Space Ship Combat Robot
Overview
Designed 'Space Ship', a 150g antweight combat robot for the UoM Robotics Society Antweight Fighting League. The wedge geometry features near-zero ground clearance to slide under opponents, with an ultra-low centre of gravity from centrally mounted batteries and motors. Designed entirely from scratch in AutoCAD with milled chassis for precision. Strategy: flip or push opponents out of the arena.
Key Highlights
Gallery
Space Ship — the primary wedge design with ultra-low ground clearance to slide under opponents
3D CAD Model
Space Ship Combat Robot — Fusion 360 CAD — drag to rotate, auto-rotates when idle.
Deep Dive
Strategic Design Philosophy
I analysed the UoM Robotics Society Antweight rules and common failure modes before designing anything. The strategic insight: a robot that cannot be wedged under, and can slide completely under its opponent, wins structurally. That became the non-negotiable constraint around which everything was designed. No active weapons — complex spinners and lifters add failure modes. Space Ship uses only geometry, torque, and positioning, making it consistently reliable throughout all competition matches.
Design Variants
Three variants were developed and tested: the original Space Ship wedge optimised for getting under opponents, a Pusher configuration with maximum forward force for arena push-outs, and a Brushed Motor version adding a spinning weapon option while maintaining the low CG profile. Each variant was designed entirely from scratch in AutoCAD, with every revision tracked against the strict 150g weight limit.
Precision Engineering at 150g
The chassis underside was milled flat to less than 0.1mm clearance, preventing opponents from wedging underneath. The forward-angled wedge face lifts opponents on contact, reducing their traction and exposing vulnerable underside components. The wedge angle was optimised through iterative AutoCAD modelling, with every revision tracked against the strict 150g weight limit. Batteries and brushed motors were mounted as low and central as possible, making the robot resistant to toppling under heavy side impact.
Interactive Lab
Space Ship Arena — Combat Robotics!
Drive your wedge robot with WASD or arrow keys. Push the blade bot into one of the two pits — but avoid its spinning blade! Wedge under the opponent for 1.8x push force. First to 3 wins the match.