UNC Charlotte Casual Lobbies - Beginners and New Bots

UNC Charlotte Combat Robotics is hosting a "Casual Lobby" event on Sunday, November 15th on UNC Charlotte Campus for beginners and new bots. The purpose of this event is to provide an easy entry point for beginner builders and to offer experienced builders a chance to try out some new ideas. Results will not count towards NC bot rankings. UNCC will be bringing 8-10 new robots by beginner builders

 

PLEASE ONLY SIGN UP A ROBOT ONLY IF EITHER:

A) YOU WOULD CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE A "BEGINNER" BUILDER

B) YOU ARE AN "EXPERIENCED" BUILDER BRINGING A NEW ROBOT 

It is cool if your new bot is debuting at a very closely scheduled event like Winston Salem Dash Bash or RABID Turkey Brawl. We are not going to police who should consider themselves a beginner - it does not have to be your first ever event. I would have considered myself a beginner for a whole year or two when I started. The spirit of the rules are clear. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to us at charlottecombatrobotclub@gmail.com

 

THIS WILL BE A BUG EVENT WITH THE FOLLOWING CLASSES:

Weight Class	Available Spots	Builders Fee
Full Combat Ant	16	$20
Plastic Ant	16	$20

 

Waivers and Builders Fees: (includes 2 pit passes per robot). They help pay for lunch & the existence of UNC charlotte combat robot club. payment is due upon sign-up through STRIPE (integrated in robotcombatevents.com)

With such a high drop out rate in previous events, release form and payment for this event are due upon signup. Those who have not completed the proper paperwork and paid the fees may be dropped to the wait list at our discretion.

WHEN YOU SIGN UP YOU WILL BE ON THE WAITLIST UNTIL BUILDERS FEE IS PAID

Waivers are at this link, must be sent to charlottecombatrobotclub@gmail.com even if you have fought with us before.

 

Thank you to UNC Charlotte Combat Robotics’ 2025 and 2026 Sponsors for allowing us to run events like this:

US Conec

Palm Beach Bots

Bitar Machine Design 

Honeywell

UNC Charlotte Center for STEM Education

UNC Charlotte Super Fab Lab

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR COMPETITORS 

Location

UNC Charlotte College of Health and Human Services Building 1st floor

8844 Craver Rd, Charlotte, NC 28223 

The pits are rooms 132, 133, and 153. The arena is in 128

The builders pits will be spread about 3 classrooms with tables and chairs. The arena is in a 4th room. They are all adjacent indoors. There should be plenty of outlets available in the rooms, however it would be a good idea to bring your own extension cord as well as power strip. The building is about a 3 minute walk from the closest parking deck. 

Parking

All parking decks and surface lots on campus are free to park in because it is the weekend. The closest parking deck is Union Deck at Student Union Ln, Charlotte, NC 28262. Because the campus is insanely hilly, it is actually best to go to the top parking deck entrance, go up three floors in the parking deck and exit via the ground floor of the student union. It is possible to back into CHHS Lane and unload quickly, however this is a one lane road and extremely narrow so I would advise against everyone doing this unless you have mobility concerns. It is only a 3 minute walk from union deck top floor to CHHS first floor (which are on the same floor level).  

Timeline 

Doors open: 7:30 AM

Safety/Weigh-in: 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM 

Builders meeting: 9:30 AM

Fight starts after builders meeting (around 10:00 AM)

Lunch will be served at noon (dominos pizza) but there will not be a stop in fighting. You must eat at your own time

Fighting would typically end at an event like this by 6 pm at latest. Cannot garauntee a time because we are trying the new fight queuing system.

 

Misc Info

• 900 MHz, 2.4GHz, or spectrum radios are required. Any other frequency must have prior approval.
• We will have 2 minute fights
• The arena is 4' x 6' x 2' tall. There will be wood kickplates. The floor of the arena is the white sequentia shower wall used at Carolina Combat Robot Events available from Lowe's . Picture of arena here with fc ants fighting.

Tournament Structure

The tournament will be a 3 round swiss stage followed by a single elimination for the top 8 robots.This means all robots are guaranteed minimum 3 fights, with a maximum of 6 fights to win the event

We are going to try a new "open queuing" system inspired by Palm Beach Bots and Robot Ruckus to help with postponements and event schedule. Here is how it works (this will also be explained at builders meeting):

• In a swiss stage each robot plays a random opponent in the first round. Then, 1-0 robots play 1-0 robots and vice versa. In round 3, 2-0 robots play other 2-0 robots. 1-1 robots fight other 1-1 robots. The 8 robots with highest ranking at the end of round 3 move on to the single elimination bracket. 
• At the start of each swiss stage round we will not put the order of fights on the screen. Instead, we will put all the matchups for the round on the screen. There will be 5 queuing tables by the arena. When you and your opponent are both ready, come place your robots in line to fight. 
  • Robots are motivated to fight first once ready, since they will have more repair time for the next round
• At the start of each swiss round we will start a 40 minute timer. We will run the cage with the robots that are ready to fight. Nearing the end of a swiss round, we will enter "round end mode" where a forfeit is possible, so that the whole event is not held up by a few long repairs. “Round end mode” only occurs when BOTH the 40 minute timer has elapsed and there are 3 or less remaining matches (8 robots yet to fight, regardless of weight class). 
  • During “Round End Mode” we will start a 5 minute timer that only runs when fights are not actively happening in the cage (like a chess clock). At the end of that 5 minute timer, any robots not actively ready to fight must forfeit (they will have had a minimum guaranteed 45 minutes to be ready)
• There will be no postponements during the swiss stage. If the robots get in the arena and do not function, they can just go to the back of the line to fight without forfeiting.
  • There should be no issues with having no postponements, since everyone is always GUARANTEED AT LEAST 45 minutes to repair between “round end modes”.
• During the single elimination knockout stage each robot will be allowed one 20 minute postponement. The same fight cannot be postponed by both robots to add up to 40 minute repair. Builders will be guaranteed 20 minutes between single elimination fights, but are greatly encouraged to come put their robot in line when ready.

Some important rules:

• No flame weapons.
• No gas-powered robots.
• If you are using LiPo’s, you must have LiPo bags. All Lipo batterys must be in a LiPo bag while charging.
• Bring your own power strips.  A weapon lock is required for all weapons.
• A switch is required. A jumper is acceptable in place of a switch as long as it can be easily and quickly connected and disconnected.
• Only one robot per driver per weight class please. The same team can bring multiple robots, but must have more than 1 driver in case they fight each other

 

Plastic Ant rule clarifications:

• Sparc v1.5 plastic ant rules with following adjustments
• Must be 3D printed plastic
• PET, PETG, ABS, PLA, PLA+, HIPS are the only materials that can be used for the chassis and weapons. 
• No other types of plastics or materials are allowed
• Wheels may be any material, any diameter and thickness (even TPU). TPU is allowed in no other part of the bot.
• If it can be touched, it must be plastic. It is acceptable to epoxy, tape, or screw 3D printed components together and heads of the screws to be visible if they're only used for their intended use (i.e., attaching the top onto the sides of the robot, gluing 3D printed parts together at the seam if they'd be bigger than your print bed, etc.) (can’t put screws as impactors in weapon … etc) 
• Motors, electronics, axles, fasteners and adhesives can be any reasonable material but cannot be used in such a way to enhance the structural integrity, armor the robot, or enhance any weapon.
• Robots may be disqualified at the Event Organizer’s discretion if it is deemed to violate the spirit of the class. Contact the event organizer ahead of time if you are not sure your robot meets the above definition.

 

Consider joining the NC Robot Fighting Discord - discussions and updates will be posted there in #local-events