SpeedBump (1lb Combat Robot)

Speedbump started out as a contestant in a plastic ant competition (1lb robots made entirely of PLA parts and electronics), that the Rose-Hulman Combat Robotics Team held as an internal competition to start the season. The competition started early in my freshman year, and I went into it unexperienced but with a good idea of what I wanted. I found a partner with CAD experience and got to work designing.

The first attempt did not accurately account for the space that the electronics would take up. The original chassis was way too small. The competition was three days from that point and we were without a working robot. With 2 weeks of SolidWorks experience, I redesigned the robot completely from scratch, ending up with a half-baked robot I was honestly unhappy with. That robot went on to win the competition.

After that, I wanted to bring the robot to the full combat ant weight division. After a couple months of design I completed the first iteration of this robot.

It's first competition was in Michigan in 2024, where it went up against many great robots. It did not perform as well as I would have hoped, but I was able to recognize a few weaknesses that I could iterate on to fix for its next competition. These changes included larger wheels for more ground clearance and strengthening the TPU body with a titanium wedge.

It's next debut was in Chapel Hill, TN. There it went 2-2 in it's fights and did what it was meant to do -- survive. SpeedBump's weapon is small and not very effective. However, the weapon of most robots are the most vulnerable part. The high impact speeds that the weapons must endure put them at risk for failure. SpeedBump's specialty is going head-to-head with these weapons and basically have them break themselves.

After this, I opted to take the robot in a whole new direction. I am now running the 5th major iteration of speedbump, featuring a long and slender body with a much larger disc weapon. Every major system has been reworked multiple times through innovation and testing.

2 1/2 years later and SpeedBump is climbing the rankings of the Midwest Combat Robotics Association. My goal is to perform good enough in competitions to qualify for the MRCA finals in November, exclusive to the top 64 antweights in the Midwest.