Servo - March 2010

From Brazil to San Francisco

By Marco Meggiolaro

FIGURE 1. RioBotz at RoboGames 2006.

Our Incredible

RoboGames Experience

Our combat robot team RioBotz can be divided into two timelines: B.R. and A.R. – Before RoboGames and After RoboGames. We have been competing with combat robots since 2003, starting with a lousy (though beloved) middleweight named Lacraia, that had an “amazing” 1 mm thick aluminum armor (so as not to go over the weight limit). This all started when a few of my college students asked me to help them build a combot. I had built robots before, but never to be sent into combat or to have a strict weight limit. This was new to both me and my students. After a lot of learning, broken parts, and reading all available books on combots, we achieved our first significant result the following year, winning the Brazilian nationals with the middleweight spinner Ciclone.

36 SERVO 03.2010

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BC

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