Bot Wars: the arms race, SEAS-style

By Charles Anzalone

The rules of Bot Wars can be summed up in two words: just fight.

A UB tradition, Bot Wars is the marquee event of Engineers Week, a series of student-run engineering and science-themed competitions in February. Student engineering clubs compete in a range of ever-popular activities, ranging from the Egg Drop and Drone Racing to the Derby Race and Giant Jenga.

“It’s so much fun,” says Auburn Schwartzmeyer, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering and president of the UB Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) student chapter.

“You have all your friends there. From the beginning of the week, we have these little events we run, and games, and we all get to play them and compete, and you earn these points,” she says. “The Bot Wars is the big cherry on top. It’s the finale you worked so hard for.”

An arena is set up in the lobby of the Student Union, and teams contend in two challenges – the Bot Wars Maze, in which robots must navigate a maze as quickly as possible, and the Bot Wars, where bots clash, bash and saw until there is one robot standing.

There are, of course, a few guidelines to keep the competition fair and the participants and audience safe. Spikes, nails and blades are all fair game. Explosives, flamethrowers, radio jammers and high-voltage devices are all banned weapons.

This year, SAE’s bot SLAYYYER took home the crown, destroying the competition. SAE also placed first overall in Engineers Week, earning the most points throughout the events. But in addition to bragging rights, the students forged lifelong bonds while hanging out and tinkering with their bot in the Jarvis Hall workspace. They have also picked up valuable skills for future careers.

“SAE is a great place to learn skills not taught in the classroom. There have been times that I learned something in SAE and then walked into lecture, and have already known the material from SAE,” says Riley Pauldine, a club member and mechanical engineering student.

He continued, “No one plans for these moments to be memorable, but with everyone in SAE always looking to enjoy their time at school more, if the right people are at SAE at the right time, stories are bound to be written.”