Q - What is Mech Warfare?
A - We are a group of hobbyists, robotics engineers, students, and various humans that build small remotely piloted walking robots armed with airsoft, nerf, and even more powerful weapons such as micro-rockets, custom co2 powered bb rifles, and flame throwers. We take these robots, place them in a small-scale model urban environment and duke it out. Mech Warfare is part engineering competition, part "real-world videogame" with a strong emphasis on sharing knowledge, advancing robotics technology, and having fun. In our 5th year, we have had over 30 registered teams from across the United States, Turkey, Canada, Mexico, and Japan competing.
Q - Do you have forums to discuss Mech Warfare?
A - We do! The Mech Warfare builder community uses the Trossen Robotics Forums as our home base for discussion. Here you'll find other builders' mech projects, discussions on the rules, event planning, and tips & tricks from the veterans. The Mech Warfare Forums are found here.
Q - How can I get more information on participating?
A - Building a Mech for this competition is no easy feat. There are no ready-to-build kits available and everyone building so far is doing so from scratch, or using an existing robotics kit and heavily modifying it for use in the competition. We suggest checking out our forums, reading as much as possible, and seeing how other builders are going about designing and building their mechs. Once you've done your fair share of research, feel free to ask informed questions on our forums. We have a tight-knit community that is happy to help new comers out.
To reiterate: Building a functional, competitive mech, is VERY HARD.
If it is your first year, do not waste time day dreaming of all the awesome over-the-top gizmos you're going to add. See what other people are doing, learn from this. Build a Mech. Get it walking. Get it remotely piloted via wireless video feed. Get it firing. PRACTICE. A LOT. Expect it to break and things to go wrong. Go to an event and compete for a year. The most common misconception about this competition is that building a fully functional mech is a trivial task.
Q - Who can compete in Mech Warfare?
A - Anyone with the engineering knowledge and resources to construct a mobile, remotely piloted, weaponized walking robot. This is primarily an engineering competition, so a lot of knowledge in relevant fields is assumed. We're working on publishing mech build details, plans, and weapon systems information in the near future to assist new competitors.
Q - Where can I find the ruleset for Mech Warfare?
A - The latest Ruleset Draft can be found here.
Q - Where are Mech Warfare events held?
A - Mech Warfare was hosted at Robogames in San Francisco, California from 2009-2013. Side events have been hosted at the Kansas City MakerFaire, iHobby Expo, and ShepRoboFest. Future main events will be hosted in the Fall of each year, at Chicago RoboCon.
Q - Where can I find information on the Scoring System?
A - The MW Scoring Systems are an open source hardware/software project built to meet the needs of the Mech Warfare competition. The Scoring System section is found here .
Q - What cameras are suggested for use?
A - 2.4ghz Wifi IP Cameras and 5.8ghz Analog FPV Cameras are allowed for use. See Ruleset for full requirements.
Q - What's the best route to get started on building a mech? How much do they cost?
A - Hands down, probably the easiest way to get building is to look into an AX-12 Dynamixel based 2/3DOF quadruped that uses an Arbotix running a NUKE generated IK sketch. This is a microcontroller that can communicate with AX-12s, and has an open source IK generator program (Pypose/NUKE) that will create a base sketch for you to get your quad running around. It creates a great head-start for newcomers who don't have a lot of programming experience.There are plenty of various projects in the forums that use this method, and it's been one of the most widely successful platforms. There are no mech kits available, so this is the closest thing we have for now. Look at what other people are doing, how they're building their mechs, and give it a shot yourself.
We plan on publishing a few opensourced Mech designs in the near future for competitor reference and use.
Q - What do you guys use for weapons? Where can I get them?
A - The easiest route is pretty simple- we recommend picking up a 'defender' style airsoft gun from your local WalMart or other sports store and modding it to suit your needs. These usually run about $15-25 and are fairly simple inside. Add a relay or motor controller to it and you've got it working. More advanced builders are using what are known as "AEG Airsoft Gearboxes" and building their own custom guns around them. This requires the builder to come up with their own Barrel solution, hopper, hop up/ammo feed and mounting solution, but these are very powerful guns. Do not use 'tank guns', while they were okay for the first/second year (due to us not having many options), compared to what we use now they suck something fierce.