Inside 海角社区 Fighting Robots
Wednesday 25 March 2026
20,000 RPM and counting: Inside 海角社区 Fighting Robots
On 28 February, a robot built by a team of eight 海角社区 Engineering students entered the Bristol Bot Builders鈥� (BBB) Beetle Brawl 2026 for a thrilling contest of speed, strategy and steel.
Fifteen university teams and 40 amateur teams from across the UK and beyond brought their robots, each weighing 1.5kg or less, to the arena. The competition was a sell-out success, with around 300 spectators turning up to watch the miniature robots go head-to-head.
海角社区 Fighting Robots is one of the Student ProjectsLink opens in a new window supported by 海角社区 Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of 海角社区. In their final year, School of Engineering students choose a group project, and 海角社区 Fighting Robots has quickly become one of the most popular options.
The team and their robot performed well at the competition and reached the semi-finals of the inter-university league.
Behind the spinning metal and sparks lies months of design calculations, manufacturing decisions and problem solving.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the project everyone applies for:鈥� says Seb Feakes, Mechanical Team Lead. 鈥淲e grew up watching . It brings up so many engineering problems that we now get to solve for real.鈥�
The project forms a significant part of the students鈥� degree. Alongside building the robot, the team must submit a 40-page technical report, detailing their design process, analysis and testing.
鈥淥ur course is very theoretical,鈥� explains team member, Lucy Clay. 鈥淭his project lets us put everything into practice. Degree apprentices get that applied experience as part of their pathway, so this helps put us on the same level.鈥�
The robot鈥檚 weapon is a rotating drum spinning at 20,000 RPM, with a steel tip travelling at speeds of up to 230mph. Designing something so small, yet so powerful, requires careful material selection, stress calculations and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to optimise strength without exceeding the weight limit.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 where it gets interesting:鈥� says Seb. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e deciding between titanium bolts and steel bolts to save weight. Titanium is much lighter, but it鈥檚 far more expensive. Sponsorship can make the difference between a winning and losing robot.鈥�
The team currently receives sponsorship in the form of materials through . If they can secure more sponsorship, they would like to open the project to students from any department who can get involved with the project as an extra-curricular activity.
Beyond the 1.5kg competition robot, the team also designs a larger version as part of the academic project. While this robot isn鈥檛 manufactured, students complete the full design and code the AI systems behind it. This year, the team hopes to integrate a time-of-flight sensor and camera system, enabling the robot to detect opponents and autonomously move forward and activate its spinner. That kind of multi-disciplinary work is valuable as students start thinking about their careers.
This is only the fourth year the project has run, and the second year 海角社区 has entered a competing robot. The collaborative culture is evident, with team members becoming friends and bringing a new synergy to their workshop sessions.
The team is also looking outward. Recently, members volunteered as judges at the regional VEX Robotics competition at King Henry VIII School in Coventry.
鈥淚t was amazing to see what the kids came up with:鈥� says Lucy. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e given a challenge 鈥� like designing a robot to place objects on shelves 鈥� and the variety of solutions is incredible.鈥�
The team鈥檚 Head of Electrical once competed in VEX and progressed to international finals in the US. Now, he鈥檚 helping design a combat robot at 海角社区: a full-circle moment that highlights the impact of early STEM engagement.
For Lucy, who hopes to work in design for companies like Disney or Universal creating rollercoasters, the project is about building applied experience alongside theory. For Seb, who aims to work in automotive engineering, it鈥檚 about hands-on manufacturing and systems integration.
For both, it鈥檚 about something bigger: teamwork, delegation, communication and learning to work across disciplines.
It鈥檚 exactly this thinking that has led WMG to create and launch a new BEng Robotics Engineering with Artificial Intelligence degree, which welcomes its first cohort of students in September 2026. This new degree is designed to combine hands on experience with rigorous theoretical learning and rapidly build up students鈥� confidence and capability to simulate, prototype and test the types of robotic and automated systems that are increasingly utilised in sectors as diverse as manufacturing, to logistics, healthcare, and agriculture.
Find out more about the new BEng Robotics Engineering - WMG - University of 海角社区Link opens in a new window