RadLab: Designing Walking Combat Robots

Ben Israeli will discuss his experience building robots for Mech Warfare, a competition in which remotely piloted legged robots ("mechs") battle using pellet guns. He'll tell us about the process of designing and building a mech using examples from his decade of experience in the competition, from his early attempts, through to proved competitive designs, and on to innovations he is planning to bring to the next iteration. He will also talk about the nuts and bolts of how matches and tournaments work and about the community that has grown around this niche competition.