AccuBots: Precision Engineering Meets Robot Rumble
At Accu, we love precision, innovation and a bit of friendly competition. To bring these values to life, we’ve launched AccuBots. An Initiative championed by the Accu Robotics Society, where team members can design, prototype and battle their very own ant-weight fighting robots.
Think Robot Wars, but working with 3D printed materials and on a smaller scale. Our AccuBots, weighing traditionally no more than 150g, push participants to think creatively and critically while engaging directly with the engineering processes we champion every day.
Each round of AccuBots takes participants through the full product lifecycle, from the initial concept to the small-stakes/high-octane battles of Fight Night. Along the way, they gain a hands-on appreciation for our precision-engineered components and the challenges of real-world design and prototyping just like the high-stakes projects our customers and teams tackle every day.
Contents:
Designing an AccuBot: Pint Sized Mayhem!
Every great AccuBot starts with an idea. In the design phase, teams get creative while staying within the strict guidelines of the antweight class, which limits robots to 150g unless using a non-rolling movement method. The challenge is to balance durability, functionality and style while staying underweight.
Teams brainstormed key design elements, including:
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Mobility: Should the bot focus on speed, manoeuvrability, or both?
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Weapons: Flippers, spinners or claws. what would be most effective?
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Materials: Lightweight options like PLA Plastics and Aluminum Bolts were hot options.
With these considerations and restrictions in mind, most teams opted to use CAD (Computer Aided Design) software to rapidly iterate and prototype their ideas while ensuring compatibility of components and parts.
“This was a great challenge that allowed us to understand how to create 3D designs in CAD software. This was great for building a relationship between team members while also having to research into all the designs of robots, what works and how to design them.”
Ben and Daniel
“Spin Diesel”
While each team was hard at work designing their AccuBots our Lead Engineer Patrick set about designing and building in-house robots for use by those who attended the event but did not have time to design and build their own in this round.
“Helping the competitors turn their ideas into working concepts and final robots was very rewarding, I'll be entering next time, so look out!”
Patrick Faulkner
Lead Engineer
Prototyping and Building: Bringing AccuBots to Life
With designs realised, teams moved on to prototyping and assembly. Using Accu’s extensive range of precision components and in-house 3D printers participants began turning their sketches and CAD designs into functioning machines. Components like precision screws, Light-weight Washers and spacers and custom printed components were integral to the build of each team's AccuBots.
Most teams embraced 3D printing for lightweight, custom-designed parts, while others experimented with unconventional materials to gain a competitive edge. The process wasn’t without its challenges as every gram counted, meaning every component needed careful selection, the iterative steps involved resulted in several teams undergoing complete rebuilds, showcasing the difficulties and opportunities involved in prototyping.
“I enjoyed the building of Edward II, I have never 3D printed before, but putting the internals together allowed me to use some skills I haven't needed since high school.”
Daniel Ackroyd
“Edward II”
Testing: Refining for Battle
Before the big event, the teams and their AccuBots were put through a rigorous testing phase. This stage revealed vulnerabilities and design flaws giving teams a chance to refine their designs before Fight Night.
Testing focused on:
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Durability: Could the AccuBot survive direct hits and being thrown across the arena? How would the chassis and body hold up?
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Safety: Spinning or rotating weapons or blades must be covered/immobilised between rounds for handling. Solving this was a unique challenge for each robot.
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Mobility: Was it agile enough to dodge opponents while still packing a punch? Would its mobility be impacted during the fight?
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Weapon efficiency: Could it deliver a knockout blow when it mattered? (Or destroy itself!)
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Battery Life: Would the Bots battery last round, after round? (or even one round!)
Some teams ran mock battles to simulate the arena experience, identifying vulnerabilities and tweaking their bots for maximum performance.
“The building experience was rather straightforward as Patrick provided a lot of support for us all, but he allowed us to do it ourselves so that we could gain an understanding of how it all works and fits together.”
Ben and Daniel
"Spin Diesel"
Expert Judges: Our Panel
We couldn’t have asked for a better panel of experts to help judge AccuBots Round 1. Among the highlights was the presence of Team Ranglebots, the celebrated stars of Robot Wars. Fresh from their well-earned victory at Fight Fest, team leader Ellis Ware (Guest Judge) brought along teammates Tori Ainsworth and Peter Ware to share their expertise and insights.
Of course, no inaugural event would be complete without celebrating exceptional achievements. In recognition of their success at Fight Fest, Accu CEO Martin Ackroyd presented Ellis with a £1,000 cheque, adding an extra spark to what was already an electrifying day.
Our in-house talent also stepped up to the occasion, lending their own expertise to the judging panel. Albert Balkartat, Accu Application Engineer and Joe Lockwood, Senior Application Engineer, took on the role of officiating bouts, offering fair critiques and expert feedback on the mechanical mayhem unfolding in the arena. Their passion for engineering and attention to detail made them the perfect additions to the panel alongside Ellis from Team Ranglebots.
With such a stellar line-up of judges, the event was a true celebration of creativity, precision and the unrelenting thrill of (tiny) robot combat!
Fight Night - Round 1
The culmination of weeks of hard work, Fight Night, transformed the Accu Offices into an electrifying battle arena. AccuBots faced off in a series of head-to-head matches, judged not only on their ability to best their opponent but also on creativity, style and adherence to the antweight guidelines.
Highlights of the evening included:
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Spectacular battles: Flippers flipping, spinners spinning and some surprising upsets (and rapid unscheduled disassemblies!)
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Innovative designs: AccuBots with unique mechanisms and bold aesthetic choices stood out and won extra points for creativity.
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Team camaraderie: Friendly rivalries turned the atmosphere into a mix of excitement and laughs But mostly family.
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Amazing Awards: Our in-house Head Engineer Patrick created some amazing trophies and awards for winning AccuBot teams.
“Battling in the AccuBots Antweight tournament far exceeded my expectations. It was so much fun and I can't wait for the next event. I'm even planning to compete in a few other events as my bot is under the 150g threshold!”
Rich Walker
"SEOwnage"
Preliminary Round - Earning the Spotlight
The event kicked off with the Preliminary Round, where all 8 participating AccuBots took to the arena to impress the judges. Each team put their robot through a series of 3 bouts against random opponent teams.
This wasn’t just about combat, bots were evaluated and awarded points based on their performance, aesthetics and unique design features and similarly had points deducted where their performance was lacking!.
Judges awarded points across three categories:
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Battle Performance – How well the robot functioned and engaged in combat. 0-5 points.
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Visual Design – The overall look and creative design elements of the bot. 0-5 points.
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Innovation – Unique engineering features or mechanisms that set the robot apart. 0-5 points.
At the end of the Qualifiers, the four highest-scoring teams advanced to the next stage – the Semi-Finals.
Semi-Finals - The Elimination Begins
With the top four AccuBots advancing, the competition shifted to a knockout format. As Provolone Ranger was designed and built by our very own AccuBot guru Patrick, the Judges elected to have Edward II qualify in its place to keep the playing field even.
The Semi-Finals saw two head-to-head elimination matches, where winning was the only way forward.
Teams fine-tuned their AccuBots between rounds, adjusting strategies and making any needed repairs or swapping out damaged components.
These bouts were as much about tactics as they were about raw power. The losing bots weren’t left empty-handed – they proceeded to a third-place playoff to fight for a podium finish.
“I love the smell of burning PLA in the morning”
Daniel Ackroyd
"Lean Mean Dan Machine"
The Finals – A Battle for Glory!
The final clash saw our two most formidable AccuBots face off in a showdown that would determine the champion. GOOGLECOREUPDATE vs Edward II proved to be a nailbiter of a matchup, with Heat-Based weapons going up against the power of Centrifugal force!
In the end, Richard Walker of SEOwnage claimed victory with his undefeated Accubot GOOGLECOREUPDATE, earning him the well-deserved title of AccuBots Round 1 Champion! His Accubot brought home the win through a combination of devastatingly effective weaponry (Throwing his opponents across the arena!), 3D components and precision-engineered parts from our own Accu Website.
The Victors and Thoughts From Our Lead Engineer
As the evening wrapped up, our lead engineer and AccuBot guru Patrick reflected on the success of the first AccuBots round:
“I'm pleased with how the event ran, we managed to keep on schedule even with some dropouts. For round 2 I'd like to improve on our arena and add some more features the competitors have requested!”
Patrick Faulkner
"Lead Engineer"
The first round of AccuBots wasn’t just about building robots. It was about building skills, fostering relationships and celebrating engineering. For those who participated, the lessons learned will carry over into their daily roles and, of course, into the next round of AccuBots!
Further Reading From Accu:
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"Building HeavyWeight Robots" - If our AccuBots peaked your interest find out more about heavyweight robots here!
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"What Is Engineering?" - Our entry-level introduction to engineering and its multiple amazing disciplines.