Robot Combat League National Championship

Event Description

Who will be the Robot Combat League's National Champions?

The Robot Combat League National Championship will bring the Top Ranked Combat Robots from across North America together to see who is truly the best. 

Ticket will go on sale soon!

Doors open to the public at 10:30 am on both Saturday and Sunday with matches starting around 11:00 am and go until we get through the brackets.

How are robots selected? Robot ranks are calculated based on how well robots place at participating events. You can get the details on how the ranking scores are calculated here.

What weight classes are included? The championship event will include robots ranging from 150g Fairyweights to 30lbs including full combat Featherweights.

What if a top ranked bot can't attend the event? If a top ranked bot can not attend the championship event, robots further down the list will receive an invite.  So if only the top 12 of 16 Sportsman bots can come, the next 4 in the rankings will be invited. To make sure alternates are invited with enough time to make travel arrangements, we are asking that invited robots let us know if they can attend as soon as possible. 

What is the Event Format? For all weight classes, the event will use a true double-elimination format. If a team has two robots that are scheduled to compete, the bots must fight each other so you'll need a radio for each robot.  If both bots are functional but you don't want them to fight each other then the winner will be decided by a coin toss. If a bot truely cannot continue due to damage it will be allowed to forefit at the event organizers discretion.

What are the arenas?

Featherweights, Sportsman and Hobbyweight robots will compete in the SCAR arena. There is no pit.

Beetleweight will compete in an 8'x8' steel floor arena with a pit in one corner. The pit has a pronounced lip around it that reduces the chance of accidentally driving in. We are in the process of creating a mechanism which will keep robots out of the pit for the first part of the match.

Antweights, Plastic Ants and Fairy robots will fight in a 5'x6' arena with a small pit in one corner.  Like the big arena it should be difficult to accidentally drive into it. We are in the process of creating a mechanism which will keep robots out of the pit for the first part of the match. Arena Pit If you were at the last National Championship you saw that the arena pits were a big part of match outcomes. We will continue to use them at this event for Beetleweight and smaller classes, but we will be modifying the pits so they have a smaller impact on matches. The exact method of this is being worked out.  

What are the event rules? The championship event will use standard SPARC rules and procedures. If your bot competed and gained its points and rank in events using non-SPARC rules, you will need to update your bot to comply with the SPARC rules to compete at the Championship event.

Exposed Batteries: In an effort to reduce the liklihood of a full-on battery fire, if a robots batteries are completely exposed the referee will stop the match and the decision goes to the judges.

Arena Unsticks: There are no arena unsticks. With our arena designs, bots rarely become stuck. We do play by pinball rules, meaning that banging on the lexan to dislodge a robot is allowed at the descretion of the referee.

Robot Unsticks: We will follow the standard SPARC procedures. 

Magnets: Magnets are not allowed in the Plastic Antweight class per SPARC rules. Also, no magnets in the Featherweight and 30lb Sportsman classes due to safety reasons.

When and Where is the Event?

The event will take place at Hanger 30 in Magnuson Park in Seattle. 

Builder Schedule 

Friday May 10th will be dedicated to check-in and safety as well as taking pictures of the robots and competitors. We get access to the venue at Noon to start setting up. Check-in will start around 2pm. The venue guards will start people exiting the building at 7:30pm, so don't show up late! Robots competing on Sunday will be allowed to do their safety checks on Saturday. Saturday May 11th. The venue will open at 8am to builders. At 10am we will have a builders-meeting At 10:30am the doors open to the public. Very soon after that we will start the matches.  We should be done by 5pm - where Medals will be presented to winners. Sunday May 12th The venue will open at 8am to builders​​. The doors open to the public at 10:30am. Matches start very soon after 10:30 We should be done by 3pm - where Medals will be presented to winners.  

Friday May 10th - Check-in, Safety, and Photos

Saturday May 11th - Antweights, Beetleweights, Sportsman, Featherweights

Sunday May 12th - Fairyweights, Plastic Antweights, Hobbyweights  

Hotel: We will have a hotel deal, the details will be presented soon.

Shipping: We will provide an address where items can be shipped when the invitations are sent out.

Are you interested in getting involved in the event or the Robot Combat League?

We want this event to be a success and to become a regular yearly event.  If you have skills that can help and/or are interested in volunteering please let us know. If you'd like to help or if you have questions, you can contact us at contact@robotcombatleague.net or fill out this short 3-question Google form. 

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