Combat Robotics Starter's Guide

Overview

You've probably seen combat robots on TV (or more likely, the YouTube highlights of the TV show), and want to try it yourself. Great! Combat robotics is a very exciting hobby with a great community. You'll get to flex your engineering and manufacturing muscles, while also having fun!

Combat Robotics, in the broadest of terms, is the hobby of building robots that then fight each other in fighting tournaments. The rules between tournaments vary somewhat, but in general the goal is to disable or destroy the enemy bot to move on in the competition. On this page we will generally be talking in terms of the rules and regulations of NHRL.

In addition to the information on this page, I highly suggest checking out The Combat Robot Design Handbook, which includes tons of good tips and tricks for getting started in robot combat, as well as some resources that many bot builders use.

Weight Classes

While the bots you watch on TV are exciting, they are also extremely heavy and expensive. These bots, weighing in around 250 pounds, are known as the "heavyweight" class. It is much more common to start out in one of the three categories that NHRL offers; 3 pounds, 12 pounds, or 30 pounds.

3 Pound Robots

3lb bots are the largest group at NHRL and one of the easiest to get started in. As the name implies, 3lb robots are usually limited to weighing 3 pounds or less, with some special weight bonuses offered for certain bot designs. You can read all about the specific weight bonuses and rules for them in the 3lb robots section of the rules.

At the 3 pound level, bots are often made primarily of 3D printed plastics, with added metal reinforcements as armor. Don't worry if you don't have a CNC machine for making metal parts, many 3lb robots use very little metal in their armor and will opt to get it manufactured by a 3rd party service, like Send Cut Send. 3lb bots use common off-the-shelf RC car and drone motors for movement and their weapons. allowing a capable 3lb robot to be built for around $400. However, many of the top bots can cost up into the thousands of dollars. Don't let this discourage you though, you can still have plenty of fun and win some fights with a basic, well-designed bot. Plus, you'll learn a lot more losing than by winning.

3lb is also a great weight class to have some fun and make exciting/unique robots. Want to strap a rocket motor to an RC car and see how it fares? Go for it! One of the nice things about NHRL is that since there is no entry fee, you can bring some fun robots that you do not expect to win, and just have a good time getting it destroyed and putting on a bit of a show.

If you are very new to combat robotics and maybe not too experienced with manufacturing and design, there are also kit bots. Kit bots are combat robots you buy either fully or mostly assembled, so the amount of work you have to do is minimal. These can be a great way to get started in robot combat, but keep in mind that these kits are not going to be winning any tournaments and probably end up being more expensive than if you designed your bot yourself.