Battle in Hyde Park — UChicago Robotics

The University of Chicago’s robotics club invites you to our beautiful Hyde Park, Chicago campus for a fun day of robot destruction! The event will be held in the McCormick Tribute Lounge at the Reynolds Club 5706 South University Ave, Chicago, IL 60637 on October 10, 2026. As always, our events are free to attend for all spectators!

Please join our Discord for communications about the event: https://discord.gg/5zE8tUm9Te

Event organizer: milescch@uchicago.edu

Format: We will use a 6-6-5 judging rubric. The bracket format will be decided based on the number of competitors. We will most likely run a double elimination bracket, and if there is low turnout, we will run a round robin with the top competitors advancing to single elimination finals.

Arena: Our arena is a 6’ x 6’ x 3’ with traction-painted MDF floors. Our floors are surrounded with 3.25” high and 1.5” thick plywood kickplates. One corner has a triangular moat that is 6” tall and is 18” wide.

Entry Fee: We strongly encourage participants to make a donation of $15 to help us offset operating costs for the event, but we will operate on a pay as much as you like basis. 

Schedule:

8:30am - Doors open

9:45am - Drivers meeting

10:00am - Matches start

6:00pm - Matches end (tentative)

A one-hour lunch break will be called around noon

Robot Guidelines: All robots should be built to the SPARC Robot Construction Specifications. The following rules are also in place:

• Power switches must be easily accessible without any modifications to the robot necessary to access it.
• All weapons must have an arresting device that stops the weapon from moving. Arresting devices should be on robots at all times except for right before matches start!

For Plastic Antweight, the only printed materials allowed are PLA(+), PETG, ABS, and ASA. Custom cast silicone wheels are allowed, but TPU wheel cores are not. COTS parts are allowed when necessary, but should not be used to reinforce your robot in any way that protects it from damage.

Rules: Our match ruleset will be based on the MRCA Ruleset, with the following specifications:

• Unsticks will only be granted in the event of robots becoming excessively entangled or in the event of an arena fault. Unsticks will only be granted if a robot is lodged into the floor/kickplates or stuck in a floor seam. Unsticks will not be granted if a robot is stuck on top of a kickplate, is stuck between the kickplate and the arena wall or stuck on the moat.
• A robot that touches the floor of the red-painted moat area is considered to be knocked out.