Organised by WUST students, the Robotic Arena competition that took place on Saturday, Jan 12th, in Wrocław enjoyed great interest. The machines raced, fought on rings, and saved soft toys from a maze.

The competition was held for the eleventh time, and it was the largest edition of the event so far. In total, there were 359 competitors from nine countries, including Lithuania, Romania, and Ecuador, who brought several hundred robots to Wrocław. - Due to a large number of contenders and new competitions, Robotic Arena took place at Wrocław Congress Centre instead of the previous venue "Serowiec” (“Cheese Building”) - explained Mateusz Michalak from the Robotics Scientific Circle KoNaR, which prepared the event.

Already at the entrance, you could see Martian rovers, multi-purpose robots, and underwater drones constructed by students from the Scientific Circle “Robocik” operating at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. Right beside, there was a stand with virtual reality goggles and the first arenas where robots competed in the "Puck collect" challenge, which consisted in collecting colourful discs randomly placed on a board, and "Rescue", where the task was to search for a teddy bear lost in a maze and then transport it to a safe base.

However, most of the events took place in a large hall, where the organisers prepared, among other things, rings for the fights of robots taking part in the "NanoSumo", "MicroSumo Enhanced", "MiniSumo Enhanced", "Sumo" and "MegaSumo" competitions. Machines of different sizes - from microscopic to ones weighing even two kilograms - tried to push their rivals out of the ring, and the clashes, lasting from a few to a little more than a dozen seconds, provided a lot of excitement, especially to the youngest fans.

One of the novelties during this year's contest was a competition with the participation of flying drones. The machines had a specially prepared 10 m by 5 m track, where obstacles were placed or hung at various heights. The flight route had the shape of a lemniscate, the symbol of infinity, and the drones had to cross it as many times as possible in a given time frame.

It was also interesting at the stands where the constructions submitted to the "Freestyle" competition were presented. There - apart from construction quality - the idea behind the design, the innovation factor, as well as possibilities of its development were evaluated. Considerable attention was drawn, among other things, to the vehicle designed to collect water samples. On land, it moves on wheels, but as soon as it comes into contact with water, the turbines that allow it to swim are activated. A special probe can be lowered to any depth, while the machine itself remains on the surface thanks to polystyrene balls mounted to it.

The 11th edition of the competition was organised by the Robotics Scientific Circle "KoNaR" and the student organisation BEST Wrocław.  The event was held under the honorary patronage of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodship.

mic