Build, break, repeat is a familiar cycle for the individuals crazy enough to compete in this hobby. Every time a robot goes into the box, hundreds of dollars and countless hours are being put on the line. That still doesn't discourage the growing number of makers, engineers, and hobbyists who are involved from regularly traveling across state lines just for bragging rights.

Unlike Battlebots, which fights 250lb robots, Wisconsin Robot Combat focuses on the 1lb and 3lb weight divisions. The scale of these robots makes them cheaper, easier to service, and easier to build. However, that does not mean they're boring! These robots are still capable of ripping one another apart, and due to something called the inverse-square law, they do it with more relative energy than their 250lb counterparts! Now that's exciting.

Wisconsin Robot Combat was a COVID-19 project started by Joseph Betz, a high schooler who was tired of waiting for local events to start popping up. Even with no funding and an arena made from a shelf, the first WRC was ran in May of 2021 and attracted a total of 23 robots across 4 different states. The surprising success from this driveway-run event showed the potential for bigger, more refined events that spectators could attend.

Through the generous donations of the community and a lot of help from Ty Schnepper, another one of the local competitors, a new arena was built over the summer of 2021. This arena allowed WRC to run 3lb robots and create a more spectator-friendly event. Milwaukee Makerfaire took things to the next level by putting a now extremely competitive field of builders in front of whoever was willing to watch. It was another huge success and WRC plans to come back to Makerfaire next year!

Through careful evaluation after each event, WRC has only continued to expand and improve since then. WRC is now gearing up to host the MRCA finals, a grueling test of skill for the best builders in the Midwest. We couldn't be more excited!