Links to Robot Combat Resources
Robot Parts
Motors, batteries, electronics etc.
- Robot Shop – Broad range of robotics parts.
- AndyMark – Wheels, hubs, motors, gearboxes etc.
- Pololu – DC Motors
- Servo City – DC Motors
- Hobby King – RC gear, brushless motors, batteries, chargers etc.
- RaceDayQuads – Great source for cheap, small LiPo batteries and other RC gear. Unfortunately they’re currently not delivering to Canada. Anyone up for a run to the PO at Point Roberts?
Custom-made parts. You send them a CAD or drawing, they cut it out & mail it to you.
Raw Materials etc.
- Metals Supermarket – Metal (duh) locations in Richmond, Burnaby, Langley, Victoria, & Nanaimo (will deliver)
- E-Bay – Titanium & Aluminum sheets, fasteners, broad variety of tools and parts.
- Amazon – Polyethylene plastics, broad range of hobby RC parts.
Kit Bots and Specialty Parts
- Fingertech Robotics – Canadian supplier of Beetleweight and Antweight kits and parts.
- Botkits – Seattle based.
- Kitbots
- Rectified Robotics
- Battle Robot Kits
- Absolute Chaos Robotics
- Rad Robot Kits
- Endbots (currently on hiatus)
The following links are for UK sites. In the UK, Beetleweights weigh 1.5 Kg and are mostly interchangable with 3 Lb North American Beetleweights. But Antweight bots weigh 150 grams so most of the parts are NOT generally compatible with North American Antweights.
Useful Online Calculators & Tools
Aqua Calc – Calculate weight from volume on most materials.
K & J Magnet Calculator – Calculate magnetic pull for different scenarios (if you have the weight and the arena has a steel floor, magnets can help keep your bot flat and give you more traction)
Bot Design Guidelines and Rules
- SPARC – Standardized rules, advice on bot building etc.
- Battlebots Subreddit – Active community of builders and fans
- Ask Aaron – Wide range of spreadsheets and specialized calculators for Robot Combat as well as an extensive Q&A library
- Robert Cowan’s Youtube Bot and Event breakdowns, advice on various aspects of bot building
- Carter Hurd’s Youtube – Unique bot designs, advice on electronics.
- Bristol Bot Builders (keep in mind UK Antweight is not the same and Beetleweight is slightly different)
- RioBotz Combat Robot Tutorial – Overwhelming amount of information. Useful, but written as an academic paper so it makes for a very dense read.
- RoboJackets Beginner’s Guide – Good step-by-step guide to building a beetleweight.
- Vex Classroom Guide on combat robotics for students and teachers.
- Beetleweight Combat Robot Handbook