ACE Robotics
UC Irvine
ACE Robotics
UC Irvine
Anteater Combat Engineering (ACE) Robotics is the undergraduate combat robotics team at UC Irvine, dedicated to designing and competing in competitive robotics from 1lb to 30lb weight classes. Comprised of passionate students from various engineering disciplines, ACE aims to push the boundaries of robotic engineering through hands-on experience, teamwork, and participation in competitions.
Your design is your ambition. ACE pushes the boundaries in innovative engineering for all of our robots. Your limit is your imagination in the arena.
Competition drives us to excel. With every match, we present our best inside the arena. Our determination in matches is an opportunity to prove ourselves and push to be the best.
We are a team, a community of combat robotics enthusiasts helping each other to succeed and overcome any challenge. We create an environment where teamwork is our main cause for our collective success.
2024-2025
RCL National Championships 2025
March 3-4, 2025
Our 12lb Antihilator (Anteater Annihilator) team qualified and competed at the RCL National Championships at the Discovery Cube in Santa Ana! The Antihilator team has worked the past quarter making upgrades to the robot in all design aspects. Our team had great fun, and we are very proud of the team being able to qualify for Nationals! Antihilator was able to win its first match against Hemlock, disabling its weapon; however faced electronics issues in the last 2 matches, ending Antihilator's run. Despite this, the team has learned much from these battle damages and plans to come back in the Fall quarter, along with our other 2 upcoming 12lb robots!
ACE@UCI Antweight Assault 2025 - Collegiate!
February 16, 2025
On February 16th, ACE Robotics @ UCI hosted its 2nd annual Antweight Assault competition at the Student Center Pacific Ballroom, but this time with teams from UCSD and USC! With a total roster of 25 teams, with 12 UCI teams, our members competed with other universities to fight for the collegiate championship at UCI! Through a tough battle, UCI was able to score 2nd place with the 1lb team Lil Annihilator! Our members have been working on their projects all quarter to this point, and it was a fun time for all competitors and spectators. With over 140 attendees and spectators from several universities, we introduced the BattleBot sport to first-timers, seeing these robots fight, leaving a good and lasting impression! Our goal is to make UCI a center for collegiate combat robotics competitions to bring together engineers, students, and those who are inspired to join the BattleBot sport!
Check out our photo album to see more pictures and videos of the event!
ACE is the direct successor of the original ideals and project of the first robotics club at UC Irvine, ZOTBotics. ACE today has transformed from the original ideas of ZOTBotics' Robot Rumbles to continue the ideas of robotics for creativity, competition, and community.
2017
Our journey begins here! ZOTBotics, the original combat robotics club was founded in 2017 with the idea of creating miniature sumo robotics, later developing into the Robot Rumble competitions at UCI! Members part of ZOTBotics Robot Rumble would develop miniature combat robots to fight against each other to the death! Several competitions were held within the ZOTBotics member base from 2017-2020.
2020
With COVID-19, ZOTBotics transitioned to an online setting, focusing more on online projects. Robot Rumble projects were canceled, and would take until 2022 for ZOTBotics to continue back into combat robotics.
2022
With working with the founders of ZOTBotics, the ZOTBotics Network was established, creating 4 new clubs all under the name of ZOTBotics, with ACE as the spearheading club for robotics within ZOTBotics. ACE set itself to focus mainly on combat robotics within ZOTBotics, following the traditions from the original UCI Robot Rumble competitions. Our development was small, but we were encouraged to set strong foundations for a combat robotics presence at UCI.
In 2023, we have set our foundation as a combat robotics team and made many achievements over the years!
1st Battalion
By the end of the school year, ACE completed 11 combat robots! With our robots, we attended several competitions outside UCI for the first time! The 1st Battalion was a major success, finally showcasing our hard work throughout the year.
ACE@UCI Antweight Assault 2024
In March 2024, we held our first competition at UCI with our own arena and our own robots! With up to 10 robots competing, we finally showcased all of our robots in the arena. With many unique and diverse robots, our members could finally present all their hard work.
Interested in joining? Check out the Recruitment page to learn more on how to become more involved! We accept anyone, no matter the major or experience!