Wisconsin Robot Combat January 2022

Event Description

WRC is back for our third event! Makerfaire was great, but we know this event will be even better! It's also kicking off a league called Midwest Robot Combat Association, aka MRCA. The details are on our website: https://midwestrobotcombat.com

Event details:

The time slot for spectators is 9:30am-5:00pm. Before this time you will need to get a wristband and sign the WRC release form. If you're a minor, a parent or guardian will need to sign.

8:00am-9:30am - Setup and check-in

9:30am-9:45am - Driver’s meeting and bracket shuffle

9:45am-10:00am - Crowd addressal and fight queuing

10:00am-4:15pm - Main tournament

4:15pm-5:00pm - Finals and rumbles

5:00pm-7:00pm - Event teardown (help is greatly appreciated)

The event is being held in the gym (lower building) at Crosspoint Community Church in Oconomowoc, WI. Tables and chairs are provided, but if you don't like round tables please bring your own. There will be space for that. Extension cords (not just power strips) are highly recommended.

The plan is to use the church's kitchen as a concession stand. I think I have enough friends and family who are willing to do it with really good home cooked meals.

Most people reading this will be competitors or people dragged along with competitors, so you'll get a special wristband and get in free. People just spectating will be given a different wristband and be subject to a $5 admission fee. (5yrs old and under are free.)

Competition details:

We all know that "Just 5 more minutes!" means your robot is in four pieces. I will try to be as reasonable as I can with delays and repair times early in the tournament, but I can only guarantee 20mins and one potentially short delay past that. I was able to relax this for the last event because of dropouts and a bit of extra time, but if we're pushing a 5:00pm finish time, I'll have to enforce these rules. It’s not my fault if you don’t design a combat robot of all things for serviceability. :P

Arena: Wood floor, steel kickplates, and a lipped pushout so a deliberate push is required for a win. 8’ x 6’ x 4’ box.

An important note about unsticks because of a particular antweight: If you embed yourself in the arena, aka become immobile by causing damage to something that should be assumed indestructible, you are granted one unstick per match. This is different from getting propped up against a wall, doing the thing, or becoming stuck on a piece of debris from another robot. If a piece of debris detaches from the arena during a fight and causes you to get stuck, you are allowed one unstick because this wouldn’t have happened with an indestructible arena.

Sidenote: We need constant action. Bring fairyweights if you have them. I'll have a 4x4 arena ready to go for use in testing and or straight up grudge matches. I'll have a whiteboard with grudge matches ready to go, and whenever there's a dull moment I'll pick the first match from that whiteboard and try to fill time. The best case scenario here is I tell a grudge match to get queued up in the small arena so that while a tournament match gets unloaded we can already have another fight running to keep the crowd entertained. If there's enough interest to run a fairyweight tournament simultaneously, someone can organize that, but I won't be able to announce every match or pay close attention because the main tournaments take priority.

MRCA League:

This is a Midwest Robot Combat Association qualifier event. That means the antweight bracket fights will earn you points towards potentially qualifying for the finals this year at Milwaukee Makerfaire in late September. Details and the rules we are using are found here: https://midwestrobotcombat.com/rules/

Open Ant: Double elimination tournament with 2 minute fights. (Maximum of two bots per driver allowed.)

Entry: $30 (pay here or in cash at event)

Challonge: https://challonge.com/2022MRCAjanuary

Antweight (MRCA) Rules: https://midwestrobotcombat.com/rules/

Beetle: Double elimination tournament with 2 minute fights.

Entry: $30 (pay here or in cash at event)

Challonge: https://challonge.com/WRCjanuary2022Beetle

Beetle (SPARC) Rules: http://sparc.tools/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/SPARC_Robot_Construction_Specifications_v1.3.pdf

Please email me with any questions. I hope to see you there!

Livestream: https://www.twitch.tv/wisconsinroboticcombat

Discord server: https://discord.gg/hzvM5zQURg

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