Ruleset

Common Terms:

Antweight: A robot weighing no more than 1 pound.

Plant (Plastic Antweight): A robot entirely made of plastic that weighs no more than 1 pound

Beetleweight: A robot weighing no more than 3 pounds.

Axe bot: A robot with an axe-style weapon arm.

Clusterbot/Multibot: A robot consisting of two or more seperate machines.

Control: Based on the events of a match, control can be determined by competitors' driving skills, dominance over opponents, and accuracy with attacks.

Damage: - Inflicted to compromise or impair an opponent's robot

Drum: A thick, cylindrical weapon.

Eggbeater/Beaterbot: Similar to a drum, but the weapon is a rectangular bar and hollowed out, resulting in a resemblance to a whisk.

Exhibition: A non-competitive battle conducted outside of the bracket for entertainment purposes.

Failsafe: A safety feature used to cut off power to a robot in the event of a malfunction.

Flipper: A robot designed to throw or flip over opponents.

Full-body Spinner: A robot with a spinner that surrounds its entire body.

Knockout: "When a robot has ceased moving in a controlled manner but has not tapped out the referee will begin a 10 second countdown. If the robot is unable to demonstrate controlled translational movement before the countdown ends it will be declared the loser by KO. " (SPARC Match Rules)

Pusher: A robot designed for pushing power, or to ram into opponents.

Shufflebot: A robot designed with a shuffling mechanism for movement.

Spinner: A robot built with a rotating weapon disk.

Tap out: "Once an operator has tapped out combat will cease and the opposing robot will be declared the winner. " (SPARC Match Rules)

Judging Criteria:

Aggression (5 points): 

• 5-0: a 5-0 score shall be awarded only when one of the robots never attempts to attack the other, and the other consistently attacks. 

• 4-1: a score of 4-1 shall be awarded in the case of significant dominance of attacks by one robot, with the other only attempting to attack a few times during the match. 

• 3-2: a 3-2 score shall be awarded when 

○ Both robots consistently attack the other. 

○ Both robots only attack the other for part of the match. 

○ Both robots spend most of the match avoiding each other. In this case it will be up to the judge's discretion to decide which robot made more attempts to attack the other. 

○ A Combatant who attacks a full-body spinner (e.g. intentionally drives within the perimeter of the spinning weapon) is automatically considered the aggressor and awarded a 3-2 score in the case where either robots consistently attack, or both robots consistently avoid each other. 

○ There can be no ties in aggression. Judges must decide that one robot is more aggressive than the other. 

Note: a Combatant is considered a "full body spinner" if the robot cannot be attacked without moving within the perimeter of the spinning weapon. 

Control (6 points):

• 6-0: a 6-0 score shall be awarded only when one robot completely controls the momentum of the match. Examples of this would include: A wedge or ramming robot preventing a spinning weapon from ever reaching full speed, A grabber or crusher consistently grabbing and manipulating its opponent with little to no offense from the opponent, a flipper reliably flipping its opponent without frequent missed flips, and a spinner being able to consistently and repeatedly get its weapon back to speed after hitting the opponent. 

• 5-1: a score of 5-1 shall be awarded in the case of significant dominance by one competitor. The competitor receiving 5 points should frequently exhibit the relevant behaviors noted in the control example section with only short periods of the opposing robot gaining the upper hand.

• 4-2: a score of 4-2 shall be awarded in the case of slight dominance by one competitor. The competitor receiving 4 points should exhibit the relevant behaviors noted in the control example section for a clear majority of the match. 

• 3-3: a 3-3 score shall be awarded when both robots are either able to demonstrate control for a significant portion of the match or neither robot are able to reasonably demonstrate control during a match. 

Damage (6 points):

• 6-0: a 6-0 score shall be awarded when: 

○ One robot suffers nothing more than trivial damage, and the other is at least significantly damaged 

○ One robot has suffered major or massive damage and the other is no more than cosmetically damaged. 

• 5-1: a 5-1 score shall be awarded when: 

○ One robot suffers at least minor damage and the other suffers major or worse damage 

○ One robot has suffered cosmetic damage and the other has suffered at least significant damage. 

•  4-2: a 4-2 score shall be awarded when: 

○ Both robots have suffered nearly the same level of damage but one is slightly more damaged than the other 

○ One robot has suffered trivial or cosmetic damage and the other has suffered minor damage 

• 3-3: a 3-3 score shall be awarded when: 

○ Both robots have suffered the same level of damage, or 

○ Neither robot has even cosmetically damaged the other 

Whichever bot is allotted the most points from the pool based on the above criteria will win the match. Questions? Feel free to ask our outreach team!

Link to the full SPARC (Standardized Procedures for the Advancement of Robot Combat) ruleset: https://www.sparc.tools/