Flames, swords and, uh…Malibu Barbie? AHHAA brought together the battling robots!
by Kai Kaljumäe, Ahhaa
On 20 April, Science Centre AHHAA hosted its third Battle Bot tournament. The RoboBattle, as we call it, was held in Tartu, Estonia. The event has been constantly growing, both in terms of participants and audience and this year’s battle welcomed 23 DIY robots in two weight categories.
Anyone can build a robot and bring it to AHHAA’s RoboBattle – among this year’s participants were children and their grandparents, groups of robo-enthusiastic friends, and STEM students, to name a few. The aim of the battle is make your remote-controlled robot beat its oponent, using all sorts of weapons (knives, blades, chains – you name it! And in case you were wondering, one robot featured an actual Malibu Barbie!). To make the matters more, er, interesting, the battle arena itself was full of surprises that the robots encountered randomly.
The audience could also learn the basics of robo-battling on two miniature arenas that were immensely popular among younger children. Let’s hope that some of them will soon build their own Battle Bot and take it to AHHAA’s arena!
