have some sort of active weapon.

We are removing comments around “good faith” for active weapons from the wiki to reduce confusion.

Judging Criteria changes

We will update our judging criteria to specify that multibot damage is averaged across all bots. This is a change from how we currently judge, where we make small modifications for the damage to a multibot.

If a bot successfully pins their opponent but is unable to release the pin without house bot intervention, this counts against their overall control score.

In a situation where Bot A pins one multibot segment of Bot B, it would gain control points. If another segment of Bot B were to attempt to pin Bot A into the already pinned portion of Bot B, that does not gain control points.

If a bot or any portion of a multibot spends a significant portion of the fight avoiding engagement, this will negatively impact the entry’s overall aggression score.

To the degree practical, the overall aggression score for a multibot should be the average of the scores assigned to each individual segment.

Note there are other criteria changes that will be announced along with other tournament rule changes.

Increased sanctions for deliberate arena fouling

If a bot fouls the arena in such a way that the arena’s condition is materially impacted and there is no reasonable application of the fouling material, the bot will be immediately disqualified and there will be potential for further punishments. If we notice that there is a material that could foul the arena in such a way, we will inform the bot driver at safety inspection so that they can make amendments to their bot if they wish.

Note that glitter, bubbles, and confetti are considered OK here, as they do no actual damage to the arena.

More defined weapon lock rules

We will make it clearer what makes for a safe weapon lock, and unsafe weapon locks will not pass safety.

We will continue to allow clamps as weapon locks, but only if they are attached to themselves.

We will not allow weapon locks that force the builder’s fingers to be in the path of the weapon for an extended period of time. Clarify that only safety-limited fuels are excluded from being classified as damage when they run out We limit the amount of fuel a flamethrower can run. Because of this, we will not consider a flamethrower running out of fuel as damage. But if (for example) a spinner stops working because the weapon battery was drained, that will still count as damage, as we do not limit battery capacity.

We will suggest to builders that their bot may be waiting in the cage for up to 10 minutes for the next fight, and to have enough battery power for it.

Remove weight tolerance from weigh-ins

We will no longer allow bots to pass safety being slightly overweight. If a bot in safety is 1,362 grams according to our scale, and we are rounding 3lb to 1,361 grams, the competitor must remove 1 gram from their bot in order to pass.

Minibots no longer have any special distinction

There are no rules relating specifically to minibots anymore. Any bot with multiple components will be regarded as a multibot regardless of the difference in weight between the different parts of the multibot. For a KO, 51% of the weight of the bot must be knocked out.