Sumo robots are specially designed to fight in a round arena made out of steel. Their goal is to push the opponent out of the arena, and to do so they can use a few strategies, such as an extremely sharp wedge with the purpose of lifting the opponent (the most common one), or using powerful magnets under the robot to maximize traction and reaction forces on the wedge’s tip.
Sumo robots can be radio controlled or autonomous. The autonomous ones use a microprocessor and many sensors to accomplish the task efficiently. The fierce disputes are usually determined by the quality of the mechanical design.
I had the opportunity to directly work on the project of our sumo robots, C3 and C3D4. I was responsible for part of the mechanical design, where we optimized the base of the robot to bear all the magnets, maximizing the normal force our robot applied to the steel floor of the arena, while minimizing chassis deflection. I designed the front reinforcements that guarantee the integrity of electronic components during impacts and were still extremely lightweight to guarantee the robots would be under the 3 kg weight limit.Among many prizes these two robots have won, the two we are most proud of are the Second and Third place at the ALL JAPAN ROBOT-SUMO TOURNAMENT.
